Caserio talks personnel at 'Speaker Series'

* Second-round draft choice Patrick Chung, the team's top pick at 34th overall, wowed the Patriots in his 15-minute interview at the NFL combine.

* The Patriots felt fortunate that cornerback Darius Butler was available 41st overall, as after an impressive Pro Day workout they thought he would have been selected earlier.

* Of the team's 12 draft picks, 10 either had a pre-draft visit to Gillette Stadium or were privately worked out by members of the team's coaching or scouting staff.

* The Patriots were considering five different trade possibilities for the 26th overall draft choice.

* Defensive lineman Ron Brace (40th overall) was valued highly by the team because players with his physical makeup (6-3, 330 pounds), strength, and position flexibility are hard to find.

* Darryl Richard, a seventh-round draft choice out of Georgia Tech, had the highest Wonderlic intelligence test score of any Patriots draft pick this year.

* Outside linebacker is one of the toughest positions for the Patriots to evaluate players who fit their scheme because there aren't many 6-foot-5 players who have long reach and can run the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds

* The Patriots didn't have many suitors for quarterback Matt Cassel in a trade.

The 33-year-old Caserio, one of the NFL's up-and-coming personnel executives whose responsibilities continue to evolve since Scott Pioli left the team to become Kansas City Chiefs general manager, entertained a crowd of about 50 at the ticketed event at the team's Hall of Fame.

He took questions throughout the 90-minute presentation, at one point answering a direct query as to why the team didn't select an outside linebacker in April's draft despite having an apparent need after trading Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs.

"I think we've got players on our team that we feel good about, between A.D. [Adalius Thomas], Pierre [Woods], we signed Tully Banta-Cain, Shawn Crable didn't have an opportunity to play last year . . . " Caserio said, before noting that things could always change before the team plays a game in September. "We looked at our team as it was currently configured, and we felt comfortable with those guys. They've got different levels of experience. Some have played at a higher level than others."

Caserio detailed the structure of the team's personnel department as well as the overall scouting process for college players, going through each step from May to April. He explained how the team's scouts are already on the road working toward the 2010 draft.

He then showed highlights of each of the team's draft picks, explaining what drew the Patriots to the player.

Chung, for example, had consistent grades from his junior year through his senior season, which gave the Patriots more of a comfort level in selecting him. His physicality, intelligence and versatility were all assets, before he put the exclamation point on his resume in his 15-minute interview with the Patriots at the NFL combine in February.

"That made an impression," Caserio recalled. "After 15 minutes, we were ready to run through a wall. It was like 'sign me up.' . . . This is one of these guys, the more you're around him, you like what you see."

Brace, who played up the road at Boston College, stood out for other reasons.

"He's huge, this guy is big, and he's wide," Caserio said. "I think the thing about Ron is that he's played the nose, he's played some '3' technique, he has a little bit of versatility. He has good playing strength. It's hard to find these kinds of guys. We have a hard time, because of our system and what we do, finding guys who actually fit. So when you find a guy that has some of the qualities you like, you have to prepare to take them."

Caserio lauded the other team's draft picks such as calling offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger (4th round) a "bulldog" who wants to "knock your teeth off".

At one point, he was asked about criticism that the Patriots didn't receive enough in return for trading quarterback Matt Cassel.

"Let's just say there weren't a lot of suitors," he responded. "We'll just leave it at that."

Mike Reiss can be reached at mreiss@globe.com.