This may be a bold claim to make, but I’ll say it with my chest:
It seems more likely than not that the New England Patriots will not lead the NFL with five (5) games with zero (0) touchdowns scored in the 2024 season.
Whether you believe in drafting for need, best player available, or some you-know-it-when-you-see-it amalgamation of the two philosophies, that “enough games with zero trips to the endzone that you need all the fingers on one hand to count them all” is the baseline we’re starting from here. This was the offense that was comfortably last in the NFL in points scored, and for all the advanced metrics and efficiency this and EPA per play that and DVOA and DYAR and all the rest, it’s kind of hard to win without, you know, scoring points. And while football is more than just collecting Pokemon every offseason, the last couple years of the Bill Belichick era proved with an exclamation point that a disturbing lack of talent will render any amount of coaching borderline useless.
In the meantime, if you’re going to have a season from hell like the Patriots did in 2023, you may as well enjoy being on the other side of the NFL’s parity curve for once. With picks in the tippy-top of each round, the kind that are usually reserved for the Panthers and the AFC South, the approach Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf took this offseason looks a lot clearer when viewed as a mostly-complete body of work:
- Re-sign almost everyone on a very, very good defense and your 3 players on offense that were objectively worth keeping, and
- When free agency didn’t turn out to be the best route to leveling up the offense overnight (sorry, Jacoby Brissett), you turn to the draft, and if the board breaks your way, simply keep throwing resources at the problem.
So with that in mind, let’s check out what kind of marks the draftniks are giving the New England Patriots Class of 2024. We can save the “on a scale of 1-Lombardi #7, how back are the New England Patriots?” for another day this offseason when we’re really, really bored.
National Media
THE PATRIOTS DID EXACTLY WHAT YOU’D HOPE A TEAM THAT NEEDS TO REBUILD ITS OFFENSE FROM THE GROUND UP WOULD DO IN THIS DRAFT. With their first pick, New England nabbed my second-ranked quarterback in Drake Maye—then quickly went to work finding him some much-needed support. De facto GM Eliot Wolf grabbed one of my favorite receivers in this class in the second round, drafting a do-it-all pass catcher in Ja’Lynn Polk at no. 37. He turned around in the third round and selected an athletic offensive tackle, Caedan Wallace, then added offensive guard Layden Robinson and receiver Javon Baker in the fourth round. I especially like the Baker pick; he’s a twitchy route runner who can get vertical and separate. New England also added intriguing tight end Jaheim Bell in the seventh round, giving the team a versatile H-back type of player who can line up and create mismatches from the slot, out wide, or even in the backfield. The Patriots still have plenty of work to do in surrounding Maye with difference-making playmakers, but this was a good start.
Analysis: New England needed a new signal-caller in the worst way. Refining Maye’s skills could help the team compete in the AFC East over the next few seasons. The selections of Polk and Wallace addressed needs for the Patriots, but we’ll see if staying put in the second round to take Ladd McConkey — instead of trading down — and focusing on a different position early in Round 3 would have been better choices.
Robinson should have been a third-round pick, so I understood the selection, even after the team’s investment in interior lineman in last year’s draft. It would not surprise me if Baker turned out to be just as good as Polk in two years because of his ability to win downfield. The team picked the strong-armed but inconsistent Milton with the sixth-round selection it acquired from the Jaguars for Mac Jones.
Charles McDonald (Yahoo Sports): A-
New England had a tough decision to make on how it wanted to start its rebuild and it ultimately turned down a boatload of draft picks to stay at the top of the draft and pick Drake Maye. Maye has ridiculous upside and gives the Patriots a playmaking option while they fill out the rest of their roster. Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker should compete for starting reps in one of the weaker wide receiver rooms in the league. Joe Milton III is an intriguing pick in the sixth round and it’ll at least be fun to track his development. If just one of their offensive line picks hit, this could be the foundation for a new run of excellence in New England.
Favorite pick: Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina (3rd overall)
Home run. The Patriots didn’t overthink it and took the quarterback prospect who fell into their laps. Maye has all the same tools as the elite quarterbacks in the game today, with a much higher floor than people give him credit for. Most likely it’s going to be a difficult rookie year for him because the Patriots’ roster is so far away, but Jerod Mayo has his quarterback to work with to start his reign as the Patriots’ head coach.
Least favorite Pick: Layden Robinson, OL, Texas A&M (103rd overall)
The Patriots had to address their offensive line a couple times in this draft, but Robinson felt like a reach where he was taken. There were a few quality linemen on the board, but clearly their evaluation of Robinson had him ahead of the rest.
(note: PFF are overachievers and actually had some quality input on every single pick!)
Maye — New England doesn’t have the ideal supporting cast on offense, but it would be difficult for the Patriots to pass on a quarterback prospect of Maye’s caliber here. The North Carolina product earned an elite PFF grade as a true sophomore in 2022 before following that up with another 90.0-plus grade in 2023. He has high-end arm talent and showed that he is comfortable making NFL throws over the middle of the field.
Polk — The Patriots continue to address their offense by getting No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye a new weapon to throw to. Polk is a quarterback-friendly target who is also a willing and engaged run-blocker. He produced an 82nd-percentile drop rate and a 73rd-percentile contested catch rate in his college career.
