B
New England Patriots
The Patriots did the meat-and-potatoes work well: B.
by BBB ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 21 picks
· 3 steals
· 7 reaches
Somewhere a general manager is explaining how Joe Milton III got past him. The Patriots do not have to explain a thing at No. 220.
Barner has a lot of ground to make up just to look fairly priced. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped interior defensive lineman, which is a strange place to end up.
The dealing tilted against them, just enough to notice. The future picks help the war chest more than the win-now roster.
Good work on the whole, with interior defensive lineman the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 15 they get a building block for the line. A clean fit for the roster.
A quiet steal in the Round 2 slot: Kool-Aid McKinstry for less than the market said. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Nothing to complain about; Darius Robinson went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Good price on Chris Braswell in the Round 2 slot, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
By-the-book stuff, Blake Fisher at pick No. 68 squarely in line with his ranking. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They read the board right and Devontez Walker was the payoff at Round 3, Pick 15. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Zak Zinter at pick 101 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A need, and now a little less of one.
A market-rate running back, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Braelon Allen. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A reach on Johnny Wilson in slot 118; the board had better options right there. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
The board had cheaper options than Marist Liufau at No. 136, and it noticed. A minor itch, scratched.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for AJ Barner. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They did well to land Justin Eboigbe in the 154th overall pick, just ahead of his grade. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Luke McCaffrey at the Round 5 slot is a clear overpay, with better names still on the board. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A straight-up fair deal on Caedan Wallace at pick No. 177, value and slot in agreement. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A reach for Cornelius Johnson in pick 179; a little patience would have been rewarded. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
A tidy little value on Dwight McGlothern in the 182nd pick, a step better than break-even. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
Jaylan Ford at Round 6, Pick 26 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Trey Knox this early at slot 217. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A clean, defensible pick in pick 218 with a little surplus value in Josh Proctor. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Joe Milton III at the 220th pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. The roster fit checks out.
A conviction pick on Brevyn Spann-Ford at Round 7, Pick 9 that the board grades a round light. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.