Fans of the New England Patriots have a complicated history with the NFL Draft. During the peak years of Bill Belichick’s tenure, the team was a virtual lock to either trade back, trade out, or not even own a selection on Day 1.
The Patriots either moved out of the first round entirely, or didn’t own a pick to begin with, on six different occasions during Belichick’s 24-year run in Foxboro. But despite moving down the board in back-to-back drafts in 2022 and 2023, the team is currently on a five-year streak of making a first-round selection; it’s the franchise’s longest such streak since it went eight straight years with a first-round pick from 2001 to 2008.
Unfortunately for Patriots fans, there’s some real buzz building around that streak ending on Thursday night.
According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the Patriots have been fielding calls for their first-round pick in the 2026 draft, which is No. 31 overall, and are open to moving down the board.
The #Patriots have already received calls from teams looking to trade into the first round, per @TomPelissero.
— Carlos A. Lopez (@LosTalksPats) April 23, 2026
Pelissero adds that New England is indeed open to the idea of moving down. pic.twitter.com/AaJVQyfVNx
Why Patriots fans should take this first-round trade buzz seriously
It’s fair for fans to speculate over New England’s motives for potentially trading out of the first round this year.
The conspiracy theorist angles? Those will be tied to a recent tweet by MassLive’s Mark Daniels, who revealed that head coach Mike Vrabel will only meet with the media on Thursday night if the Patriots make a selection. If the team trades out of the first round, general manager Eliot Wolf is scheduled to meet with reporters on Friday night, and VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden is scheduled to speak on Saturday.
Per ESPN's Mike Reiss, Vrabel is expected to be away from the team on Saturday for Rounds 4 through 7 of the draft to undergo counseling. That news comes a day after Vrabel and the Patriots broke their silence on Vrabel's alleged personal relationship with NFL reporter Dianna Russini, who recently resigned from her post with The Athletic.
As it stands, the Patriots hold 11 total selections in this draft, including eight picks on Day 3. It would make sense for the team to leverage some of that surplus in moves up the board this weekend. The opposite approach, especially in the early rounds, would be somewhat surprising based on their overall draft board.
There's value in holding onto the No. 31 pick, which could become a premium prospect on a team-friendly contract with the benefit of a fifth-year option down the line. The only tangible reason to trade the pick would be if the return included an early-round selection in 2027, which could in turn aid the team's potential pursuit of A.J. Brown later this summer. Even so, the move would be hard to sell to the fan base fresh off a trip to the Super Bowl.
There’s no denying that the Patriots' current board is extremely bottom-heavy. Their only selections inside the top 100 are Nos. 31, 63, and 95. Perhaps the team sees value in having four or five selections in that top-100 range, even if none of those picks are made in Round 1?
Either way, the Patriots have a ton of unwanted attention hovering over the team at the worst possible time — and Wolf would have some explaining to do if the team does indeed decide to bail on pick No. 31 overall.