Call it larceny. Tre Harris sat on the board until the Round 7 slot, and the Patriots did not need to be asked twice. Call it a sensible B+, earned the boring way.
The Warren pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over. The trade ledger is the best part of the whole weekend. They will regret leaving quarterback for another day if the season turns on it.
The imported veterans give this class a floor the draft picks could not on their own.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the quarterback spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
R1.24
· Pick 24
· Travis Hunter
· CB
· rank 1
In the 24th pick they get a potential shutdown corner at a price that makes it sweeter. More want than need.
R2.9
· Pick 41
· Ashton Jeanty
· RB
· rank 3
Circle this one: Ashton Jeanty at slot 41 is a fall that decides a draft. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
R2.25
· Pick 57
· Colston Loveland
· TE
· rank 63
No drama and no debate, Colston Loveland went about where he belonged in the Round 2 slot. It fills a real need, too.
R3.8
· Pick 72
· Tyler Warren
· TE
· rank 105
Tyler Warren in the 72nd overall pick is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
R3.21
· Pick 85
· Malaki Starks
· S
· rank 11
Malaki Starks at pick 85 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
R3.28
· Pick 92
· Tyler Booker
· OG
· rank 38
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Tyler Booker in Round 3, Pick 28, plain and simple. A need, and now a little less of one.
R4.7
· Pick 108
· Wyatt Milum
· OT
· rank 41
Wyatt Milum at pick No. 108 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
R5.6
· Pick 144
· Walter Nolen
· DT
· rank 18
The board fumbled Walter Nolen all the way to No. 144, and they scooped it up. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
R7.2
· Pick 216
· Jahdae Barron
· S
· rank 28
Somehow Jahdae Barron was still sitting there in slot 216, and they pounced on premier safety value. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
R7.4
· Pick 218
· Josaiah Stewart
· DE-EDGE
· rank 110
Josaiah Stewart in the 218th pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
R7.14
· Pick 228
· Tre Harris
· WR
· rank 17
A wide receiver of that caliber at Round 7, Pick 14 is the definition of value, full stop. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.