The New England Patriots haven’t had the most valuable of draft picks over the past couple of decades. Winning championships and regularly finishing as one of the best teams in the league has forced the team to consistently make picks in the late-20s, and often traded down and out of the first round. In fact, the only top-10 pick that the Patriots have made since 2001 was when they selected Jerod Mayo, who is now the team’s head coach, with the 10th overall in 2008.
Patriots “Really” Want To Draft A Quarterback
𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗦: The #Patriots are “leaning heavily” towards keeping their third pick and taking a quarterback, per @jeffphowe
It’ll likely be between whoever the #Commanders don’t take at number 2. pic.twitter.com/9BxmM0izzO
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) February 29, 2024
But that will change in 2024, and rumor has it that the team will do what it can to bring in a highly-touted quarterback prospect.
New England has fallen on hard times over the past couple of seasons. The Mac Jones experiment proved to be a failure, and the team’s shortcomings were enough to put perhaps the greatest coach of all time out of a job. For their troubles, the Patriots will be granted the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, one that is proving to be valuable with all of the elite talent at the top of the class.
According to a report from Chad Graff and Jeff Howe of The Athletic, New England “really wants to draft a quarterback” with their first rounder, and there should be one available. Throughout this year’s draft process, there has been a definitive top-2 when it comes to QB talent at the top of the board, with Caleb Williams and Drake Maye widely projected to be the first two selections.
But Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels has been climbing up the boards in recent weeks, and there is a real possibility that the Patriots select him if he is available at #3. And if he isn’t, then that would mean that they’d have the chance to pick Maye.
Options Are Limited After Top Draft Picks
𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧: The #Patriots plan at Quarterback is to add a veteran AND draft a rookie at #3, with the possibility of sitting that rookie quarterback in 2024, per @ByMarkDaniels
Mac Jones is also on his way out.
Read More Here: https://t.co/rnR79G8Rmu pic.twitter.com/TzrqAiDthI
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) February 29, 2024
If New England doesn’t select a signal caller in the first round, the options going forward would likely be thin. The Patriots won’t pick again until the second round, which may be too late for even the second wave of QB selections that come off of the board. And as for the free agent market, they’d be looking at Kirk Cousins along with guys like Ryan Tannehill and Baker Mayfield.
Being that it is his first year on the job, Mayo will likely look to bring in a young quarterback prospect to grow with, much in the way that DeMeco Ryans did with CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans last season.
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