New England Patriots: Analyzing Recent Workout for Louisville CB Johnny Patrick

The New England Patriots held a private workout early Saturday morning for Louisville cornerback Johnny Patrick. 

Bill Belichick and the Patriots staff have attended multiple pro days and conducted numerous amounts of private workouts, and none of them mean New England has legitimate interest in the respective player. 

Patrick is coming out of Louisville as a senior and has gone very much unnoticed throughout his college career. With Patrick not being a "household" name, could he be higher on the Patriots draft board than other teams?

2011 NFL Combine Results

40-yard dash: 4.59

Bench press: 13

Vertical jump: 32

Broad jump: 9'2"

Strengths

Patrick had a very productive 2010 season at Louisville, in which he recorded 49 tackles and five interceptions.

Playing in all four years at Louisville, Patrick fought his way into the starting lineup every year and performed fairly well. 

Patrick is an extremely physical corner, and does not back down when matched up against a taller or bigger receiver. However, standing at 6'0", I'd say he matches up better than the majority of other corners who are a tad bit shorter than Patrick. 

He displays great read-and-play diagnosis, and comes up very fast when he reads the run. 

He fits zone coverage better than man, due to the fact that he likes to "bait" quarterbacks and has the ability to read the quarterback's eyes. 

Weaknesses

Patrick was arrested in July of 2010 for a misdemeanor assault after allegedly throwing a woman to the ground. Despite Patrick's incident in July, he hasn't committed any other crimes, according to sources. 

Despite playing very physically, he can be thrown around by bigger receivers, because he only weighs 191 lbs.

His style of play of "baiting" the quarterback by reading his eyes and playing off of the receiver has come back to bite him on occasion—it's a high-risk gamble.

Patrick will need to add muscle and speed to become a starting cornerback at the next level.

Conclusion

With Patrick's questionable character, on top of his weaknesses, he will be considered a gamble. 

Many draft experts have Patrick falling to the second or third round, and I wouldn't advise New England to waste one of its two second-round picks on Patrick. 

I don't see Patrick playing much his rookie season, especially with his subpar speed that wouldn't be good enough for an NFL team's special teams.

Patrick did play extremely well in the Big East at Louisville, but he's got too many question marks to be a second-round choice.

NOTE: This article was first seen at PatriotsPlus.net. Be sure to follow Tony Santorsa on Twitter @  TonySantorsa.