B
New England Patriots
Best value of the weekend goes to the Patriots for Wheatley: B.
by pj_doucette ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 16 picks
· 12 steals
· 0 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Zakee Wheatley, pick 171, roughly 82 picks past where he belonged.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through running back. They went 7 of 8 on their needs, which is most of what a draft is for. They trusted the board more than the depth chart.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 31 they get a quarterback's worst nightmare at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
The board fumbled Chris Johnson all the way to pick 72, and they scooped it up. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Eli Stowers in the Round 4 slot is a gift, value that borders on unfair. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Somehow Jake Slaughter was still sitting there in No. 110, and they pounced on premier offensive lineman value. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Josiah Trotter at the 125th overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
A wide receiver of that caliber at slot 131 is the definition of value, full stop. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A slide stopped in Round 4, Pick 34, with Jack Endries worth more than the price. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They will replay Zakee Wheatley at the 171st pick for years; that is how good the value is. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
No drama and no debate, Taylen Green went about where he belonged in pick 189. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
No edge and no loss on Jeff Caldwell in pick No. 191; it is a wash and a sensible one. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Domani Jackson at the Round 6 slot is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Kaleb Elarms-Orr in the 202nd pick, plain and simple. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
They barely believed it either: Anez Cooper still on the board at Round 6, Pick 27. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Aaron Graves in No. 212 is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They robbed the room for Cole Payton here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The roster fit checks out.
Ephesians Prysock in slot 247 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.