Grading all 8 picks Patriots made in 2024 NFL Draft
Eliot Wolf's 2024 draft, his first in charge, is over. The full three days are in the bank. This effort will critique the three-day event and assign an overall grade after grading each day individually. Along with free agency, not particularly effective this offseason as conducted by Wolf in the view here, the draft will define the 2024 offseason.
So how did Eliot Wolf continue his preparations for 2024 in this draft?
We begin by evaluating the all-important Day One. In this case, the Pats had their highest pick since 1993, with the third overall. Did they nail this pick or not? Let's evaluate.
Patriots select Drake Maye with the third pick overall
No team will win much of anything without a top quarterback. Eliot Wolf recognized that fact and acted accordingly. He drafted a consensus top-three quarterback at pick No. 3 after Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels were taken. Wolf got it right and selected Quarterback Drake Maye from North Carolina.
With this pick, the Patriots stepped into the 2020s NFL with a young, big, dual-threat quarterback ready to lead the charge. Maye stands over 6'4" tall and weighs 223 pounds. He completed 63.3% of his passes for 3,608 and 24 touchdowns with nine interceptions. Admittedly, this was a step down from his 2022 campaign, when he was even better.
Maye can also run to make something out of nothing. Unlike the lead-footed quarterbacks of the past three years, he's not a liability on the run. In 2023, Maye gained 469 yards and scored another nine TDs on the ground. He may not be in Jayden Daniels' league, but who, other than Lamar Jackson, is?
While Maye may need some coaching up at the NFL level, his selection was spot on. He was
a consensus top-three QB in this draft, as adjudged by almost any and every evaluator. On a practical level, Wolf's boss, Robert Kraft, wanted a young quarterback to build around. You got him a top one. That was top-notch drafting by Mr. Wolf.