The New England Patriots went into the 2024 NFL draft with the third overall pick, but multiple teams made trade offers to them trying to move up.
One of those teams was the Minnesota Vikings, who offered both of their 2024 first-round picks and a first in 2025 for No. 3 and some mid-round picks in 2024.
That may be fair value in a normal draft, but when there's a potential franchise quarterback guaranteed to still be on the board at that spot, there's a certain tax that comes with that. And, that's especially the case when the team you're trying to trade with is in desperate need for a quarterback.
New England, since moving on from Tom Brady after the 2019 season, has gone 29-38 and has seen poor play at the position outside of Mac Jones' rookie year.
So, when they had the opportunity this offseason to draft North Carolina's Drake Maye, who many believe can be a franchise quarterback, they weren't giving up that pick unless a monster offer was made.
Receiving two first-round picks wasn't enough in their mind, and it was even worse when the Vikings asked for picks back.
Why would the Patriots want to make that deal? It wouldn't make much sense.
Instead, they remained at No. 3 overall and took Maye, who will at least compete to be the team's starter for Week 1 alongside Jacoby Brissett. The Vikings were forced to take the fifth quarterback in the draft, as they moved up to No. 10 to select Michigan's J.J. McCarthy.
If they really thought Maye was their guy, they should've done what was necessary and not fooled around with asking for mid-round picks back.
