C+
New England Patriots
Flashes of a plan, unevenly run, for the Patriots: C+.
by Brendan1 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 4 steals
· 0 reaches
You can draft well and still miss the point. The Patriots did plenty of tidy work and somehow never got around to edge rusher, which was the need that mattered most.
They banked enough surplus on Walker to cover a lot of smaller sins. They gave back a little on the phones for the right to move. The roster is better shaped than it was, with wide receiver chief among the fixes.
It nets out as a middle-of-the-pack haul that neither helps nor hurts much.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 9 they get protection for the quarterback. A clean fit for the roster.
Nice patience on Emeka Egbuka, who had no business lasting to the 36th pick. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Harold Fannin Jr. at No. 37 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. The roster fit checks out.
The board had Jalon Walker higher than the Round 2 slot, and the linebacker fell to them anyway. It adds depth where they could use a little.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Dylan Fairchild at pick 67 is the proof. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Omarr Norman-Lott at Round 3, Pick 7 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A market-rate cornerback, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Darien Porter. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
Jake Majors slipping to slot 103 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
By-the-book stuff, Tahj Brooks at pick 109 squarely in line with his ranking. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.