NFL Draft Rumors: Patriots Interested In Making This First-Round Move

Based on what ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. is hearing, the first four picks in the 2025 NFL Draft are pretty much set. The Patriots are expected to take Will Campbell after Cam Ward, Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter go off the board with the first three selections, respectively.

The Athletic’s Chad Graff has the same read on the earliest picks Thursday night. In fact, the Patriots insider believes it would be “shocking” if New England took any other player besides Campbell at No. 4. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t another move Mike Vrabel and company would like to make early on draft night.

“For a fair deal, they’d love to move back,” Graff wrote in a column published Thursday night. “They have a lot of needs, which more draft picks could help address, and this is a draft where, after the first three picks, the next group of 15 or so players is largely interchangeable according to most scouts. So that’s why the Patriots would be interested in moving back: getting a similarly-rated player plus additional bites at the draft apple.

“The problem is that two league sources expressed skepticism that anyone makes the Pats what they’d deem to be a fair offer for the No. 4 pick. So they’ll likely have to stick and pick.”

So, even if New England is more or less settled on Campbell as its first-round pick, it sounds like the phone lines in Foxboro, Mass., will be opened until the card is turned in. And when you consider how much desperation and excitement can grow on Draft Day, who knows, maybe the Patriots will receive an offer they can’t refuse.

But if that proposal never comes through the wire, New England surely won’t be upset to stay put and bring in a top prospect who has a chance to be a difference-maker for the franchise.