The New England Patriots were big fans of the Rutgers football program during the 2013 NFL Draft. The team had just seven picks yet spent three of those picks on players that went to Rutgers.
Two of those players were defensive backs, Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon. The duo turned into key cogs on the Patriots Super Bowl teams of the mid-late 2010s and found ways to impact the game with their ball skills.
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That said, when preparing for the 2013 NFL Draft, they had a little bit of an advantage over the competition. As Ryan detailed on a recent episode of Devin and Jason McCourty's "Double Coverage" Podcast, Ryan used his connections to the NFL defensive backs to "finesse" the Patriots a bit.
We finessed the Patriots because I called Dev (Devin McCourty) after I saw his Pro Day, me and Du (Duron Harmon) were doing the Pro Day workout in the weight room like two-a-days. You know me, I'm a worker. So after we would lift in the summer, at six or seven at night, we'd go back to the weight room and do the Pro Day workout all year. So, we were doing them drills all year.
The preparation would pay off for Ryan and Harmon. The Patriots held a private pre-draft workout with the draft-eligible Rutgers players, and Ryan was able to get the inside scoop from McCourty about what the workouts would entail so he knew how to prepare for them.
I knew the Patriots' warm-up drills. So, me and Du were practicing these drills all week, and so when Bill [Belichick] comes, I'm like shirt off, eight-pack, catching the ball one-handed, sprinting back, I'm in great shape. I know all the drills. Like, 'Oh yeah, yeah, I know that drill.' 'You ever do it before.' 'No, I've never did it.' Do the drill with my eyes closed.
I was just working. And straight up, Dev would tell me, 'Oh Dev, what's it like? What's this? What's that? What do they like to see?' And me and Du both get drafted in the third round, we both go up there, and the rest is history. But we were working those drills for a year and it paid off.
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While the finessing paid off for Ryan and Harmon, it benefited the Patriots, as well.
Ryan was a versatile player on the team's defense and played in every game over the course of his four years with the Patriots. He intercepted 13 passes and held his own on the back end. He was key during the Patriots' Super Bowl victory over the Atlanta Falcons and actually tied for the team lead in tackles with six.
As for Harmon, he spent seven years with the Patriots serving as a reliable backup safety and logged 17 interceptions for the squad. He was traded to the Detroit Lions this offseason in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The Patriots ended up trading that selection to move up and draft tight end Devin Asiasi.
Needless to say, neither side would trade those selections based on how things turned out. Ryan and Harmon may not be with the team now, but they've each had very productive NFL careers and did a lot to help the Patriots win a few Super Bowls this decade.