Report: Josh McDaniels has stayed in touch with Senior Bowl QB

As the NFL Draft inches closer, more and more attention is being put on linking the Patriots to one of the top five quarterbacks expected to go in the first round. Internally though, the attention of the Patriots – or at least their offensive coordinator – may be slightly further down the consensus draft board.

According to

Texas A&M QB Kellen Mond met with Patriots officials at the Senior Bowl, and has kept in touch with the club throughout the offseason, exchanging the occasional text with OC Josh McDaniels.@globejimmcbride looks at Mond as a potential fit in Foxborough.https://t.co/0PKskFrbiR

— Christopher Price (@cpriceglobe) April 6, 2021">Jim McBride of the Boston Globe, Josh McDaniels has been in contact with Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond since first meeting him in late January.

“Mond met with Patriots officials at the Senior Bowl and has kept in touch with the club throughout the offseason, exchanging the occasional text with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels,” Price writes. He added that Mond believes he will have an official pre-draft meeting with the team.

Historically, not much information regarding the Patriots’ draft process has reached the public. It’s hard to say if coaches have done this with other players in the past, or if McDaniels is texting with other quarterbacks in this draft class as well as Mond (Mac Jones was also at the Senior Bowl). But we do know that Bill Belichick tends to have a limited draft board, and based off this report it feels safe to say Mond is on it.

As for Mond himself, after a strong showing at the Senior Bowl (where he won game MVP) and his Pro Day he has been viewed by many draft experts as the top quarterback outside the elite first round group. Projections have him going anywhere from the end of the first round to early in the third.

There’s a number of things about Mond that make him a logical Patriots’ target. He was a four-year starter for the Aggies, where he ran a pro-style offense under Jimbo Fisher. He posted a 46-14 record which included a 9-1 senior season that saw A&M just narrowly miss the college football playoff.

The biggest concern about Mond’s game has been his consistency. However there’s questions whether that’s a reflection of him, or the fact he had to play for multiple head coaches during his college career, and wasn’t surrounded by the talent you’d expect to see at an SEC school.

Again, Mond fits the mold of a typical Patriots draft pick. The question remains though, in a year where quarterback is the teams most pressing need, and with so much talent at the top of the draft at the position, will they follow the status quo and go with the higher-risk product in Mond? Or break tradition and aggressively push their way to the top of the draft?

If the Patriots’ can’t get one of the top five quarterbacks, it doesn’t mean they’re out of options. Here’s a look at the mid-round arms from Matt Dolloff.

Kyle Trask, Florida Share Trask has prototypical size at 6-foot-5 and projects as an accurate and productive pocket passer at the NFL level. One of the big knocks on him is his lack of mobility, which will hinder his chances to improvise when plays break down like many other QBs can do in the modern NFL. So Trask will need to excel as a pure pocket passer to be a good long-term starter. But the tools and the potential are there. Jamie Newman, Georgia Share Newman was a Bulldog in name only. He transferred to Georgia for his senior year after three seasons at Wake Forest, but ended up opting out of the 2020 season. He had some impressive moments during Senior Bowl week, though, and met with all 32 teams. Fair or not, Newman's decision to opt out will be held against him. But whoever drafts him will get a QB with good size (6-foot-4) and the physical tools to be a legitimate dual threat. He'll need time to develop since he's behind other prospects in that regard. Kellen Mond, Texas A&M Share Mond's name came up in the news cycle recently, after noted contrarian Chris Simms put him in his top-5 QB prospects heading into the draft. Most other analysts project Mond as a third or fourth-rounder at best, mainly due to his inconsistency with his accuracy and mechanics during his time in college. He doesn't sound like a Belichick type of QB, but Mond's size and athletic ability give him a chance to be molded into something down the road. Davis Mills, Stanford Share Mills is another pocket passer who lacks the ideal mobility of the modern prototype for a franchise quarterback. He also played only two seasons as a starter in college. These factors should keep Mills in the late day 2-early day 3 range at the draft, and a huge Pro Day might be his only way out of that. But Mills' short-to-intermediate accuracy does make him a Belichick type of prospect, in theory. In the right situation, there's potential for Mills to become something better than his draft stock. Shane Buechele, SMU Share Belichick may like Buechele because he's demonstrated good accuracy and decision-making running the SMU offense. His high football I.Q. may allow him to at least carve out a nice, long career as a backup. The problem is Buechele lacks ideal size (6-foot-1), arm strength, and athleticism for the position at the highest level. So his accuracy, ball security, and command of the offense will have to be impeccable for him to sustain a career as a legit starter. And it's why he could end up going on Day 3 instead of Day 2. But he's a name to know for the Patriots.