C+
New England Patriots
The Patriots cashed the board's mistake on Lacy: C+.
by Grammaghost ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 6 steals
· 1 reaches
The board owed the Patriots one, and it paid up: Kyren Lacy, the No. 223 name on the board, sitting there at the 251st overall pick like a gift left on the doorstep. It lands right in the middle: a C+, no more, no less.
They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back. The interior defensive lineman spot stays a question, and it was the one they most needed an answer at. If Roberts pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about.
Hit on Emeka Egbuka and the swing picks, and this ages a lot better than it grades today.
Pick-by-Pick
Emeka Egbuka at pick 8 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
In Round 1, Pick 20 they get a long-term starter on the line. A real need, handled.
Somehow Mykel Williams was still sitting there in pick No. 62, and they pounced on premier edge rusher value. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Jay Higgins at the Round 3 slot is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. A minor itch, scratched.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Tacario Davis at the 106th overall pick. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
A slide stopped in No. 108, with Rod Moore worth more than the price. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A reach for Jaeden Roberts in slot 134; a little patience would have been rewarded. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They robbed the room for Barion Brown here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
The board fumbled Kyren Lacy all the way to the Round 7 slot, and they scooped it up. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.