B
New England Patriots
The Patriots won the night they stopped Wheatley from sliding. Grade: B.
by pj_doucette ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 9 steals
· 0 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Zakee Wheatley, No. 212, roughly 121 picks past where he belonged.
They covered a lot of ground and still skipped wide receiver, which is a strange place to end up. Edge rusher was the priority and it is no longer a question, which is most of the job.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 31 they get juice off the edge. The biggest hole, addressed.
The board fumbled Kenyon Sadiq all the way to the 63rd pick, and they scooped it up. The roster fit checks out.
Emmanuel Pregnon in the Round 3 slot is a gift, value that borders on unfair. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A cornerback of that caliber at the 125th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. It adds depth where they could use a little.
They will replay Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at Round 4, Pick 31 for years; that is how good the value is. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Jake Golday in No. 171 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They barely believed it either: Kage Casey still on the board at pick No. 191. It fills a real need, too.
Drew Allar at pick 198 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They robbed the room for Charles Demmings here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
Circle this one: Zakee Wheatley at the 212th pick is a fall that decides a draft. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Fa'alili Fa'amoe in pick No. 247 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A need, and now a little less of one.