B+
New England Patriots
The Patriots robbed the room for Restrepo. Final grade: B+.
by jim D ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 10 steals
· 0 reaches
You build a draft on nights like this. Xavier Restrepo had no business being available in slot 238, and the Patriots did the only sane thing and turned in the card.
Every deal seemed to tilt their way, which is not luck. They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
Good work on the whole, with quarterback the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 6 they get a lockdown presence outside. More want than need.
In the 28th pick they get a premier pass rusher, outstanding value to boot. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
You do not let a running back like Ashton Jeanty reach No. 37 and blink. They did not. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Taking Tre Harris in the 69th overall pick is close to grand larceny; a wide receiver that good had no business lasting this long. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Wyatt Milum at pick 104 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A linebacker of that caliber at Round 4, Pick 34 is the definition of value, full stop. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
A top-tier interior defensive lineman at a bargain, T.J. Sanders in pick No. 143, plain and simple. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Malachi Moore in the Round 6 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They barely believed it either: Josaiah Stewart still on the board at Round 7, Pick 1. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They will replay Dylan Fairchild at No. 220 for years; that is how good the value is. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Xavier Restrepo at the 238th pick is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.