Why Cole Strange isn't a terrible pick for the New England Patriots

With the 29th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots selected Chattanooga interior offensive lineman Cole Strange. This was a massive surprise as Strange was projected to be a third-round pick. However, I don’t think it was a terrible pick despite Chad Reuter giving the Pats a D for the selection. Here’s why I believe Strange was a defensible pick despite being picked two rounds earlier than anticipated.

According to 247 Sports, Strange wasn’t an offensive lineman in high school. Rather, he was a 6’4, 250 lbs. defensive end. Coming out of Farragut Academy, he was a two-star defensive end in the class of 2016. Despite being a low-level recruit, he was an outstanding player in high school. He was an All-State selection as a senior, he was the KIL Defensive Player of the Year playing for Eddie Courtney, and he played in the Tennessee-Kentucky Border Bowl, earning Defensive MVP and a spot on the All-Bowl team.

His recruitment was pretty interesting. He committed to Chattanooga in 2015 before decommiting nearly a year later. After decommitting from Chattanooga, he committed to Air Force in 2016 and signed a letter of intent to join the Falcons’ program. For whatever reason, he did not go to Air Force. Instead, he enrolled at Chattanooga just four months after signing his letter of intent to go to Air Force. It’s not publically known how this change occurred, but it’s pretty insane how quickly his plans changed during that year.

He redshirted his first year at Chattanooga, but he was incredible for the rest of his collegiate career. He started six games at left guard in 2017 before becoming the full-time starter in 2018. He played at Chattanooga for five seasons, from 2017 to 2021. This past season he was named an AP third-team All-American.

Since Strange redshirted in 2017 and took advantage of his extra year of eligibility due to Covid-19, he is a very old prospect at 23.6 years old. Combine this with the fact that he wasn’t a highly touted recruit in high school and ended up playing at a small school, and it’s clear to see why he was projected to go in the third round.

There’s more to Strange’s profile, though.

For starters, he is a FREAK athlete. He doesn’t have elite size (he has a below-average size score, and his arms are a bit short), but he killed it at the combine, putting up an RAS of 9.95.

RAS stands for relative athletic score, a metric created by Kent Lee Platte that uses combine and pro-day measurements to grade each player’s athleticism on a scale of 0-10, with zero being the worst and ten being the best. These scores are relative to every player at the same position who has tested since 1987. This means that Strange is in the 99.5th percentile among guards in terms of size and athleticism.

Very few parts of his physical profile aren’t elite. He’s a bit light for a guard, but he makes up for that with elite strength (31 bench reps). His vertical was just ok, but his broad jump was historically amazing.

Then you look at his speed and agility measurements, and it’s hard not to start drooling at these numbers. His 10-yard-split, shuttle, and 3-cone are all truly incredible.

I’m also a big fan of his production. He had a PFF grade of 86.3 in 2021 (2nd among interior offensive linemen in my database) with a pass-blocking grade of 82.1 and a run-blocking grade of 86.4. He is one of just three interior offensive linemen in my database to have a pass-blocking grade and a run-blocking grade of 80+ in 2021.

He isn’t a one-year wonder, though. His PFF grade for the last two years was 79.15, which ranked 6th. He also had a peak PFF grade of 86.3, the fourth-best among interior offensive linemen in my database.

Unfortunately, he had a late breakout (23.6-years-old) and did not declare early. Unfortunately, these are two indicators of future success that he doesn’t meet. Nevertheless, he’s a tremendous athlete who was very productive in college, albeit at a small school.

I get why Cole Strange was projected to be a third-round pick. His current age, level of competition, and breakout age are worrisome, but there’s also a lot to like about his profile. He’s a tremendous athlete with a nice track record in terms of his production. Should the Patriots have traded back or just waited to pick him until the second round? Sure, but I also think Strange is good enough to live up to his draft selection.

He may not have all the indicators of a great pro, but he’s an elite athlete and a good football player, which means something to me. As a member of the Cole Strange fan club, I’m glad that he’ll get a serious opportunity to succeed at the next level.