The New England Patriots are on the clock! Well, not yet, but the Mock Draft season certainly is, with the 2023 Patriots' season down the drain early. When your team is not terribly good, there's even more reason to get to mock drafts early and keep mocking until those magical April days!
This first effort, Mock #1 for 2024, is a very preliminary one that rolls without any trades and just selects the best player available to fill the Patriots' needs. This diverges from the usual Patriot modus operandi under Bill Belichick. That would be selecting the best player the team thinks can play way above his projected consensus ability. Witness the 2022 draft for that example.
Yet, here, it will be centered on selecting the best player who the Patriots can use right away to improve a squad headed for the bottom of the NFL pile in a hurry. It's all about need, and it's all about the lackluster offense that's nowhere near NFL proficiency.
So, "Let's Go!" and select four players for the Patriots in the first four rounds and see how it looks. (Thanks to profootballnetwork.com's draft simulator for making this possible.)
New England Patriots go big-time to fill two top needs
The Patriots 2023 offense is an embarrassment to poor NFL offenses. The Mac Jones experiment hasn't worked out. A first-round pick in 2021, Jones' trajectory since a surprisingly good 2021 rookie season has been on a downward spiral. The chances of his being at the helm in 2024 seem slim and very slim. But we'll see. In any event, here we go with the first pick.
The Patriots address a critical need neglected for years on offense; it's an offensive tackle. The selection with pick No. 3 in the 2024 NFL draft is an offensive tackle from Penn State, the 6'5' tall and 320-pound Olumuyiwa Fashanu. Bleacherreport.com's scouting report has this to say about the tackle,
"Olu Fashanu is a team captain and two-year starter inside Penn State's balanced (54-46 run-pass split), zone-based scheme with 18 career starts at left tackle. Fashanu has a prototypical tackle build with very good arm length and athletic ability. Fashanu is dialed in as a pass-protector with a keen understanding of snap timing, body positioning, and strike timing. He also has the movement skills and length to thrive on an island."
The Patriots may need a left tackle with Trent Brown out of contract after this season. Yet, even if Brown is re-signed, Fashanu can step right into the right tackle spot and make that position his own until he ultimately slots in on the left. This pick is long overdue. Neglect at OT cost the Patriots any chance of a good season in 2023. Whoever is selected in 2024 will hopefully remedy that in a hurry. Offensive tackles aren't glitzy, but without them, you're toast.
The Patriots' pick in the second round is another obvious one on offense. Mac Jones still has one year left at short money in 2024, so don't rule out his still being around, but it's better for both the player and the team if he's traded. Get what you can and move on.
To fill the void at quarterback for the future, the Patriots select Oregon Ducks' quarterback, Bo Nix. nflmocks.com comments about the Oregon slinger's 2023 season,
"He finished the year by setting an Oregon school record with a 71.9 completion percentage and also threw for 3,593 yards and 29 touchdowns. If that were not enough, he was also one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the run game, rushing for 510 yards and 14 touchdowns."
Nix ticks many boxes, but one slightly concerning aspect is his physical resemblance to Mac Jones. At 6'2" tall and weighing 217 pounds, Nix seems a clone of Jones. Yet that notwithstanding, he'll come to Foxborough with a chip on his shoulder at not being a first-round pick, and that's not a bad attribute to have, is it?
New England Patriots stay on offense with a wide receiver and another offensive tackle
Deferring a wideout until the third round (barring any trades) is not the greatest look for the Patriots, but first things first. QB and OT are the most critical needs, but the team addresses its other most pressing need in the third round, selecting Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley, who caught 69 passes for ten touchdowns and 906 yards in 2023. The 5'11" tall receiver weighing 210 pounds is the best available and could be a find in the third round.
Firstroundmock.com has this to say about Corley,
"While Corley has shown he’s a smooth receiver who can find soft spots in coverage downfield and even sneak behind a secondary, he excels short-range with the bubble screens and short routes.
From there, he is tough to bring down. This Western Kentucky receiver has proven to be a handful for defensive backs to contend with because he’s a strong and determined runner after the catch. It’s not uncommon to see Corley make the first man miss and pick up additional yardage after the catch.
"I can see him being a real chain mover in the NFL. That’s his greatest value on game film. I can see him more in the mold of Lions’ WR Amon Ra-St. Brown (fourth-round in his rookie season (who I was too low on) who caught 90 passes his rookie season."
Completing the four-round draft, the Pats stay right where they should on offense and further bolster that offensive tackle position. They select Kiran Amegadjie, an offensive tackle from Yale. The team needs depth at the position, and here's what ttownmedia.com had to say about the Yale tackle,
"Amegadjie, listed at 6-5, 318, is ranked among the top 100 prospects in the draft but will be limited on the circuit while recovering from surgery to repair a torn quad last month ... A four-year starter, Amegadjie played right guard before sliding to left tackle as a junior. He did not allow a sack while playing left tackle (one at guard).
"He'll miss an opportunity to prove he's equally capable against Power 5-level prospects at the Senior Bowl due to recovery from surgery. Amegadjie will attend the Senior Bowl practices and meet with NFL teams in Mobile, Ala."
It's a bit of an injury risk, but a Senior Bowl-level tackle in the fourth round is just fine. The talent is there, and once he's fully fit, he'll likely be a stout member of the revamped and remade offensive tackle room for the New England Patriots. That's Mock No. 1. Stay tuned for more mocks coming up. 'Tis the season!