FOXBOROUGH — Nick Caserio, the Patriots director of player personnel, hinted on Friday night that the team might trade away some of their Saturday draft picks, since the team began the day with eight.
That’s exactly what’s happened, with a combination of trades whittling down the team’s number of Saturday draft picks from eight to five.
They used one in the fourth round on Georgia wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell before making four selections between picks 208 and 225.
They had three sixth-round compensatory picks. The first was used on Kamu Grugier-Hill, a safety/linebacker from Eastern Illinois, the second on Elandon Roberts, a linebacker from Houston, and the third on Ted Karras, an offensive lineman from Illinois.
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Grugier-Hill, who was teammates with Jimmy Garoppolo at Eastern Illinois, went No. 208 overall, Roberts went No. 214 overall, and Karras went No. 221 overall.
Devin Lucien, a wide receiver who spent his first three seasons at UCLA before transferring to Arizona State, was drafted by the Patriots in the seventh round.
Barring any trades, the 225th pick is the Patriots’ final draft choice this year.
Here’s a look at each player:
Malcolm Mitchell
Position: Wide receiver
College: Georgia
Hometown: Valdosta, Ga.
Height: 6-0. Weight: 198.
Season | G-GS | Rec | Yds | TD |
---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | 11-9 | 45 | 665 | 4 |
2012 | 13-9 | 40 | 572 | 4 |
2013 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | 9-3 | 31 | 248 | 3 |
2015 | 13-13 | 58 | 866 | 5 |
Career | 47-35 | 174 | 2,350 | 16 |
Fast facts: With 4.45 speed in the 40-yard dash and decent size, Mitchell could give the Patriots the vertical deep threat they’ve lacked. The Valdosta, Ga., native struggled with injuries at Georgia, including an ACL tear that forced him to miss all but one game in 2013. The Bulldogs also used Mitchell at cornerback in a pinch during the 2012 season. One of the interesting aspects to Mitchell’s story comes off the field. Not an avid reader as a child, he wrote a children’s book while he was a student at Georgia, and joined a book club in Athens, Ga., made up of older women. He touts the importance of reading while talking to students at elementary schools.
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He said it: “I told the Patriots I’m willing to do anything I need to to help the team any way that I can. Regardless of if that’s playing on offense, any special teams. I’ll fill up the water if they want me to.”
Kamu Grugier-Hill
Position: Safety/Linebacker
College: Eastern Illinois
Hometown: Papakolea, Hawaii
Height: 6-2. Weight: 215.
Season | G | Tackles | TFL-Yds | Sacks-Yds | INT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | 12 | 27 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 |
2013 | 14 | 43 | 5-11 | 1-4 | 1 |
2014 | 12 | 97 | 9.5-40 | 1.5-13 | 3 |
2015 | 10 | 70 | 10.5-74 | 6.5-42 | 1 |
Career | 48 | 237 | 26-127 | 9-59 | 6 |
Fast facts: Grugier-Hill wasn’t invited to the Scouting Combine, but turned heads — and worked his way up draft boards — with his Pro Day performance, running a 4.45 40-yard dash with a 38 ½-inch vertical leap. As a senior appearing in 10 games, recovered three fumbles and had one interception. Though he played linebacker in college, his size could fit the safety/linebacker hybrid position that NFL teams are using.
He said it: “It was honestly just kind of a feeling of relief [when I got drafted]. It was a long wait and I was happy to have that call from the Patriots, no doubt.”
Elandon Roberts
Position: Linebacker
College: Houston
Hometown: Port Arthur, Texas
Height: 6-2. Weight: 215.
Season | G | Tackles | TFL-Yds | Sacks-Yds |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1-3 |
2014 | 12 | 26 | 1-4 | 3.5-8 |
2015 | 14 | 142 | 6-45 | 19 -76 |
Career | 34 | 175 | 7-49 | 23.5 -87 |
Fast facts: Roberts had a monster senior year with the Cougars, with 88 solo tackles (most in the country), 142 total tackles, 6 sacks, 1 interception, and 2 forced fumbles. He wasn’t invited to the combine, and was projected as a seventh-round draft choice, but was named a defensive captain as a senior, with first-year Houston head coach Tom Herman calling Roberts one of the best leaders he’s ever coached.
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He said it: “I feel that I have strengths and weaknesses and every day I just practice on making all of those strengths and weaknesses better and that’s all that I can do. Joining the New England Patriots with their great coaching staff, I know they will definitely fix it and also make the strengths better.”
Ted Karras
What are family gatherings like at the Karras household? Push-ups. Lots of push-ups. @_teddy_k http://t.co/GepJ6sXGAz
— Illini Football (@IlliniFootball) October 14, 2015
Position: Offensive guard
College: Illinois
Hometown: Indianapolis
Height: 6-3. Weight: 307.
Fast facts: Karras is the great-nephew of Alex Karras, who played for the Lions and went on to become a television actor. Three other members of the Karras family also played in the NFL, so he comes from a successful football family. He missed the final four games of his junior season with torn ligaments in his left knee, but he returned for his senior year and started all 12 games, bringing his college total to 43, all at right guard.
He said it: “I mean, I knew from a young age that this is what I wanted to do. With my dad being a small college football coach, I was around practices all the time. I was very eager. I know it may not be popular now, but I wanted to play when I was a third-grader. I wanted to play padded football. I knew that was the sport I was going to choose and I liked being a lineman. You’re rewarded for being physical and I thought that was a great part of the game. It suited me well and so far it’s paid off.”
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Devin Lucien
Position: Wide receiver
College: Arizona State
Hometown: Encino, Calif.
Height: 6-2. Weight: 195.
Season | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | 6 | 10 | 188 | 0 |
2013 | 13 | 19 | 339 | 2 |
2014 | 13 | 29 | 225 | 2 |
2015 | 13 | 66 | 1,075 | 8 |
Career | 45 | 124 | 1,827 | 12 |
Fast facts: He spent his first three seasons at UCLA before transferring as a graduate student to Arizona State for his senior year, when he caught 66 passes for 1,075 yards and 8 touchdowns. That doubled his three-year production at UCLA, when he combined for 58 receptions for 752 yards and 4 scores. Over his final three games with the Sun Devils, Lucien caught 21 passes for 534 yards and 5 touchdowns.
He said it: “It was a lot different, I’m not going to sit here and lie to you guys. It was a lot different because at UCLA, it was more of a spread, kind of like Oregon. I feel like Arizona State, it was a spread team, don’t get me wrong, but they had some pro-style wrinkles to it so instead of pulling one word that would call the entire route or play at UCLA, at Arizona State, they had tags and different words but it would just be one word for the entire play. That was the biggest thing, just adjusting to that, but I was able to adjust quickly, there are just a lot of moving parts in football, not just learning the offense.”
Rachel G. Bowers of the Globe staff contributed to this report.