With less than a week to go as the team gets ready to build its 2025 Patriots Draft class, it sounds like things might be shifting ahead of them, which could open up their options with the #4 overall selection.
CBS Sports analyst Tom Fornelli published his latest Mock Draft on Friday, and it appears he feels the Giants might shift gears with the #3 overall pick.
After Shedeur Sanders’ stock dropped recently, it sounds like the Giants might have a renewed interest in him. Ian Rapoport of NFL media reported a few days ago that the Giants had plans this week to fly out to Colorado to work out Sanders, which would lead you to believe that the possibility is indeed there that they’ll go quarterback after all at #3.
If that happens, and the Browns do pass on him, it could give the Patriots the opportunity to potentially take Penn State’s Abdul Carter if Cleveland opts to take Travis Hunter with the second overall pick.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel talked about Carter during his Pre-Draft press conference this week, noting that the Penn State standout didn’t take too many visits. However, Vrabel said what he saw on tape certainly impressed him.
“I don’t think he took too many of them,” said Vrabel of Carter visiting other teams. “But I would say that the tape is dynamic. There’s a lot of great qualities of a disruptive pass rusher, a very slippery, loose, sudden player, and it was a fun tape to watch.”
Fornelli did have New England taking Carter at #4 in his mock draft, with the Jaguars taking defensive lineman Mason Graham next at #5. From there, LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell then went to the Raiders at #6, while Missouri tackle Armand Memou was then taken with the next pick at #7 by the Jets. Linebacker Jalon Walker, who is a player many have talked about going to the Patriots recently, then went to the Panthers at #8 overall.
Whether or not the club opts to take Carter if he’s there at #4 remains to be seen. But if things play out the way they might, his potential availability might also open the door for another team to want to trade up with New England to land him if the Patriots decide Carter is more of a luxury than a necessity. That would change things, hopefully allowing them to possibly add some significant additional draft capital.
At the same time, while drafting Carter would certainly be a solid move, the other challenge is the fact that the team still needs to come out of this draft having added tackle depth.
With some additional draft picks, they could definitely do that. But whether or not they’d do it at the expense of adding someone like Carter to their roster is the bigger question. The other side of the coin would be that, given some recent comparisons, such as a comparison to former Broncos star Von Miller, it would also be tough – if he was available at #4 – to let him go elsewhere.
Either way, it would be a good problem to have. It also adds a little more intrigue heading into next week, where the Patriots will hopefully come out of this year’s crop of players with more impactful starters than they did in 2024.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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Even the two blue chips in this draft in Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter are not perfect/clean picks. There’s no Penne Sewel here (he was tagged a “lock”). Hunter is 185 lbs. Not a problem per se, but he’s on the edge of being small. That’s a bit nit-picking given his college tape and skills, but the NFL guys hit and run different than college. Carter, has a reputation of being questionable in character (work ethic… not sure). He also had a foot stress fracture that’s apparently healing/healed, but foot injuries are tricky and pose a risk of re-injury. Everyone… Read more »