C+
New England Patriots
The phones sank the Patriots this weekend: C+.
by Trent ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 17 picks
· 9 steals
· 7 reaches
There is conviction, and then there is this. The Patriots took Jasheen Davis a full 117 picks ahead of where the board had him, an overdraft steep enough that it colors the whole weekend. Fine in stretches, shaky in others: a C+.
Whatever else happened, they won the night they took James. They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped safety, which is a strange place to end up.
The hoard sets up next April more than it helps this September.
Not a disaster, not a triumph, just a middling class.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 32 they get a sticky cover corner, and a steal at that. More want than need.
Somehow Luther Burden III was still sitting there in pick 46, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
The board had Kaleb Johnson higher than the 55th pick, and the running back fell to them anyway. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Donovan Jackson in Round 3, Pick 5 is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
No edge and no loss on Luke Kandra in the 105th overall pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
You do not let a running back like Jordan James reach No. 125 and blink. They did not. A need, and now a little less of one.
They will replay Deontae Lawson at the 126th pick for years; that is how good the value is. A minor itch, scratched.
Nazir Stackhouse at No. 143 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Jasheen Davis at the Round 6 slot is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Kobe King in slot 189, plain and simple. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
A conviction pick on Miles Frazier at pick No. 196 that the board grades a round light. It fills a real need, too.
They reached a country mile for Tosh Baker at pick 208, and the board is aghast. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Brant Kuithe at the 217th overall pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. The roster fit checks out.
They let Ja'Corey Brooks come to them and pounced at Round 7, Pick 2. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Steven Parker. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A wild overpay on Jamaree Caldwell in slot 237, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Taking Jack Kiser in pick No. 241 is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.