C+
New England Patriots
The steal of the weekend belongs to the Patriots and Dart: C+.
by Jasonmroll14 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 9 steals
· 2 reaches
The Patriots spent the weekend waiting on one name, and it fell: Jaxson Dart, the No. 120 name on the board, in pick No. 196. It washes out to a C+, no better and no worse.
The Henderson pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over. The trade table is where this weekend went wrong. Job largely done: edge rusher settled and 8 of 8 of the wish list covered.
The future picks help the war chest more than the win-now roster.
If James Pearce Jr. and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
A straight-up fair deal on James Pearce Jr. at the Round 1 slot, value and slot in agreement. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Deone Walker at pick 33 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Colston Loveland slipping to No. 60 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. It fills a real need, too.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Fernando Carmona. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A quiet steal in slot 86: Malachi Moore for less than the market said. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Danny Stutsman in the 90th pick. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Evan Stewart slid further than he should have, and the 108th overall pick is lovely value for the wide receiver. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Tacario Davis at pick No. 119 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
A safety of that caliber at slot 129 is the definition of value, full stop. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Circle this one: Armand Membou at the Round 5 slot is a fall that decides a draft. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They will replay Jaxson Dart at the 196th overall pick for years; that is how good the value is. A need, and now a little less of one.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Jason Henderson in pick 218, miles early. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
They reached a country mile for Collin Oliver at Round 7, Pick 6, and the board is aghast. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Deion Burks at the 236th pick. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Steal is underselling it; Damien Martinez at pick No. 256 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.