Telegraph file photo by TOM KING Souhegan football coch Robin Bowkett says two is the number -- the Patriots tonight should trade back into the second round of the NFL Draft.

Today is the first national sports holiday of the current COVID-19 pandemic era.

It’s NFL Draft Day. Draft Weekend, for that matter.

Fans both locally and nationwide will be glued to their televisions and cell phones, as the first national live sports event of any consequence (sorry NBA H.o.r.s.e. Fans) in well over a month will take place.

“I said to my wife the other night that that Bulls thing (‘Last Dance’ on ESPN) is probably the highest rated thing of all-time,” Nashua High School North coach Dante Laurendi said. “This will be great. There’s nothing on. This will be the closest thing to live sports we have going on right now.”

It will be different, of course, with all the digital, virtual and video machinations. But as we were grateful that the NFL didn’t cease operating during this time, going through with the start of its league year, free agency, and, of course, now the draft.

So plenty of you will be tuned in tonight, New England Patriot fans, fans of other NFL teams, and sports fans in general. Sure it will be different, but should be fun.

Included in that group will almost certainly be those from the local school football community. Look, we could just tell you what we think the Patriots will do, but why not have some fun and ask those who have to coach the game what they think?

So with that in mind, we asked a sampling of local high school football mentors if they were running the Patriots draft, what they feel they would do. all predicated on the fact they are staying at No. 23 in the first round. We think they will.

First stop, Alvirne’s Tarek Rothe. Rothe admits to being a defensive guy by nature, and in an ideal world he would try to sort out his assets available and trade up to try to snare Clemson hybrid linebacker Isaiah Simmons. “I love that guy,” Rothe said. “He can do a lot of things, and he’s the kind of player that fits the Patriots well. Remember, they lost a lot of guys on defense.”

It’s highly unlikely that the Patriots could reach up and get Simmons, but Rothe says his message is in the theme of that side of the ball.

“Either way, I think I’d have to go defensively,” he said. “Keep things close (in games). Defense is probably the best way to do that. I’m a defensive guy so I’m going defense.”

How about you, Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani? Trisciani has an offensive background, so let’s see.

Surprise.

“I definitely don’t want to pick a quarterback,” Trisciani said. “My vote would be to pick a defensive player – or trade the pick.”

And not trade up – but trade out of the first round. Trisciani says there’s strength in numbers, and even though the Patriots got another fourth rounder in the Rob Gronkowski trade,Trisciani feels they need more draft capital.

“They’re without a second round pick,” he said, “so it makes sense to tradk the pick if I could get (more).”

Trade first, if not, then defense.

We stay in Nashua and move to Nashua South’s Scott Knight, who has two possibilities. He watched the Patriots last season and saw how the right side of their offensive line seemed to struggle. “I think you could really see problems there,” he said. “A lot of those guys weren’t ready to play.”

So with that in mind, Knight says if the Patriots stay at 23 they should go offensive line. If they trade up, he feels they should trade up not for a quarterback, for for a tight end (and this draft is not well stocked at that position). “I would try to trade up and get the best tight end they could,” he said. “But if not, go O-line.”

Ahhh, we continue the offensive theme with North’s Laurendi, himself a former offensive coordinator. Go figure, huh?

“Yeah, I would go offense,” Laurendi said. “There’s a real deep receiver class. They weren’t very explosive offensively last year, and they haven’t really replenished anything offensively. Also, it would depend on how much I liked (second year QB Jarrett) Stidham. That would reflect in the draft if I didn’t make many moves (to trade up.).”

There you go, mark Laurendi down likely for a receiver – and there just might be one at 23.

Next we go to Merrimack. Tomahawks head coach Kip Jackson has always made it known he is not the dictatorial type, and really believes in decisions by committee, so he has consulted with his front office, er, coaching staff. “Trade the first round pick or draft the best available o-lineman,” he said via text. “Especially if they think Stidham is the real deal.” Another staffer, he said, feels they would draft help up front, either the offensive or defensive line. There you go. The Tomahawks would go big. They’d probably love to do that with their own team, too.

A lot of thought was put into this by Souhegan High School coach Robin Bowkett. He gets our vote for being a thorough general manager.

“Trade out and move back in the second round, and acquire a 2021 first rounder,” Bowkett said he not only would do but also feels that’s exactly what will happen.

And then what? He has two players he would chose with that second rounder.

“I think they would still get their guy of FAU tight end Harrison Bryant, who is a big body with a big catch radius, or ‘Bama safety Xavier McKinney, who’s a physical smart safety, whom Belichick loves.

“That’s what I would do – as a ‘In Belichick We Trust’ disciple.”

Last we turn to general manager-in-waiting Glenn Costello, whose day job is coaching the Campbell High School Cougars. Costello is always an out-of-the-box thinker, and he also suggests that he would make a trade out of the first round and back into the second round. Why? So the Patriots can draft former Alabama and Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts.

“He’s a proven winner,” Costello said. “Hurts is talented enough and can at least alleviate (with mobility) some of the pressure. He’s consistently won. The Patriots don’t have a second rounder,and if I’m Bill Belichick, that’s what I would do.”

A lot of different answers, ideas. Now, what do we think will happen? We say the Patriots will stay at No. 23 and draft one of four positions: defensive line, safety, offensive line or linebacker. To go out on a limb, either Fresno State offensive lineman Netane Muti or Missouri defensive tackle Jordan Elliott.

But really, let’s see if any of our would be local general managers hit on their moves.

“I’ll certainly be watching it very closely,” Trisciani said.

He and the rest of the country. Heck, maybe the world.

Happy Draft Day and Draft Weekend.

Tom King may be reached at 594-1251 or tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).