Rookies Describing What It's Like to Get Drafted by the Patriots Taking You Into the Weekend

I could go on about how much I like this class of rookies. Or how with each interview I see I’m more impressed with how well spoken and intelligent these guys are and it’s proof once again that the Pats like to acquire these team leader types and wait for superleaders to emerge in their locker room as they get experience in the league. But I won’t.

For right now, I’m going to take off the Patriots fanboy facepaint and just be human for a minute. This whole process is truly one of the great things about being invested in sports. Young guys, most of them not yet old enough to graduate college, sitting around in a room filled with family and friends watching other guys names get called. And then their lives get changed with one out-of-state number appearing on their phone. The moment they’ve been working toward since they were preteens and it happens as they’re surrounded by the most important people in the world to them. If you’re even slightly interested in other people’s personal journeys, you have to be fascinated by how this all works.

So this is great work, not just by the team’s media crew, but by Joejuan Williams, Chase Winovich, Damien Harris and Yodny Cajuste for articulating what it was like for them. And a Best Supporting Oscar goes to Adam Butler. It didn’t dawn on me until just now that his and Williams’ careers at Vanderbilt overlapped by a year. I really liked that dynamic between them. And since he went undrafted and has still been a staple on two conference champions and a Super Bowl winner, his story is just as interesting but in an entirely different way.

So it’s the perfect way to wrap up the post-draft week. God help me, I love this time of year.