We’ve officially entered peak mock draft season, and at this point, fans have been flooded with so much information that it’s impossible to form any reasonable expectations.
That’s especially the case for teams picking near the end of the first round, like the New England Patriots. ESPN’s Peter Schrager, who’s as plugged in as they come for NFL insiders, dropped his first mock draft of the season on Tuesday morning.
With the 31st pick, he had the Patriots selecting Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge — a player colleague Matt Miller recently had going No. 78 overall to the Indianapolis Colts.
It’s 100 percent fair for Patriots fans to be thinking, “How did we get here?” We’ve come a long way since February, when the early mocks had the team locked in on edge rushers. That was logical then, with K’Lavon Chaisson set to hit the market as a top pending free agent. It’s arguably even more important now, with the Patriots replacing Chaisson with free agent addition Dre’Mont Jones, while also cutting ties with Anfernee Jennings.
With all due respect to Schrager, Patriots fans would go nuclear if the team made a first-round move reminiscent of the Cole Strange disaster in 2022. This appears to be a good year to target an edge defender, and Patriots reporter Mark Daniels of MassLive.com might’ve uncovered the most logical target for fans to read up on over the coming weeks.
Akheem Mesidor of the Miami Hurricanes opted not to work out at the NFL Scouting Combine due to a history of foot injuries. But he’s a projected first-round pick, and his connection to the Patriots’ staff deserves more attention.
The Patriots-Akheem Mesidor connection fans need to know
Mesidor is an older prospect, as he just celebrated his 25th birthday in early April. The Patriots can only hope that affects his draft stock enough for him to fall into their laps at No. 31 overall.
As Daniels pointed out, Mesidor transferred from West Virginia to Miami in 2022, when current Patriots personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith was in his first year as the Hurricanes' GM of football operations.
“He has solid size at 6-foot-3, 259 pounds and plays with a high motor,” Daniels wrote. “Mesidor was very productive in college, making 12.5 sacks and forcing four fumbles last season. He earned All-ACC first-team honors. Mesidor met with the Patriots at the Combine.”
There’s obvious interest here from the Patriots, so why wouldn’t Schrager mock Mesidor to New England at pick No. 31? That’s because he had the talented edge rusher going to the Dallas Cowboys at pick No. 20. Miller mocked Mesidor to the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 23.
He’s been mocked as high as No. 14 overall to the Carolina Panthers from NFL Network’s Lance Zierlein, and No. 15 overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from well-known draft expert Daniel Jeremiah.
Mesidor would check all the boxes for Mike Vrabel. He was a team captain for the Hurricanes, fits the ideal size and weight that Vrabel typically covets, per Daniels, and produced at an ultra-high level in 2025 with 67 total QB pressures, 50 hurries, and 29 run-stuffs, according to Pro Football Focus.
The only question is how long he lasts on Day 1, and whether the Patriots would trade up the board if he falls into their range. That’s the million-dollar question for a prospect who might be the most logical first-round target for the Patriots in this year’s class.