Texas Football: Patriots would be a great fit for Collin Johnson

An under-the-radar landing spot in the 2020 NFL Draft for former Texas football WR Collin Johnson could be the Tom Brady-less New England Patriots.

Early in the 2020 NFL Draft, a deep and impressive wide receiver class took hold. Former Oklahoma Sooners star wideout CeeDee Lamb and the Alabama Crimson Tide superstar combination of Henry Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy all saw their names fall off the board in the top 20 picks in the first round of the 2020 draft.

The first name off the board in the 2020 NFL Draft at the wide receiver position out of the Texas Longhorns football program was breakthrough Devin Duvernay, who was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round (92nd overall). Duvernay would be taken over the towering 6-foot-6 and 220 pound possession receiver Collin Johnson as the first former Longhorn at the position in this draft class.

Day two ended with two former Longhorns off the draft board. Duvernay would land with a number of other Texas Exes. And former Texas senior safety Brandon Jones would go to the lowly Miami Dolphins with the 70th overall pick in the third round of the draft.

A pretty obvious candidate to be the next former Longhorn off draft boards come the start of day three is Johnson. The search to land a true versatile outside receiver can stop for a lot of teams with Johnson. Despite injury issues in the last two years, Johnson is one of the more agile and athletically impressive wideouts of his size and stature.

In the middle of the fourth round, there’s a team looming that could be worth following in pursuit of Johnson. A team that could use an upgrade to the receiving corps, and is picking in the fourth round at No. 125 overall, is the New England Patriots.

The rebuild might be officially underway in due time for the Patriots camp. Tom Brady is out of town, so head coach Bill Belichick will be building from the ground-up again on the offensive side of the ball. Former Auburn Tiger Jarrett Stidham is the projected starting quarterback at the moment, and he’ll be throwing to a trio of wide receivers that look solid.

That trio of projected starting wide receivers for the Patriots includes Mohamed Sanu, Julian Edelman, and N’Keal Harry. But the Patriots are lacking depth in the receiving corps beyond those three. A crew of backups that includes Jakobi Meyers and Damiere Byrd doesn’t inspire much confidence in the Patriots camp.

The Patriots did shore up the tight end position in the third round of the draft, with former Virginia Tech Hokie Dalton Keene (101st overall) and UCLA Bruin Devin Asiasi (91st overall). But there has yet to be a true wide receiver taken by the Patriots.

There likely has to be a quarterback and/or wide receiver selected early in day three of the draft. Although you can’t say the Patriots won’t find a franchise quarterback in day three of a draft roughly 20 years after they picked Brady in the sixth round, they need help to shore up depth at both positions.