D+
New England Patriots
The Patriots robbed the room for Barton. Final grade: D+.
by Poopy ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 12 picks
· 8 steals
· 1 reaches
You could see the war room lean forward. Lander Barton at the 217th overall pick is the sort of fall that does not happen, except it just did. The process wobbled, and the D+ is where it lands.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. They will regret leaving interior defensive lineman for another day if the season turns on it. Reaching for Restrepo left real value on the table behind him.
The Patriots paired the rookies with proven help, Christian Darrisaw leading the way.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even.
Pick-by-Pick
Good price on Abdul Carter in the Round 1 slot, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
In slot 25 they get a No. 1 receiver at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
No drama and no debate, Tyler Warren went about where he belonged in pick No. 40. It fills a real need, too.
Xavier Restrepo at No. 41 is a conviction pick that outran the value. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Circle this one: TreVeyon Henderson at the 104th overall pick is a fall that decides a draft. A need, and now a little less of one.
Demetrius Knight Jr. at Round 5, Pick 6 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
You do not let a linebacker like Barrett Carter reach pick 147 and blink. They did not. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.
Kevin Winston Jr. in the 165th pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They robbed the room for Ryan Fitzgerald here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
They will replay Lander Barton at No. 217 for years; that is how good the value is. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
Taking Ben Sauls in the Round 7 slot is close to grand larceny; a specialist that good had no business lasting this long. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
Somehow Jonah Monheim was still sitting there in the 238th pick, and they pounced on premier offensive lineman value. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.