DRAFT DAY DISCUSSION 2024 Draft Day LIVE Discussion Thread Day 1

[KCSVEN]

this is a very top heavy draft. I've read where there are about 70 fewer players who would normally be draft quality players NOT in this draft because they can make more money with less risk in college. I so I would GLADLY trade my 2 sixths and my 5th to move up to the lower 3rd or top of the 4th. Those 3rd day picks are likely to be UDFA types. It's not that you MIGHT not find a rare jewel that late, but very unlikely.

As for my hopes for tomorrow, I wouldn't hate it at all if we come out of Friday with a WR, TE or OT. Persall was my pick at 34, but I have concerns about hearing stuff about AMitchell's character. McConkey looks to me to be the safest pick at 34 or a small trade down.

It was said he was "uncoverable" at the senior bowl. They all want to label him a slot guy, but at 6' and 185 he's big enough to play outside. BTW he ran a 4.38 at the combine so he's more than just a "possession " receiver

That'll be the norm going forward, less underclassmen, this year that is made up somewhat by the covid year seniors, this is also why 2025 draft is so incredibly weak. Things will normalize in 2026.
To your point 6th and 7th round picks are pretty useless this year, 2nd thru 5th will still have quality depth.

The 3 picks they have in 6 and 7 this year and anything 4th round or later next year are on the table for me to move up in 2nd or 3rd round.

 

[Bill Lee]

I really don't like the idea of using our #2 (and probably more draft capital) for Aiyuk, or for Samuel either.

I'd prefer we draft and develop a WR rather than paying big $$$ to a guy with more years and more miles.

Really excited to see what we do with our 2nd tonight.

As Ken said this probably isn't a deep draft, so I hope we don't trade down.

 

[Bill Lee]

Transcript is done (my fingers are tired)

TRANSCRIPT: Patriots QB Drake Maye Conference Call | PatsFans.com

Here’s what new draft pick Drake Maye said after being selected by the New England Patriots Thursday night:

www.patsfans.com

Thanks, @Ian, it was an interesting read!

 

[long distance]

The winners of Draft 2024 round 1 are the 8 teams that took their OTs.

Key position, hardest to fill, good R1 hit ratio in a rarely exceptional class.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Transcript is done (my fingers are tired)

TRANSCRIPT: Patriots QB Drake Maye Conference Call | PatsFans.com

Here’s what new draft pick Drake Maye said after being selected by the New England Patriots Thursday night:

www.patsfans.com

Just a suggestion. We use happyscribe.com transcription at work, and their automatic transcription usually comes out amazing.

 

[dex13]

Regarding pick #34, what's more important given our current staffing, WR or OT?

I think OT but with the run, it's hard to pass on WR right now.

 

[dex13]

Adonai Mitchell will be gone. None of the rest of them are really worth anything close to pick 34.

McConkey....almost same speed but doesn't have 70% speed mentality.

 

[TommyD4207]

McConkey....almost same speed but doesn't have 70% speed mentality.

I like McConkey as a prospect, but I hate him at 34, especially when there is real 1st round talent still on the board. He's fast, got good hands, tough, but he only had 30 catches and 2 TDs last year, on a juggernaut team without another WR.

Pick 34 needs to be a day 1 starter. And any WR drafted after this point (and tackle as well) will be a prospect, a flyer, not a plug and play starter.

The failure in free agency to address tackle and wide receiver in any real way (not the Wal-mart dumpster specials) has come back to bite them in this draft. They figured they could just draft one. They weren't ready.

 

[dex13]

I like McConkey as a prospect, but I hate him at 34, especially when there is real 1st round talent still on the board. He's fast, got good hands, tough, but he only had 30 catches and 2 TDs last year, on a juggernaut team without another WR.

Pick 34 needs to be a day 1 starter. And any WR drafted after this point (and tackle as well) will be a prospect, a flyer, not a plug and play starter.

The failure in free agency to address tackle and wide receiver in any real way (not the Wal-mart dumpster specials) has come back to bite them in this draft. They figured they could just draft one. They weren't ready.

So are you advocating for so.ething other than WR/OT at 34?

 

[Bill Lee]

The winners of Draft 2024 round 1 are the 8 teams that took their OTs.

Key position, hardest to fill, good R1 hit ratio in a rarely exceptional class.

All fine, yet till you have an answer at QB, having a good OT isn't going to move the needle.

The failure in free agency to address tackle and wide receiver in any real way (not the Wal-mart dumpster specials) has come back to bite them in this draft. They figured they could just draft one. They weren't ready.

The problem is that if you aren't paying Wal*Mart prices then you're paying Neiman Marcus prices.

PFF says the second best OL we could get was... Trent Brown. We let him go, IMO, for good reasons.

Third best was Mike Onwenu who we resigned, but he's getting PAID.

Not sure what else we could/should have done for OL.

Tyron Smith was out there, but he's old and lacks durability.

WR too was a "poo-poo platter" of choices, and IMO we're not one good WR away from being a playoff team.

So, ideally we'll go WR with #2 tonight and then hope both QB and WR develop together as we try to add more pieces.

We're still in the rebuild phase, hopefully we see some signs of progress but that's about all I think we can expect from this season.

