It likely will take a big swing for the New England Patriots to grab their quarterback of the future in the 2021 NFL Draft, and CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones is the latest to believe it could happen.
Jones, a senior NFL writer for CBS Sports, released his latest mock draft Wednesday. It has New England making a major splash.
Jones seems to think the Patriots could put a package together to trade all the way up to No. 4 overall with the Atlanta Falcons. Upon getting there, Jones believes New England then would select North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance.
Lance has been considered among the five best signal-callers and it's very unlikely he will be there when the Patriots' original selection -- No 15 overall -- comes around. It's also been widely reported the Falcons are open to trading that No. 4 overall selection.
Here's what Jones wrote:
Trade details: Patriots give up first-rounder (No. 15) and second-rounder (No. 46), plus 2022 first- and third-round picks and a 2023 first-rounder. Patriots have been aggressive all offseason so why stop now? Lance has the brains to match the arm, and Bill Belichick liked what he saw from how Josh McDaniels opened up the playbook last year for a more physically capable quarterback. The Pats can start Cam Newton and develop Lance at his own pace. A big jump for the most dominant team of the 21st century requires a high price to pay.
Jones is not the only one who has shared their beliefs when it comes to the Lance-to-Patriots connection. NFL Media's draft expert Daniel Jeremiah previously mentioned how Lance's knowledge and pre-snap confidence could make him an interesting player that Belichick would like.
ESPN's Marcus Spears seems to think the Patriots could "absolutely" be in on trading for the Falcons' pick, too.
Of course, the price the Patriots would have to pay in order to get to that position is noteworthy. It likely will come down to whether Belichick and the Patriots have the quarterback, in this case Lance, graded high enough to make that drastic move.
