A
New England Patriots
The Patriots won the night they stopped Nussmeier from sliding. Grade: A.
by CSMCStorm ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 18 steals
· 0 reaches
Thirty-one other rooms let Garrett Nussmeier slide, and the Patriots were the ones holding the card at pick No. 242. Highway robbery. Very little went wrong, and the A is earned.
The phones were where this weekend was really won. The imported veterans give this class a floor the draft picks could not on their own.
Add it up and few war rooms did better this weekend, Travis Hunter and all.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a potential shutdown corner, and a steal at that. Need was not the driver here.
In Round 1, Pick 19 they get a centerpiece for the ground game, outstanding value to boot. A real need, handled.
They will replay Wyatt Milum at pick 36 for years; that is how good the value is. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A top-tier wide receiver at a bargain, Tre Harris in the 71st overall pick, plain and simple. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Nick Emmanwori at No. 83 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Circle this one: Tate Ratledge at pick No. 89 is a fall that decides a draft. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Somehow Dylan Fairchild was still sitting there in slot 105, and they pounced on premier offensive lineman value. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Taking Josaiah Stewart in the 136th pick is close to grand larceny; an edge rusher that good had no business lasting this long. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They barely believed it either: T.J. Sanders still on the board at pick No. 142. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Smael Mondon Jr. in Round 5, Pick 5 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A safety of that caliber at the 155th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Colston Loveland in No. 176 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. The roster fit checks out.
The board fumbled Jake Majors all the way to pick 194, and they scooped it up. It fills a real need, too.
They robbed the room for Logan Brown here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Trey Amos at the 224th pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
You do not let a cornerback like Darien Porter reach slot 236 and blink. They did not. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
Cody Simon in pick No. 241 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.
Garrett Nussmeier at the 242nd overall pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.