B
New England Patriots
Grand theft in the Round 4 slot: the Patriots steal Stowers and grade out a B.
by pj_doucette ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 9 steals
· 0 reaches
The Patriots did not reach, did not trade up, did not blink. They just waited, and Eli Stowers fell into pick No. 125. The bottom line is a respectable B.
A whole weekend of picks and interior defensive lineman is somehow still a want. The offense got the lion's share of the attention.
In short, they left a little better than they arrived, which is the whole idea.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 31st pick they get a building block for the line at fair value. A clean fit for the roster.
Steal is underselling it; R Mason Thomas at pick 63 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Emmanuel Pregnon at slot 95 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
The board fumbled Eli Stowers all the way to the 125th overall pick, and they scooped it up. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Value with a capital V on Bryce Lance in No. 131, a genuine coup. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They robbed the room for Jalon Kilgore here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They barely believed it either: Louis Moore still on the board at Round 6, Pick 10. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A slide stopped in pick No. 198, with Taylen Green worth more than the price. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Jeff Caldwell in the Round 6 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They took Jeremiah Wright at par in pick No. 212, which is nothing to complain about. A need, and now a little less of one.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Jimmy Rolder in Round 7, Pick 31, plain and simple. A minor need, but a need all the same.