Patriots 2024 Offseason Thread

It is but TE was a big need and McLaughlin could be a stud. Basketball player convert and keeps getting better. Great athlete. 6th round was a steal for him. Obviously, he could suck but I’d rather the lottery ticket.

TE in round 7, he has grillz in his espn pic i am all in

Bell’s not really tight end. But I’m all for him replacing Douglas as a motion slot who can beat up on nickels in the run game.

Dial B took him early over better prospects, but man cover CB that's a good athlete. Not good against the run, which is a massive concern if they want him to play FS.

Milton D- Only thing not making it an F, is what he could do for scout team. You passed on better talent and better QBs. Our coaches need to focus on Maye, last thing we needed is maybe the rawest QB in draft.

Bell A+ We needed TE depth, he's a good athlete, long arms, big hands. Can do a lot of different things. Not even close to an inline blocker, but is much better on the move blocking, but needs more consistency. Another weapon for Drake Maye.

My real-time shadow draft. If the Pats trade I do the same.

3. Pats take Drake Maye (QB). I take Drake Maye. Rumors say MIN offered 11, 23, 2025 1st, plus a pick swap favoring MIN. They may have increased their offer as time ticked down. NYG offered 6, 2025 1st. NYs offer is kind of tempting, but I will stay at 3. Let the Drake Maye era begin!

34. Pats trade 34+137 for 37+110. I do the same.

37. Pats take JaLynn Polk (WR). I take Jackson Powers-Johnson (IOL) I put protecting our new QB as job #1. While we could really use an OT, the impact OTs were off the board. However, we can still make a big upgrade to the OL on the interior. JPJ ranked 30 on MDB Consensus. There were rumors that some teams were concerned about JPJs medicals. I don't get to see his medicals. If they looked crappy, then I would take AD Mitchell. I was not high on Polk to start with. MDB had him at 60 but I had him more like 100. JPJ's medicals could not have looked too bad, as LVR drafted him at 44. JPJ it is.

68. Pats take Caedan Wallace (OT). I take Jaylen Wright (RB). Not sure Wallace really improves on what we already have at OT. Maybe as a swing tackle? But he doesn't have experience at LT. If I was committed to going OT....boy there are no day one starters with good upside. We could take Christian Jones who could start day one. He would be a nice swing tackle. Or if you are ok with developing someone, then Kiran Amegadjie or Giovanni Manu. I'm going to go in a different direction. Wright could pair with Rhamondre this year and if Rhamondre walks at the end of the year, then we won't be left scrambling. I could have also gone WR, maybe Burton, but he has some issues. Wright it is.

103. Pats take Layden Robinson (IOL). I take Christian Mahogany (IOL). uhh oh!... does Mahogany have some undisclosed medical or personal issue? MDB Consensus had Mahogany at 102 (I liked him a lot more than that). But he dropped to DET at pick 210 suggesting there is something going on there that the public is not seeing. I took Mahogany anyways...keep upgrading that line.

110. Pats take Javon Baker (WR). I take Cade Stover (TE). This was the hardest pick for me. I liked Cade Stover as a TE who can both receive and block. I really liked Tyrone Tracy (RB/WR) too - apparently more than the NFL does. Christian Jones (OT) was still on the board. Javon Baker (WR) was an interesting option - and I don't have WR yet...I went Stover hoping one of the others might fall to 180. Stover was ranked 98 on MDB and he was eventually drafted 123 by HOU.

180. Pats take Marcellus Dial (CB/S?). I take Malik Washington (WR). Tracy and Christian Jones were both taken in the 160s. So now what? It would be good to get some WR help as I don't have one yet. The best remaining WRs are Malik Washington, Johnny Wilson, Ryan Flournoy, and Cornelius Johnson. We have another pick coming up 193 so maybe we can go back-to-back with WRs. Washington is really a slot receiver, so maybe he duplicates Douglas. But he was really good last year. He was PFFs second highest rated WR behind Nabers. He is only 5'8" but he had a 65% contested catch rate and was excellent after the catch. We can figure out how to use them both. MDB Consensus had Washington ranked 97. He was eventually drafted by MIA at 184. Malik Washington it is.

193. Pats take Joe Milton (QB/??) I take Ryan Flournoy (WR). I was really hoping for Johnny Wilson to fall, but he went off the board at 185, one pick after Malik Washington. So that left, Flournoy or Cornelius Johnson. Other options are Leonard Taylor (DT) or one of three kickers. My guess is at least one of the kickers falls. Taylor is kind of a crapshoot. He was really good in 2022 playing 3-tech but not as good this year playing mostly NT. His combine was weak. I'll stick with the WR here. Flournoy played for SE.Missouri St. He is 6'2 205. Has put up good PFF two years in a row and had a very good combine. MDB Consensus had Flournoy at 207 and he was eventually selected by DAL at 216. Ryan Flournoy it is.

231. Pats take Jaheim Bell (TE/FB/?) I take Leonard Taylor (DT). All three of the kickers that I was looking at went off the board between 193 and 231. Taylor must have some undisclosed issue going on as MDB Consensus had Taylor at 128 and he went undrafted. As I mentioned above Taylor was very good in 2022 at 3-tech but not so good in 2023 at NT. We will move him back to 3-tech. This is a developmental pick or maybe a throw-away. Bell is an interesting pick. He is kind of Jonnu Smith like. Not sure how they plan to use him.

Drake Maye
Jackson Powers Johnson
Jaylen Wright
Christian Mahogany
Cade Stover
Malik Washington
Ryan Flournoy
Leonard Taylor

Poor Kalen King. At the start of the year people were talking about him as a top 20 pick. He went 255.

Pats UDFAs

Charles Turner OC LSU

Dell Pettus S Troy

Mikey Victor CB Alabama St

John Morgan III ED Arkansas

Zuri Henry OT UTEP

DeShaun Fenwick RB Oregon St

Jacon Warren TE Tenn

Caleb Ford-Demant CB Texas St

Jontrey Hunter LB Georgia St

Jett Bush LB Texas

It's might be nitpicking that late in the Draft, but Joe Milton is their worst pick for me and it's not even close.  We drafted Drake Maye and our coaches don't need to be dealing with a 2nd QB who is so crazy raw. Help Drake Maye or help our D.

I think they drafted Milton to have an example for Drake how not to play the position. Because the worst elements of Drake Maye are basically Joe Milton.

Edit: in actuality, Milton is a decent developmental fit for Van Pelt’s system.

Milton isn't a fit for any NFL offense. He's just like Cunningham, heck maybe worse. 6 years in College at two major programs. Here's one stat that shows how bad he is, 38.6% completion percentage on passes 10 yards or more. Leary or Pratt were much better fits for Van Pelts offense.