A list of potential draft picks the Patriots have looked at over the last month

(AP Photo)

The Patriots are one of those teams who are completely unpredictable come draft day. Nobody knows for sure what they're going to do until they do it.

They have an annoying habit of taking the best available player instead of drafting for need. Sure, it’s a strategy that’s led to three Super Bowl victories and four AFC championships this decade, but it makes building a mock draft awfully difficult.

Tomorrow (Monday), it’ll be the Patriots’ turn in the Examiner.com mock draft. Yours truly gets to make the pick.

It seems like the Patriots seem to be focusing on the defensive side of the ball in their pre-draft preparation. While that doesn’t necessarily mean anything come draft day, it’s worth noting.

Keeping track of the players the Patriots are reportedly interested in is a full time job. I’ve spent the last six hour going through the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, ESPN, ProFootballtalk.com, NEPatriotsDraft.com, PatriotsGab.com, and a million other web sites trying to put together a draft board based on players in which the Patriots have shown interest.

Turns out, it’s a pretty big and interesting list. So I figured I’d post it here.

Here’s as complete a list of players I can compile that the Patriots have either worked out privately or had in for a pre-draft visit over the last month (if you've read that the Patriots worked out someone I missed, email me at scrowe@gmail.com and I'll update the list):

Cincinnati defensive end/outside linebacker/tight end Connor Barwin
Connecticut cornerback Darius Butler
Connecticut defensive end/outside linebacker Cody Brown
Connecticut quarterback Tyler Lorenzen
Illinois cornerback Vontae Davis
Maryland linebacker Moise Fokou
Maryland cornerback Kevin Barnes
Missouri defensive tackle Evander Hood
Missouri safety William Moore
North Carolina wide receiver Brandon Tate
North Carolina wide receiver Brooks Foster
Northern Illinois defensive end/outside linebacker Larry English
Northern Illinois defensive end/outside linebacker Larry English
Ohio State cornerback/safety Malcolm Jenkins
Oregon safety Patrick Chung
San Jose State defensive end Jarron Gilbert
Tennessee defensive end Robert Ayers
Tennessee defensive end/outside linebacker Robert Ayers
Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee
University of Georgia wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi
Wake Forest linebacker Stanley Arnoux
Webber International cornerback Vince Anderson
West Virginia quarterback/receiver Pat White
Western Illinois linebacker Jason Williams
Western Michigan safety Louis Delmas

Update 4/13/2009:

Patriotsblog.net had a few names that we missed. I've added them below.

Also, reader Leif E Divoll sent in a note saying that the Patriots spent some time with LSU guard Herman Johnson, but I've yet to verify that one.

From Patriotsblog.net:

Wake Forest cornerback Alphonso Smith
San Jose State defensive end Jarron Gilbert
Fresno State tight end McKenna Pascoe
N.C. State runningback Andre Brown
Richmond defensive end/outside linebacker Lawrence Sidbury
Florida State cornerback Tony Carter
Abilene Christian wide receiver Johnny Knox
Penn State guard Rich Ohrnberger
Louisville defensive tackle Adrian Grady
Temple defensive tackle Terrence Knighton
South Florida inside linebacker Tyrone McKenzie
Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith

The Patriots have made their selection in the Official Examiner.com 2009 NFL Mock Draft. The Patriots selected Western Michigan safety Louis Delmas with the 23rd overall pick.

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Questions? Comments? Insults? You can email them to Sean Crowe at scrowe@gmail.com.