Commanders gift-wrap the Patriots another blue chip player, and more notes from Day 1 of the NFL Draft

Cleaning out the notebook from the first round of the draft.

The New England Patriots filled the biggest need on their roster in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, selecting North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the third overall pick.

Maye is one of the most intriguing prospects in this year’s draft due to his combination of size, arm talent, and athletic skills. The 21-year-old is far from a finished product, but with some development has the tools to become a franchise quarterback at the next level.

Naturally, all of our focus since last night was on Maye and his future with the Patriots. The draft moves fast, however, so before shifting our attention to Day 2 let’s clean out the notebook from Thursday night.

Commanders gift-wrap the Patriots another blue chip player

At some point, the Patriots might want to send a bouquet to Ashburn. For a second straight draft, after all, the Washington Commanders gift-wrapped the team a blue chip prospect at a premium position — all while themselves going against the grain a bit more.

Obviously, their pick at No. 2, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, was one of the top prospects in this year’s class and virtually guaranteed to come off the board within the first few picks even before the draft process started to intensify over the last few weeks. Him ending up in Washington was not a surprise, and the expected outcome.

That said, as a prospect Daniels was generally rated lower than the Patriots’ pick at No. 3. A look at the consensus big board compiled by Arif Hasan illustrates that: whereas Drake Maye ranked fourth, Daniels was viewed as the eighth best prospect available.

Obviously, the consensus board is not an accurate reflection of how the teams view prospects. That said, it does show that the industry was a bit higher on Maye than Daniels, even though the former ended up getting drafted after the latter.

That, of course, was also the case in 2023 when the Commanders and Patriots were slated to select back-to-back at No. 16 and No. 17. Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez, the No. 7 prospect on that year’s consensus board, was the top-ranked player available. Nonetheless, Washington opted to select Emmanuel Forbes (No. 36).

This, in turn, allowed the Patriots to scoop up one of the most promising players in the draft — one who played like a serious Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.

The jury is still out on all those picks, of course, but it is still interesting that the Patriots and Commanders have found themselves in the same basic situation in back-to-back years now.

The collaborative effort was in full effect in the first round

One of the big themes coming out of One Patriot Place following Bill Belichick’s departure earlier this offseason was the hope for a more inclusive and more collaborative roster construction process. For director of scouting Eliot Wolf and head coach Jerod Mayo, who are spearheading those efforts, it was on full display in Round 1.

“We went through various scenarios with the coaches and scouts, even going back to the collaborative approach that we did this time,” said Mayo on Thursday night. “I would say the organization was happy with Drake at 3.”

Belichick had led the Patriots’ football operations in a dual role as head coach and general manager for more than two decades, but with him no longer atop the organizational structure changes became necessary. Both Mayo and Wolf embraced them.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for the moment to be able to sit here with someone like Jerod and kind of collaborate and try to do what’s right for the organization,” said Wolf.

“We’re all working together. It’s not just Jerod and I. Obviously Matt Groh, Alonzo Highsmith in my department and a bunch of other people that are working their tails off, Richard Miller, Brian Smith, Steve Cargile. We’re all working together and we’re all excited about the opportunity that’s been presented to us.”

New England’s draft room has a different look this year

The Patriots’ increased emphasis on intra-organizational collaboration also was on display in the team’s draft room. As opposed to years past, when fewer people were in the room New England had a relatively full house featuring several lower-ranking members of the scouting department and assistant coaches.

The seating arrangement was also changed compared to the Bill Belichick era, a likely consequence of more people filling Room 1.19.01 inside Gillette Stadium.

Another change compared to last year is the handling of the first call with the draft pick. Whereas Bill Belichick’s right hand-man, Berj Najarian handled those duties in the past, college scouting director Camren Williams was the one to inform Drake Maye that he was about to get picked by the team.

The Patriots were quick to hand their card in

In the first round of the draft, each team has 10 minutes to make its selection. The Patriots did not need all of their allotted time before selecting Drake Maye third overall. In fact, they only needed half: when they handed in their card with Maye’s name on it, they still had 4 minutes and 57 seconds left.

For as fast as they were, they did not break last year’s speed run. When the aforementioned Christian Gonzalez became available, it took the Patriots only 31 hand-timed seconds to submit the selection.

Neither time says anything about the quality of player, or how the team views them. But it is clear New England had no interest in entertaining any more trade offers or dissenting opinions in both cases. Maye, like Gonzalez last year, was locked in as the pick — something Eliot Wolf said himself after the first round.

“There wasn’t a lot of intrigue this year at the top of the draft,” he said. “The league’s probably not too excited about that, but everybody kind of knew who 1 and 2 were. We were the most intrigue and I thought we actually did a pretty good job of keeping it under wraps, because we have known for a while.”

Drake Maye already is familiar with new teammate Jacoby Brissett

For the Patriots’ new quarterback, the room in New England will not be completely unfamiliar. Besides meeting assistant coaches Alex Van Pelt, Ben McAdoo and T.J. McCartney during the pre-draft process already, he also has a history with veteran QB Jacoby Brissett.

According to Maye, the two met last summer through a common friend.

“I met him through Sam Howell,” Maye said. “He was with the Commanders. So, I was able to meet him through mutual friends. They’re great buddies, and Sam speaks so highly of him. So, I got to meet Jacoby, and I’m looking forward to getting in the same room again.

Howell was Maye’s predecessor at North Carolina, and later became Washington’s starting quarterback. His backup in 2023 was Jacoby Brissett.

“He’s been so many different places, so many different offenses,” Maye said about the veteran QB who is on his second stint in New England. “I think he’s been in this offense before with Coach [Alex] Van Pelt, and I’m just looking forward to getting to learn from him. I know he’s an old guy, old vet, and he can still play. So, I’m looking forward to contributing in any way, I’m looking forward to getting to see him, and I know he’s the man.”

The Patriots might become active on the trade market on Day 2

Trade speculation surrounded the Patriots leading into the first round of the draft, but they eventually decided to stay put. That does not mean they are not motivated to make moves still.

Heading into Day 2 with two selections, plus five more between Rounds 4 and 7, New England is a candidate to start manipulating the board.

“We have seven more picks, and we’ll probably move around a little bit,” said Eliot Wolf. “Hopefully acquire some more picks. But we feel strongly about the board and we’ll kind of see how it goes here. There’s a lot of other players that are — a lot of good players that are going to come off the board before our next one. So, we’ll kind of see how it goes here.”

The Patriots own the 34th selection in the second round, followed by the 68th in the third.

A record-breaking first round

When looking beyond the Patriots, we can see that Thursday night was a record-breaking event in NFL Draft history. An unprecedented 23 out of 32 players selected came on the offensive side of the ball.

Among them were six quarterbacks, all coming off the board within the first 12 selections. The Chicago Bears started things off with Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall, followed by the Commanders and Patriots picking Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye at 2 and 3, respectively.

The Atlanta Falcons then went on to pull a shocker out of their hat, selecting Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 (despite recently signing Kirk Cousins to a a lucrative three-year free agency pact). That pick was followed by J.J. McCarthy going to the Minnesota Vikings at No. 10, and Bo Nix ending up in Denver as the 12th selection.

Time will tell which quarterbacks will work out.