The New England Patriots need a serious rebuild to get back to their old ways, and this 2024 NFL mock draft is a good start for the franchise. The Patriots need to rebuild. It's time for a full teardown and a restart. Bill Belichick has, frankly, ruined this team. The roster is not at all talented; the offense is bad, and the quarterback is no good and has a low ceiling.
It's clear that Tom Brady covered up a ton of roster issues when he was here, and now since he's been gone for years now, those roster issues are becoming more obvious. There is no use trying to "retool" this team to any degree. This organization needs a new quarterback, competent offensive line play, and truly needs to rebuild the offense.
Angling towards the 2024 NFL Draft is a great place to start, so that's what we are going to do today. Let's put together a mock draft for the Patriots using the picks that they currently have.
Way too early mock draft for the New England Patriots in 2024
The first pick for the Patriots has them picking 5th overall in the coming draft. Fortunately, the best tackle prospect, and frankly best OL prospect in this class falls into their laps. Many thought that Olu Fashanu was going to declare last year, but he returned to Penn State and is a redshirt junior. He's also an excellent technician in pass protection and gives the Patriots' new QB protection on their blindside for years to come.
The New England Patriots are patient in the top of the second round and land a potential franchise QB in JJ McCarthy from Michigan. He's got the size, although he is on the leaner side, and has a very lively arm, something that Mac Jones does not have. The Patriots would have some work ahead of them to develop the player, but he's got all of the tools necessary to be a franchise QB.
Way too early mock draft for the New England Patriots in 2024
How about this? The New England Patriots land their two long-term offensive line bookends in the first three rounds. Tyler Guyton is a nasty run blocker who can also hold his own in pass protection. He's also 6'7", so he's got excellent length as well. I think great NFL teams are built from the inside, out, so the Patriots being able to land two tackles like this would be marvelous for their long-term prospects.
With the 98th overall pick, the Patriots select a 6'3" receiver with insane length and a very high ceiling. Sheppard is a senior and has 21 career touchdowns. The Patriots simply need to keep adding talent to the WR room. I expect that they'll try to make a splash in free agency, but adding in the draft is also smart.
I'm drafting by need in this mock draft, and because of that, the Patriots add to their EDGE room with Josh Uche being a free agent in 2024 and Matthew Judon's future truly being up in the air. Burch is a junior with 18.5 tackles for loss, so he knows how to get into the backfield to disrupt plays.
Way too early mock draft for the New England Patriots in 2024
Tyler Davis is a senior and is someone who is very disruptive from the defensive interior. The Patriots simply need to get better in the trenches, so adding talented players there is smart. Davis is in his fifth year and has 27.5 tackles for loss and 16 career sacks. He's just a tab bit undersized, but we've seen smaller defensive linemen find success at the next level.
Caden Prieskorn began his college career at Memphis and is now with Ole Miss as a senior transfer. Prieskorn caught 48 passes for 602 yards and seven touchdowns last year, which is great production for playing in just 13 games. He's also 6'6", which is pretty tall for tight ends. With Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki being free agents at the end of the year, adding to this unit makes sense.
With their final pick, the Patriots select another QB. I know this might be weird, but in the NFL, you should keep taking shots until you have your QB. In this case, the Patriots are selecting Van Dyke, who was excellent in 2021, throwing for 25 touchdowns against six interceptions.
He had a down year in 2022, throwing for 10 touchdowns and five picks in nine games, so he returned to school in 2023 and has 12 touchdowns and four picks through five games, and is also boasting a career-high 72.6% completion percentage.
The Patriots need to find a solution at QB, and being that they added to talented tackles in the draft, taking a shot on a QB makes sense.