New England Patriots: 4 players to target with 23rd overall pick

Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville

During the season, the Patriots made the tough decision to trade Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers. As an upcoming free agent, keeping Garoppolo would have been nearly impossible for the Patriots, as he clearly was ready to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. While the Patriots could have used the franchise tag on him, that would have been very costly and wouldn’t have made much sense with Tom Brady still playing.

With Garoppolo and also Jacoby Brissett gone, the Patriots will need to take a quarterback at some point in the draft. Due to how rookie contracts are set up, drafting one in the first round makes a lot of sense for New England. Getting an extra year of control on a quarterback is important, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that Patriots do that.

While there will likely be four quarterbacks taken rather quickly in the draft, the Patriots could still have Lamar Jackson on the board at 23. As arguably the best dual-threat quarterback in college last season, Jackson is an explosive talent that would need some grooming to become an NFL quarterback. However, New England would be a good fit for him and he would be a good fit for them as well to learn from Brady for a few years.