Patriots Close Out Draft With A Couple Of Moves

Over the final day of the 2017 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots made a couple of moves to help add to the roster. 

The Pats started the day with four picks scattered throughout the final four rounds, but began by making another trade. This time, New England sent their lone fifth round pick (183 Overall) to Kansas City for tight end James O'Shaughnessy and a sixth round pick (216 Overall). 

O'Shaughnessy will join the group already consisting of Matt Lengel and Michael Williams, who are both competing for the third tight end spot on the roster behind Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen.

In two seasons with the Chiefs, O'Shaughnessy has totaled eight catches for 86 yards. While he saw a boost in his time on the field last season (He played in 16 of his 23 career games in 2016), he was sparsely targeted, catching two of only three balls thrown his way for -1 yards. 

Paul Perillo of Patriots Football Weekly did note, however, that the 2015 fifth-round pick does have the ability to play in more of a "move-type role," which differs from both Lengel and Williams, who are bigger bodies more adept at working as blockers. That could lend itself to opening up an inside track for O'Shaughnessy, as a guy who can do something different than his counterparts.

From there, New England used a couple of different ways to select two more players that echoed what they had done on day two.

The first selection of the day for the Pats matched their first selection of the day prior, as they once again drafted a defensive end.

This time, the team selected Arkansas product Deatrich Wise Jr. in the fourth round with the 131st overall pick. Wise was hampered by some injuries in his final collegiate season, but had performed well over his junior year and bares a strong on-field resemblance to former Patriot first-round pick Chandler Jones.

Wise will also be reunited with former Razorbacks teammate Trey Flowers, who has rose within the New England depth chart since being drafted by the team a few years back.

New England followed up the Wise pick with a trade to move up a few spots in the sixth round, where they doubled down on their strategy from the day before once again by selected another offensive tackle.

The player that Pats dealt their last two picks of the draft on to climb up and get is former UCLA lineman Conor McDermott. Selected 211th overall, McDermott is a former Mr. Basketball from the state of Tennessee and is, quite frankly, a large man.

Coming in at a whopping 6-8 and 300 pounds, McDermott is a nice developmental pick for New England, who could eventually find a spot in the rotation at either tackle spot.

The Pats will now likely fill out their preseason, 90-man roster with a bevvy of undrafted free agents. While they didn't draft much in terms of volume, they did address two of the few areas of need on the team and by all accounts were able to select guys at good value for where they were taken.