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SI Mock Draft: 5 Rounds, No Trades By Anyone - How Do Patriots Fare?

New England adds a non-prototypical Patriots QB into their starting QB competition during this five round mock draft that includes no trades.

With the 2020 NFL Draft set to take place on a virtual landscape, Kevin Hanson decided to conduct his latest mock draft for SI.com - which included five rounds - based on some of the potential ramifications of each team's staff not being in the same room together when they are drafting. 

The isolation that will take place during the draft could cause a significantly lower number of trades taking place. Because of that, Hanson decided to conduct no trades in his latest mock draft. 

Having the inability to not perform a trade would hurt the Patriots, as they have no draft picks in the second round and could have used several of their six draft picks in the first five rounds to acquire one. Instead, they had to use their draft picks to acquire players in this mock draft. The result was New England drafting an edge-rusher, tight end, and two wide receivers with some of their picks. They also acquired a dual-threat quarterback with their highest pick in the third round. 

Here are the Patriots' selections from that mock draft:

23. A.J. Epenesa, Edge, Iowa State

87. Jalen Hurts, QB, Oklahoma

98. Van Jefferson, WR, Florida 

100. Hunter Bryant, TE, Washington

125. Lynn Bowden Jr., WR, Kentucky

173. Lavert Hill, CB, Michigan

Epenesa has continually been the choice for New England at No. 23. As a player that has drawn comparisons to former Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers, it would make sense that Bill Belichick would select a versatile chess piece like Epenesa in the first round. Adding Jefferson, Bryant and Bowden are also great selections, as the Patriots need to add young pass-catcher with one having the tight end label. Hill makes sense as well in the fifth round. 

While Hurts may seem like an odd pick for a Patriots team that has a system built for a pocket-passer, here's the thought process with that selection, if I may speak for Hanson: Belichick has had so much success in New England for his ability to shift his schemes around his personnel. So, if he felt the value was strong enough to draft Hurts at No. 87, he would draft the Oklahoma QB and throw him into the starting QB competition in New England. 

If Hurts came out as the winner of that competition, then Belichick would likely turn to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and help him devise a scheme that caters to Hurts' abilities as a runner and passer. Their new scheme would probably be similar to what Baltimore's OC Greg Roman was able to manifest with Lamar Jackson at the helm. 

Although it would have been nice to see the six-time Super Bowl champions pick a linebacker with one of their Day 2 or early Day 3 selections, their choices with those first five picks make plenty of sense. New England still has another six picks to use after the fifth round anyway, so Belichick would have an opportunity to find value at LB with at least one of those picks.