The New England Patriots re-signed Cam Newton to a one-year deal in March, but with legitimate questions about how much the former NFL MVP has left as a passer, Bill Belichick and company should hardly be seen as settled at the quarterback position.
With that in mind, NFL Media's Peter Schrager projected in his first mock draft that the Patriots will move up 11 picks in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons, allowing them to acquire the No. 4 overall pick and select former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.
Certainly, it would take quite a bit of draft capital to move into the top five from the No. 15 pick, but Schrager argues that the Patriots don't believe they'll be picking in the mid-teens again next year, which checks out considering how much they've spent this offseason. He suggests that the Patriots would trade their first and second round picks in 2021, along with first and third-round picks in 2022 to complete the deal. For a Falcons team that doesn't necessarily need a quarterback right now but has to rebuild much of their roster, obtaining a bounty of picks may not be a terrible strategy.
Meanwhile, Fields would land in New England, giving the Patriots a chance to find the true successor to Tom Brady. Fields may not immediately usurp Newton as the starter, but if the Patriots were to make this type of deal, his rookie year probably wouldn't turn into a redshirt season either.
This all, of course, assumes that the Patriots are enamored with Fields, which perhaps shouldn't be taken for granted. NFL Media's Gil Brandt, a Hall of Fame executive, said last month that he's talked to one team that believes that Fields is the fifth-best player in this year's class, and another that believes he's a fourth-round-caliber player.
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