Patriots expected to keep No. 3 pick, ‘most likely’ to draft QB Drake Maye

Despite plenty of speculation, it appears New England will hold onto the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The trade winds were a-blowin’ in Foxborough, but it appears they never reached the intensity to blow the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft elsewhere.

The New England Patriots are instead expected to hold onto the selection, according to a report by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. The belief around the league is that the team will then invest that pick into North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.

The Patriots have not shied away from making their intentions public that they were open to trading the third overall pick. Director of scouting Eliot Wolf, who is making the final call on decisions as the team’s de facto general manager, just recently spoke about New England being “open for business” on the trade market.

“We’re open to anything,” Wolf said during his pre-draft press conference last week. “Moving up, moving down. We’re open for business in the first round, and in every round. We have some holes we feel like we need to fill in the draft. We’re drafting to develop the team. The more picks we have the better.”

The Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants, themselves in the hunt for a new quarterback, were the two teams most aggressively pursuing the third overall pick. However, the Patriots wanted what head coach Jerod Mayo referred to as a “bag” to move off their spot.

While the Vikings and Giants were both willing to part with serious capital, they apparently were unable to meet New England’s demands. As a result, the Patriots are set to stay put.

Mayo himself seemed to confirm those news — while also teasing a possible trade back at the tail-end of the first round — during a brief appearance at the Patriots draft party at Gillette Stadium.

“I hope you are excited as I am to start putting the team together and getting out there on the field,” he said, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “We’re going to get a great player at 3. It’s going to be early. And we can always sneak back into the first round.”

Besides the quarterback position, the Patriots also have significant needs at wide receiver and offensive tackle.