There's one silver lining to the Patriots' 2023 season from hell:
Barring what would be a shocking late-season turnaround, New England will enter 2024 with its highest draft pick in three decades.
The 2-10 Patriots, losers of four straight and owners of the league's most anemic offense, would pick second overall in the 2024 NFL Draft if the season ended Tuesday.
While that position could change over the final five weeks, they're likely to land no lower than No. 3. The Patriots even could vault to No. 1 if the 1-11 Carolina Panthers make any sort of late run after firing head coach Frank Reich.
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But let's say the current standings hold and New England finishes at No. 2. How should it use that marquee draft choice, which would be the franchise's highest since it took Drew Bledsoe first overall in 1993?
While the outlook on this year's draft class and the prospects who sit atop it almost certainly will evolve over the next five months, here are three possible avenues the Patriots could take with the second pick:
1. Draft a quarterback
Mac Jones clearly is not the answer. Nor is Bailey Zappe.
The Patriots need a new franchise quarterback, and a top-two pick would guarantee them a shot at either USC's Caleb Williams or North Carolina's Drake Maye. Pick No. 3 might even be enough to land one of those stud signal-callers, depending on who's drafting ahead of them and how much those teams value, say, Marvin Harrison Jr. (more on him below).
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Neither Williams nor Maye is a flawless prospect, but they're the consensus top two signal-callers in this year's draft, with most analysts seeing a substantial gap between them and the second tier. The opportunity to take one of these two could be too good for the QB-needy Patriots to pass up.
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2. Draft Marvin Harrison Jr.
Know what else the Patriots need? A true, game-changing pass-catcher, which their offense hasn't featured in years. Their receiver play this season has been dismal, especially since Kendrick Bourne was lost to a torn ACL in late October. Harrison, son of the Hall of Famer, is the best wideout prospect to enter the NFL in recent memory. He has a very good chance to become the first receiver taken with a top-three pick since Calvin Johnson in 2007.
The strategy here would be to use this premier pick on Harrison, then address the quarterback position later, either with New England's first second-round selection (likely to be in the mid-30s) or by trading into the latter stages of Round 1. That could put the Patriots in play for someone like Washington's Michael Penix, Oregon's Bo Nix, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy or LSU's Jayden Daniels, though some now view the Heisman-favorite Daniels as a potential top-10 pick.
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If the team picking third needs a QB, the Patriots also could trade down one spot, amass additional assets, then follow the same blueprint of taking Harrison with their top pick and a next-tier passer with their second.
3. Draft an offensive tackle
This scenario also almost certainly would feature a trade-down, as the Patriots would be able to land a haul to move from No. 2 to, say, No. 4 or 5. They then could take Penn State's Olu Fashanu or Notre Dame's Joe Alt -- highly regarded tackle prospects who'd fill a major need for New England.
Eight different Patriots players have started games at offensive tackle over the last two seasons, and their two current starters (Trent Brown and Mike Onwenu) both are impending free agents.
This plan would be wildly unpopular among fans -- passing on a stud QB and a potential superstar receiver to draft a lineman? -- but whoever is tasked with leading the Patriots' offense next season won't be able to succeed without improved O-line play.
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For more on how New England should approach this franchise-shaping draft, check out this clip from last week's NESN Patriots Podcast, or listen to the full episode in the player below:
Featured image via Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports Images
