21 hours Ago By Doug.Farrar
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images New England built up its defense this offseason. Here’s how they can fix the other side of the ball through the 2025 NFL Draft.
The New England Patriots finished their last two seasons with identical 4-13 records under two different head coaches (Bill Belichick, Jerod Mayo), and that was not satisfactory for anybody in the building. So after firing Mayo and still trying to move past the gigantic shadow of the Belichick legacy, the Kraft family made decisive moves to turn things around. First, they hired former New England linebacker/red zone tight end/Tennessee Titans head coach/Cleveland Browns coaching/personnel consultant Mike Vrabel as their new head coach, which seems like the perfect stylistic fit for the future Patriots.
Then in free agency, the team did a metric ton to improve a defense that finished 30th in DVOA last season. The major epicenter of the defensive haul was Milton Williams, the former Philadelphia Eagles interior game-wrecker who signed a four-year, $104 million contract with $63 million guaranteed. They also signed edge-rusher Harold Landry, linebacker Robert Spillane, and cornerback Carlton Davis to serious contracts, and with that, the Patriots got a lot better at all three levels of their defense.
Of course, that did little to address an offense that also finished 30th in DVOA in 2024. New England did sign veteran offensive tackle Morgan Moses to a three-year, $24 million contract with $11 million guaranteed, but with all due respect to Moses (who is still a good player at age 34), the terms of the deal tell you that it’s a bridge move. There was also the signing of veteran center Garrett Bradbury, and the three-year, $69 million contract with $26 million guaranteed given to receiver Stefon Diggs.
If Diggs is healthy and can play up to the peak he showed from 2019 through 2023 with the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills, the Pats could have something there. But even when healthy, Diggs is no longer a true field-stretcher in a vertical sense. It’s nice to add a savvy receiver and outstanding route-runner of Diggs’ caliber to a receiver corps that is as barren as any in the league, but again.
.. these are stopgap measures, as opposed to the franchise-defining deals New England conducted on the other side of the ball.
As he was trumpeting the defensive additions in mid-March, Vrabel was also well aware of the deficits that still exist on offense. 2024 rookie quarterback Drake Maye showed a lot more than many expected given the lack of credible talent he had around him; it’s time to give the kid some help! “We’re going to continue to support the needs that we feel like are on the team, and we will target the offensive line,” Vrabel said. “There’s still quite a bit of time before we get to the draft, but there’s also — we don’t want to just be careless.
We talked about...
there’s a difference. We want our players to play aggressive. We don’t want them to play reckless.
So we don’t want to be reckless through this process. We want to be very intentional with the people that we bring on this football team, and we’ll continue to target all those needs that we feel like and the players that can help us.”So, with the draft quickly approaching, maybe the intent is to go heavy on that side in the selection process, fill things out around Maye, and bound back into actual contention for the first time since the 2021 season.
With that idea in mind, I’m putting the Team Owner Hat on, and giving Patriots general manager Eliot Wolf one simple draft directive: You can select any player you want with the nine draft picks you have from No. 4 through No. 238, but every single one of them must be an offensive player.
With the help of the handy-dandy Pro Football Focus Mock Draft Simulator, I did just that. what if the patriots went all offense in the draft pic.twitter.
com/7O5Vv6PE9O— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 27, 2025Now, let’s look at how this would work out for the team, and for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who is on his third stint in the role that keeps coming up after McDaniels flames out elsewhere. Round 11-4: WR Tetairoa McMillan (Arizona). At 6’4 and 219 pounds, McMillan is getting a lot of comparisons to two bigger receivers: Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Drake London of the Atlanta Falcons.
When I watched McMillian, I saw Evans pretty quickly for one reason: This guy also knows how to roll downfield pretty smoothly and make the contested catch with authority. And when you have a quarterback in Maye who can make things happen downfield, let’s please, for the love of God, give him at least one guy who can respond in press-match situations. With Tetairoa McMillan, it's pretty simple at times.
Big guy, fast guy, get downfield, make catch. Defenders trying to beat him up at the catch point? Let's not make that a concern. pic.
twitter.com/AGz0sVzoDF— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 27, 2025Round 22-38: OT Aireontae Ersery (Minnesota). Last season for the Golden Gophers, the 6-foot-6 1⁄4, 331-pound Ersery allowed one sack, one quarterback hit, and 10 quarterback hurries in 419 pass-blocking reps, and with his 5.
