Despite the beyond-embarrassing loss to the Chargers last weekend, the Patriots reaped the ultimate prize after the Sunday slate of Week 17 games concluded. Unfortunately, they have to thank the Giants for beating the Colts because that led to them acquiring the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
It's never easy to be thankful for a team with such a deep history, but the Patriots are now in a position to draft the best non-quarterback prospect of the class or trade down to acquire more draft capital for this year and next year.
It's a desirable situation, even if the way they got there wasn't. But they might be running into a disaster that makes holding the number one pick less exciting, at least according to the latest intel from draft experts and scouts.
Patriots may not actually have dream grade-down in 2025 NFL Draft
After the draft order was updated from the week's games concluding, The Athletic's Dane Brugler revealed some information he's been told about the incoming class of rookies.
He shared what an AFC scout told him about the quarterbacks set to be at the top of the board, and according to him, they're not up to par for being first-rounders. That is the last thing the Patriots need after moving to the top of the draft order.
https://t.co/G5ICs35L15 pic.twitter.com/5ORNyUXdR5
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) December 30, 2024
In most trade-down scenarios for the Patriots, there was a belief that they would trade with a quarterback-needy team and receive a huge haul in return, as other teams have done in the past. But this development could hinder that if accurate, as teams hoping to land Colorardo's Shadeur Sanders or Miami's Cam Ward might be willing to stick and pick instead.
On top of that, it also doesn't guarantee that someone like CB/WR Travis Hunter will still be on the board for the Patriots to take even after trading down, which has been another hypothesized scenario.
The worst of all, however, might be that they won't have as many options to trade down, if any at all. That significantly limits their chances of adding more picks this year and next year, all of which benefit the team long-term, which is not a great spot to be in when the roster has a lot of holes that need to be addressed.