Wallace — The Patriots select a player who ranked 142nd on the PFF big board and 186th on the consensus big board. He may be coming off a season that saw him earn a career-high 68.8 PFF grade, but he was solid in pass protection last year, earning a 72.8 pass-blocking grade and allowing just 13 total pressures from 359 pass-blocking snaps.
Robinson — Robinson surrendered only six total sacks across 1,206 career pass-blocking snaps. He saved his best for 2023 when he allowed just one sack all season.
Baker — Baker averaged 3.21 yards per route run in 2023 to rank fourth in this draft class. He can also make plays downfield, averaging 21.9 yards per reception to lead the class.
Dial — New England selects a cornerback with a knack for making plays on the ball. Dial has 19 pass breakups over the past two seasons, fourth among SEC corners, and earned a career-best 79.2 defensive grade in 2023.
Milton — Milton has a huge arm, and this is a good spot for him to land. His 83.1 overall grade since 2022 ranked seventh among SEC quarterbacks, and 10 of his 20 touchdown passes in 2023 came on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield.
Bell — Bell is a great value in the seventh round. He earned a 73.4 PFF grade in 2023, ranking 13th among FBS tight ends. Bell is exceptional with the ball in his hands, ranking seventh among the same group in yards after the catch (315).
Kris Knox (Bleacher Report): A
There was plenty of buzz about the New England Patriots potentially trading the third overall selection. However, it became clear that New England wouldn’t pass on its chance to land a new franchise quarterback without a massive offer.
According to MassLive.com’s Mark Daniels and Karen Guregian, the offers New England received were instead “laughable.”
So the Patriots stayed put and grabbed Drake Maye, the top QB prospect on the B/R Scouting Department’s final big board. Maye could need some time to develop, but he’ll eventually help usher in a new era of Patriots football.
After trading down once in Round 2, the Patriots came back to get Maye some help in the form of Washington receiver Ja’Lynn Polk. While Polk might not be a true No. 1 receiver in the NFL, his skill set will make him a massive asset for Maye.
“Polk is a ball-winning No. 2 WR in the NFL,” Klassen wrote. “He can dunk on DBs down the field and in the red zone, as well as serve as an underneath bully type on the outside to help move the chains.”
In Round 3, the Patriots grabbed Penn State offensive tackle Caedan Wallace, who brings four years of starting experience and will help New England protect its new quarterback. New England continued getting Maye some help on Day 3 by adding the likes of lineman Layden Robinson and wideout Javon Baker.
Coming back for strong-armed quarterback Joe Milton III in the sixth round may seem like an odd choice given the selection of Maye. However, New England had a long history of drafting depth quarterbacks when Tom Brady was on the roster. Why would that change now that Maye is the new franchise quarterback? (That’s the hope, at least.)
Maye was the top signal-caller on our big board, and general manager Eliot Wolf was smart to secure him instead of trading the No. 3 pick. The Patriots also did a good job of supporting Maye throughout the draft.
Cam Mellor (Pro Football Network): B+
The Bill Belichick era in New England is well and truly over. The Patriots put together an exciting offensive class, the like of which hasn’t been seen in Foxboro recently, perhaps not ever. Headlined by quarterback Drake Maye, the number one overall player on the PFN Big Board, there can be genuine enthusiasm about what New England’s offense can become in the future.
The franchise surrounded him with a plethora of skill players in the 2024 NFL Draft too, with Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker providing excellent outlets, not to mention the versatile and athletic Jaheim Bell.
While we’re gushing over the skill player additions, it’s worth tempering excitement over the class as a whole because both Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson were a significant reach at positions of need on the offensive front. Thankfully, Maye has the athletic ability to extend plays when placed under pressure.
Doug Farrar (Touchdown Wire): B+
The Mac Jones experiment is officially over, and now, the Patriots’ new regime has a quarterback type they really haven’t had since Steve Grogan — a big athletic dude who can zing the ball downfield and run the ball more than defenses would like. That’s what Drake Maye is, and if he can work out the mechanical issues that have him spraying the ball all over the place at times, there’s a lot to like here.
(Go look it up. In the late 1970s, Steve Grogan was the definition of “sneaky athletic.”)
The other thing the Patriots needed on offense? Receivers who can make big plays, and they got two of them in Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker. Both are big guys with good speed, and between them and Maye at quarterback, the Patriots will have an offensive identity you’re not used to. Which is a good thing, given how that offense has looked since Tom Brady took his talents to middle Florida.
I also love the addition of Florida State tight end Jaheim Bell, who can turn third-and-4 to first-and-10, and will occasionally throw in a house call. I’m not sure what the Joe Milton strategy is, but it’ll be fun in the preseason to watch Milton throw the ball 80 yards downfield. Good luck knowing where the ball is going, though.
Chris Trapasso (CBS Sports): A
The first non-Bill Belichick draft in 20-plus years for the Patriots went… amazingly. I’m serious. Maye at No. 3. Spectacular. Polk is a fun, versatile piece who tracks the ball awesomely, as does the fourth-round pick Baker, who has future No. 1 wideout upside.
Robinson has a tremendous burst and power combination at guard, and Bell was the steal of the seventh-round. I have no idea how he lasted this far into the draft. He’s a chiseled and athletic yards-after-the-catch weapon.
Not bad!
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