What Patriots fans can expect from rookies Atonio Mafi and Demario Douglas

What Patriots fans can expect from rookies Atonio Mafi and Demario Douglas originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The New England Patriots were one of two teams, along with the Atlanta Falcons, who coached at the 2023 Shrine Bowl in February.

It was an opportunity for the Patriots to get an up-close look at some intriguing prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft class. They ended up selecting two players from the game -- UCLA guard Atonio Mafi in the fifth round and Liberty wide receiver Demario "Pop" Douglas in the sixth round.

What can the Patriots expect to see from these two rookies in training camp, the preseason and maybe even the regular season?

Our Patriots insider Phil Perry chatted with Shrine Bowl director Erik Galko on the latest episode of the Next Pats Podcast.

Next Pats Podcast: Why Demario Douglas is the Patriots’ rookie receiver to watch | Listen & Follow | Watch on YouTube

The first player discussed was Mafi, an interior offensive lineman who played 28 games at UCLA from 2018 through 2022.

"First off, I joke all the time that Mafi's scouting report is pretty easy. He's 340-plus pounds and can bend his knees and move. And that sounds very simple, but not many human beings in the NFL or in the world can do that," Galko said. "So he's a really natural bender, an athlete for a big guy like that. But he's a guy that used to be a 400-pound nose tackle at UCLA, who the UCLA staff did an unbelievable job ... kind of slowly transitioning into a guard -- not just throwing him out there and having him play, but have him lose the weight in a way that still kept his strength in his body type, and eventually get down to 360, 350 and now in the 340 range to play guard at that level.

"But the way he moves, the way he's able to balance and play at the second level, he plays like a guy who's closer to 290-300 pounds. I think the upside there is still there. He's a guy who is still new to the position a little bit and still has a reason to expect to get a lot better.

"His strides over the last two seasons at UCLA were outstanding. And you go to UCLA's program, they talk about Dorian Thompson-Robinson and their other offensive lineman, Jon Gaines, who are two of the faces of the program there, and they always keep saying, 'But this Mafi guy, he's really talented. He might be the most talented guy, maybe on our whole roster.' And I think that's where the upside is for Mafi, too.

"So I think for a Patriots comparison, he's comparable to Michael Onwenu, the guard they also got on Day 3 (of the 2020 draft) and ended up starting for them early on as well. I think they're a little bit different players, but Mafi can have that same type of impact and it wouldn't shock me at all if Mafi started by the end of his rookie year. I think he's shown that he's extremely coachable and can make huge strides very quickly."

Douglas could make an impact in a few areas. He was a wide receiver for Liberty and caught 79 passes for 993 yards and five touchdowns as a senior last season. He also returned 55 punts and 17 kickoffs in four years at Liberty, so he could feature on special teams as well. Were there any moments and/or plays from Shrine Bowl practices or the game itself that stand out to Galko?

"Yeah, a couple," Galko said. "I think the first day, you know, a lot of buzz was on a different wide receiver, Zay Flowers, coming into the week, but Pop kind of showed that he's very similar to Zay Flowers in that way. I think the first couple days, I think it was a punt return snap where he just made two guys miss really quickly and you saw the twitch, you saw the burst. I think that opened up everyone's eyes right away. I think that Day 1 of all star games is really important for the guys who are good athletes because it's a chance for Pop coming from Liberty, a great program, but not necessarily going into the Alabama's and Georgia's and he's showing the twitch and lateral ability to beat the guys from the Bama's and Georgia's out there on the football field.

"So I think that first day of practice was really impressive. I've known Pop since a year ago when he was the receiver for Malik Willis. I went down there to Liberty and visited with him and he didn't come out of the draft that year, wasn't eligible. But he's a guy we always kind of saved a spot for because we knew how special he was on the field, but also off the field. The coaching staff there raved about him and said, 'Hey, we have to have him make plays for us. We can't have him run this whole diverse route tree. We got to get the ball on screens in quick plays and vertical routes.' But talking to Pop, he wants to get better so bad. He wants to develop as a route runner and really develop that nuance.

"... So along with being a guy that's super twitchy, explosive, can be a returner, can be a receiver, slot receiver, can play outside. Genuinely, he wants to get so much better and has the right football character that it just makes sense that a guy like Bill Belichick would gravitate toward Pop Douglas."

The Patriots have found some pretty good players in the middle to late rounds of the draft in recent years. They selected offensive lineman Michael Onwenu in the sixth round in 2020, they took running back Rhamondre Stevenson in the fourth round in 2021, and they added cornerback Jack Jones in the fourth round in 2022.

It's possible that Mafi and Douglas could be the next players to join this list of quality Day 3 draft picks. They have the talent and work ethic to make a difference in the pros. Now it's all about seizing the opportunity in camp and the preseason.

Also in this episode: Phil Perry gives a recap of OTAs so far, breaks down which wide receivers stood out, and much more.

Check out the latest episode of the Next Pats Podcast on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network, or watch it on YouTube below: