In the last two weeks, the race for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft has gone off the rails.
The Raiders have won back-to-back games, the Giants dropped 45 points on the Colts in a Week 17 victory, and the Patriots have consecutive losses.
Of course, the 3-13 Browns and Titans are in the running entering the final week of the season, but after their totally discombobulated 40-7 loss to the Chargers, let’s explore the three main options for New England if it indeed stays put and secures the No. 1 overall pick at the conclusion of this regular season.
1. Trade down
Unless a team is selecting a quarterback who checks all the boxes said team looks for in a passer, I genuinely believe trading down should be the first option to explore for a club with the No. 1 overall pick. With Drake Maye, New England will be looking elsewhere whenever it selects in Round 1, and despite flashes from Maye and the entire team throughout the 2024 season, this is still a 3-13 club entering Week 18 — clearly there are massive holes to be filled to properly build around the quarterback they took at No. 3 overall in the 2024 draft.
Having rights to the first player in a given draft is the ultimate luxury, and oftentimes another team will pay exorbitantly to obtain that ability. And for a rebuilding club, the most vital element to said rebuild is extra draft selections, particularly early ones.
If the Patriots could slide a few spots down the board while netting a 2025 second and third, a 2026 first, and another Day 2 pick, it’s a course of action they absolutely need to consider. Simply being the first team to make a selection is enticing and easy. But nothing can kickstart a roster reconstruction than more draft capital that becomes youthful, inexpensive labor for four seasons.
As for pinpoint trade-down partners and draft-board locales, the Jaguars, currently at No. 5, would be ideal. That’d theoretically provide the Patriots the most compensation and they’d almost assuredly be able to pick Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who emanates Tee Higgins-Drake London vibes on film.
Ron Wolf, the father of Patriots executive VP of player personnel Eliot Wolf, was no stranger to draft-day trades, so I’m assuming Eliot will have a trade back on his mind if the Patriots get the No. 1 overall pick, and it should be strongly contemplated from every possible angle with every possible team, given the state of this Patriots roster.
2. Draft Travis Hunter
With win probability between 10-90%, the Patriots defense is 31st in EPA per play allowed. The offense? A touch better at 27th. Both need drastic work despite Maye’s moments of brilliance throughout the season seemingly outweighing big plays from the defense.
Fortunately for this scenario, Hunter plays both positions! Now, there is thought in the scouting community that Hunter will mostly play on one side of the ball and receive a package of plays on the other, and there will legitimately be different schools of thought as to where he should play in different front offices across the league.
Could the Patriots use a fluid separator with elite-level speed and tremendous ball skills for Maye? Ab-so-lutely. How about a lockdown, instinctive, and versatile cornerback who can take the football away and lay the lumber on outside runs opposite Christian Gonzalez? Yep.
From a qualitative perspective, Hunter would seemingly inject energy into the Patriots organization, something that’s clearly been missing since Tom Brady signed with the Buccaneers in 2020. The Heisman winner was every bit as integral as Shedeur Sanders to Colorado’s program going from 1-11 in 2022 to 9-4 with a bowl-game berth this season. There’d be minimal pushback from anyone if the Patriots called Hunter’s name into the league with the No. 1 pick.
3. Draft Will Campbell
The LSU blocker has three-consecutive starting seasons in the SEC and has looked a first-round pick since his freshman season. Across 1,593 pass-blocking snaps, Campbell surrendered a mere 47 pressures for the Tigers in three years. That’s bananas.
Watching the Patriots in Maye’s rookie season, the offensive line was a massive problem. Heck, the shoddy blocking unit was likely a key element to Jacoby Brissett starting originally. It’s now conventional wisdom that sacks and sack rate aren’t strictly offensive line statistics, as a quarterback’s ability or lack thereof to get rid of the football plays a major factor. Yet, I’ll confidently assume no one in the Patriots organization would label the team’s offensive line as anything but a liability.
As is the case with every first-round selection of an offensive lineman, this pick would be labeled as “safe” and not inspire much fanfare. But it might be the most prudent. Because at the heart of every quality team is a tremendous quarterback and, on a much more low-key level, a sturdy blocking contingent.
Nothing against Vederian Lowe, but he’s not the long-term answer at left tackle for the Maye era in New England. Campbell has the athleticism, power, balance, and high-caliber experience in the SEC to be that steady franchise blindside blocker for the next decade for the Patriots.