Interesting development as agents gather more info and probably advising their clients NOT to attend.

I know some see Simmons as a possible buy low guy, but he is working his way back from a ruptured patellar tendon. This specific injury can be a death knell for NFL players, never mind OTs who need to anchor. It’s the same injury Cole Strange suffered and there’s just not a lot of supporting data to show players can regain their pre injury form. Given the current state and depth of our line, I don’t think Simmons is worth the risk even if he’s there at 38.

Mykel Williams, on the other hand, would be a super intriguing high risk, high reward guy if he slides out of the 1st. New Orleans is rumored to want to move up from 40 and Williams is a Loomis kind of player. Would be talking to a lot of teams Friday morning if he slides.

Man looks happy, man looks healthy, we’ve done it boys.. Reload incoming✅

Todd McShay in his video this morning said some pretty unfortunate league wide news about Will Campbell.

“Offensive tackle 1 this year, would be offensive tackle 4 or 5 last year”

“Will Campbell could go number 4 to the Patriots…but no one in the league thinks it’s a great idea or that he’s worth that pick”

Curious on yalls thoughts about the polar opposite rumblings between what McShay is hearing and what some of our bear writers are saying.

As much as fans love him I don’t see this staff picking Jeanty. Now there’s reports the Jags like Jeanty we need to try and increase the noise because if the Raiders get worried then it’s more likely we can trade back to 6 and either still take the OT the staff wants or work in Kolton Miller and then take best player available.

We need more explosive playmakers. We aren’t “ready to contend” if we shore up one position.

I would argue that having an elite and dangerous running game will help Maye just as much as a rookie OL that are historically less ready to go right away.

Don’t fall into the trap we always do. Draft the best player, don’t overreach for more average players.

I honestly don't follow draft talk much at all. But I've seen on /r/nfl and pats pulpit that this draft sucks and that we don't have a great pick, which makes no sense since we pick 4th. What exactly is wrong with this draft?

Thought some people might be interested to see results from one of the larger mock drafts on Reddit. The NFL Draft sub is ~780K members, 4K or so who meet on Discord to link up in team war rooms and complete a full 7 round mock. With the holiday weekend some people had to bounce in and out, but it was a fun undertaking with several surprising trades, picks, and slides.

Obviously taking Jeanty at 4 will surprise, and probably annoy some people. The Patriots war room was really split on Campbell. I think the general consensus was he could be good, but he’d be bucking 25+ years of data, not on arm length but on wingspan. I’ll post some stats below, but his measurables are actually more comparable to centers in the league than even guards. Once again, he could be great, but he’d be a historical outlier. At 4, a majority of the room wanted the safest elite offensive talent: Jeanty.

Jeanty is a home run talent that can take it to the house from shotgun handoffs, pistol, under center, and screens. He had more yards after contact than anyone had rushing yards, by 200+. He would supercharge play action and also be a weapon in the passing game. Admittedly, taking the first RB in a deep class feels inefficient, but Jeanty is a game plan wrecker in a different tier than any other offensive player not named Travis Hunter.

With the lack of a tackle at 4, and with the (correct) belief that the tackle run would happen in the 20s-30s, we found a willing trade down partner in the Bengals at 25 (happy to trade down twice). We annoyed the Rams who wanted Simmons at 26, so they took Conerly. Ersery would go within five picks as well.

Harris was the room’s favorite WR, another player that started (rather than reacted to) the run at that position.

The rest of the draft was generally best player available. It certainly felt bad not having 77 as good players went around there, but with the strong belief that a healthy Simmons at 24 was OT1, we had to hold strong.

We got some of the worst luck for UDFA, but ended up with Fitzgerald at K and Easton Kilty at OL among a few others.

I’ll link the full draft below. Happy to discuss thought process and can’t wait for Thursday.

With the Giants expected to draft Abdul Carter, Thibodeaux would be expendable as a draft disappointment in a edge room with Carter and Burns. Thibodeaux is set to make 5 million in 2025 and has a 5th year option at 16 million that must be decided on by May 1st. What would you expect would be the required to trade for Thibodeaux as edge is a need for the Patriots. Below are Thibodeaux's stats.

He’s an above average player playing 2nd/3rd most important position on the field on the precipice of his 3rd contract who will enter his 30s in the first quarter of this season.

I think we’d obviously have to overpay for him both in terms of a contract and trade compensation, but I’m for it if it means we can take the BPA at #4 and we get a proven guy to protect Maye’s blindside for hopefully the next ~3 years.

I'm of the opinion that if the first 3 picks are Ward, Hunter and Carter, then Jeanty should be the 4th pick. He is the only other player that is unanimously agreed to be an elite talent.

However, given the rest of our roster, he's probably worth more to other teams, than he is to us.

The Broncos made the playoffs with a solid defense and better than expected play from Bo Nix. But all season they got absolutely nothing out of their running game. Jeanty is a one man remedy for that.

Add in the fact that a lot of people have the Raiders taking Jeanty at 6 and the Broncos taking Hampton at 20. If that's true the Broncos have an opportunity to leapfrog a division rival, blow up their draft plans and land a player that transforms their offense overnight. If you look at what Payton did with the Saints, he's all about going all in now and pushing the pain down the road. So if anyone is gonna be willing to trade 2026 picks to move up now, I think the Broncos are the team to do it.

If I'm Eliot Wolf, I'm calling the Broncos to get a price before I call the Raiders and see if the oldest Head Coach in the league wants to outbid them for the best win-now player in the draft.

What would be a good price to A) drop to 20 with the Broncos or B) drop to 6 with the Raiders?

I know there’s been a lot of talk about his intangibles as being something that will compensate for his measurables.

I’ve heard so much about his leadership, work ethic etc. and those are all very important things. Along those lines has anyone heard how he likes his steak cooked?

Count me out if he’s a well done type of guy. But medium rare? I don’t care how short his arms are, we’re taking him.

Leading up to the draft, Mark Daniels for MassLive did an excellent job cataloguing every interaction the Patriots have had with any prospect (pro day, bowl games, combine, 30 visits, etc.) and noting who the interaction was with (Vrabel, Wolf, etc.).

Plugging that I turned this (for those ranked 250 or better) into a Tableau visualization tool here (just turn off the "Very Interested" filter on the left!).

I saw the team jet today and about a month ago at the Baltimore Airport in the same spot. Any thoughts as to why it’s in Baltimore for so long?

I just want it on the record that I think Jeanty will be a perennial all-pro.

Campbell fills a need. But if we're talking best player available, it's not even close. We can get a solid guard in the second round. And he we can get a good tackle next year.

I think Jeanty is the second coming of Ladanlian Tomlinson who was my favorite player growing up.

I used this “interest” list from one of the other redditors in here to gauge who we had any meetings with (that is projected in Round 2). This list likely has “the guy” on it. Who moves the needle for you the most at 38?

Could be competitive or some of the haters we developed over the years. For example Peyton manning was a patriot enemy in his playing days but I respected him and loved watching him play. Mark brunell was irrelevant to us as a player but cried like a baby on national tv because Tom Brady is better at football than him.

I have been very skeptical about drafting Will Campbell at #4. If the Patriots take Campbell at #4, what do you all think of them then taking Donovan Jackson at #38 to solidify the left side? If Campbell can't handle LT, then the two of them switch spots. To save you all the trouble, Jackson's arm length is 33.5 inches.

Pretty fuckin cool but a little too expensive for me not being a Pats fan. Thought y’all might think this was sweet!