Projo Pats Blog

New England director of player personnel Nick Caserio took part in the Speakers Series at the Hall at Patriot Place this evening, explaining the draft process as well as discussing the Pats' 2009 draft class with a rapt audience in the Hall's theater.

Caserio said the process has already begun in terms of gathering intel on college players who will be seniors in the fall, as the scouting staff is compiling a book of 300 to 400 players and giving them a preliminary grade -- A, B or C -- which can certainly change once the season gets underway. He explained that the Pats have six area scouts (each responsible for one area of the country) and two regional scouts (split east and west), as well as higher personnel, all of whom evaluate a player to make sure the team is on the right page in terms of his ability, talent, character, etc.

In August, the scouting staff will meet to analyze the current Patriots roster; as Caserio noted, scouts can't know what to look for in a prospective New England player if they don't know their own team and why those players work in the Pats' scheme.

Caserio said a bit about each of the team's 12 draft picks after a short highlight film of each was shown, and he also took questions from the audience.

One of the more interesting questions came from a fan who asked why the team did not draft an outside linebacker given its troubles on third down last season.

"We've got players on our team that we feel good about," Caserio said, mentioning Adalius Thomas, Pierre Woods, Tully Banta-Cain and Shawn Crable. "The draft isn't the last opportunity for us to build our football team. (But) outside linebacker [in a 3-4 defense] is tough to evaluate -- they're almost all defensive ends in college.

"It's a valid question but we feel comfortable with the guys we have."

Caserio was asked which outside backers the team had rated highest on its draft board, but he respectfully declined to answer.

We'll have a story from the event, detailing Caserio's thoughts on each of the 12 draftees, posted here on projo.com shortly.

 Tags  Adalius Thomas Hall at Patriot Place NFL draft Nick Caserio Pierre Woods Shawn Crable Tully Banta-Cain

---