A
New England Patriots
The Patriots won the weekend at the trade table. Grade: A.
by BBB ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 16 picks
· 11 steals
· 4 reaches
The Gabe Jacas selection is the head-turner. The Patriots reached 101 spots for him, and it will define how this weekend is remembered. Very little went wrong, and the A is earned.
Stutsman falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. The phones were where this weekend was really won. They will answer for taking linebacker early while quarterback went begging.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through quarterback.
In the end it comes back to Ashton Jeanty, and a haul good enough to build on right away.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 13 they get an every-down engine for the run game at a price that makes it sweeter.
Good price on Jihaad Campbell in slot 44, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Jalon Walker adds a linebacker and leaves quarterback untouched.
They read the board right and Deone Walker was the payoff at Round 3, Pick 14. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They will replay Tyler Booker at the 88th overall pick for years; that is how good the value is. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
You do not let a cornerback like Darien Porter reach the Round 4 slot and blink. They did not. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Elic Ayomanor at slot 105 is money in the bank, a wide receiver taken below his worth. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Steal is underselling it; Jake Majors at No. 125 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Sonny Styles is a better player than pick 138 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Danny Stutsman in the Round 5 slot, plain and simple. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
They robbed the room for Nicholas Singleton here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A need, and now a little less of one.
Gabe Jacas at pick No. 168 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They talked themselves into J.C. Davis at the 219th overall pick, and the board did not agree. The roster fit checks out.
PJ Williams at the 220th pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Makari Paige this early at slot 238. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Somehow Jake Briningstool was still sitting there in the 241st pick, and they pounced on premier tight end value. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.