A
New England Patriots
The Patriots won the night they stopped Fitzgerald from sliding. Grade: A.
by James ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 17 picks
· 11 steals
· 3 reaches
You build a draft on nights like this. Ryan Fitzgerald had no business being available in the 246th pick, and the Patriots did the only sane thing and turned in the card. This is how you run a draft, and the A reflects it.
They are betting Sanders proves the room right and everyone else wrong. They won the margins on every swap, and it adds up fast.
They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest. With quarterback unsolved, spending premium capital on linebacker is the choice that costs them.
Trust the process, because this time the process plainly worked.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 14 they get a quarterback's worst nightmare at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Matthew Golden in pick No. 50. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Malaki Starks at slot 69 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Circle this one: Jihaad Campbell at the 80th overall pick is a fall that decides a draft. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
The board fumbled Harold Fannin Jr. all the way to the 89th pick, and they scooped it up. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
They bypassed pressing needs at quarterback to take Demetrius Knight Jr., a linebacker that was not the priority.
They will replay Cam Skattebo at Round 4, Pick 26 for years; that is how good the value is. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Barrett Carter in the Round 5 slot is a gift, value that borders on unfair. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
They robbed the room for Jared Wilson here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Danny Stutsman at pick No. 198 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
Nothing to complain about; Hayden Conner went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Steal is underselling it; Jay Higgins at the Round 7 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
Jack Kiser at pick 227 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
They went early on Ty Hamilton in the 230th overall pick, and the value did not follow. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Jahvaree Ritzie. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A big swing on Shilo Sanders at Round 7, Pick 22, well ahead of any board in the building. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Ryan Fitzgerald in pick 246 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.