#Patriots cut former 3rd round pick TE Devin Asiasi.

Belichick used two 3rd round picks on TE in 2020, one of on Asiasi, and one on Dalton Keene.

Both now released. They *combined* for 5 career catches.

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 30, 2022

Of all the bad draft picks Belichick has made over the years, it boggles my mind how he doesn’t get more heat for these two. Two THIRD round draft picks used on a couple of guys that combined for all of five receptions. Total. Between the two of them. That is a stunningly bad evaluation of talent or allocation of assets, whichever criticism you prefer.

That’s before you even get to the assets the Patriots sent out the door to trade UP to get these two players. The Patriots swapped third round and fifth round picks with the Raiders and sent a fourth rounder to Vegas to trade up to select Asiasi. They then traded two fourth round picks and a six round pick, to the JETS no less, in order to trade up to No. 101 to select Keene.

I mean if you’re a glass half full guy, which I admittedly am not, you can give Belichick credit for trying to aggressively address an area of need. After finishing the 2019 season ranked last in the NFL in TE receptions he immediately went out and targeted two tight ends early in the draft. BUT for whatever reason neither guy cut it in New England and the Pats basically flushed six draft picks for five catches. Insanity.

The reason these gigantic swing and misses should have Belichick taking more heat is because they lead to compounded issues. Clearly he saw these guys weren’t going to cut it pretty early on because less than a year later he opened up Robert Kraft’s checkbook and signed tight ends Jonnu Smith to a $50 million deal and Hunter Henry to a $37.5 million deal. You can argue all you want about the reality of cap space, but when you dump five draft picks on two players that provide zero value and then have to go replace them with $90 million in free agent signings it puts your roster management behind the 8-ball. The simple reality is it’s nearly impossible to build a consistent winner in the NFL if you are missing on your top draft picks like this.