01-second 40-yard dash and 1.75-second 10-yard split (the 40 time is 90th percentile for offensive linemen since 1999), Ersery brings a fascinating combination of power and agility to the NFL. Unlike a lot of tackles his size, he isn’t an automatic guard convert at the NFL level; there are just as many examples of Ersery blocking well in space against speed-rushers (including Mr.
Abdul Carter) as there are clips of him shredding people in the run game, as you would expect. In this hypothetical situation, Ersery would be competing with Vederian Lowe for the left tackle spot, and that might not take too long to wrap itself up. Minnesota LT Aireontae Ersery is a massive (6-6, 331) man who ran a 5.
01 40 and has looked very fluid in the position drills. Allowed five sacks and 39 total pressures over five seasons with the Golden Gophers. He's got some nice agility, and he will bury dudes in the run game.
pic.twitter.com/NUUliSO3yz— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 2, 2025Round 33-69: TE Mason Taylor (LSU).
Jason Taylor’s son and Zach Thomas’ nephew recently got more public traction regarding his NFL potential when he blew it up at LSU’s pro day on Wednesday. #LSU TE Mason Taylor pro day:• HT: 6052• WT: 246• 40: 4.64 (Scout 1) / 4.
66 (Scout 2)• SS: 4.43• BP: 28 reps• 3C: 7.07— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) March 26, 2025That, as they say, is a spicy meatball, and it’ll all probably help Taylor as he tries to wrestle a few other guys for the role of TE3 in the 2025 draft class behind Penn State’s Tyler Warren and Michigan’s Colston Loveland Thomas set a school record at his position in 2024 with 55 catches, and he’s the only tight end in LSU history with more than 100 catches and more than 1,000 receiving yards in his career.
Taylor is another guy who will likely benefit from a good deep-ball thrower in Maye, because LSU’s passing game (okay, let’s be more specific: quarterback Garrett Nussmeier) didn’t give him a real shot on a lot of deep passes. Taylor caught just three passes of 20 or more air yards on 11 targets last season, and let’s just say that a lot of the misses weren’t on him. Mason Taylor's pro day athleticism showed up on tape.
It'll likely show up even more in the NFL in explosive play situations when he's given half a chance downfield. pic.twitter.
com/kMOmxdZXK0— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 27, 20253-77: OT Ozzy Trapilo (Boston College). In this case, Trapilo doesn’t have to travel far to begin his NFL career. The NFL transition might take a hair longer, only because Trapilo still needs to work on his strength and leverage in power situations.
But at 6’8 and 316 pounds, he’s also one of the few tackles in this class who absolutely looks like a tackle from an athletic standpoint. He allowed two sacks, one quarterback hit, and 12 quarterback hurries in 362 pass-blocking reps. Given a year or so to develop what he needs to develop, Trapilo could slide right into either tackle spot quite nicely.
Boston College RT Ozzy Trapilo is one tackle who actually looks like a tackle in this class. There are legitimate concerns about his play strength and falling off blocks at times, but if teams are impressed with his development, he could make himself a lot of money this week. pic.
twitter.com/pTadjZ1NGl— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) February 23, 2025Round 44-106: RB Devin Neal (Kansas). Right now, the Patriots have Rhamondre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson, and Terrell Jennings on their running back depth chart; they’d probably like a bit more juice in the room.
Neal would certainly bring it. Last season for the Jayhawks, he ran for 1,262 yards and scored 16 rushing touchdowns on 218 carries. 35 of those carries were for 10 or more yards, 17 were for 15 or more yards, and he forced 47 missed tackles.
Neal also caught 26 passes on 31 targets for 266 yards and a touchdown in 2024, and 2024 was the third straight season in which he ran for more than 1,000 yards. Watch his 2024 tape against Colorado, when he gained 287 yards on 41 touches, and tell me that isn’t an NFL-conversant back. Kansas' Devin Neal is a fun guy to watch.
He has nice breakaway acceleration and lateral agility at 5-foot-11 and 213 pounds, he can win as a receiver, and you're not going to bring him down with arm tackles. One sleeper in a loaded RB class. Dude lit Colorado's defense UP.
pic.twitter.com/TDmiaon1OM— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 27, 2025Round 55-144: WR Kyle Williams (Washington State).
