New England Patriots: Trading back has set them up nicely for 2019 NFL Draft
By Nick Ziegler
The New England Patriots made a ton of trades in the 2018 NFL Draft. However, they were able to add to valuable picks for next year.
As the 2018 NFL Draft has gone on, the New England Patriots have been one of the most active teams in the NFL. In the first round, the Patriots stayed put and used both of their draft picks. The Patriots addressed two of their needs early on, as they selected Isaiah Wynn and Sony Michel from Georgia.
The Patriots graded out well for their two picks in the first round, but the real fun started after that. On Friday night, the Patriots began to wheel and deal, as their two second round picks end up being just one.
Starting with the 43rd pick in the second round, the Patriots traded that pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for the 51st overall pick and the 117th pick. Following that trade, the Patriots then traded the 51st overall pick to the Chicago Bears for a 2019 second round pick. Since this pick is coming from the Bears, this could easily be a pick in the 30s in 2019, which is obviously a very valuable pick.
Following two trade downs in the second round, the Patriots then traded up with the Buccaneers in order to acquire the 56th overall pick, which ended up being Duke Dawson. While Day 2 of the draft involved a lot of trades for the Patriots, they continued to stay busy on Day 3.
To start Day 3, the Patriots traded the 104th overall pick to the Cleveland Browns for the 114th overall pick and the 178th overall pick. To the surprise of no one, the Patriots then made arguably one of their best trades with the Detroit Lions once again. In exchange for the 114th overall pick, the Patriots were able to acquire a 2019 third-round pick from the Lions.
As of now, the Patriots are projected to have six picks in the first three rounds of the draft next season, which gives them a lot of options. Since they didn’t draft a quarterback yet this year, they will be in prime position to move up next season with all of this ammo. Also, they will have some good assets to trade for players this summer if they choose to do so.
Next: Complete First Round Grades
Overall, there have been a ton of trades for New England. However, these moves have given them a lot of picks in next years draft, as these moves indicate they didn’t think too much of the class this year.