"I think that they'll take the best player available," Brandt said. "Last year the best player was (Malcom Brown) from Texas and he fell to them, a pretty good player."

Meanwhile, former Tampa Bay general manager Mark Dominik, who's attending the combine in his role an ESPN analyst, has a very specific position in mind for New England.

"I think this is a year where Bill Belichick decides, 'Okay, I'm going to go back and draft a running back, maybe in the second or third round again,'" Dominik speculated, envisioning a scenario similar to 2011, when the Patriots chose Shane Vereen (second round) and Stevan Ridley (third) back-to-back.

"Dion Lewis and James White, I think they're really good in their roles. But they need that every-down back, the kind of guy that they can trust to can catch the ball out of the backfield, that can protect and kind of do everything. This feels like a good class where they can maybe steal one in the second round."

Dominik spoke just as running backs were taking the field for their workout inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

"What they're going to want to see is who can catch the ball," Dominik said. "Who's the guy who isn't (Alabama's Derrick) Henry, who's not going to be there and obviously, (Ohio State's) Ezekiel Elliot, he's not going to be there at (pick) 32, let alone 60.

"I think they're really watching today to see who catches the ball. And from the interviews they've had these last couple of days (wondering), "Who do we feel is smart enough to handle the volume of what we ask them to do in Josh McDaniels' offense?' Once they find that, especially from the intelligence aspect, then it's about who catches the ball real naturally out here. I think that's what the Patriots are going to be heavily watching, and that's what I'd be watching too."