A-
New England Patriots
The Patriots let Bullard fall and pounced. Final grade: A-.
by dspencer68 ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 5 steals
· 1 reaches
The board owed the Patriots one, and it paid up: Javon Bullard, the No. 60 name on the board, sitting there at pick 104 like a gift left on the doorstep.
They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
It is a haul that will look even better come September.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 14 they get protection for the quarterback at fair value. A real need, handled.
They liked J.J. McCarthy enough to skip the value, taking him in slot 34. A need, and now a little less of one.
Amarius Mims in pick 45 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Taking Keon Coleman in the 68th pick is close to grand larceny; a wide receiver that good had no business lasting this long. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Somehow Javon Bullard was still sitting there in the 104th overall pick, and they pounced on premier safety value. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They did well to land Ainias Smith in the Round 4 slot, just ahead of his grade. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
By-the-book stuff, Dylan Laube at No. 149 squarely in line with his ranking. It fills a real need, too.
Luke McCaffrey at pick No. 182 is money in the bank, a wide receiver taken below his worth. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They let Tyrice Knight come to them and pounced at the Round 7 slot. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.