Patriots will have successful 2024 NFL Draft if they follow this guideline

The biggest event of the offseason, the NFL draft, is about ready to kick off. By Sunday, all the drafting will be over, and your team will have either hit it big (on paper, the best place to start) or not. It's the most important draft in 30 years for the New England Patriots. They can't afford to mess it up.

Eliot Wolf (the de facto general manager) is drafting for his job. Failure to draw a top quarterback, offense left tackle, and wide receiver will sink this draft before it ends. Also, drafting defensive "best players available," while usually fine, is not this offseason. This team needs offense first and foremost. If not their top priority through rounds four or five, it's another flop.

So here it is, the draft that will help remake the Patriots' offense if, indeed, the board falls as it may for the Patriots. It's not rocket science, but it will entail two overarching principles. One is that the team doesn't "reach" for players way before the consensus says they should be drafted, a specialty of Bill Belichick. Second, you draft the best offensive players available, period. So, "Let's go!" and present a great draft.

Note: Thanks to Pro Football Focus for the use of their April 22, 2024 Mock Draft as a guidepost.

Patriots' start great with the first two picks.

First round: The Quarterback.

The deal with that third pick overall, all the enticing trade offers notwithstanding, is to draft a quarterback. It will be either Jayden Daniels from LSU or Drake Maye of North Carolina. The choice here will be for the Pats to get lucky and select Jayden Daniels. He's the best all-around quarterback in the draft and perfect for the Patriots' situation. Next.

Second round: Next up, the left tackle.

The Patriots shouldn't compromise whatsoever on this next position. They need a left tackle, the second most important position on the team and they just go and get one of the best in this draft.

Alabama's 6'6" tall, 342-pound JC Latham is the guy. While he's played right tackle, the move for the Patriots is to play him on the left. JC Latham doesn't go until pick No. 30 in PFF's mock. This is the target. The Pats trade back up into the first round and snag Latham.

This trade will be costly. The Pats give up their second and fourth-rounders this season and their second next. Regardless, Latham is the pick, and if he falls that far, it will be the Pats' great fortune to get one of the top offensive tackles in the draft with everything he needs to be a top OLT. Two picks, two starters.

Third Round, The wide receiver.

Next, with their own pick, No. 68, in the third round, the Pats select wider receiver Brendan Rice from USC. Son of the all-time best NFL receiver, Jerry Rice, Brendan is an X receiver the Patriots don't have. Rice caught 45 for 791 yards and 12 TDs in 2023. The Patriots need a boundary receiver, and Rice is it.

Fifth round, tight end is the choice.

With their pick no. 137, the Patriots add youth to the tight end room and draft Jared Wiley, a monstrous tight end from TCU. At 6'6" tall and 252 pounds, he's a massive target with the required size to be an in-line blocker. But Wiley can also catch it, with 47 receptions for 520 yards and eight TDs to his credit in 2023.

Sixth Round, another offensive tackle is added to the mix.

With their sixth-round pick, No. 179, the Patriots double up on the offensive tackle position and take Delmar Glaze, a 6'5", 328-pounder from Maryland. Glaze is a depth pick adding competition to a tackle room that has been neglected in the draft in recent years. It's a solid value pick in the sixth round.

Seventh-round, a running back to complete the offensive splash.

The Patriots stay true to the offensive script and select a running back with pick No. 223. They choose a 6'1" tall, 220-pound big back, Isaiah Davis, from South Dakota State. Davis gained 1528 yards on the ground in 2023, with 18 TDS and a 6.7-yard average. With Ezekiel Elliott, a free agent, Davis is a perfect fit.

That's a total offensive draft that adds to every offensive position the New England Patriots need. First and foremost, they get their quarterback and left tackle. Then, they add skill positions all over the field. No draft is perfect, and neither is this one. However, if the Pats have a draft similar in positions and priorities, it says here, it will be just fine.

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