Patriots Country

Patriots Fans Should be Concerned About Team's NFL Draft Plans

It may be time for New England Patriots fans to worry.

Matthew Schmidt

Mar 13, 2025; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel takes notes at a press conference at the GP Atrium at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Mar 13, 2025; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel takes notes at a press conference at the GP Atrium at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images
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The New England Patriots have an absolutely critical decision looming next month, as they will decide who they will be selecting with the fourth overall pick of the NFL Draft.

Based on the Patriots' moves in free agency, this draft choice has become even more crucial, as New England has failed to fully address its biggest needs on the open market.

The Pats went into the offseason knowing that they needed to find wide receivers and offensive linemen, as they were probably the worst in the league in both categories this past season. But all the Patriots have done so far is add Mack Hollins and Morgan Moses.

That means New England will have to take a receiver or an offensive lineman at No. 4, right? Well, Eliot Wolf's recent comments suggest otherwise, as he has made it clear that the Pats will be drafting the best player available and don't feel like they have to be forced into anything.

If the Patriots were able to bag Chris Godwin and Ronnie Stanley, that statement would make more sense. But they didn't do either of those things. Even after spending a ton of money, New England still likely has the worst set of wide outs and the worst offensive line in football.

Taking that into consideration, don't the Pats kind of have to remedy that issue next month in order to properly cultivate Drake Maye?

I get the whole best player available thing to an extent, but what if Cam Ward is the best player available at No. 4? Will the Patriots then just take him? You can take "best player available" into account while still drafting for need. You can't just keep taking the best talent on the board or else your roster will just be a haphazard hodgepodge that doesn't make any sense.

So, yeah: New England fans should definitely be concerned about Wolf's comments, as they indicate that the Pats don't really have a concrete plan, or that they may not realize just how dire their situation really is.

The Patriots should be focusing on taking either a receiver (hopefully Travis Hunter) or an offensive tackle with their first-round draft choice. Either of those two moves would be great for the franchise. Anything else could potentially cause a big mess.

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Matthew Schmidt
MATTHEW SCHMIDT

Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.

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