B+
New England Patriots
A franchise passer in Maye headlines a B+ weekend for the Patriots.
by patricksiska ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
After circling the position for what felt like forever, the Patriots committed. Drake Maye is the quarterback now, and the roster gets built to his timeline. A sturdy weekend that grades out a B+.
That is a wide receiver worth more than the slot they spent on him, plainly. The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped interior defensive lineman, which is a strange place to end up.
The DeLoach pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over.
In sum, a sensible class that nudges the roster the right way.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 4 they get the arm they will build around at fair value. A clean fit for the roster.
A clean, defensible pick in the 34th pick with a little surplus value in Cooper DeJean. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
They took Ladd McConkey at par in pick 35, which is nothing to complain about. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
By-the-book stuff, Patrick Paul at the 68th overall pick squarely in line with his ranking. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Troy Franklin in the Round 3 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
You do not let a tight end like Cade Stover reach slot 103 and blink. They did not. A need, and now a little less of one.
They paid a round early for Jalyx Hunt in Round 5, Pick 1, more than the board wanted. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Isaiah Davis in No. 180 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A straight-up fair deal on Curtis Jacobs at the Round 6 slot, value and slot in agreement. A minor itch, scratched.
The board had cheaper options than Kalen DeLoach at the 231st pick, and it noticed. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.