Patriots Trade Down, Take Polk & Wallace (4/26/24)

With the 34th pick in the NFL Draft the New England Patriots selected...nobody! As usual they traded down with the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers got pick 34 and the Patriots 5th rounder 137 overall and the Patriots got pick 37 and pick 110 overall in the fourth round. The Chargers selected Ladd McConkey with the 34th pick. The Patriots ended up selecting Ja'Lynn Polk out of Washington University. Polk played 10 games for Texas Tech in 2020 then played the last three years for the Huskies. He has blazing speed and can be a deep threat as long as he can create separation at the pro level. Drake Maye needed some help at receiver and theoretically he just got it.

                                                 Drake Maye has a deep threat in Polk

The rumor is the Minnesota Vikings would have traded the 11th and 23rd overall picks and a 2025 first for the third overall pick....but Eliot Wolf said no. The other rumor was the New York Giants would have traded the 6th overall pick with a 2025 first rounder for the third pick. The Giants offer was good but not exactly worth giving up a potential star quarterback. Not taking the Minnesota offer is a huge dice roll. They may not get a generational quarterback with the 11th and 23rd, but they might have gotten a new blind side tackle and a better receiver than Polk. That 2025 pick could be used in a package with their own to trade up for a quarterback next year. Oh well.

With the 68th pick in the draft the Patriots selected Penn State offensive tackle Caeden Wallace. He was a right tackle for the Nittany Lions who finished 10-3 on the season. Scouts say he only allowed one sack in 359 drop backs so he might be a decent pass blocker. That's wonderful but they still need a left tackle to protect Drake Maye or Jacoby Brissett.

                                                        The Patriots' new right tackle

All in all in Day 2 of the draft the Patriots subtracted their fifth round pick but selected a receiver and a tackle while adding a fourth round pick for tomorrow. The Patriots weakness all season was offense and they've taken a receiver, a quarterback and a tackle to help rectify that. Tomorrow's picks are going to be depth pieces mostly so they had to strike while they still could. Whether or not these guys will be good will remain to be seen, but its a start.