B
New England Patriots
The steal of the weekend belongs to the Patriots and Young: B.
by pj_doucette ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 9 steals
· 0 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Zion Young, pick 125, roughly 81 picks past where he belonged.
Job largely done: edge rusher settled and 8 of 8 of the wish list covered. Building through the lines is a philosophy, and they stuck to it.
In short, they left a little better than they arrived, which is the whole idea.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a disruptive interior force, outstanding value to boot. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Joshua Josephs at the 63rd overall pick is money in the bank, a edge rusher taken below his worth. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They will replay Max Iheanachor at pick 95 for years; that is how good the value is. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A edge rusher of that caliber at No. 125 is the definition of value, full stop. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at slot 131 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Somehow Charles Demmings was still sitting there in the 171st pick, and they pounced on premier cornerback value. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
The board fumbled Tanner Koziol all the way to pick No. 191, and they scooped it up. The roster fit checks out.
Beau Stephens at Round 6, Pick 17 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Sawyer Robertson at the 202nd pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Nothing to complain about; Tyren Montgomery went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Seth McGowan in No. 247 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A need, and now a little less of one.