Adam Schefter’s Casual NFL Draft Declaration Affects Patriots

ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter has some bad news for Patriots fans still holding onto the dream for New England’s pick at No. 4.

With no clear-cut option to fill the Patriots’ biggest needs, New England is in a position to just draft the best available player. With quarterback-needy teams ahead of them in the draft, the best-case scenario was landing Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter.

In a jam-packed report Monday morning, though, Schefter casually declared the outcome of the three picks preceding the Patriots might be a foregone conclusion at this point.

“It’s easy enough to figure out the top picks in this draft,” Schefter wrote. “Miami quarterback Cam Ward is expected to go to Tennessee with the top pick, while standout Travis Hunter and Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter are expected to be gone by New England’s turn at No. 4.”

This isn’t terribly surprising. While the Titans, Browns and Giants all need quarterbacks, it has become increasingly clear the QB class is underwhelming at best. In fact, this tidbit from Schefter speaks to the quality of the available signal-callers.

“At least one team does not have a first-round grade on any of the quarterbacks in this draft,” Schefter wrote on ESPN.com. “The general manager of another team said there are ‘no surefire quarterback solutions’ and the top-rated passer in this class — Ward — would be the seventh-rated passer in last year’s class.”

In a perfect world, the Patriots’ Plan B might be to trade the pick, especially if the quarterbacks do fall, and another team convinces itself the class isn’t that bad. At this point, though, that seems like an unlikely outcome. Furthermore, as Schefter noted, the consensus around the league is this is a deep draft, but it’s not very top-heavy at all. That makes it less likely a team wants to trade up when it can just stay put and take a player of similar talent.

That could ultimately mean the most likely scenario for the Patriots is to stay put and take someone like LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell. While he has his flaws, he could start on Day 1, and he does help one of the team’s biggest areas of improvement.