2024 NFL Free Agency Rankings: Offensive tackles

Tyron Smith is the top-ranked free-agent offensive tackle in PFF's 2024 NFL free agency rankings.

www.pff.com

2024 NFL Free Agency Rankings: Wide receivers | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

Tee Higgins is the top-ranked free-agent wide receiver in PFF's 2024 NFL free agency rankings.

www.pff.com

 

[Real fan 02]

Why Troy Vincent?
Was Bernard Pollard busy?

I think they tapped Ted wells too

 

[Boomer B]

I like McConkey as a prospect, but I hate him at 34, especially when there is real 1st round talent still on the board. He's fast, got good hands, tough, but he only had 30 catches and 2 TDs last year, on a juggernaut team without another WR.

Pick 34 needs to be a day 1 starter. And any WR drafted after this point (and tackle as well) will be a prospect, a flyer, not a plug and play starter.

The failure in free agency to address tackle and wide receiver in any real way (not the Wal-mart dumpster specials) has come back to bite them in this draft. They figured they could just draft one. They weren't ready.

Daniel Jeremiah has L. McConkey in his top 30 players, as do lets of others. It’s a position of need and he’s a good prospect. There’s no sure thing.

 

[Thunderhead]

"McConkey" is too similar to "McCorkle", and for that reason alone I hope they don't draft him.

 

[long distance]

All fine, yet till you have an answer at QB, having a good OT isn't going to move the needle.

You cant have an answer at QB by QB itself. Mahomes - as an outlier - came into perfect situation (big trade up from a solid team) and has had from the start very solid OLs giving him every opportunity to build full confidence . And even now has the line of high investment. The season both starting tackles were injured he didnt look good despite having Chita and Kelce and all the confidence in the world.

QB is a team product. You can have Brady not look like the answer in one team situation and Purdy, Hurts etc look like an answer in others. Goff and Wentz went from answer to non answer several times already..
Mac looked like an answer year 1 coming to decent situation and then plummeted after the offense shenanigans started and OL derailed.

Its interconnected of course but reality shows that its easier for good team to carry QB than for QB to carry bad team.

Talking about rookies - and BB yesterday made this beautifully apparent during PMS broadcast - the situation these kids come in is not only important but most times fatal bc NFL is another planet and the easiest step is a giant one. Theres a reason why so many “generational talent“ QBs fail.

So from a strategic point imo - if you are in position to draft one of the top QBs FIRST do everything in your power to solidify OL as much as possible (and NE had every possibility this yr). First years for rookie QB are crucial.

If you cant better consider passing and fix the rest of the team first. SF, Detroit f.e. went that way and turned out pretty good.

Detroit went OT and “a bust“ Goff instead of Drafting QB in 2021. They stayed w Goff the next year despite disastrous season and took DE at #2 instead of QB. Two franchise players not QBs that together with the rest turned the franchise around..

 

[Bill Lee]

Detroit went OT and “a bust“ Goff instead of Drafting QB in 2021. They stayed w Goff the next year despite disastrous season and took DE at #2 instead of QB. Two franchise players not QBs that together with the rest turned the franchise around..

Goff was never a bust, he had brought his team to the Super Bowl in 2018 and division round in 2020.

If DET had players like Brisette and Zappe on their QB depth chart, IMO they'd have acted differently.

 

[Joey007]

I really don't like the idea of using our #2 (and probably more draft capital) for Aiyuk, or for Samuel either.

I'd prefer we draft and develop a WR rather than paying big $$$ to a guy with more years and more miles.

Really excited to see what we do with our 2nd tonight.

As Ken said this probably isn't a deep draft, so I hope we don't trade down.

Agreed. Top heavy, and it falls off pretty steeply after round 4.

 

[raduray]

 

[VJCPatriot]

So here's my thought with pick #34. If we don't trade the pick for a guy like Aiyuk or Tee Higgins... why not just trade down about 10 spots and take the BPA whether it's a tackle or WR?

Grabbing an extra 3rd or 4th round pick feels like decent value to add here.

Wolf mentioned in passing yesterday that he wanted to trade down at some point. #34 looks like a pretty desireable pick as whoever picks here is getting pretty much their top choice of the rest of the draft.

Anybody feeling a 'trade down' move coming today?

 

[farn]

So here's my thought with pick #34. If we don't trade the pick for a guy like Aiyuk or Tee Higgins... why not just trade down about 10 spots and take the BPA whether it's a tackle or WR?

Grabbing an extra 3rd or 4th round pick feels like decent value to add here.

Wolf mentioned in passing yesterday that he wanted to trade down at some point. #34 looks like a pretty desireable pick as whoever picks here is getting pretty much their top choice of the rest of the draft.

Anybody feeling a 'trade down' move coming today?

Is A Mitchell a “change the offense type” ? Is Kool Aid a 10 year, multiple pro bowler ?

No one knows for sure, but if NE thinks either is likely, that is enough to stay put. I loved the trade down and add pieces in the BB/Brady era. But now, I would prioritize players that can make the big, key plays ‘normal’ teams need to win a game. We can no longer count on many of the old steamroll most opponents Patriots squads.

 

[Bill Lee]

Still amazed that this outfit wasted everyone's time by interviewing Belichick.

For their front office, it's all about keeping their jobs, from the top on down.