B-
New England Patriots
The Patriots won the night they stopped Reed from sliding. Grade: B-.
by bringbackbrady ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
The board owed the Patriots one, and it paid up: Jaylen Reed, the No. 183 name on the board, sitting there at No. 217 like a gift left on the doorstep. Solid and sensible more than spectacular: a B-.
They are betting Kiser proves the room right and everyone else wrong. Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall.
Good work on the whole, with edge rusher the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 4 they get a blindside protector. A clean fit for the roster.
Tyler Booker at the 38th pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A need, and now a little less of one.
A slide stopped in the Round 3 slot, with Elic Ayomanor worth more than the price. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
The board had Dylan Sampson higher than pick No. 77, and the running back fell to them anyway. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Jake Majors in No. 106 lands just on the right side of the ledger. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A wild overpay on Jack Kiser in slot 144, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Taking Jaylen Reed in the 217th overall pick is close to grand larceny; a safety that good had no business lasting this long. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Cody Lindenberg at pick 220 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Clay Webb. It fills a real need, too.