Robert Kraft Pressure Isn’t Only NFL Draft Issue For Bill Belichick, Patriots

Robert Kraft has made it quite clear: He expects more from Bill Belichick and the Patriots front office when it comes to the NFL draft. However, his frustrations could mount if New England isn’t perfect this spring.

Kraft tweaked Belichick and the football operations staff this week at the NFL Annual Meeting when he pointed out the Patriots have struggled with drafts in recent years (he had a similar critique last year, too). The result, of course, is a now three-year stretch in which New England has failed to win a playoff game.

“I’m happy that I think we had a great draft last year and made up for what happened the previous for years or so,” Kraft told reporters earlier this week. “I look forward to hopefully having a great draft this year. That’s the only way you can build your team for long term and consistently, that you have a chance of winning — is having a good draft.”

Kraft, who committed more than $160 million guaranteed to the team in free agency last year, said he expects the Patriots to be legitimate contenders in 2022. In order to do that, the Patriots have to crush the draft, but the margin for error is smaller this year than it has in the past.

Warren Sharp on Thursday noted the Patriots have less draft capital this year than any year since 2017.

The Sharp Football Analysis site looks at something it calls “NFL draft pick value,” which is a metric it calls a “valuation of draft capital based on a combination of average performance delivered and average dollars earned on second contracts.”

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New England currently is ranked 16th out of the league’s 32 teams entering the 2022 draft. As Sharp mentioned, it’s their lowest standing since ’17 when they were dead last in the league after trading away picks and losing capital due to Deflategate. The Patriots had an atrocious draft that year.

Last year, the Patriots ranked 11th.

This all comes after a relatively quiet free agency period in which New England made moves on the margins, largely bringing back familiar faces, to try and improve in some areas. That being said, there are still glaring roster holes, particularly on the outside of both the offense and defense.

Here are the draft picks New England currently owns:

First round (No. 21)
Second round (No. 54)
Third round (No. 85)
Fourth round (No. 127)
Fifth round (No. 170)
Sixth round (No. 210)
Sixth round (No. 211)

When you see it laid out like that, the lack of mid- to late-round picks, which Belichick historically has loved, definitely stands out. Because of that, trading down with that first pick seems very much on the table this year. That’s not to say they’ll completely move out of the first round, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Belichick move down in order to pick up an additional mid-round selection.

The good news, if you believe the Patriots still need pass-catching help on the outside, is this is an exceptionally deep receiver draft. And it’s not like New England has a sterling record drafting wideouts up top.

Kraft’s right; New England did have a very good draft in 2021. The Patriots need to be just as good if not better in order to keep the big boss happy this year, and that needle might be even tougher to thread this time around.