When NFL free agency began in March, the Patriots seemed to have a clear priority: add talent and depth to an offense that struggled mightily in 2022.
Nearly all of New England’s external veteran signings were offensive players: wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, offensive tackles Riley Reiff and Calvin Anderson, running back James Robinson, tight end Mike Gesicki. The only defensive player it added from outside the organization was linebacker Chris Board, who’s best known for his work on special teams. The Patriots also re-signed the vast majority of their own defensive free agents while letting a handful of notable offensive players walk.
It was interesting, then, to see them take the opposite approach in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Patriots used each of their first three picks on Days 1 and 2 of the draft on defenders. They traded down three spots to take sliding Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez in Round 1 (No. 17 overall), grabbed Georgia Tech defensive end Keion White in Round 2 (No. 46) and selected Sacramento State linebacker/safety Marte Mapu in Round 3 (No. 76).
Gonzalez was a slam-dunk selection — a top-10-caliber prospect at a clear position of need that the Patriots were able to land much later than expected. White is a beastly edge rusher that will bring versatility and high-end athleticism to New England’s D-line. Mapu seemed like more of a luxury pick, as the Patriots already had several similar players on their roster (Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips, Jabrill Peppers). But multiple prominent draft analysts loved it, including NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah, who called Mapu his “favorite player in this entire draft.”
In taking that trio, though, the Patriots passed on players who could have filled needs at offensive tackle, wide receiver and tight end, suggesting Belichick doesn’t believe his offense requires any more high-end additions. New England’s receiving corps lacks any true game-changers, and the Patriots have little stability at tackle or tight end beyond this season with Reiff, Gesicki, Trent Brown and Hunter Henry all entering contract years.
The head coach said the Patriots’ draft board wasn’t “tilted” toward defensive players.
“I wouldn’t say it was tilted at all,” Belichick said in a video conference late Friday night. “It just worked out that way.”
But Belichick pointed to New England’s prior pickups in free agency when explaining this week’s draft approach.
“I think you always try to do what’s best for your team,” the coach said. “There’s a lot of different ways to build a team. This is one part of it. Free agency was part of it. We didn’t sign a lot of defensive players in free agency. Signed Board, he’s kind of a combination defense-special teams player. Most of the signings were on offense — JuJu, Mike, Riley, Anderson — so you could say the same thing about free agency. Maybe we should’ve signed more players in free agency. I don’t know. But just kind of worked out that way.
“Sometimes it’s balanced, sometimes it isn’t. But, I mean, in the end, we’ll field the best team we can to be competitive this year and where they come from — trades, free agency, draft, undrafted, waiver wire. We’ll just have to see how that all plays out.”
Speaking of trades, the Patriots surprised Friday night by not making a single move up the board for the first time in years. They took a stick-and-pick strategy with both of their Day 2 selections despite boasting a wealth of trade ammo in the form of nine Day 3 picks, including a quartet of fourth-rounders. It snapped a streak of five consecutive drafts with a second-round trade-up for New England.
Belichick said the Patriots did discuss potential trades Friday but ultimately chose to stay put.
“I think each pick’s its own pick,” he said. “After you pick a player, then you look at what the situation is and evaluate it from there. Sometimes there are opportunities to move, sometimes there aren’t. Sometimes you want to move, sometimes you don’t. It’s just if you’re trying to trade, you have to have somebody to trade with, whether it’s up or down. (Personnel execs) Eliot (Wolf) and Matt (Groh) pretty much dealt with that. We talked about some things. Ultimately, we did what we felt was best for the team.”
The Patriots enter the draft’s third and final day with four picks in Round 4, four in Round 6 and one in Round 7. Still-available prospects at those aforementioned positions of need include tackles Dawand Jones, Blake Freeland, Jaelyn Duncan, Carter Warren and Nick Saldiveri; wideouts Tyler Scott, Charlie Jones, A.T. Perry, Ronnie Bell, Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Puka Nacua; and tight ends Zack Kuntz, Will Mallory, Davis Allen and Payne Durham.
