The New England Patriots need to build around Drake Maye in the 2025 NFL Draft and that's precisely what Field Yates of ESPN has them doing in his latest mock draft. Not only does Yates have the Patriots landing athlete Travis Hunter with the fourth overall pick but he has them doing something quite unprecedented later on in the first round.
Yates has the Patriots making a trade with AFC East rival Buffalo to move up from 38th to 30th to nab Oregon's Josh Conerly Jr. New England would part ways with their second and third-round picks to move back into the first round and they land a left tackle in the process.
Patriots fans will love Field Yates' latest mock draft
Not only do the Patriots get a stud in the form of Hunter, who played both cornerback and wide receiver in college, but they'd land a potential franchise left tackle and screw over the Bills in the process. This would be an absolute slam dunk of a draft for the Patriots if this is how things played out.
Maye could potentially have a new receiver to throw to (depending on where the Patriots want to play Hunter) and he'd for sure have a new player protecting him in the trenches. Considering the Patriots need to build around Maye while he's still on his rookie deal, giving him a talented wide receiver and protection upfront is a great way to show they're for real about building around him.
The Patriots spent the third overall pick on Maye in last year's draft and he looked the part of a franchise quarterback even without much protection or good weapons for him to throw to. If this was the route New England took in their first draft of the Maye era, fans would likely be pretty stoked about it.
Obviously it'd be awesome if Conerly turned into a franchise left tackle but knowing the Patriots screwed over the Bills to get him would make things that much sweeter.