The Patriots have already undergone a major rebuild during the 2024 NFL offseason. New England moved on from long-time coach, and de facto general manager, Bill Belichick and restructured its organization with him gone.
The Patriots tapped 38-year-old Jerod Mayo as the team's new head coach. Meanwhile, Eliot Wolf takes over as the team's front-office lead, even though he doesn't have the official "general manager" title.
Now, New England's new brain trust has another key decision to make. Who will be its top quarterback in 2024?
The Patriots are expected to replace Mac Jones after the 2021 first-round pick struggled during his third season before being benched in favor of Bailey Zappe. The only question was whether New England would search for an upgrade in free agency, via trade or in the 2024 NFL Draft.
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It looks like the Patriots have set up a plan of attack, and their preferred option appears to be addressing that position with the No. 3 overall selection in the draft.
Patriots draft rumors
The Patriots "really want to draft a quarterback with the No. 3 pick," per Chad Graff and Jeff Howe of The Athletic. The reason for doing so is simple.
The Patriots’ decision-makers know there are a lot of holes on the roster beyond the quarterback position. They know there’s one roster-building sentiment that suggests they’d be wise to improve the rest of the team before dropping a rookie quarterback into it — that a rookie quarterback won’t be set up for success until the rest of the roster is better.
But the Patriots look at it like this: If you get the rare chance to draft one of the top prospects at the game’s most valuable position, it’s worth taking a big swing even if the surrounding roster isn’t great. The quarterback position is simply too important to risk passing on one in hopes of maybe landing one a year or two later.
Indeed, this strategy is a sensible one for the Patriots, especially considering it is widely believed that there are three top-tier quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft — Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye. At least one of those players is guaranteed to be on the board for the Patriots, provided they don't trade down.
The Patriots "feel all three (Williams, Daniels and Maye) are worthy of being top-three picks," per WalterFootball.com's Charlie Campbell. Thus, it seems likely that the Patriots will select one to be a potential quarterback upgrade.
It helps the Patriots that the 2024 NFL Draft class is deep on the offensive line and at receiver, two of the team's weakest offensive positions outside of quarterback. That could allow New England to take either Daniels or Maye — presuming that Caleb Williams goes No. 1 overall to the Bears as expected — at No. 3 while heavily investing its Day 2 and Day 3 picks in top receivers and offensive line prospects.
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The Patriots presently prefer Daniels to Maye, per Campbell. So, New England would select the LSU product if given the choice between the two prospects.
Either way, adding a new, high-end quarterback would instantly make the Patriots one of the league's most intriguing teams in the post-Belichick era.
