Will Patriots Pick Combine Standout at Fourth Overall?

Around this time last week, Armand Membou wasn’t a prominent name in the ongoing debate around the fourth overall draft pick and how the New England Patriots would spend it.

Somewhere around midweek, though, that discussion took a sharp turn in a new direction.

Suddenly, Will Campbell wasn’t an afterthought but the LSU product was no longer cast in a lead role in everyone’s new favorite drama. Membou was taking up much of that space, and his freaky combine performance was no longer ignored by most. Late on Monday night, with the Missouri Tiger popping up more often across forums and social media threads.

At NFLMockDraftDatabase.com, you can access all NFL Mock Drafts, and they’re available in the order of when they were published. When I pulled up the five most recent mocks late on Monday night, three had Membou to the Patriots at number four.

Looking back to the few weeks that followed the combine, although Membou earned some of the praise he’d earned, it didn’t change the fact that a high volume of fans who track NFL Draft developments simply were not very familiar with the Missouri product.

Additionally, compared alongside all of the draft classes by position, I doubt many would push back if I suggested the 2025 tackle class was rather middling.

However, for a moment, Membou showed the pro football world that something outside of the ordinary was on the board, a truly freakish performance.

Armand Membou (OT #Missouri) is not getting nearly enough buzz

📌 Densely built & powerful
📌 Fluid athlete
📌 Scheme/position versatility
📌 20 years old

*On 410 pass blocking snaps at RT*
➖ 9 pressures
➖ 0 sacks

Good investment for your OL.

pic.twitter.com/LJHaLy1TCV
— SCOUTD (@scoutdnfl) January 1, 2025

First of all, built like an armored vehicle at 6-foot-4 and 332 pounds, Membou made a loud, lasting statement when he turned up 4.91 sec., a 40-yard score experts at the combine hadn't witnessed in more than two decades. And there was more from Membou, some being impossible to ignore.

His 34-inch vertical and 9’7” broad jump topped the charts among draft hopefuls who took part in those events.

It wasn’t the first time jaws dropped when his athletic testing was unveiled.

In Bruce Feldman's ultra-popular ‘Freak’s List’ feature he compiles annually, it turned out Membou had just 18 percent body fat at 320 pounds. This was balked at and cited from that point forward.

However, it was the combination of Membou’s staggering 650-pound squat, 375-pound clean, and 425-pound bench press that cemented him in that list. With those numbers, yes sir, Membou had all the markings of an athletic freak.

To be clear, though, this isn’t a purely combine-reliant draft prospect.

Not only did Membou not surrender a sack among 411 passing situations in 2024, the big fella did not cough up a single quarterback hit.

Let the debate continue. It sure seems Membou is worthy of that level of consideration.

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