Analyzing Patriots' 12-Player 2023 Draft Class By The Numbers
— Ryland delivered touchbacks on 51 of his 73 kickoffs last season (69.9%). The 2022 Patriots struggled in that area following Jake Bailey’s season-ending injury, with Nick Folk and Tristan Vizcaino combining for just three touchbacks on their 39 kickoffs. All of New England’s NFL-high three kick-return touchdowns allowed came on Folk kickoffs.
— Ryland played his first four seasons at Eastern Michigan, where he was teammates and close friends with fellow Patriots fourth-round pick Sidy Sow. He left as the program’s all-time leading scorer.
— Ryland is the Patriots’ highest-drafted specialist of the Bill Belichick era, going six spots ahead of where Stephen Gostkowski was picked in 2006. He also was the only player New England traded up to select in this year’s draft.
OL SIDY SOW, EASTERN MARYLAND
Fourth round, 117th overall
Age: 25
2022 stats: 12 starts at left guard
Career stats: 44 starts at left guard, 11 starts at left tackle (57 appearances)
Measurables:
— Sow allowed just two sacks last season and six in his college career. He played more than 3,600 snaps at Eastern Michigan and surrendered pressures on less than 2% of them (66 total). Sow also committed just one penalty (a false start) in 2022.
— Sow’s 55 starts and 57 appearances were Eastern Michigan records.
— The vast majority of that collegiate action came at left guard, but the Patriots reportedly plan to try Sow out at tackle, where he started 11 games as a redshirt freshman but hasn’t played since 2018. His arms are on the shorter side for that position, but they’re longer than Riley Reiff’s and Calvin Anderson’s.
— Sow, who grew up a diehard Montreal Canadiens fan in Bromont, Quebec, was one of five Canadian-born prospects selected in this year’s draft.
OL ATONIO MAFI, UCLA
Fifth round, 144th overall
Age: 22
2022 stats: 13 starts at left guard
Career stats: 13 starts at left guard, three starts at left guard (56 appearances total, including 24 at defensive tackle)
Measurables: 6-foot-2 1/2, 329 pounds, 32 5/8-inch arms, 10 3/8-inch hands, 79 3/4-inch wingspan, 21 bench press reps at pro day; did not test in other drills due to calf strain (not invited to combine)
— Mafi played his first two seasons at UCLA as a D-tackle before switching to the O-line in 2020. Last season was his first as a full-time starter on offense.
— Mafi shed more than 80 pounds over the course of his college career, reportedly topping out at 411.
— Mafi’s 56 total games played were a UCLA record.
WR KAYSHON BOUTTE, LSU
Sixth round, 187th overall
Age: 21
2022 stats: 48 catches, 538 yards, two touchdowns in 11 games (10 starts)
Career stats: 131 catches, 1,782 yards, 16 touchdowns in 27 games (21 starts)
Measurables:
— Boutte was the No. 2-ranked receiver in the 2020 recruiting class. He capped a promising freshman season with three straight 100-yard games, including a 14-catch, 308-yard, three-touchdown bonanza against Ole Miss, then had 38 catches for 509 yards and nine scores in just six games as a sophomore before going down with a season-ending broken ankle.
Boutte clashed with LSU’s coaches during his recovery from that injury and underwhelmed in 2022, recording career lows in yards per catch (11.2) and touchdowns while dropping seven passes.
— Boutte said an ankle injury influenced his poor combine showing, which featured an especially ugly vertical jump. The 7.14-second three-cone drill he ran at his pro day also ranked among the slowest by any Patriots wideout drafted under Belichick, though it was a few ticks faster than the 7.25 that Tyquan Thornton notched ahead of last year’s draft.
— Boutte was the fastest wideout in LSU history — a history that includes names like Odell Beckham Jr. and Justin Jefferson — to reach 100 career catches.
