A-
New England Patriots
Grand theft in No. 34: the Patriots steal Penix Jr. and grade out a A-.
by Sean romiza ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 6 picks
· 2 steals
· 2 reaches
The real work happened on the phones. The Patriots fleeced their trade partners, turning their picks into a noticeably bigger pile than they started with.
The interior defensive lineman hole is the one line item this class does not answer. Penix Jr. falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. They are betting Rice proves the room right and everyone else wrong.
In the end it comes back to Joe Alt, and a haul good enough to build on right away.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 3 they get a cornerstone up front. A real need, handled.
They barely believed it either: Michael Penix Jr. still on the board at pick 34. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Malik Washington at the 68th overall pick is a conviction pick that outran the value. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They reached a country mile for Brenden Rice at Round 4, Pick 3, and the board is aghast. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Trevor Keegan in the Round 6 slot, plain and simple. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They took Eyabi Okie-Anoma at par in slot 231, which is nothing to complain about. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.