Williams’ availability here is likely dependent on the vagaries of the PFF player rating system; in reality, I don’t think there’s any way he’ll be available in the fifth round. But hey, let’s take advantage while we can. Last season for the Cougars, Williams caught 70 passes on 101 targets for 1,196 yards and 14 touchdowns.
It’s a shame that the 2023 UNLV transfer had only one season with Cam Ward as his quarterback, but in that 2023 season, he caught 61 passes on 85 targets for 842 yards and six touchdowns. The primary attribute that Williams would bring to New England’s receiver room is some absolutely freakish top-end acceleration. It’s breakaway speed, yes, but the ways in which he gets up to that speed, and is able to fool cornerbacks along the way, makes him a very dangerous individual.
Focus drops might see him slip a round below where he should be, but fifth round? For this talent? The Patriots would be thanking their lucky stars. Washington State WR Kyle Williams might be the best pure accelerator in this draft class. Pre- and post-catch.
He can outdo cornerbacks on go routes and fades, he'll make the contested catch, and he can house a screen at any time. Clean up the focus drops, and it's Boom City. pic.
twitter.com/ehjvYMeacx— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 26, 2025Round 77-217: C Jake Majors (Texas). Garrett Bradbury is the Patriots’ starting center now after his two-year, $9.
5 million deal with $3.8 million fully guaranteed, but that contract is hardly a long-term commitment, and Bradbury’s tape is a bit of a mixed bag. In the case of Texas’ Jake Majors, the Patriots would have a center who allowed one sack, seven quarterback hits, and 42 quarterback hurries in 1,985 pass-blocking snaps over the last four seasons as the Longhorns’ starter.
And when you consider the track teams that Steve Sarkisian is always fielding at the receiver position, you know that those deep passes don’t happen in the early part of the down, no matter how fast those guys are. Majors is also perfectly happy to get nasty in the run game at 6’3 and 306 pounds. One AFC national scout told NFL.
com’s Lance Zierlein that Majors already makes protection calls like an NFL veteran. That seems important on an offensive line where the pieces are still coming together. Texas likes to throw deep; not exactly breaking news there.
Well, in four seasons as the Longhorns' starting center, Jake Majors allowed one sack. He's also a very good move blocker in the run game, and there's some power in the overall package. pic.
twitter.com/hNwHeVOkgw— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 27, 20257-220: G Jackson Slater (Sacramento State). Yes, he’s an offensive lineman, but no, he’s not at all related to Hall of Fame tackle Jackie Slater.
Other than that, this Slater has a lot going on for himself. After allowing no sacks, one quarterback hit, and 12 quarterback hurries in his last two seasons with the Hornets, Slater made himself a lot of money with his one-on-one reps at the Senior Bowl, when he showed that he’s more than just a guy who beat up on other guys from North Arizona and Weber State. There’s some tackle versatility there, but ideally, Slater could be a swing guard or starter to either side over time.
Every Jackson Slater 1-on-1 from the Senior Bowl pic.twitter.com/wNZeavB8kU— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) January 30, 20257-238: WR Theo Wease Jr.
(Missouri). Let’s finish this offensive mock with yet another Drake Maye target in the person of Mr. Wease, who caught 60 passes on 89 targets last season for 884 yards and four touchdowns.
It was the 2023 Oklahoma transfer’s most prolific season to date. At 6’3 and 200 pounds, Wease isn’t a burner or a massive contested catch receiver; what he brings to his NFL team is a route acumen and a sense of the nuances of the position. The Patriots already have that in Stefon Diggs, but for how long? And it’s not as if Wease is a plodder; he had 14 explosive catches last season, and that happened on everything from simple screens to go, post, and over routes.
Basically, this is a receiver who just knows how to get open. Which is an unsexy skill, but an important one nonetheless. Missouri receiver Theo Wease Jr.
doesn't have tape that explodes with alpha traits, except for one: The dude just knows how to get and stay open. A fairly important thing. pic.
twitter.com/spU9csEXVI— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 27, 2025Of course, it’s highly unlikely that the Patriots (or any other team) would go Full Metal Offense in a draft like this, but there’s one person’s opinion of how it might go if such a thing were possible. And who knows what it might do for the team’s competitive prospects after all they’ve done to fix their defense?.
