How Patriots Reportedly Rejecting ‘Strong Offers’ Impacted NFL Draft

The New England Patriots said prior to the NFL draft they were “open for business” when it came to trading the No. 3 overall pick.

The Patriots trading the pick would have shook up the first round, and New England reportedly had offers on the table for the selection. But all the Patriots did was listen to them.

The Patriots ended up not pulling the trigger on any trades and instead selected North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. New England standing pat made things go status quo early in the first round — besides for the Atlanta Falcons picking Michael Penix Jr. — and had one team in particular changing its approach, according to NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah.

“When we came down the home stretch, from what I was hearing, the offers were there and they were like strong, strong offers. They weren’t moving. There were sticking and picking,” Jeremiah said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday. “Once they were sticking and picking, we were all kind of keeping our eyes on Minnesota. If they were willing to move assets and go all-in to go get Drake Maye, but if they couldn’t get him, they were going to kind of hold their water and see what happens with the Giants and I thought we’d have kind of a staticky top part of the draft. And that’s kind of the way it ended up shaking out.”

The Vikings, in need of a quarterback with Kirk Cousins departing this offseason, saw the Giants select LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers at sixth overall before Minnesota moved up one slot via a trade with the New York Jets to take Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the 10th pick.

The Vikings reportedly were in trade talks with the Patriots for the third pick, but nothing ever materialized. Minnesota reportedly was willing to give up multiple picks to jump into the top three.

But obviously, the trade packages weren’t tantalizing enough to get the Patriots to move off their spot. And instead, the Vikings are left handing the keys to their franchise to McCarthy.