P BRYCE BARINGER, MICHIGAN STATE
Sixth round, 192nd overall
Age: 24
2022 stats: 49.0 yards per punt in 12 games
Career stats: 46.0 yards per punt in 36 games
Measurables:
— Twenty-four of Baringer’s 50 punts last season traveled 50-plus yards, and 12 were fair-caught. Four resulted in touchbacks, down from eight in 2021.
— Baringer’s 49.0 yards-per-punt average as a senior led the nation, and his career mark of 46.0 set a Big Ten record.
— Unlike Bailey, Baringer does not have much kickoff experience. He kicked off just once in four seasons at Michigan State.
WR DEMARIO DOUGLAS, LIBERTY
Sixth round, 210th overall
Age: 22
2022 stats: 79 catches, 993 yards, six touchdowns in 13 games (11 starts)
Career stats: 172 catches, 2,193 yards, 16 touchdowns in 40 games (17 starts)
Measurables:
— Douglas is tiny for a wideout — almost identical in size to Marcus Jones, who was the smallest player on the Patriots’ roster last season. But as those testing numbers show, he’s both fast and explosive, with especially impressive jumps for a player his size.
— Douglas, the first Liberty product ever drafted by New England, almost singlehandedly carried his team’s passing game last season. None of his teammates had more than 25 catches.
— As a punt returner, Douglas averaged 7.1 yards per return on 54 career attempts and scored two touchdowns. He also had a 75-yard rushing touchdown last season on a traditional backfield handoff.
— The Patriots used to look for slot receivers with lightning-quick short shuttle and three-cone times, but they’ve drifted away from that prototype since Julian Edelman’s retirement. Douglas, who ran a 7.05-second three-cone at his pro day, was average to below average in both of those metrics.
— Mockdraftable’s top two athletic comps for Douglas were Tyler Scott and Josh Downs, potential Patriots targets in this year’s draft who went in Round 4 to Chicago and Round 3 to Indianapolis, respectively.
CB AMEER SPEED, MICHIGAN STATE
Sixth round, 214th overall
Age: 23
2022 stats: 62 tackles, one TFL, five passes defended in 12 games (11 starts)
Career stats: 87 tackles, one TFL, six passes defended in 60 games (14 starts)
Measurables: 6-foot-3, 209 pounds, 32 5/8-inch arms, 8 5/8-inch hands, 78 3/4-inch wingspan, 4.33-second 40-yard dash, 1.56-second 10-yard split, 32 1/2-inch vertical jump, 123-inch broad jump, 4.26-second short shuttle, 6.99-second three-cone drill, 14 bench-press reps at pro day (not invited to combine)
— Speed only had a regular defensive role in one of his six collegiate seasons. He spent his first five at Georgia, where he played more snaps on special teams than he did at cornerback. He was recognized as the most outstanding special teams player on the 2021 Bulldogs team that won the national championship.
— Speed’s 4.33-second 40 would have been tied for the fourth-fastest at this year’s combine, and he’s at least four inches taller than the three players who ran faster.
CB ISAIAH BOLDEN, JACKSON STATE
Seventh round, 245th overall
Age: 23
2022 stats: 44 tackles, 2 1/2 TFLs, seven passes defended in 13 games (11 starts)
Career stats: 64 tackles, 2 1/2 TFLs, 11 passes defended, one interception in 40 games (13 starts)
Measurables: 6-foot-2, 201 pounds, 32 3/4-inch arms, 8 3/4-inch hands, 76-inch wingspan, 4.33-second 40-yard dash, 1.54-second 10-yard split, 38-inch vertical jump, 129-inch broad jump, 4.63-second short shuttle at pro day (not invited to combine)
— Like Speed, Bolden also didn’t see much defensive playing time before his senior season. His lone interception came in 2018, when he was playing for Florida State.
— Before he became a starting cornerback in Deion Sanders’ defense last season, Bolden was a superb kick returner for Jackson State. He led all of Division I with 36.9 yards per kick return in 2021 and returned two for touchdowns.
— Bolden’s blazing 40 matched Speed’s, and he tested significantly better in both jumps, though worse in the short shuttle.
Source: NESN
