The Patriots ranked 22nd in average athleticism across their nine-man 2026 draft class. There's a reasonable response to that: who cares? Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf didn't draft based on combine metrics. They drafted based on what fits their scheme and fills immediate roster holes — which is exactly how it should work in May.
Yes, Caleb Lomu came in as a first-round offensive tackle. That's a position where athleticism matters, but not in the abstract way analytics sometimes frame it. What matters is whether Lomu can move laterally against speed rushers, whether he has the ankle flexion to get into his pad level, whether he can sustain blocks on the second level. Those are film questions answered by game tape, not by a 40-time. The combine is data. Football is context.
The deeper issue with ranking draft classes by average athleticism is that it treats all players the same. A seventh-round edge rusher like Quintayvious Hutchins doesn't need to test like a first-rounder. You're looking at different archetypes, different snap counts, different roles. Hutchins might be a scheme fit in Vrabel's system — a pass-rush specialist who understands gap responsibility — and that's worth more than his 40-yard dash time.
Vrabel's system has always prioritized intelligence and technical consistency over raw traits. That philosophy won games in Tennessee. The Patriots' defensive line depth — Joshua Farmer, Christian Barmore, Leonard Taylor III anchoring the middle — was built more on football intelligence than freakish athleticism. Same with the secondary: Carlton Davis III, Marcus Jones, and Christian Gonzalez play with technique and discipline, not just speed.
So yes, this draft class ranked 22nd in athleticism. It also ranked exactly where it needed to rank for what Vrabel is building. That's not a weakness in the draft room. That's evidence of a clear vision.