Patriots
New England selected Joe Milton III in the sixth round Saturday, two days after drafting Drake Maye No. 3 overall.
With the 2024 NFL Draft officially behind the Patriots, the team’s latest draft class has been solidified.
After New England drafted quarterback Drake Maye with the third overall pick Friday, the Patriots went on to select six more offensive players in rounds 2-7. The team picked just one defensive player out of their eight draftees.
Head coach Jerod Mayo spoke to reporters upon the draft’s conclusion about New England’s second and third-day offense-laden selections.
“We had more holes on the offensive side of the ball,” Mayo said. “We feel good about the defense.”
The Patriots clearly felt that their offense needed work — even at the quarterback position.
New England selected Joe Milton III, a signal-caller out of Tennessee, in the sixth round. The pick came two days after the team drafted Drake Maye third overall Friday. The surprising selection further emphasizes the fact that the Patriots came into this draft deadset on overhauling their quarterback room.
Milton currently stands among four other QBs in New England, and the player himself told the media Saturday that the Patriots plan to keep him at the quarterback position. That almost certainly means New England will have to make some tough decisions at QB in the coming months.
“We’ll see how all the dominos kind of play out, but at the same time, you want to have a strong group,” Mayo said of the Patriots’ current quarterback depth. “You want to have a strong room. I would say the way it looks now, we have a very strong room.”
However, the first-year head coach discussed the importance of competition at the position, hinting at a cutthroat next few months at QB leading up to the 2024-25 season.
“We’re in the business of trying to get good football players through the door, and Milton happens to be one of them,” Mayo said. “Obviously he understands we took a quarterback at 3 in Drake [Maye]. One thing that we preach is competition. Everything is about competition, and nothing is given. All of it’s earned. That’s how we thought about the process.”
Regardless of how New England’s quarterback room shakes out, Mayo also sounds excited about the two new wide receivers the QBs will get to throw to.
He raved about Ja’Lynn Polk when asked what he brings to the receiver room.
“[Polk]’s one of those guys that isn’t afraid to do the dirty work,” Mayo said. “Sometimes you need those receivers to come in there and kind of dig out support, and he does that at a very high level. … I’m excited to really see him out there.”
Mayo referred to Polk and Javon Baker, the second WR drafted by the Patriots, as “two guys that obviously have different skill sets but at the same time will help our team going forward.”
With his first NFL Draft under his belt, Mayo seems happy with the players New England drafted and is looking forward to competition at several positions this summer.
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