Getty New England Patriots
T
he New England Patriots have made another move this offseason as they have acquired multiple draft picks from the Houston Texans.
ALL the latest Patriots news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Patriots newsletter here!
New England traded away its fifth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft to Houston in exchange for a sixth and seventh-round pick in this year’s draft. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report the trade.
Trade: Patriots dealt their fifth-round pick to the Texans for their sixth- and seventh-round picks, per sources.
Field Yates was the first to report the specifics of the trade. New England traded the 170th overall pick and in return received the 183rd and 245th overall picks.
Trading down in the draft will not surprise Patriots fans. Bill Belichick has proven throughout his career that he enjoys moving back and stashing picks. Under the head coach, New England has made the most draft trades in the league according to Pro Football Talk. So while this move occurred on Tuesday afternoon, Patriots fans won’t be surprised if Belichick makes another move this weekend.
New England historically doesn’t use fight-round picks either. CLNS Patriots reporter Evan Lazar wrote on Twitter that the team has only used six fifth-round picks in the last ten drafts. Out of the six selections, three were specialists.
The #Patriots have only used six fifth-round picks in the last ten drafts, and three were specialists. The hit rate of NFL draft picks levels off after the fourth round. In other words, there is very little difference between a 5th and a 6-7th. Might as well have more darts.
New England now has three picks in the sixth round.
What This Says About The 2022 Draft Class
While the 2022 NFL Draft class has some impressive names, the star power isn’t there this year. The 2022 draft class is regarded as being deep but the top-end talent isn’t exactly spaced out.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer told NBC Boston that there isn’t a large talent gap between a player drafted on Day 1 compared to Day 2 of the draft.
“I think it’s gonna be really hard to trade down this year,” Breer said. “Because I think after you get past pick 12 or 13, it flattens out, and the difference between 14 and 44 isn’t very big. No one’s gonna want to move up. Most of the movement you’re hearing now — because this isn’t a great draft, and really the meat of the draft class is in the second and third round — is teams looking to move down, not up.”
Moving Out of The 1st Round Won’t be as Easy
While New England was able to gain more Day 3 picks, getting out of the first round will prove to be more difficult. Schefter reported that more teams are looking to get out of the first round this year than in prior drafts.
Within the past week, as the draft has drawn closer, multiple teams in the top half of the draft have inquired with others to try to trade back in the first round, per sources. So far, the interest in moving back in Thursday’s draft has greatly exceeded the interest in moving up.
With more teams looking to move back, New England will likely be stuck with the 21st overall pick instead of being able to turn it into multiple Day 2 selections.
But when it comes to Day 3, New England will now have a solid amount of selections. With Belichick’s love for draft-day trades, Patriots fans won’t be surprised if this is just the beginning of moves for New England this week.
The 2022 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday and compared to what it was like for Patriots fans before the departure of Tom Brady, there is a sense of intrigue in the air as New England looks to rebuild and once again become AFC contenders.