Patriots do a complete 180 at quarterback, and more notes from Day 3 of the NFL Draft

Cleaning out the notebook from Rounds 4 through 7 of the 2024 draft.

After three days and 257 names being called, the 2024 NFL Draft is in the books. For the New England Patriots, it was the next step in their rebuilding process — and a big one: the team brought Drake Maye aboard third overall to serve as its next franchise quarterback.

Maye headlines a group of eight players who were drafted, including five that were acquired between the fourth and seventh rounds on Saturday. For a full look at the New England draft class, plus our follow-up coverage on each selection, please click here.

For some wrap-up notes from Day 3, you are already in the right place.

The Patriots do a complete 180 at quarterback

Even though the Patriots had already drafted a quarterback at No. 3 overall, they brought another player at the position on board 190 spots later: with the 193rd overall pick in the sixth round, Tennessee’s Joe Milton was added to New England’s quarterback room.

Even though he entered the draft as a six-year college senior, Milton is a project whose decision making and accuracy are nowhere near NFL level. That said, his arm most certainly is: the 24-year-old has a cannon, and his nickname of “Bazooka Joe” is more than justified as the following throw from the Scouting Combine illustrates

With Milton now added to the quarterback room alongside Drake Maye, the Patriots have done a complete 180 compared to its previous group. Frankly, as far as velocity and range are concerned, Maye and Milton operate on another level than Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe ever did.

In theory, both Jones and Zappe had other strength; they were hailed as good processors capable of winning with their mind. However, both reached the limit of their capacities in that regard last season to put the Patriots on the fast track to a 4-13 season and the chance to select Maye in the first place. Jones has since been traded to Jacksonville, with Zappe’s roster outlook having taken a massive hit the last three days.

Whether the third-year man will be part of the 2024 group remains to be seen. Fact is, however, that training camp and preseason will look a lot different with the big-armed Maye and Milton in the mix.

It’s going to be bombs away.

Full trade results are in

The selection that was used to bring Joe Milton aboard on Saturday was originally acquired by the Patriots as part of the Mac Jones trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was one of three trades that were fully resolved on Day 3 of the draft.

The first was a move that had happened just one day earlier, when the Patriots moved back from the 34th to the 37th overall pick in the draft. As part of that trade-back with the Los Angeles Chargers, the team also switched Day 3 picks by moving from 137 in the fifth round to 110 in the fourth. At that spot, New England ended up selecting Central Florida wide receiver Javon Baker.

In effect, the Patriots therefore traded the picks that were used by the Chargers to bring in wideout Ladd McConkey and cornerback Tarheeb Still. They themselves acquired Baker and fellow receiver Ja’Lynn Polk.

Additionally, the N’Keal Harry trade has also reached its conclusion. When the Patriots traded their former first-round draft pick to the Chicago Bears after three underwhelming seasons, they received a 2024 seventh-rounder. That pick — No. 231 — was turned into Florida State tight end Jaheim Bell.

Quarterback double-dip a rarity in New England

New England picking multiple players at one position is nothing new; it happened just last year when the team drafted three interior offensive linemen as well as a pair of wide receivers. At quarterback, however, such a tactic is far less common for the organization.

In fact, you have to go back all the way to 1983 to see the Patriots select two QBs in one draft. That year, Tony Eason was acquired 15th overall, followed by Tom Ramsey at No. 267 in the 10th round.

Besides 2024 and 1983, New England double-dipped at quarterback just one other time since the advent of the common AFL/NFL Draft in 1967: in 1975, the franchise went with Steve Grogan in the fifth round (No. 116) followed by Condredge Holloway in the 12th (No. 306).

Joe Milton changing positions ‘will never happen’

Going back to Joe Milton, his physical attributes are undeniable. While he did not qualify for Relative Athletic Score, the numbers he did put up were impressive across the board. The same is true for his measurements that rank in the 80-plus percentile across the board.

Needless to say, Milton is quite the physical specimen outside of his impressive arm talent.

Given his size and athleticism relative to his outlook playing the quarterback position at the NFL level, questions were raised about Milton possibly making the move to another position. He shot them down quickly, and decisively, during his introductory media conference call on Saturday evening..

“You are the first person I have actually heard that from, to be real with you,” he told Mark Daniels of MassLive. “But, that will never happen.”

Milton also added that there had been no pre-draft talks with the team about moving positions. He will compete for a spot on the quarterback depth chart in 2024.

New England picking a Tennessee prospect wearing No. 7 worked out well before

One final note on Joe Milton: he is the first player picked out of Tennessee by the Patriots in 16 years. The last to be brought aboard, also wore the No. 7 jersey for the Volunteers — none other that former New England first-round draft pick and current head coach Jerod Mayo.

New England’s draft wish list was offense, offense, and more offense

Jerod Mayo appeared on NFL Network on Saturday to talk about New England’s draft, and the team’s focus heading into the event. Given its shortcomings in 2023, especially on the offensive side of the ball, the goal was clear.

As Mayo pointed out, it was all about improving the offense.

“We go into the draft with the needs. Obviously, we had a lot of needs on the offensive side of the ball,” he said. “I think that Eliot [Wolf] and [Matt] Groh and Alonzo [Highsmith] and all those guys did a great job — our scouting department — collaborating with our coaches; did a good job really targeting people on both sides of the ball. But we know that to win games in this league you have to have a productive offense. That was the focus going at it.”

Out of the Patriots’ eight total selections in the draft, seven targeted the offense. Two quarterbacks were brought in (Drake Maye, Joe Milton), as were two wide receivers (Ja’Lynn Polk, Javon Baker), two offensive linemen (Caedan Wallace, Layden Robinson), and one tight end (Jaheim Bell).

The lone exception was cornerback Marcellas Dial, who was picked 180th overall in the sixth round.

The interior offensive line is getting quite crowded

One year after picking three interior offensive linemen, the Patriots acquired the aforementioned Layden Robinson in the fourth round. Traditionally, fourth-round selections can be seen as locks to make the roster in Year 1, meaning that the Texas A&M product will be part of a crowded room.

At the moment and including reported rookie free agent signing Charles turner, New England has the following personnel under contract (via the Pats Pulpit roster tracker):

Interior offensive line (9): Cole Strange (69), David Andrews (60), Sidy Sow (62), Layden Robinson (–), Jake Andrews (67), Atonio Mafi (68), Nick Leverett (51), Michael Jordan (74), Charles Turner (–)

The Patriots will keep no more than six players on their 53-man roster along the interior O-line. Based on past precedent, that number might also only just be five.

The big unknown is Cole Strange, the Patriots’ starting left guard the last two years. Strange played the best football of his career in 2023 before a knee injury ended his season. He is participating in offseason workouts, but his involvement has been more passive than it would have been had he been fully healthy.

His status is one of many questions: Will he be good to go come training camp, or will he start on the physically unable to perform list? Is his roster spot secure under a new coaching staff? Could he maybe make the move to left tackle to help address that particular need?

When it comes to Strange, and the rest of the group, something’s got to give.

Roster construction is not over

While the draft is in the books, the Patriots’ roster is far from a finished product. For starters, the team started the process of adding rookie free agents to its 90-man offseason team; as of Sunday morning 10 of 11 open roster spot had been filled that way.

Additionally, New England still has the resources to make other moves; players will be released post-draft and the trade market remain open until early November. Things will settle down a bit compared to the fast-paced period between free agency and the draft, but the work of building the 2024 Patriots has only just begun.