Given where the Patriots are set to pick in Round 1, at No. 31, there has been a lot of discussion that they might entertain a trade down with teams at the top of the second round, specifically the Arizona Cardinals, who were expected to have their eyes on a quarterback.
The specific player they were rumored to want was Alabama's Ty Simpson, and moving up from No. 34 to 31 would be an easy deal to get done, and the Patriots would certainly be interested.
But now that can't come to fruition, as the LA Rams shocked everyone by not only drafting Simpson despite having Matthew Stafford on the roster, but taking him with the 13th overall pick. The quarterback had long been considered a late first-round to early second-round selection, only to be taken much sooner by a team nobody expected.
It seems to imply that Stafford has one more year in him with the Rams before retiring, so it's certainly an ideal situation for Simpson to walk into. But at the same time, it strips the Patriots of an ideal trade that would've given them more capital to work with over the next two days.
The Patriots will have to look elsewhere if they hoped to trade out of the first round
The most ideal candidate for a trade-down situation has long been the Cardinals, who are currently in a stand-off with former Patriots starter Jacoby Brissett. That made Simpson an easy target, only for him to be swept up by the Rams instead.
Now, New England will have to hope that another team will be desperate to trade up for potentially the third-best quarterback of the class, or maybe another offensive weapon. But based on the current draft board, it does not look like that's a strong possibility anymore.
All signs pointed to Eliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel having a strong interest in trading down in the hours leading up to the draft, and while there's still a chance for that to happen, it might not be at the spot they were hoping to land.
Now it might come down to how the dominoes fall, as offensive tackles have started to fall, and that is a rumored position the Patriots might be interested in. But we'll have to be patient for now and see what happens.
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