Despite constant speculation linking them with a splashy move to get their quarterback of the future, the New England Patriots didn’t end up drafting a QB until the seventh round with Danny Etling. However, they were apparently plotting a move to get one, according to Jack Mills, the agent of No. 1 overall pick and Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Mills said on Andrew Brandt’s podcast that there was a real possibility the Patriots would pull off a blockbuster deal to get the New York Giants’ No. 2 pick, which they would’ve used to draft Mayfield if he was still on the board.
“We had another team which is going to surprise you. Another team had said, ‘You may get a big surprise on draft day, at No. 2, if he’s available.’ And it was the Patriots,” Mills said. “They had 23 and they had 31 and they had two seconds. We thought, ‘That’s gonna be a heck of a move, to get up that high from where they are.’ And of course he wasn’t available so we never knew if that was reality or not.”
It goes without saying that the Patriots trading up from No. 23 all the way up to No. 2 to take Mayfield would’ve been an earth-shattering move. Although, the likelihood of a deal actually going down doesn’t seem particularly high.
For one, the Giants likely would’ve demanded a king’s ransom from the Patriots to move so many spots up. It’s also hard to see New England meeting that prohibitively high price, particularly with their remarkable reluctance to trade up. One need only look at how many times they decided to trade down once again.
While Mayfield going to the Patriots would’ve been an incredible move just based on the storylines, it was probably mostly chatter and didn’t have much chance of actually being a reality.
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