Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was almost drafted by the New England Patriots in the 2010 draft. The Patriots worked out Bryant twice and according to NESN's Jeff Howe head coach Bill Bellichick did a lot of homework on Bryant:
"We definitely did our work on Bryant," Belichick said. "I think the things that we see -- he's a big receiver, a strong guy, hard to match up on outside, hard guy to tackle after the catch. He's got, like a lot of these receivers, it seems like we see one every week that have outstanding size or they're very strong. They have great reach, and even if you have them covered, you really don't have them covered because of their length, and their ability to either body up the defender, or just out-jump them or out-reach them for the ball. He's definitely in that category and a hard guy to tackle when he gets the ball in his hands."
The Patriots had the 24th pick in the draft but swapped picks with the Cowboys to acquire, and that allowed the Cowboys to take Bryant with the 24th pick. The Patriots ended up selecting cornerback Devin McCourty with the 27th pick. Had the Patriots drafted Bryant, it would be scary to think of how good Bryant could be by catching passes from Tom Brady.
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