The Patriots have been active reworking their pass-rush depth this offseason, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the front office pursued two of the biggest names on the market. According to Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda.com, the Patriots “had desires” to trade for Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett.
New England’s pursuit of the two extension/trade candidates surely preceded their free agent spending spree. The Raiders and Browns were rightfully correct in waiting out the trade winds, as both teams eventually inked their star pass rushers to lucrative extensions. That forced the Patriots to pivot.
Considering the Patriots’ free agency commitments, we can only assume the Eliot Wolf-led front office would have been just as willing to hand out an extension to either player. The Patriots landed interior disruptor Milton Williams on a four-year, $104MM, and they added edge rusher Harold Landry III on a three-year, $43.5MM pact. With other additions like Robert Spillane and K’Lavon Chaisson, plus holdovers like Christian Barmore and Keion White, there’s hope Mike Vrabel will guide an improved front-seven in 2025.
Despite the team’s many defensive acquisitions, the Patriots may not be done adding. There’s been an assumption that the team would select an offensive tackle with the fourth-overall pick. However, Pauline says the team’s one alternative option could be an edge rusher, and that’s with the assumption that Abdul Carter will already be off the board.
Shemar Stewart, Mykel Williams, and Mike Green are regarded as consensus top-20 picks, but all three edge-rush prospects would be considered a reach at No. 4. Considering the uncertainty behind the top-three picks, Jalon Walker could be an option for New England, although the Georgia product seems better positioned to slide in as an inside LB.
Our own Ely Allen projects the Patriots to select LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell with the No. 4 pick, a popular sentiment across the industry. However, the Patriots could pull off the first wrinkle of the draft if they add to an already-remade defense.
It’s got to be rough for those arrogant pats fans to realize that your poverty franchise is sunk back to the point that players would rather choose to rot on the Browns and Raiders than join that titanic bound pats ship.
I’m a pats fan. You will never experience the joy that I have as a football fan. If they never win again I will die happy
Well to be fair, we in NE are too concerned watching the Celtics try and repeat, the Red Sox have the top 3 prospects in MLB, UConn dominating Basketball year after year…
We just dont have the time to care.
Where are you from? Oh yeah no place that wins anything…
I will bet the Pats make the playoffs this season. Dont worry, the Evil Empire will be back, then the Pats haters will have a life again.
BTW did you really take the time to write that?
Whats the saying, the Pats live rent free in your head.
You’re only tied with the Steelers in rings, settle down, CF.
Stfu
They did this to themselves by winning that last useless game of the season, which the Bills were trying to lose. As a Pats fan, I still get sick to my stomach thinking about that dropping them from #1 pick to #4.
The Pats would be happy with Carter, Hunter, or Campbell, in my mind. No matter who the Browns take, New England will have a good skill addition somewhere at an area of need. Ironically, an advantage of having so many holes means that you can add an impactful addition at many places, and as such you have a lot of almost equally great options.
The Pats are one of the few teams that I think could have some tangible benefit from trading back up for another player this year. There aren’t many that would. I want to emphasize that I’m not suggesting this, especially if it involves future picks, but on the other hand, this should be a really cheap year to move back up if a good opportunity presents itself. If, say, Carter is available at four, the Pats could take him, and then move back into the top ten or fifteen if Membou (or even Campbell, depending on the spot) is still on the board, and grab both additions. I’m not saying that they would, but I can see scenarios where it could benefit them more than another team.