Patriots Could Benefit Greatly From New College All-Star Rule

The 2024 NFL Draft just got a lot more interesting, especially if you're a fan of the New England Patriots.

In an unprecedented move, the NFL informed its teams Wednesday that all college juniors who declare for the draft now will be eligible to play in collegiate all-star games, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Media.

That means the player pools for the Shrine Bowl, Senior Bowl and HBCU Legacy Bowl all will be expanding for the first time. In 2023, there were 69 juniors who entered the draft but couldn't play in an all-star event. This year, they can.

Why does that benefit the Patriots, you ask?

Well, they're not good, meaning they'll have an opportunity to gather more information on prospects as they prepare for what likely will be their highest selection in more than two decades. That means a better look at Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and others.

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The Patriots have become quite familiar with those collegiate all-star events, as they had representatives coach in both the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl last offseason.

New England wide receivers coach Troy Brown served as the head coach for the "West" team at the Shrine Bowl, while cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino and safeties coach Brian Belichick jointly led the defense and assistant receivers coach Ross Douglas served as offensive coordinator. Patriots defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington served as defensive coordinator at the Senior Bowl.

The Patriots have drafted, signed or traded for a total of 22 players who participated in either the Shrine Bowl or Senior Bowl, including Mac Jones, Rhamondre Stevenson, Cole Strange, Demario Douglas, Bailey Zappe, Keion White, Chad Ryland and Bryce Baringer.

It remains to be seen whether some of the top prospects actually choose to participate in these events, but in the past, we've seen highly touted seniors at least attend them so they can meet with teams while deciding not to play in the games. Mac Jones, for instance, did not play in the 2021 Senior Bowl but practiced all week.

There is a down side, however, as fringe senior prospects likely will be bumped from consideration with the expanded pool. That means prospects like Strange, Douglas and Kyle Dugger might not get a chance moving forward.

New England will have to keep that in mind, though the increased information on players it'll be counting on to change the trajectory of the franchise is a pretty even trade-off.