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To paraphrase Jon Steinbeck, the best laid schemes of NFL teams often go awry. The NFL draft is an unpredictable, dynamic system in which a single phone call inevitably fosters wide-ranging ripple effects. While that makes for terrific TV drama, it highlights the difficulty of achieving an organizational agenda.

The New England Patriots have been more fortunate than most in that regard. The Pats have had their fair share of misses like every other team, but Bill Belichick's dogged adherence to extracting value and upside from every draft transaction has given New England an edge over most of the league over the long haul.

With the Patriots roster is full of depth needs after numerous critical free-agent defections, the 2015 draft will likely be as much about short-term impact as long-term value. While the Pats aren't likely to reach for need, it wouldn't be a surprise to see their draft board stacked heavier on certain positions like cornerback, defensive tackle and running back.

A couple of quick notes before we start: These are scenarios for New England's top three picks, but we won't project any trades. So we'll be looking at players the Patriots could take at No. 32, No. 64 and No. 96. It's highly improbable that Belichick won't move around the draft board, but think of this as an exercise in illustrating what type of value the Pats could extract from three distinct strata of the draft.