The New England Patriots played themselves out of the top pick in the upcoming draft, beating the Buffalo Bills in the season finale. And with it, they gave themselves a lot more flexibility about how they approach using the No. 4 pick in the 2025 draft.
How they use that pick will hinge on what they do in the weeks of free agency leading up to April. According to Dan Brugler of The Athletic ($) in his mock draft 2.0, that pick will be used on Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan. But there’s a caveat.
Brugler believes McMillan is headed to New England under the premise that the Cincinnati Bengals don’t flub on pending free agent Tee Higgins. Which means the Patriots in all likelihood are anchoring down their top receiver target for rookie quarterback Drake Maye.
What helps is they have the most flexibility in cap space than any other team in the NFL. That’s what makes that pick so valuable to them. They can address an abundance of needs before and during the draft.
Patriots priority this offseason should be getting Drake Maye as much help as possible
The Patriots have been cavalier at addressing the wide receiver position lately. Since drafting N’Keal Harry from Arizona State back in 2019, they haven’t struck on any receivers. And Harry was a stretch as well.
The latest wide receiver they took in the draft was Ja’lynn Polk and he didn’t even record 100 total receiving yards this year. They also took Javon Baker in the last draft and he didn’t play much this season either.
Before then, it was Kayshon Boutte. He was a 2023, sixth-round pick from LSU. And he had just 300 receiving yards. Not bad for a late-round pick. But also not much help on a team that needed a lot of it.
Hunter Henry was the team’s leading receiver. That isn’t a bad thing, but the rest of the receiving core needed to step up, considering Henry didn’t even eclipse 700 total receiving yards.
If history repeats itself, the Patriots shouldn’t be looking at the draft to fill their wide receiver void. It hasn’t worked recently. But they also haven’t been in the position to use a high enough pick on a proven receiver.
Now they are. And McMillan could be their franchise cornerstone that can provide an offensive spark for a team that is still recovering from the post-Tom Brady era in New England.
This is all contingent on whether they can acquire Higgins. Because if they can, maybe they go offensive line or even defense. Don’t get it twisted, the Patriots have a lot of holes. But they have more than enough flexibility and now direction to be able to address those.
New England is finally going to get their game-changing wide receiver, they just don’t know if they’ll have to draft them or if Higgins will be available for taking.