Patriots have the conventional draft they desperately needed, and more notes from Day 2

Cleaning out the notebook from the second and third rounds of the draft.

After selecting their quarterback of the future with the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots added two more player on offense on Day 2. Washington wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk was selected with the No. 37 pick in the second round, followed by offensive tackle Caedan Wallace at No. 68 in Round 3.

Together with Drake Maye, they will help form a young core for an offense in the state of rebuilding. Chances are, however, they will not remain the only ones: with the third and final day of the draft fast approaching, so will other draft picks on offense and defense.

Before turning our attention to Day 3, let’s therefore take a look back at Friday night and clean out our notebook from Rounds 2 and 3.

The Patriots have the conventional draft they desperately need

New England entered the draft with some clearly-defined roster holes that needed to be addressed. At the top of that list stood the quarterback position, which saw the addition of blue-chip prospect and potential future face of the franchise Drake Maye at No. 3 overall.

The other needs classified as “major” leading up to the draft were wide receiver and offensive tackle. New England went after both positions on Day 2: Ja’Lynn Polk will add depth and starter-level playmaking ability to the wideout group, with Caedan Wallace a competitor for a starting left tackle spot that remains something of a question mark.

The Patriots doing what they were projected to do in a draft is nothing new, but so far there has not been any zigging and zagging the team — sometimes successfully, sometimes not — has seemingly adopted as its mantra under Bill Belichick. From that perspective, the team’s draft can be described as conventional.

Considering the state of the Patriots’ roster at the start of their post-Belichick rebuild, that is a good thing.

Familiarity played a role in the Ja’Lynn Polk pick

For a second straight year, the Patriots invested a high draft pick in a player who had a close connection to a member of the team’s coaching staff. Last year, it was Christian Gonzalez and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, who had both been at Oregon in 2023. This year, it is fellow ex-Washington Huskies Ja’Lynn Polk and Tyler Hughes.

Hughes worked in quality control at Washington last year, before he was hired to coach New England’s wide receiver under new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. One of the players he will now get to work with, is the second-round rookie Polk.

“It definitely didn’t hurt,” Patriots director of scouting Eliot Wolf said about the connection between the two men. “Tyler knew him well, all those Washington guys. It was a good hire for us. Tyler’s wealth of knowledge as a former head coach, and also being able to provide info on one of the best teams in the country last year at the University of Washington.

“We spent time with Ja’Lynn at the Senior Bowl, at the Combine. We didn’t bring him in for a visit because there were really no other questions that we had about him. But, Tyler was obviously a proponent of all those guys, and it just kind of helps having that familiarity.”

Familiarity matters in scouting, and it is something to keep an eye on heading into Day 3 as well.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Bub Means, a projected late-round pick, worked under Hughes’ assistant Tiquan Underwood, for example. In addition, fellow wideout Devontez Walker played at North Carolina with Drake Maye.

Two names to watch.

Ja’Lynn Polk will fight against the second-round receiver stigma

The Patriots have a recent history when it comes to second-round wide receivers, and it is not a pretty one. Outside of 2022 selection Deion Branch, who was named Super Bowl XXXIX MVP as one of Tom Brady’s most trusted pass catchers, the list this century is full of high-expectation players who failed to live up to their respective draft statuses.

The hope is that Polk can successfully break that trend, rather than ending up lumped together with the likes of Bethel Johnson, Chad Jackson, Aaron Dobson, and — at least based on his subpar first two seasons in New England — Tyquan Thornton.

Caedan Wallace is already learning from O-line coach Scott Peters

Whether or not Caedan Wallace will end up earning the Patriots’ left tackle job as a rookie remains to be seen. At the very least, however, it looks like the rookie is receptive to learning — something that already happened during his pre-draft contact with New England offensive line coach Scott Peters.

“We had a great meeting, and he seems like a really awesome coach,” Wallace said about Peters. “A lot of great tips that I just had no clue about, so I am just excited to get down there and really get under his wing and learn more.”

A former assistant offensive line coach with the Cleveland Browns, Peters was hired this offseason to work with the unit under coordinator — and fellow ex-Brown — Alex Van Pelt. New England also brought Robert Kugler aboard as Peters’ assistant.

New England’s Day 2 picks model their game after some big names

The Patriots’ Day 2 rookies will have to find their own career paths in the NFL, but in order to establish themselves are looking toward others as inspiration. In Ja’Lynn Polk’s case, current Chicago Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen is a role model-type example.

“I watch guys like Andre Johnson, Keenan Allen,” Polk said.

“Keenan Allen is one of those guys who played a major factor in who I watch on film. His ability just to make guys miss, go up and keep his balance, go get those extra yards, and having that certain dog mentality of going to lead his team. His releases are pretty good, so watching his releases, the things that he does in order for him to be able to create separation is elite. So, I always try to find an opportunity to watch guys that are elite at what they do because there’s a reason why they’re doing what they’re doing.”

The comparison with Allen does not come out of nowhere. As pointed out by Pats Pulpit’s own Taylor Kyles, the two match up well from a measurements perspective:

As for Caedan Wallace, he too has players he is trying to build his game after — including some big names as well, both figuratively and literally.

“There are so many greats that I emulate my game after in the league. I mean, honestly, there are too many to name,” he said. “We have legends like Trent Williams, Tyron Smith, Larry Allen, Terron Armstead, Ryan Ramczyk, all guys that I have been watching for years. I try to take aspects of their game and apply it to my game. It kind of works out for me.”

Patriots-Chargers trade was a solid move for both teams

The Patriots opened Day 2 of the draft by trading down with the Los Angeles Chargers (the team the aforementioned Keenan Allen spent his entire NFL career with before joining the Bears this offseason). New England moved down three slots from No. 34 to No. 37 in return for a later-round picks upgrade from No. 137 to No. 110.

On the trade value charts, the move works out fairly for both teams:

Whereas the Patriots ended up picking Polk, the Chargers went with fellow wide receiver Ladd McConkey at No. 34.

“We felt like Polk was the player that we were going to pick at 34, and we felt based on some of the intel that we had from other teams that we would be able to trade back a little bit and still get him,” Eliot Wolf later said. “So, we made that deal and were able to move up from the fifth to the fourth with the Chargers.”

New England has made the biggest ‘reach’ in the draft so far

Under long-time head coach and quasi-general manager Bill Belichick, New England was notorious for sticking to its board even when it sometimes seemingly worked against conventional wisdom. Well, it looks like Belichick’s legacy is alive and well inside One Patriot Place.

With the first three rounds of the draft in the books, after all, New England can claim the biggest “reach” when compared to the consensus big board compiled by Arif Hasan: the Patriots picked Caedan Wallace 68th overall, 118 spots ahead of his spot on the big board.

Obviously, this says nothing about the quality of player the team is getting. Instead, it shows that there is discrepancy between how the draft community and the NFL itself viewed this particular player. It will be fascinating to find out where exactly this discrepancy was coming from.