Patriots’ Draft Day Shocker: New England Makes Surprising Picks in 2024 Draft Do-Over
The New England Patriots were destined to draft a quarterback heading into the 2024 NFL draft.
With the third pick, they had to settle for the third-best quarterback on paper, but with a season now completed, it is interesting to look back at the top of the draft.
In a 2024 ESPN NFL Draft do-over, New England once again selected Drake Maye with the third pick, after Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams.
Daniels swapped with Williams to first overall after leading the Washington Commanders to the NFC championship as a rookie.
The second pick is where things get more interesting, as a case could be made for Maye to go second over Williams.
It’s still extremely early, but Williams didn’t quite live up to the hype with the Chicago Bears, while Maye surpassed his hype despite a bad situation.
With both quarterbacks now playing under a new coaching staff, it will be interesting to see how each performs this coming season.
In the second round of this do-over draft, the Patriots passed on Ja’Lynn Polk, who was a non-factor as a rookie, for offensive tackle Troy Fautanu, who originally went 20th overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Given their offensive line struggles this past season, a tackle in the second round would’ve made perfect sense in hindsight.
The main takeaway from this do-over draft is New England took the best possible player with the third pick in the draft but may have taken the worst possible player with their second-round pick.
