New England selects seven more players, including quarterback Bailey Zappe of Western Kentucky in the fourth round.
LAS VEGAS — Running backs and kickers were a focus for much of Day 3 of the NFL draft on Saturday. Two punters and a placekicker went as the final day of selections began before any more quarterbacks were taken as most of the 32 NFL teams decided to pass on passers in what has been deemed a weak crop. So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that LSU placekicker Cade York went to Cleveland at No.124 overall, followed by Penn State punter Jordan Stout six spots later to Baltimore. At No.133 to Tampa Bay, it was punter Jake Camarda of Georgia, four spots before the fifth quarterback in total, Western Kentucky’s Bailey Zappe, headed to New England. Of course, it can’t be ignored that the Patriots once had some luck with a late-round QB, though Zappe wasn’t paying attention to any comparisons to Tom Brady, the No.199 overall pick in 2000. Zappe set Football Bowl Subdivision single-season records for touchdown passes (62) and passing yards (5,967) last year. “I am continuing to be myself,” he said. “I am not trying to be anybody else. I am going to come to work every day and get 1% better. That is how I look at it. I do not worry too much about the naysayers and critics. The Patriots believe in me, and those coaches, players, and organization believed in me, and those are the people I’m going to try to prove right, that this pick was the right one.” On the final day of the draft, New England also took running backs Pierre Strong of South Dakota State and Kevin Harris of South Carolina, and bolstered its secondary by taking Arizona State cornerback Jack Jones. The Patriots’ final three choices were defensive tackle Sam Roberts of Northwest Missouri State, center Chasen Hines of LSU and tackle Andrew Stueber of Michigan. Sam Koch has been Baltimore’s punter since 2006, but now he’ll have competition from Stout.
