Bill Belichick is not afraid to buck convention.
The six-time Super Bowl champion head coach and de facto general manager of the New England Patriots surprised again Thursday night when he selected Chattanooga offensive lineman Cole Strange in the first round.
Strange, who played at the Football Championship Subdivision level, was not expected to be taken in the first round, but he was pulled off the board by the Patriots with the 29th overall pick.
One of those surprised Strange was selected that high: Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay.
"How about that! And we wasted our time watching him thinking he'd be at 104, maybe," the Super Bowl 56 winner quipped during a Rams press conference when Strange was selected by the Patriots.
Belichick justified the pick after the first round, saying that "Cole fits well into our scheme and our system, and obviously, we think he's a good player."
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The longtime Patriots coach also said the team may have still picked Strange if they stuck at No. 21 instead of trading down, and he insisted that Strange "wouldn't have lasted much longer" on the board.
An out-of-the-box pick is hardly new for Belichick. Just two years ago, the Patriots' first pick (at No. 37 overall) was Kyle Dugger out of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne. In 2017, their first pick (at No. 83 overall) was defensive end Derek Rivers out of the FCS' Youngstown State.
