Alfonzo Dennard, a talented cornerback at Nebraska, did something immensely stupid days before the 2012 NFL Draft: He slugged a cop.

Projected as a 2nd/3rd round pick, his stock plummeted, and Bill “Reclamation Project” Belichick took a gamble on Dennard in the 7th round.

Dennard had a solid year. But the Patriots’ secondary was putrid, so they went out and traded for Tampa’s problem child, Aqib Talib. Patriots fans may think Wes Welker is the team’s primary offseason concern, but I’d say it’s the secondary.

Especially with Dennard being found guilty today of assaulting that cop. He’s looking at potentially six years in prison:

As bars were letting out, Dennard first had an altercation with college student Ben Samani, which officer Ben Kopsa saw.

Kopsa approached Dennard, and during their interaction is when Dennard was accused of hitting the officer. A 17-second video taken by an onlooker was evidence in the case; prosecutors said it was clear on the video that Dennard was the aggressor and punched Kopsa. The defense argued that it was impossible to tell from the video whether Dennard had hit the officer.

It’s a decent draft for cornerbacks, but not a deep one. But yup, from here on out, I’ll be slotting a cornerback to the Patriots in my mock drafts. [Globe]

Related: Nebraska’s Alfonzo Dennard Arrested For Alleged Assault of Police Officer
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