This Prospect is Most Selected 1st Round Pick For Patriots in Mock Drafts

This EDGE player has been the most widely selected player for the Patriots on Day 1 in mock drafts.

If you've been keeping up with the thousands of mock drafts to some degree that have been published over the last several weeks, you may notice that aside from an occasional quarterback or linebacker, there's one player that is continually selected by the New England Patriots at pick No. 23 in the 2020 NFL Draft.

That player is Iowa edge rusher A.J. Epenesa. 

There are no stats to prove Epenesa is the most selected player by the Patriots in the first round in the thousands of mock drafts that have and will continue to be published. But he is the choice amongst the mock drafts we have generated at PM, on SI.com, and from writers on the Patriots beat. 

Epenesa is listed on many big boards as the 4th best EDGE player in this year's draft. At 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, a player of Epenesa's skill set makes him a very obvious choice for New England in the backend of the first round. He was considered by some as a top 10 pick ahead of the NFL Combine, but then a poor 40 time at the combine (5.03) caused him to slide down draft boards, to the point where he is continually falling to the six-time Super Bowl champions. But a poor time in the 40 doesn't eliminate the many abilities that Epenesa does possess. 

NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah was asked during a conference call on Thursday which player would make the most sense for New England to draft with the 23rd overall pick. Here's what he had to say:

"For me it's A.J. Epenesa," Jeremiah said, as transcribed by WEEI.com. "I went back and I've posted some of it, but I went back and looked at a lot of the notes that I had been given when I was with the Baltimore Ravens from one of our scouts who had been with Coach Belichick, and it was a presentation from 1991 on what Coach values at every position, and when it talked about edge rushers, it talked about his preference for size over speed out there and guys that can hold the point of attack in the run game and they can collapse the pocket, they're power players, and that to me, if you're drawing up a description of A.J. Epenesa that's who they were looking for.

"Now, that was 1991, a long time ago, but those Patriot defenses all seem to feature this type of a player, and then you add in to the fact that he played for Kirk Ferentz and Kirk Ferentz having a relationship with Coach Belichick, all this seemed like this guy was meant to be a New England Patriot. It just makes too much sense."

That's the strongest explanation you can get to explain to why Epenesa has become a Patriot in so many mock drafts. Tack on the fact that evaluators compare the Iowa product to former Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers, and you can understand why Belichick might like taking Epenesa to kick off New England's draft. 

With under a week left until the draft begins on its first ever virtual landscape, this may be one of the most difficult drafts to project. Because of possible hiccups, less face-to-face interviews during the pre-draft process, and other dangers that could cause the 2020 draft have unexpected consequences, we will see on Day 1 how different this year's draft could look compared to one's in the past. But if everything happens in a semblance of what we've seen in mock drafts, then Epenesa could become a New England Patriot on April 23.