C+
New England Patriots
The phones sank the Patriots this weekend: C+.
by fab ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 4 steals
· 4 reaches
The Patriots bet big and early on J.J. Weaver, 111 picks ahead of the board. Bold does not always mean right.
Giddens falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. The trade table is where this weekend went wrong. For all the activity, quarterback went untouched, which is hard to explain.
On the needs board they went 5 of 8, with edge rusher the one that mattered most.
Not a disaster, not a triumph, just a middling class.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 2 they get a potential shutdown corner. More want than need.
Steal is underselling it; Jalon Walker at the Round 2 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Jayden Higgins at Round 3, Pick 5 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They reached into another round for Kyren Lacy, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A wild overpay on Shemar Turner in the 116th overall pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Somehow Deontae Lawson was still sitting there in pick 140, and they pounced on premier linebacker value. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
They robbed the room for Jordan Hancock here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They talked themselves into J.J. Weaver at No. 222, and the board did not agree. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A running back of that caliber at pick No. 237 is the definition of value, full stop. A need, and now a little less of one.
Jimmy Horn Jr. in the 240th overall pick is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.