Patriots use NFL draft to replace departed legend

Draft day marked the start of a new era in New England.

The Patriots went into the 2020 NFL draft knowing they would have to replace a franchise legend who had been with the team that drafted him well over a decade and helped win multiple Super Bowls.

So the Patriots selected Marshall’s Justin Rohrwasser as the heir-apparent to kicker Stephen Gostkowski, whose time with the franchise is done after setting a multitude of records over 14 seasons.

They did not take a quarterback.

Despite the loss of the most decorated signal-caller in NFL history in free agency, the Patriots were only team in the AFC East not to draft one to begin their difficult quest of replacing Tom Brady.

They do have a new kicker to replace Gostkowski, who spent much of the season on injured reserve and was released last month.

Much like the quarterback position for the Patriots, New England has enjoyed remarkably low turnover at kicker.

Rohrwasser could become just the third player to kick in a Week 1 game for New England since 1996, following Adam Vinatieri (‘96-2005) and Gostkowski (2006-2019).

Rohrwasser began his college career at Rhode Island before finishing at Marshall, where he was named Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Year. He was selected with the 159th pick overall in the fifth round after an impressive pro day on March 11 that saw his only miss come from 66 yards.

He doesn’t come without controversy. He was asked more about his arm than his leg after he was selected on Saturday.

Rohrwasser has a tattoo of the far-right gun advocacy paramilitary group Three Percenters near the elbow on his left arm. He says he got the tattoo without researching the meaning and said he plans to have it covered.

“I got that tattoo when I was a teenager,” he said on a conference call. “I have a lot of family in the military. I thought it stood for a military support symbol at the time.”

Kickers and punters are often novelty picks during the draft. ESPN analysts declared Rohrwasser was the first player selected for whom there were no available highlights to show on the broadcast.

Rohrwasser wasn’t alone, though. The Bills selected kicker Tyler Bass from Georgia Southern in the sixth round and the Jets grabbed Texas A&M punter Braden Mann three picks later.

Atlanta picked punter Sterling Hofrichter in the seventh round shortly before the Rams took kicker Sam Sloman.

Quarterback is a far more marquee position and plenty were selected on the draft’s final day.

The Saints, Vikings, Titans, Cowboys, Jaguars, Bills and Colts all picked one in the final four rounds. The Jets also took one with a pick they acquired from New England.

Yet the Patriots chose to stand pat with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer on the roster for now, though New England director of player personnel Nick Caserio said early Saturday the team would add another player at the position at some point.

“We’re going to have a third quarterback on our roster, pair them up with Jarrett and Brian,” he said on a conference call after the third round. “There’s still some players I think that have a possibility of ending up on this team. There’s different ways that you can get the players on your team. We’re going to have another player here at this position. Where he comes from and how he gets here is sort of yet to be determined.”

In addition to the kicker, the Patriots selected a tight end, two guards, a center and a linebacker on Saturday. It’s unclear if any of them can throw the ball.

LSU had a player who can spin it pretty well in Joe Burrow picked first overall on Thursday, which feels like months ago. The Tigers had four more players selected on Saturday to tie the 2004 Ohio State Buckeyes with 14 total players selected in a seven-round draft. Ohio State and Michigan each followed with 10.

None of those teams had a kicker or punter selected, though LSU long snapper Blake Ferguson went to Miami in the sixth round. That continued a tradition of exactly one long snapper being selected every year in the draft since 2015 after a six-year stretch of none being selected.

Another insane streak came to an end. No USC defensive player was picked in the draft for the first time since 1967.

That seems like the last time the Patriots were looking for a quarterback.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.