Why Adam Schefter Believes Patriots Trading Down Would Be ‘Challenging’

The Patriots have a complex decision to make with the third overall pick, and a prominent NFL insider added more context to New England’s situation.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter on his podcast this week doubled down on previous intel that Jayden Daniels will go No. 2 to the Washington Commanders. In the insider’s scenario, that leaves either Drake Maye or J.J. McCarthy for New England.

“A lot of people talking about New England moving out of that spot. I don’t know about that,” Schefter said. “I’m not gonna tell you they won’t. Of course, they would for the right offer, but I think it’s going to be challenging. I think for New England to trade out of that spot two weeks out, that’s unlikely to happen because they’re gonna have to move out of a spot where they would lose out on a quarterback that they want. And there’s going to be a team that’s going to have to give up a lot to get up to three because we all assume it’s going to be the Minnesota Vikings with their double ones. So I think the first three teams stay where they are in all probability.”

NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran revealed last week that the sentiment within the Patriots organization is it would take more than three first-round picks to trade out of the No. 3 pick due to the value of drafting a potential franchise quarterback.

Head coach Jerod Mayo and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf publicly are open to trading down and the director of scouting reportedly wants to acquire more assets in the draft. But there appears to be a sentiment around the league that it would take a massive blockbuster to forego drafting one of the top quarterbacks.