The Patriots have 13 picks overall and 5 picks in the first 3 rounds. Their most outstanding needs are DL, WR, OT, and CB. In their first five picks I hope the Patriots will pick a player from each of these positions, and then another player, most likely a second defensive lineman, but you never know. Who they pick first depends on who is available. Here is a list of the top 10 players at each of these positions:

For the Patriots first round picks, they could expect to see the players from 2-5 on these lists availabe. For their second round pick, the players ranked 5-10 could be available. In the first round, it looks like they will have a choice of (best available at each position): DT Jonathon Sullivan and DT William Joseph, DE Michael Haynes, WR Kelley Washington, OT Kwame Harris, and CB Andre Woolfolk. If available, I think the Patriots might take DT Sullivan and WR Washington. If Sullivan is not available, then they might take DT Joseph or OT Harris. So until I look at who the teams ahead of them might pick, I’m going to say Sullivan and Washington, with Harris a close third. For their second round pick, these players might be available: DE Antwan Peek, WR Brandon Lloyd and WR Tyrone Calico, OT Jon Stinchbomb and OT Tony Pashos, and CB Eugene Wilson. If the Pats took Sullivan and Washington in the first round then I’d look for them to take CB Wilson or OT Stinchbomb here if available. Who is available at this point, 50 picks into the draft, is hard to tell though.

Here are my predictions for the Patriots picks in the draft and the first round of the draft:

I think the Patriots really want to take DT Johnathon Sullivan with their first pick. The Jets are probably going to take him though. However, if Boss Bailey falls down to the Jets as he does in my mock draft, then they really have no choice but to take Bailey. That would leave Sullivan for the Pats. For their second pick, I think the Patriots need to get an offensive lineman. There is some debate here whether it should be OT Kwame Harris or OG Eric Steinbach. I think the Pats need an OT more since they have no one on the right side and they at least have three decent OG’s. I would really love to see them use this pick to take WR Kelley Washington. He’s big and fast and would make a huge impact on the offense. So Washington is the exciting pick, but Harris is probably the smart pick. If Harris is gone, I’m not sure if you go Steinbach or Washington, I’m hoping Washington. In the second round, if CB Eugene Wilson is around, I’d like to see them take him. If he’s not around, then who knows who they’ll take, it really depends on who they got in the first round. WR Tyrone Calico could be a possibility if he’s available and they didn’t take Washington and DT Rien Long could be a possibility if the other two are out. As for the last 5 rounds of the draft, it’s really impossible to tell who will be available and what needs the Patriots will still have. I put down some random possibilities above, but the chances of any of those guys getting picked by the Pats is probably pretty low.

OK, my last comment is that for the two first rounders I expect the Pats to get two of these players: CB Marcus Trufant, OT Kwame Harris, OG Eric Steinbach, DT Johnathon Sullivan, or WR Kelley Washington. If the Patriots end up trading into the top 5 then they would take DT DeWayne Robertson or CB Terence Newman.