The Patriots spent the weekend waiting on one name, and it fell: Ollie Gordon II, the No. 160 name on the board, in the 220th overall pick. Add it all up and it grades out a clean A.
The dealing alone would carry a lesser class. They will regret leaving edge rusher for another day if the season turns on it. The White pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over.
Bottom line, they left the weekend a clearly better team, and they earned every bit of it.
Pick-by-Pick
R1.19
· Pick 19
· Luther Burden III
· WR
· rank 20
In the 19th pick they get a home-run threat at receiver. The biggest hole, addressed.
R2.4
· Pick 36
· Tate Ratledge
· OG
· rank 31
A clean, defensible pick in pick 36 with a little surplus value in Tate Ratledge. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
R2.12
· Pick 44
· Emeka Egbuka
· WR
· rank 28
Emeka Egbuka slipping to No. 44 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
R3.3
· Pick 67
· Jalon Walker
· LB
· rank 25
A linebacker of that caliber at slot 67 is the definition of value, full stop. It adds depth where they could use a little.
R3.14
· Pick 78
· Tyler Booker
· OG
· rank 37
They robbed the room for Tyler Booker here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A need, and now a little less of one.
R3.15
· Pick 79
· Colston Loveland
· TE
· rank 46
They will replay Colston Loveland at Round 3, Pick 15 for years; that is how good the value is. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
R3.33
· Pick 97
· TreVeyon Henderson
· RB
· rank 61
You do not let a running back like TreVeyon Henderson reach the 97th overall pick and blink. They did not. It fills a real need, too.
R4.2
· Pick 103
· Aeneas Peebles
· DL
· rank 85
Steal is underselling it; Aeneas Peebles at the Round 4 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
R4.37
· Pick 138
· Jake Majors
· C
· rank 93
Taking Jake Majors in No. 138 is close to grand larceny; an offensive lineman that good had no business lasting this long. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
R5.2
· Pick 140
· Deontae Lawson
· LB
· rank 82
Deontae Lawson in slot 140 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
R7.5
· Pick 219
· Jordan Hancock
· S
· rank 189
Jordan Hancock at pick 219 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
R7.6
· Pick 220
· Ollie Gordon II
· RB
· rank 160
Ollie Gordon II at pick No. 220 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. The roster fit checks out.
R7.24
· Pick 238
· Aydan White
· CB
· rank 257
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Aydan White well ahead of where he belonged. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.