Patriots winners and losers from Day 2 of the NFL Draft

New England made one selection each in the second and third round.

The New England Patriots bolstered their offense on Day 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft. They landed wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk in the second round, followed by offensive tackle Caedan Wallace in the third.

Here are the current players on the Patriots’ roster who the picks impact for better, or worse, moving forward.

Winner

QB Drake Maye: New England used their two picks on Friday to give their new quarterback a weapon and protector. The new target, Ja’Lynn Polk, should leave Maye extremely excited as their skillsets project to be a fantastic fit with each other as well. Polk is a tough receiver who is not shy of operating over the middle of the field — an area Maye loved to attack at North Carolina with his elite arm talent.

Losers

Depth wide receivers: With the addition of Polk, New England’s wide receiver room now stands 10 deep. Beyond Polk, the assumption would be DeMario Douglas, Kendrick Bourne and free agent addition K.J. Osborn should be considered roster locks. That leaves several of the current options further down the depth chart fighting a steeper battle up the hill, such as Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, Jalen Reagor and perhaps even JuJu Smith-Schuster.

OT Chukwuma Okorafor: Speaking at the annual pre-draft press conference last week, director of scouting Eliot Wolf named Chukwuma Okorafor the leader in the locker room for the starting left tackle position. While Okorafor may still have the upper hand, the competition for the position picked up Friday night when New England selected tackle Caedan Wallace. While most of Wallace’s experience at college came on the right side, the Patriots are confident he can make the switch.

“He was a guy that we felt was athletic enough to possibly make the switch over on the left side,” Wolf explained. This might put Okorafor’s standing atop the left tackle depth chart in serious peril.