As the 2016 NFL Draft approaches (April 28-30 in Chicago), predicting what the Patriots will do in a month is harder this offseason than in the past. There are positions that clearly need to be addressed, but with no first-round pick and a cluster of sixth-round selections, this year’s possible picks are harder to forecast.

The Pats will enter April with two picks in the second round and two in the third. It’s a great starting point for a team whose first round selection was taken away due to Deflategate. But after that, they have no fourth- or fifth-round selection.

Thanks to several trades, the team also has five picks in the sixth and two in the seventh round. It’s likely that the Patriots will make several moves during the draft and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team pick in the fourth or fifth round, but at this point, even coach Bill Belichick is unsure how it’ll all unfold.

The Patriots coach touched upon the draft and its uncertainty last week at the NFL’s Annual Meetings.

“At this point, we’re just trying to go through the draft process and learn the players and learn the draft,” Belichick said. “How that matches up to how many and where we pick is something maybe we’ll look at later. I don’t know. You can only move if somebody else wants to move with you. So you can’t just move on your own. We have to always be prepared to be where you are. If opportunity comes up, evaluate it, make a decision at that point.”

When the league docked the Patriots a first-round pick, they also stipulated that if even if the Pats were to trade into the first round, they could pick no higher than 29th. A more likely scenario would be for the team to trade with either Arizona (No. 30), Carolina (31) or Denver (32) if they really want to get into the first round.

But with the team already holding four picks in rounds two and three, it might be easier for the Patriots to trade up in the second round to get someone who falls out of the first. But first, the team needs to figure out its draft board.

At this point, with a month to go, the Patriots are in the midst of their draft evaluations. Last week, when asked what positions in this draft look deep, Belichick said it was too soon to know.

“We’re still working on — we’re still a month away,” he said. “Trying to see a lot of information that will come in for us by the end of the month. Do our draft visits in April. There’s a lot coming together that still needs to happen.”

Each team gets to bring in 30 players to visit its facilities, meet coaches and go over film. Last year, out of the Patriots’ 30 reported player visits, the team drafted only two players — Tre’ Jackson and Shaq Mason.

Two others, Justin Coleman and David Andrews, signed as undrafted free agents and two more, DeAndre Carter and Cedric Thompson, finished the year on the Patriots practice squad.

This year, the Patriots have been linked to hundreds of prospects already. Patriots coaches, scouts and front office personnel have also been seen at various college pro days at Rutgers, Auburn, Northwestern, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Alabama, LSU, Ohio State and Georgia.

Sometimes, Belichick said, a team will bring a certain prospect in just because they weren’t able to fully evaluate him in college, which can happen when an underclassmen declares for the draft.

At the same time, if the Patriots feel good about their evaluations of a player, they might not need to bring him in for an official visit. Belichick said that it always varies.

“Some players you’re probably pretty close to by the end of the season. Others, juniors, who declared who you were expecting to declare or there’s a number of players that have some kind of injury situation in the draft that are coming off of some kind of injury or that effected their season,” Belichick said. “You know, each guy’s different. Everything is different. Yeah probably some things that are fairly, I’d say, in the book. Then there’s a lot of things that aren’t.

“That doesn’t mean that someone who is in the book is any further ahead or behind than anyone else, it’s just you have all the information on them. They’ve played their four-year college career, whatever it is, five years, however long they’re in there. Not much more you’re going to learn about them. It’s probably pretty marginal. And maybe you don’t need to visit a player like that in the draft or bring them in or go see them. There’s other players that’s probably not the same case.”

The Patriots have some holes to fill at tackle, running back, cornerback, defensive tackle and even wide receiver. But with the Patriots, it’s always better to expect the unexpected come draft day.

As Belichick said last week, each draft is different and it’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together.

“This one is different than all the other ones,” he said. “Just try to figure it out.”

‘Pot Roast’ on menu

After losing out on Nick Fairley (who signed with the New Orleans Saints), the Patriots are still in the market for a veteran defensive tackle. On Monday, they brought Terrance Knighton to Gillette Stadium.

The 29-year-old, who is from Hartford, Connecticut, and attended Windsor High School, started 15 games last season for the Washington Redskins. The 6-foot-2, 300-pounder, known as “Pot Roast,” finished with 29 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Knighton has started 96 of 108 games in his seven-year NFL career. Knighton is a known run-stopper who has had 245 tackles and 14 sacks in his career.

He played with the Denver Broncos in 2013 and 2014. In the 2013 AFC Championship game, he made a big, fourth-down sack on Tom Brady in the third quarter. He spent the first four years of his career in Jacksonville.

The Patriots have been searching for added defensive line help after losing Akiem Hicks and Sealver Siliga in free agency. With Fairley in New Orleans, Knighton may be the best free-agent defensive tackle left on the market.