After the trade of Brandin Cooks to the Rams, the Patriots now have two first-round picks and two second-round picks for four total in the top 63 overall.
They have a number of different options and really can move wherever they want on the board.
Following the trade of Jimmy Garoppolo last season, finding his replacement and Tom Brady's eventual successor is now on the Patriots' list of needs.There are plenty of quarterbacks available in the draft. Some will go very high, some will go towards the end of the first round and into the second, and then there will be some that fall to the mid-to-late rounds.
Appearing on Kirk & Callahan Wednesday morning, ESPN's Adam Schefter said he believes the Patriots will take a quarterback high in this month's draft.
"Absolutely. I think that is completely reasonable to think," he said. "We'll see what they decide to do because we've seen how the Patriots manipulate the draft board. They usually are jumping all around — rising up, rising back, adding picks, giving them away, moving around. You could look at the picks and the way they lay out today, four in the top 63, I believe. … They have a couple of holes they've created. They have created a hole at quarterback in trading Jimmy Garoppolo for one of those picks and they have created another hole at wide receiver.
"Now, again, it all depends on how the board falls out. Like, I am sure there are certain quarterbacks that they like and value. I don't know who they are yet, but at some point there may be a quarterback that slips and if they feel like, 'boy, this is a guy we really believe in,' the way they once believed in Jimmy Garoppolo, I think they would move up to go get a quarterback. I think they would trade more picks to go get a quarterback, the right one at the right spot. They aren't going up, I don't think, to No. 2, the New York Giants' spot to go get Josh Allen or Sam Darold, or whatever quarterback is available there. That would surprise me.
"Look, they have the ammunition now to do what they want. If you package together those four picks in the first two rounds, you could get basically anywhere you want to get. … To answer the initial part of it, yeah, do I think they are taking a quarterback somewhere high? Yeah, I do."
Some quarterbacks that may be available in the middle to late first round are Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson and Mason Rudolph.
