B-
New England Patriots
No fireworks, just a tidy B- for the Patriots.
by Dpilon1973 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 12 picks
· 5 steals
· 4 reaches
The war room fell hard for Dayon Hayes, and it showed at pick 148: 117 picks ahead of a board that had other ideas. No fireworks, but a solid B-.
Getting Bassa where they did is the sort of value that quietly makes a class. That interior defensive lineman hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
They left with edge rusher solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off. Nearly every premium pick went to that side of the ball.
A competent weekend that does not make headlines and does not need to.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 4 they get a lockdown presence outside. Need was not the driver here.
A wild overpay on Armand Membou in Round 2, Pick 6, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
They read the board right and Dylan Fairchild was the payoff at the 69th overall pick. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A running back of that caliber at the 90th pick is the definition of value, full stop. The roster fit checks out.
Nothing to complain about; Elic Ayomanor went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Kobe King at No. 143 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
Dayon Hayes at slot 148 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Jimmy Horn Jr. at pick 173 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They reached a country mile for Will Sheppard at No. 217, and the board is aghast. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Jeffrey Bassa at the 220th overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.
Shilo Sanders at Round 7, Pick 22 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board had Bryson Nesbit higher than the 247th pick, and the tight end fell to them anyway. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.