Josh Edwards of CBS Sports projected D’Angelo Ponds to the New England Patriots with the 63rd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday morning, putting the Indiana cornerback in line to hear his name near the start of Day 2. The Patriots still held the second-last pick in the second round after trading up in the first round for offensive tackle Caleb Lomu out of Utah.
Ponds, who is 5-foot-9, was coming off a season in which he finished with 60 tackles, 10 pass defenses, two interceptions and one forced fumble. Edwards wrote that he could be the next undersized cornerback in the mold of Trent McDuffie, with the flexibility to play outside or over the slot.
That evaluation carried extra weight because Ponds spent two years at Indiana after one season at James Madison and was a key part of a defense that helped the Hoosiers win a national championship. On Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, he was still celebrating after the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, and by Friday he was being linked to a team that had already made a major move to protect its own future.
The fit makes sense on paper, but the size question has not gone away. Edwards said Ponds played bigger than his frame and held his own against talented Big Ten receivers, which is exactly the sort of trait that can move a prospect up boards when teams are looking for corners who can survive in space and handle multiple assignments.
If the Patriots follow this path, Ponds would join a draft class already shaped by an aggressive first-round trade-up and by the urgency of filling needs quickly. For a player who has already answered questions at every stop, the next one is whether a 5-foot-9 corner can turn a strong college résumé into a place on an NFL roster.
