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The New England Patriots have largely completed their work in free agency to this point, setting the stage for what has quickly become a wildly important 2024 NFL Draft. After largely working on retaining their own players at the expense of failing to make any sort of big splashes elsewhere, the Pats are putting all their eggs in one basket as they hope to have an extremely successful draft.
By now, the Patriots' needs are clear as day. While they have a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball, they are still lacking on offense. The team did well to re-sign key players like Michael Onwenu and Kendrick Bourne, but they still need a starting left tackle and a de facto number one wide receiver. Oh, and they need a quarterback after they cut ties with Mac Jones and sent him to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It would have helped to have addressed one of these positions in free agency, but after striking out on Calvin Ridley and Tyron Smith, New England has more work to do than they were initially hoping for in the draft. With that in mind, it could actually make sense for the team to trade down from the number three spot in an effort to bolster their entire roster, rather than focusing solely on the quarterback spot.
Why the Patriots trading down in the 2024 NFL Draft could make sense
After a horrific 2023 campaign, it became clear that Jones' time with the Patriots was over, and the team had a perfect avenue to replace him in the draft. While Caleb Williams is almost certainly going to be the first pick of the draft, New England is in a great spot to land either Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye after the Washington Commanders presumably select one of those two guys with the second overall pick.
Entering free agency, it seemed like a pretty simple game plan. Use the ample salary cap space the team found themselves armed with to bring in some talent, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, and then draft a quarterback in the first round. As we noted above, though, that free agency plna didn't come to fruition, meaning that New England likely has more work to do in the draft than they were hoping for.
If New England simply managed to bring in some external players in free agency who could immediately start for this team, this decision would be as easy as it initially seemed. But do they really want to bring in a rookie quarterback and have him play for this moribound offense? Jones literally got run out of town because of how bad it was, and we just saw the 2023 number one overall pick in Bryce Young struggle mightily in the wasteland that was the Carolina Panthers offense.
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The one very shrewd external free agent signing (Jacoby Brissett) will likely hold down the fort as the starting quarterback to at least start the season, so the front office has to make a decision on what direction they want to take their rebuild in. Do they want to put all their chips on either Daniels or Maye, or do they want to trade down, acquire a bunch of draft capital, and try to infuse the roster with young talent before locking in on their quarterback of the future?
Typically speaking, this should be an easy decision. The Patriots need a new quarterback, and both Daniels and Maye appear to be superstar prospects. But the problem is that if they don't have any help on offense, they will likely fare the same way that Jones did. Right now, New England doesn't have the personnel to adequately support a rookie quarterback.
Trading down does not appear to be as bad of an idea as it was before free agency started. There are several teams, such as the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, and New York Giants that could be aggressive in their quest to move up the board to land either Daniels and Maye. If that's the case, the Pats would be hard pressed to not take advantage of that aggression in an effort to try to land a massive haul in exchange for their pick.
In this vein of thought, there are several ways they could go about this. They could obviously reap a massive haul of picks for this draft and future ones, or they could have these teams throw in a star player or two as well. It's not exactly likely, but New England fans everywhere would surely love to see Justin Jefferson in a Patriots uniform.
This isn't to say that trading down is the right move, and it's clear that New England would need a huge return in order to consider it, as there may not be an opportunity to land a guy like Daniels or Maye in future drafts. But if the timing isn't right for either of these paths, the Patriots are going to be treading water for the foreseeable future. They need to make their decision with conviction, and use it as a springboard for becoming a contender once again.
Even with a lackluster team, the right move is still to draft either Daniels or Maye (no, I don't want to hear about J.J. McCarthy), let them sit behind Brissett for the year, and work on addressing their other needs with their later picks. But if a trade offer for the pick comes across their table that they simply can't turn down, the Patriots would be foolish to ignore it, and it's clear that they have some very big decisions to make in regards to this pick over the next few weeks.
