D-
New England Patriots
The Patriots got the worse of every deal, and it shows in the D-.
by Warren1 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 16 picks
· 4 steals
· 8 reaches
They will call it conviction in the building and a reach everywhere else: George Gumbs Jr., 97 picks early at pick 171. The board pushed back all weekend, and the D- is the result.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. Spending an early pick on cornerback with running back open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to.
A whole weekend of picks and running back is somehow still a want. The Green pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged.
In the end, a class the front office will want to grow past quickly.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 31st overall pick they get a home-run threat at receiver. The biggest hole, addressed.
They robbed the room for Caleb Banks here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at the Round 2 slot is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They jumped the gun on Jacob Rodriguez, taking him earlier than his grade liked. A minor itch, scratched.
Chase Bisontis at pick No. 95 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A wild overpay on Mason Reiger in pick 107, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They paid sticker price for Davison Igbinosun in pick No. 125, and that is fine. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
A curious use of the 131st overall pick. Running back needed the pick; a cornerback in Ephesians Prysock did not.
Value said wait; George Gumbs Jr. in slot 171 says they were not listening. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
By-the-book stuff, VJ Payne at No. 191 squarely in line with his ranking. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They talked themselves into De'Zhaun Stribling at the 198th pick, and the board did not agree. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Trey Zuhn III in the Round 6 slot is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. A need, and now a little less of one.
Taylen Green in Round 6, Pick 31 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Jack Pyburn at pick 213 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
John Michael Gyllenborg at the 222nd overall pick is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Robert Spears-Jennings at slot 247 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.