So the NFL Draft is over, and even Mr. Irrelevant 2020 was Tae Crowder from Georgia. We’ll be looking at the final shake out of the Program and Conference count breakdown of this draft in the next article.

The Athletic Department listed four players going out for the draft; Dalton Keene, Reggie Floyd, Deshawn McClease, and Ryan Willis. We only examined the first three. Willis’s relative disappearance after the season, and his only recent surfacing in the Roanoke Times article outlining his 2020 injury problems didn’t make for a great draft case.

Dalton Keene

This one is a celebration of sorts. Currently the only Hokie Drafted (a 100% improvement over 2019) was TE/H-Back Dalton Keene. The interesting thing is that the New England Patriots (currently in massive rebuild mode) traded up to grab him as the 101st pick in the draft. That was near the end of the 3rd round. The dismaying thing is that personally there are a few of us around who cannot stand the Pittie Pats... That makes this pick really bitter sweet. You have to respect the eye that Belichick has for non-superstar talent, though. If you look at how he evaluates talent and how he uses the mid and upper rounds of the draft to build a competent deep team, then you understand that obviously Dalton Keene made a serious impression on Darth Hoodie. The Patriots needed to replace Gronk, might as well give Rambo a shot. Belichick’s offense depends on 3 second plays under and in zone gaps to patterns run by the motioning Tight End and the Slot receiver. If Dalton Keene is anything, he’s an H-Back/Motioning Tight End.

Odds on making the Patriots’ roster for the season: 9 in 10

The remainder of the draft slipped away with picks from various programs popping up and sliding by my screen. Nothing more of the flying VT symbol showed. I’ll have to check, but I think Memphis did better than we did.

The next phase will be the UDFA signings. The reality is that except for the fairly small signing bonus of the upper rounds (Even 3rd round Dalton Keene is only guarnateed about $895,000 - and the government will tax half of that away) the numbers for rounds 4-7 and UDFAs are similar. It’s the NFLPA minimums for a rookie contract.

Reggie Floyd

A congrats needs to be pushed out to Reggie Floyd who received a quick out of the chute UDFA contract offer with the Arizona Cardinals.

Odds on making the Cardinals’ roster for the season: 3 in 10

Odds on making a practice squad: 1 in 2

We’ll get more information out to you with McClease and Willis when we get it in. We are hoping for good news for them this weekend.

GO HOKIES!!!!