PATRIOTS VICE PRESIDENT OF PLAYER PERSONNEL RYAN COWDEN
PRESS CONFERENCE
April 25, 2026
Q: How do you think the draft has gone so far?
RC: Yeah, the draft's gone great. Look, it's always an exciting time of the year and it's been a pretty exciting couple days. Every draft's unique, and so this one's had its own unique appeal and situation, so it's been fun. You never really know what to expect, and that's kind of the unique and fun part about it.
Q: Ryan, last time we heard from Mike [Vrabel], he had shared that he would be in communication with you guys, and ESPN said today that communication's been constant. Can you just describe what it's been like and what it's done for the room to still be in touch with Mike during the draft today?
RC: Yeah, our focus – Mike and the organization put out statements about Mike's situation and our support of Mike. I would just say, everything we've done up to this point, our preparation for the draft, has allowed us to operate in a manner just as normally as we would.
Q: I wanted to ask about Dametrious Crownover. Do you guys view him as a right tackle only? Do you think he can move around the offensive line at all? Just, how do you view his flexibility?
RC: Dametrious is a massive individual. He's got great length. He really has some pretty natural pass pro ability. I think ideally, with his size, I mean, both tackle positions. Inevitably the tackle position, it becomes left and right and your ability to play both sides. And I think we think Dametrious can contribute on both sides of the tackle position.
Q: Hey Ryan, this is the second-straight year you guys have drafted two tackles. I guess my first question is just, can you go into detail from your experience of how difficult it is to find young, quality tackles? And how much has that played into you guys being aggressive the last two years in the draft?
RC: Yeah, that's a great point. It is a premium position in our league, the pool of players that can play the position is relatively small and you can never have enough depth I think there. The emphasis we want to talk about or that we do talk about in protecting the quarterback, it starts up front. We've talked about that – I think a year ago we talked about a little bit of an inside-out mentality. When we see talent at the tackle position, I think we're always going to look to add that. As I mentioned before, we kind of always look in free agency in every avenue to try to build the offensive line. And Dametrious presented himself tonight when we were in the draft, it was just a value of a player that we thought we wanted to add into the room.
Q: One more about Mike Vrabel. Is he on a call throughout the entire day with the draft? Is he chiming in from time to time? Just a little more specifics as to his involvement today.
RC: Sure. I think as I stated already, obviously it's public knowledge that Mike was not going to be here today. That's been stated. And as far as his interactions, I think that's part of the stuff that we would keep internal here about how today operated and how we were able to. But we were fully confident that with all the work that we've done and all the preparation that he's aided in throughout today, that we knew today we'd be able to operate in a manner that we can help build his vision of this football team. And I know we have his full support as well as he has ours.
Q: I'm just curious, with your last pick, knowing that linebacker was a need for you guys going in to add some more depth there. What was it about Namdi [Obiazor] that stood out?
RC: With Namdi, he's got an interesting story. He started out at Iowa Western and has really worked his way into a good player at TCU and was at the Senior Bowl and really good testing numbers. And I think as we look at it and we evaluate these guys from a couple of different angles from defensive perspective, a special teams, especially on the third day, our special teams coaches took a look and had a lot of positives to say about Namdi's projections as a special teams player. And that's important at the linebacker position, as you know. So, we thought he fit the profile of that and I'm excited to work with him.
Q: You guys talked a lot about versatility. I'm curious, Karon Prunty, do you guys see any safety versatility with him or is he somebody you just see playing cornerback?
RC: I think those things always will kind of play out as the players get here. I never like to put too many expectations on a player being able to perform multiple roles or down the road stuff. But with Karon, he's a player that was really intriguing to us because of his length, his speed. He's an aggressive player. Again, has an interesting story starting out at Kansas. And he went to North Carolina A&T for a minute and then at Wake Forest. And we brought Karon in on a 30 visit. He did a great job with our coaching staff. He really represented himself in a really professional manner. And we're excited to bring his skill set at the perimeter corner and where it goes from there, I think that will just be once we get on the grass and start to make those. But I think ideally right now he's competing at the corner position.
Q: Hey, Ryan, just hoping you could help me sort of slot out – it seems like you guys are really heavy at tackle now. Is James Hudson [III] going to be inside? Where are you sort of slotting those guys? With Crownover here is [Caleb] Lomu going to work more at left tackle to start? It just seems like it's a crowded tackle room at the moment.
