The New England Patriots might be giving away their positional target at No. 14 overall in next month’s 2023 NFL Draft with some of their combine interviews this week.

The Patriots have met with Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr., Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez, South Carolina’s Cam Smith and Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes Jr., all of whom are listed as Top 50 prospects in draft rankings, per various reports from Mark Daniels and Chris Mason of MassLive.com. Alabama’s Brian Branch also met with the Patriots. He’s been listed at safety and slot cornerback.

The Patriots have always valued having a top cornerback in their defense from Ty Law to Asante Samuel, Darrelle Revis, Malcolm Butler, Stephon Gilmore and JC Jackson. They also selected Devin McCourty in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft before moving him to safety.

New England took cornerback Marcus Jones in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft and Jack Jones one round later. Both had solid rookie seasons. The Patriots also have cornerbacks Jalen Mills, Shaun Wade, Quandre Mosely and Rodney Randle on their current roster. Cornerbacks Jonathan Jones and Myles Bryant are free agents.

Jonathan Jones moved from his usual role in the slot to outside last season. It was a mostly successful transition, though he did struggle against some of the NFL’s top wide receivers. Porter, Gonzalez, Smith, Forbes and Branch all have better size and length than Jones at 6 feet and over.

Typically, it’s not wise to look too deeply into combine meetings. NFL teams meet with nearly every prospect at some point in the draft process, but the Patriots have a major need at cornerback, and many of the players they’re meeting with are slotted to go right around where New England is selecting in the first round.

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