With Latest Shift, Will the Patriots Trade Up in the 2025 Draft?
New England seems to be one spot away from where they need to be in this year's 2025 Patriots Draft.
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As Shedeur Sanders’ stock continues to fall, the domino effect that it’s had in the latest NFL Mock Drafts has certainly made things interesting when it comes to how it might affect the New England Patriots.
Given Cleveland co-owner Jimmy Haslam’s recent comments about their quarterback situation, Deshaun Watson’s time with the Browns appears to be over. The Browns still have a need unless they want to run it back with newly-signed Kenny Pickett, but whether or not they’re going to take a gamble on Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders is looking more and more unlikely.
Having already dealt with enough setbacks, Haslam hinted that forcing the pick on yet another quarterback who might not turn the fortunes of his franchise around isn’t an option, which potentially could see Cleveland instead take the best player available.
With that in mind, the feeling among most analysts now is that the Browns may put Travis Hunter at the top of their draft board, and that has changed the landscape a bit here in New England.
Both CBS’s latest mock, along with Pro Football Focus, have the Browns bypassing Sanders and taking one of the other two big names. The consensus is that Cam Ward will go #1 overall to Tennessee, while CBS has Hunter being selected with the number two overall pick to the Browns, while PFF has Abdul Carter going to Cleveland in their latest mock.
In either case, the Giants, who pick third, end up with whichever player the Browns don’t select, leaving the Patriots without one of the top two blue-chip players in this draft.
That shift has been a big topic of discussion this week on sports radio, with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Zolak and Bertrand spending some time on Wednesday discussing what the Patriots should do.
In their mind, this is a situation where they believe trading up has to be an option that New England explores, because once Hunter and Carter come off the board, there are a lot of solid options, but no one who compares in terms of their potential impact.
“They should at least try,” said Marc Bertrand this week. “They should make an effort. Granted, it’s only April second, so they’ve got time. But why not move up, call the Giants at three, and say, ‘Listen, you can draft multiple players in this first round? We want to move up a spot. We want Carter or we want Hunter. You get to move back a spot. You can take whoever else.'”
“You have so many holes to fix if you’re the Giants. And if you’re not taking a quarterback there at the top, if you’re the Giants, because you don’t think anybody’s worthy of it, well, how about getting two players in the first round by using what we give you to get back up into it. Pull off something big with what we send your way.”
The problem with trading up is that when you’re talking about the top three picks, especially if you’re looking for an impact player, trading back isn’t really something to be motivated about. The Giants, who signed Russell Wilson this offseason, don’t need a quarterback. Brian Daboll is also heading into what’s likely a make-or-break year for him, so getting cute with draft picks probably isn’t something he’s open to.
From there, it’s just Cleveland, and they’re likely not going to give up the chance to take Hunter or Carter, especially for a roster that needs so much help. Hunter makes the most sense considering they already have Myles Garrett, and he would give them a big impact player on offense.
Meanwhile, CBS has Sanders slipping down to the Saints with the #9 overall pick, while PFF has him slipping out of the first round completely. But either way, what’s happened as of late with him has definitely changed the landscape significantly.
Considering the discussion when it comes to any of the tackles on the board, whether it’s LSU’s Will Campbell or Missouri’s Armand Membou, that’s obviously still a big position of need for New England.
Regardless of how people feel about Campbell’s value at four, or how they rate Membou, trading back remains a risky proposition. The vast majority of Mock Drafts have both Campbell and Membou being selected somewhere between 4-7, which doesn’t exactly give New England a lot of wiggle room. The other issue is that Membou has been a right tackle and it’s certainly not a given that he could transition to the left side.
Some feel that either tackle would be a reach, but this year feels a little different. Without much in the way of star power at the top of the draft, there are too many mid-tier players available, which is definitely different from what we normally see at the top of the draft. Add in the fact that finding a good tackle prospect is incredibly difficult, and it complicates things.
That puts the Patriots in a tough spot. It’s not a situation where trading down to, let’s say, 11 and having the player still be there is an option. As a matter of fact, a good portion of the mocks don’t have either tackle lasting past #7.
Both seem to be on New England’s radar, and head coach Mike Vrabel talked about both during his press conference this week.
“Well, I think they’re great, young, talented players that have great film,” said Vrabel. “Will’s got a lot of snaps at left tackle. Membou has played right, but there’s a lot of guys that have played right and left, and switch. Those are two good young players to talk about in that conversation. But there’s others throughout the draft as well.”
A lot of analysts have talked about Campbell’s arm length and whether or not he’s got what it takes to play tackle at the next level. Some believe that if he doesn’t pan out, he could be a solid guard in the NFL. That’s what makes that decision so difficult given that there’s clearly a big difference between taking a starting-caliber left tackle that high compared to taking a guard.
Vrabel has seen the film, and in his mind, especially when you factor in the competition Campbell faced in college, it’s hard not to consider him a tackle prospect.
“Yeah. I think you have to,” Vrabel said of Campbell. “I don’t understand how you could watch him play in the SEC, which is the best conference in college football, against guys that are going to get drafted at that position. So I don’t think you have to project it. You can just actually watch and say, there’s the snaps at left tackle evaluate it, see what you think.”
Eliot Wolf echoed those sentiments in a one-on-one interview with Michael Felger this week, saying he believes Campbell can play “tackle or guard” and that they do like him as a player.
“I think you go back to the film, and he’s blocking guys, and we like him as a player, so we’ll see what that means on draft day, if anything,’ said Wolf. “But I do think he can play tackle.”
Another possibility could see them shift gears and possibly target an offensive player like Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, who appears to be a consensus top 10 pick among many analysts. The only issue there is that as nice as drafting Warren might be, it still takes them back to where they were a year ago where having weapons doesn’t help them if they can’t protect Drake Maye long enough for him to get them the football.
For now, things will likely continue to be fluid, but at the top of the draft, it feels like the Patriots seem to be one spot away from where they need to be. Now they may need to switch gears and figure out how they’ll pivot as they try to make sure whoever they end up with fills one of many needs they have heading into this draft.
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