{"id":640695,"date":"2026-04-30T14:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640695\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T14:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:15:15","slug":"robert-spillane-reacts-to-patriots-lone-lb-pick-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640695\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Spillane reacts to Patriots&#8217; lone LB pick in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/Patriotswire.usatoday.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New England Patriots;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;New England Patriots&quot;}\" class=\"link \">New England Patriots<\/a> linebacker <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl\/players\/31708\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Robert Spillane;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Robert Spillane&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Spillane<\/a> had high praise for rookie linebacker Namdi Obiazor on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in front of the media after the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/new-england-patriots\/348\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Patriots;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Patriots&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Patriots<\/a>\u2019 voluntary offseason program activities on Tuesday, Spillane lauded Obiazor for the physical gifts that he possesses coming into the league.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s an exciting young player,\u201d Spillane said. \u201cI look at his Instagram when he got drafted. Fast, physical, really determined. He\u2019s an exciting young player who I\u2019m really grateful I\u2019ll get to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Obiazor recorded two sacks and two interceptions in 2025 at TCU. He also forced a fumble on the year.<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl\/teams\/minnesota\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Minnesota;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Minnesota&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota<\/a> native was the only linebacker that the Patriots selected in the draft this year. <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl\/teams\/new-england\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:New England;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;New England&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New England<\/a> prioritized offensive linemen as well as edge rushers in the draft.<\/p>\n<p>With <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl\/players\/33778\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Christian Elliss;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Christian Elliss&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christian Elliss<\/a> approaching the final year of his two-year, $13.5 million deal with New England in 2026, Obiazor has the potential to see meaningful time playing next to Spillane in the Patriots\u2019 second line of defense beginning in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Patriots Wire on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Patriots_Wire?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Twitter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Twitter&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PatriotsWire\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Facebook&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/patriotswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/patriots\/2026\/04\/30\/robert-spillane-reacts-patriots-lone-linebacker-pick-nfl-draft\/89845521007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Robert Spillane reacts to Patriots&#039; lone LB pick in 2026 NFL Draft;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Robert Spillane reacts to Patriots&#039;&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Robert Spillane reacts to Patriots&#8217; lone LB pick in 2026 NFL Draft<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New England Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane had high praise for rookie linebacker Namdi Obiazor on Tuesday. Speaking in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,156785,5387,310245,5384,1231,593,310246,190374,85],"class_list":["post-640695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-christian-elliss","tag-minnesota","tag-namdi-obiazor","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-physical-gifts","tag-robert-spillane","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}