RC: If I would want a room to be crowded, I'll take that as being one room that's crowded just based on what we talked about before and how hard it is to find tackles in the National Football League. Again, a little bit of that was just trusting in the board. When we get to areas in the draft and we have players valued in certain ranges, and with that one we leaned into a guy who, between where we had things stacked, he was one of the better players remaining on our board. So, there was a value there. We don't ever know what's going to happen tomorrow, the next day, so that's why you stick to a concept of the best player available when you pick, even if it, today, looks crowded. That's not going to maybe be the same in a week, two weeks or by the time we get the training camp. So, that's kind of the situation there, Greg [Bedard], is those guys go in a room and compete. And when you take the best player, sometimes it may look crowded on the front end, but those tend to have a way of working out.
Q: On Karon, I know that the media big boards don't matter to you guys, but he was someone who was pretty under the radar, as far as the media is concerned. When did he first hit your radar? And do you have any ideas for why he was kind of under the radar as far as the draft rankings go?
RC: Yeah, we have a no comparisons rule, but I mean, I think a year ago, some guys that we've maybe been interested in in the past haven't always been like popular names or draft mix kind of picks in. And with Karon, from the workout day through the spring process, our visit with him, he was a good player when he got to Kansas. Like I said, I believe he was a Freshman All-American, and then at A&T he was a good player. And he had an interesting path. And look, he's kind of put himself back on the map at Wake Forest. We just kind of go back to the film. We watched the film, our coaches were involved and everybody seemed to like the skillset as we went through the tape. And honestly, it came back to that. We feel like there's a guy with, with height, weight, speed and cover skills, and he's got ball skills. So, that's kind of what we lean on at the end of the day, is our evaluations from our scouting staff, who do a great job pouring into that, and our coaches also, as they watch film on these guys as prospects. And that's kind of the Karon situation and how that came to be.
Q: Just more of a general overview, how important is this third day for what you guys are trying to accomplish and build depth into your roster, but also the undrafted kids that you see, like the [Elijah] Ponders and [Efton] Chism [III]s of the world, how important are these these days for you guys, as far as what you do and building depth along the way?
RC: Yeah, these third days in the post draft that you speak of, it's invaluable really to roster building as I see it. And our scouts, they hustle and they're really doing a great job at trying to recruit here in the post draft as we get close to it. And it's about building. You mentioned the depth part, and I think that's a big part of where we wanted to come into this draft. I know we started with the 11 picks. We made some moves to kind of mash some things on the board. We were able to move there late with Minnesota and add some capital in 2027 even. But it's all about trying to find competition at the back end of the roster. You can never have enough depth. We know that. We were fortunate last year. We were a pretty healthy football team through the 2025 season. You just can't bank on that happening the same way. So, our goal now is to start really building depth with young players who can come in and this coaching staff can really mold into the type of players that we want. So, this depth on day three and this post draft that's getting ready to happen is really important and it's something that's exciting. And our scouts do a great job, along with the coaching staff, of trying to get the right guys in here.
Q: Going back to Karon Prunty, it seemed like when he got to Wake Forest, he played some of the best football of his career. I'm curious, when you're evaluating players, does that say something more to you when a player has a jump in competition and plays, again, in his case, even better ball? And was there anything that he proved at Wake Forest that maybe you weren't sure of from earlier on in his career?
RC: Again, with him, it's interesting because he was at Kansas first, so he did play better – he went to the competition that you speak of. But it started out and his path is a little different, and I'm sure Karon would be happy to share his path as you guys get to meet him. But it is, and I've talked about leaning into the tape. So, as we went back and watched and watched, he's a physical player. He challenges people. I think he plays with a confidence on the football field, which is paramount for the corner position. So, as we watched him over and over and started to dive more into the skill set, we all just kind of came to a consensus that we think there's some developmental traits here to help our football team at the corner position. Like I said, I'm being repetitive, but when he came in on the visit, he really handled himself well. I think there was a collaborative opinion between us and the coaching staff about a vision for the player. We speak about vision all the time, and here's one where we had a an aligned vision, and decided to take the player and try to make him part of our football team.
