The final stage of the NFL pre-draft process begins next week with ‘top 30 visits.’ After meeting with prospects at events like the Senior Bowl, Shrine Bowl, Combine, and pro days, in the weeks leading up to the draft teams are permitted to host prospects at their own facilities – but are limited to 30 such visits (prospects from schools within 50 miles of the team facility don’t count against the 30). These visits can include things from sit-downs to physicals to workouts.

Calling these visits ‘top 30’ is a bit of a misnomer though. They’re not always used on the players teams view as the 30 best in the draft. Instead, teams will host players from up and down the draft board they want to get to know better. When it comes to the first reported top 30 for the Patriots though, it’d be hard to imagine he’s not in the top 30 spots on their big board.

• Appearing on the Rich Eisen Show on on Thursday, USC wide receiver Jordan Addison shared he’ll be travelling to New England next week for a top 30 visit. He acknowledged he has other visits lined up as well, but only shared the Patriots as one of them.

  This will be the second time the Patriots meet with Addison. They also formally sat down with him at the NFL Combine last month. Addison discussed that meeting early in his interview with Eisen.

• Thanks to @uscfb WR @Espn_Jordan for stopping by today to talk his football journey and what his next month will look like meeting w/ teams ahead of #NFLDraft, including the #Patriots up first:#NFL #FightOn pic.twitter.com/6jJnInC87T

  — Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) March 30, 2023

• Addison is an explosive receiver who is capable of handling a high-volume role. He can line up both on the boundary and in the slot, and has a very diverse route tree, and is a threat with the ball in his hands after the catch.

  In 2021 at Pittsburgh he caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns in 14 games, and was named a consensus All-American. He also won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in the nation. He then transferred to USC, and had 59 catches for 875 yards and eight touchdowns last year in 11 games, missing some time due to injury.

  Given all of that, Addison was viewed as a candidate to be the first wide receiver off the board this  year. However, his Combine testing is his biggest issue right now. He measured in smaller than expected at 5-foot-11, 173 pounds, then ran a 4.49 40 which ranked tied for 21st among wide receivers and didn’t match the explosiveness seen on tape.

• If a team doesn’t value the Combine testing as much, or is willing to look past it as a bad day, they could end up seeing Addison as a steal in the mid-to-late first round. Would that include the Patriots, who have seemingly highly valued Combine testing in recent years?

  While Addison is the first of the top receivers to get a second meeting with the Patriots, they’ve had reported meeting with three of the four so far. Zay Flowers from Boston College remains the exception, although the team was at his Pro Day and being a local prospect he wouldn’t be a candidate for a top 30 visit. In total, they’ve met with seven wide receivers. For a full list of players they’ve met with, check out our Patriots pre-draft meeting tracker.

• Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at [email protected].

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