1 week Ago By Oliver Thomas
Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The final round brought arrivals at No. 220, No. 251 and No.
257 overall. The last round brought three last calls for the New England Patriots.The war room in Foxborough closed out the 2025 NFL draft by selecting Missouri offensive tackle Marcus Bryant at No.
220 overall, Vanderbilt long snapper Julian Ashby at No. 251 overall and Memphis cornerback Kobee Minor at No. 257 overall.
Here’s an initial look into why and what’s ahead after Saturday.No. 220: A physically imposing double-dip in Marcus Bryant, OT, MissouriA Missouri offensive tackle had been in the conversation to be chosen by the Patriots in the first round.
Yet in the seventh round, it would be Armand Membou’s teammate along the bookends who got the call from Gillette Stadium instead.Bryant, who will turn 23 in June, started all 13 games on the left side of the line last season for the Tigers and stayed in for 975 snaps. Prior to the joining the SEC, the 2023 first-team All-AAC selection spent four years at Southern Methodist.
His collegiate career spanned 55 appearances, including 42 starts and time on the right side.It marks a double-dip at the position for New England after turning to LSU’s Will Campbell at No. 4 overall.
A very large one.The 6-foot-7, 320-pound Bryant carries 34 5/8-inch arms and a 83 1/8-inch wingspan. There’s athleticism to marry with the frame as a developmental NFL swing option.
He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.97 seconds and checked in with a Relative Athletic Score of 8.96, ranking 57th out of more than 1,500 tackle prospects tested from 1987 to 2025.
No. 251: Competition for a captain in Julian Ashby, LS, VanderbiltTrading back from No. 228 overall with the Kansas City Chiefs, Mike Vrabel, Eliot Wolf, Ryan Cowden, Matt Groh & Co.
were not ready to head home. The war room was ready to go long snapper.Ashby, at No.
251, became the first to be drafted since Alabama’s Thomas Fletcher and Michigan’s Camaron Cheeseman in 2021. The Vanderbilt product is now set to compete with 33-year-old Patriots special teams captain Joe Cardona, whose tenure dates back to the fifth round of the 2015 draft and stands as the longest on an overhauled roster.The 6-foot-1, 231-pound Ashby graduated from Furman with a degree in physics after handling 363 snaps over three campaigns as a Paladin.
He went on to be a semifinalist for the Patrick Mannelly Award, given to the nation’s top long snapper, with Commodores last fall.The SEC stint saw Ashby appear in all 13 games, record tackles against Kentucky and South Carolina, and execute 114 snaps.No.
257: A flier on a non-free agent in Kobee Minor, CB, MemphisThe last member of a Patriots draft class of 11. The last member of an NFL draft class of 257. Minor is “Mr.
Irrelevant.”Priority free agency ended before it began for the 5-foot-11, 188-pound cornerback, whom New England did not want to outbid other clubs’ offers to land Saturday night. Minor tallied 38 tackles for Memphis in 2024 while having a hand in six pass breakups, two sacks and two forced fumbles.
A well-traveled redshirt senior, Minor spent three seasons at Texas Tech before transferring to Indiana for one season, where he made nine starts and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition from the conference’s coaches and media panel.Minor ran 40-yard dash in 4.56 seconds during the pre-draft process and tacked on a 36-inch vertical and 10-foot broad jump.
He checks in as the Patriots’ lone late-April investment at corner..
