The New England Patriots continue hosting draft prospects at Gillette Stadium, with four players in town on Monday alone. Among them was yet another edge defender, the fifth confirmed visit from that position group: Auburn’s Keyron Crawford.
Crawford, 22, is no stranger to meeting with the Patriots after already spending time with their representatives at the Scouting Combine in late February.
Standing at 6-foot-4, 253 pounds with 32-inch arms and athleticism that jumps out on tape, Crawford looks
the part of an NFL-caliber edge. However, his production at Arkansas State and Auburn did not: in his four combined college seasons, he registered only 12 sacks, five of them coming after he transferred to Auburn in 2024.
Him still being a fairly raw player contributed to those fairly modest numbers. Crawford, after all, only started playing football during his senior season in high school, meaning he is entering the NFL with only five years and 58 total games of experience in the sport.
Projected as a Day 2 selection in the draft, Crawford would add some developmental potential to a Patriots edge group currently headed by veterans Harold Landry and Dre’Mont Jones. He also would bring a speed element the team is looking for.
Crawford is the fifth known edge to visit the Patriots so far in this pre-draft cycle. The rest of the group consists of George Gumbs Jr. (Florida), Romello Height (Texas A&M), R Mason Thomas (Oklahoma) and Zion Young (Missouri).
“That’s an area that we’re looking to improve the depth on the roster,” Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said on Monday.
