What drafting Karon Prunty in Round 5 means for the Patriots

At 6-foot-1, 190 pounds with 31 3/4-inch arms, Prunty clocked the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds at the Wake Forest pro day. Along with the long speed, he ran the three-cone drill in 6.82 seconds, which would have ranked atop all participating cornerbacks at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine.

A shot on length and fluidity, Prunty added a 33-inch vertical and 10-foot-3 broad jump during the pre-draft process before becoming New England’s first Saturday selection.

He marked the 11th corner taken on the draft’s final afternoon, following Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy, Oregon’s Jadon Canady, Florida’s Devin Moore, Miami’s Keionte Scott, Texas’ Malik Muhammad, Texas A&M’s Will Lee III, Washington’s Ephesians Prysock, Arizona State’s Keith Abney II, Duke’s Chandler Rivers and Stephen F. Austin’s Charles Demmings.

Deepening the boundary depth

New England’s cornerback room will be in the hands of Pro Bowl and All-Pro Christian Gonzalez well beyond his impending fifth-year option. But behind the former No. 17 overall pick, the perimeter depth chart needed deepening following free agency.

Veteran starter Carlton Davis III turned 29 in December and is scheduled to carry $22 million cap hits for 2026 and 2027. And after not being tendered as a restricted free agent, Alex Austin moved on to the Miami Dolphins. The rest of the cornerback group includes slot-covering, punt-returning captain Marcus Jones along with Charles Woods, Kindle Vildor, Marcellas Dial Jr., Brandon Crossley and last year’s “Mr. Irrelevant,” Kobee Minor.

Prunty, who did not frequent Wake Forest’s special teams last campaign, played 90 percent of his downs as an outside corner and made a “30” visit to Gillette Stadium.