The New England Patriots need to surround Drake Maye with more offensive weapons, but NFL Draft guru Daniel Jeremiah wouldn’t want to spend draft capital to make that happen.
Jeremiah spoke candidly about the Patriots’ upcoming draft and why he feels they should target defense with their first-round selection rather than upgrading the offensive skill position players around their quarterback.
The Patriots, of course, are coming off a Super Bowl berth where they fell to the Seattle Seahawks 29-13 and scored just 60 points in four playoff games. Maye and the Pats were stymied by the dominant Seahawks for three quarters and limited to just 331 total yards.
Daniel Jeremiah: The Patriots Should Target Defense With Their First-Round Pick
As a consequence of their winning the AFC, the Patriots will have to wait until the 31st pick to make a selection in the draft in Pittsburgh.
In his most recent mock draft, Jeremiah slotted the Patriots to pick Zion Young of Missouri with the No. 31 pick.
“Young feels like an excellent fit for Mike Vrabel’s defense,” Jeremiah wrote. “He’s a big, rugged edge rusher who capped off a strong Senior Bowl week by winning Defensive MVP honors in the game.”
In his conference call ahead of the NFL Combine, he explained why he chose the Missouri EDGE rusher — even though the Pats defense dominated in the playoffs — over a wide receiver. New England was tied for 26th in the NFL in sacks (35) during the regular season.
“I do know, when you look at the roster construction of the teams in the Super Bowl, it really is the best defenses, a lot of those defensive linemen are high tickets in the draft,” Jeremiah said. “I would try and invest in [defense] if at all possible at the end of [Round] 1.”
The Patriots Can Get Offensive Weapons in Free Agency or Later Rounds
Drafting a wide receiver can be a crapshoot. But even though New England needs to upgrade its wideouts and skill players around Maye, Jeremiah feels it can do so in the later rounds and free agency.
“They definitely need to get more weapons,” Jeremiah said. “You can do that in free agency as well as the draft. I don’t know if they need to expend a first-round pick [on offense].
“I think you can find some wideouts in Day 2 or even beyond Day 2 in this draft.”
Patriots fans may be dubious about using late-round picks to find Maye’s wideouts, since their wideouts were relatively anonymous in the playoffs. Only Stefon Diggs had double-digit playoff receptions in this year’s run, and Maye was forced to throw to the likes of Kyle Williams, Mack Hollins, Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas.
Still, the Patriots have about $40 million cap space to spend this offseason, which could be used to lock in a top-flight receiver.
If the Pats add a receiver in free agency then draft one or two in the second or third day, that still could drastically upgrade their offensive weapons — especially if Maye continues to develop and makes those players better.
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