It’s finally here.
The NFL Draft opened Thursday night in Detroit, where the Patriots made North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye their first selection at No. 3 overall.
The Patriots added Washington wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk with their next pick at No. 37 overall and Penn State offensive tackle Caedan Wallace in the third round. Follow the Herald’s draft tracker for grades and analysis of every Patriots pick through the seventh round, which will conclude the draft Saturday evening.
Round 3
Patriots draft Penn State OT Caedan Wallace at 68th overall
A four-year starter at right tackle, Wallace followed a run on offensive tackles in the late second round and early third. He stands at 6-foot-4 and 317 pounds, an above-average athlete and well-rounded player at his position. According to Pro Football Focus, Wallace was one of nine Power-5 offensive tackles to get beat on four or fewer snaps last season.
He was a high four-star recruit coming out of high school in 2019 and made his first starts as a redshirt freshman in 2020. Wallace might play guard at the next level, but should have enough athleticism to stay at tackle. It’s unclear whether he projects as a solid starter or swing tackle in the NFL. Wallace took a pre-draft visit to New England.
Grade:C
The 24-year-old showed significant improvement between his last two seasons at Penn State, reportedly because he committed himself more seriously. Last year’s version of Wallace projects as a starting NFL right tackle. But since the Patriots are projecting he’ll move to the left side, it’s a complete unknown.
And if Wallace remains on the right side, where Mike Onwenu just re-signed on a $57 million contract and Calvin Anderson should be a serviceable backup, that creates a lot of redundancy for an O-line still without a proven starting left tackle.
Meanwhile, in the 10 picks before Wallace went, the Patriots watched the Texans draft Notre Dame’s Blake Fisher at No. 59 overall, the Chiefs select BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia at No. 63 and the Commanders add TCU left tackle Brandon Coleman one pick before them. Suamataia and Coleman both played left tackle in college, while Fisher played there just a couple years ago. Armed with extra picks in the fourth and sixth rounds, the Pats could have traded up for any of them.
Instead, the Patriots waited and picked a career college right tackle who last played on the left side in 2018 in … high school. This sure feels more like hope than a plan, even as they added a player with strong 2023 tape who plays a position of major need.
Round 2
Patriots select Washington WR Ja’Lynn Polk at No. 37 overall
There it is.
The Patriots add their first receiver in Washington’s Ja’Lynn Polk, a 6-foot-1, 203-pounder well-regarded for his toughness and catch radius. He posted 1,159 receiving yards and nine touchdowns last seasons. At the scouting combine, he clocked a 4.52 in the 40-yard dash and recorded a 37.5-inch vertical leap.
Polk projects as a versatile receiver who can play across the formation and make tough catches, both down the sideline and over the middle. He doesn’t wow in any particular area, but plays with a natural skill set and multiple media evaluators agree he can fine-tune his route-running to develop into an NFL starter.
Grade: B-
The Patriots chose Polk over other wideouts with at least one clearly superior trait: Texas’ Adonai Mitchell, Oregon’s Troy Franklin and Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley, to name a few. Polk, however, may be the most pro-ready of the bunch, considering his toughness and versatility. He was also highly productive last season, a fairly predictive factor when projecting college receivers to the NFL.
The question here is upside.
Eliot Wolf has claimed to prioritize upside with this draft. Polk doesn’t have the same athletic potential as Mitchell or Franklin, so either the Patriots see troubling holes in their profiles or believe their newest receiver can significantly upgrade his game technically. Pats offensive assistant Tyler Hughes was a quality control coach for Washington last year, which should have given Wolf and Co. better intel on Polk that most, if not all, other front offices.
Bottom line: Polk projects as a No. 2 or No. 3 at the next level and joins a team already loaded with plenty of those types of receivers.
8:20 p.m.Patriots trade back to No. 37
The Patriots moved back three spots at the start of the second round, moving from 34th overall to No. 37 in a trade with the Chargers. The Pats also swapped their fifth-round pick at No. 137 for Los Angeles’ pick at 110th overall. The Chargers selected Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey.
Round 1
11:50 p.m.The first round is over.
The Patriots are scheduled to make the second pick Friday, though they could trade back after director of scouting Eliot Wolf told reporters Thursday he hopes to add more picks. Several talented receivers remain, including Georgia’s Ladd McConkey, Texas’ Adonai Mitchell, Oregon’s Troy Franklin and Florida State’s Keon Coleman.
The Pats also need to add an offensive tackle.
Patriots draft North Carolina QB Drake Maye at No. 3 overall
A new era has a new quarterback.
The Patriots stood pat and drafted Maye, adding an all-around playmaker with a modern skill set and rare talent. Maye can make every throw, extend plays and deliver over the middle of the field. He’s tough and well-regarded as a leader, having been voted a team captain last year as a redshirt sophom*ore.
Maye has not been anointed the Patriots’ starting quarterback yet, but is, unquestionably, their new face of the franchise.
In his first year as a starter, Maye won 2022 ACC Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-ACC honors. He finished top-five in major college football with 4,321 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns around seven interceptions. He completed 66.2% of his passes and also led the team in rushing, with 698 yards and seven rushing touchdowns.
Last season, surrounded by subpar receiving talent and pass protection, while working the controls of a new scheme, Maye landed on the All-ACC second team. He completed 63.3% of his passes for 3,608 yards, 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions. As a runner, he totaled 449 yards and nine touchdowns.
Drake Maye scouting report: What the film and stats say about potential Patriots QB
Grade: A
The obvious pick. The right pick. The only pick.
The Patriots have time to develop Maye, a prototypical quarterback prospect for any era with rare talent. They can fix his most obvious flaw -- footwork -- and let him learn the playbook. He profiles comfortably to Justin Herbert, perhaps with Josh Allen upside. The Patriots should have chased upside here with Maye, and that's what they did.
8:20 p.m.The Bears drafted USC quarterback Caleb Williams. Washington is on the clock, and the Patriots are on deck.
7:05 p.m. Jerod Mayo tells fans at the Patriots' pre-draft party in Gillette Stadium: "We’re going to get a great player at 3. It’s going to be early. And we can always sneak back into the first round.”
Mayo also told folks to stick around, indicating the team could trade back into the end of the first round. The first round is expected to conclude around 11:30 p.m.
3 p.m. The Patriots are expected to make their pick at No. 3. Mayo told the NFL Network the team is comfortable selecting any one of six prospects, a group that is expected to include Maye.
