B+
New England Patriots
Nobody dealt better than the Patriots this weekend: B+.
by chupatwo ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
The Patriots clearly saw something nobody else did in Eric O'Neill, taking him 59 picks ahead of his grade. The board is not convinced. They moved the roster forward and banked a B+ for it.
The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend. Hill Jr. falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. For all the activity, safety went untouched, which is hard to explain.
The imported veterans give this class a floor the draft picks could not on their own.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
Taking Anthony Hill Jr. in pick 63 is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Domonique Orange in No. 70 is fair value, right on his grade. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They barely believed it either: Malachi Fields still on the board at pick No. 95. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Mikail Kamara well ahead of where he belonged. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Joe Royer in the 131st pick is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. The roster fit checks out.
Ephesians Prysock in Round 6, Pick 10 lands just on the right side of the ledger. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They talked themselves into Eric O'Neill at Round 6, Pick 17, and the board did not agree. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They let Cole Payton come to them and pounced at the Round 6 slot. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Trey Zuhn III at the 247th overall pick is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.