Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots decided to pull a Phil Helmuth for the 2017 NFL Draft and just stroll in much later than everyone else. The Pats traded their first-round pick to the Saints in the Brandin Cooks trade, meaning they didn't have a selection available at No. 32 overall.
The Patriots also traded their second-round pick to the Panthers for Kony Ealy and Carolina's third-round pick (No. 72 overall). Then New England traded that pick and No. 200 to the Titans in a draft-day deal to Tennessee for No. 83 and No. 124 so the Titans could come up and get Taywan Taylor out of Western Kentucky.
Fast forward to No. 83, more than halfway through the through the freaking third round of the draft -- the latest ever for a defending Super Bowl champion to make its first pick, according to ESPN's Trey Wingo -- and the Pats were on the clock.
New England promptly took defensive end Derek Rivers out of Youngstown State, one of the top pass rushers remaining on just about every single board.
Pete Prisco is a fan of the pick, giving the Patriots a B+ for the move.
"Some scouts liked him as a first-round talent, others didn´t like him much at all. I think he´s going to a good spot to learn," Prisco said.
If Rivers is a first-round talent ... well, the really, really, really ridiculously rich Patriots just got richer. Even if he's a second-round talent, the Pats made out like bandits.
Rivers probably needs to work on his all-around game, but he did leave Youngstown State with 41 sacks in his career. Not too shabby.
The Patriots would then trade up to No. 85 (giving the Lions No. 96 and No. 144) and grab another small-school prospect, Antonio Garcia, a tackle out of Troy.
Prisco is lukewarm on the move, giving the Pats a B-.
"Nate Solder is in the last year of his contact," Prisco wrote. "This is a depth pick."
Garcia got a Jared Veldheer comp from NFL.com's Lance Zierlein, which would be a steal if he developed into that sort of player.
So let's recap the Patriots' draft night, which features them trading or giving away via NFL punishment literally every single one of their original picks.
You think they're not doing a whole lot and there's Bill Belichick and Co., just hammering out deal after deal after deal, while moving down and accumulating more and more picks.
Of course, they did get slightly hosed on the Deflategate pick, because they had to forfeit a higher pick than expected due to the Cooks trade.
Plus they got talent. The Patriots just keep winning everything.