The New England Patriots’ pre-draft process will look quite a bit different next year. Not only will long-time research director Ernie Adams no longer be part of the operation, the team has also recently parted ways with its West Coast area scout.
According to a report by Neil Stratton, the Patriots and Jonathan Howard have mutually decided to move in different directions.
Howard is coming off his eighth season with the team, and his sixth as a member of the college scouting department. He originally joined the Patriots as a scouting assistant in 2013; two years later he was promoted to area scout first in Greater Boston and later on the West Coast.