In ESPN’s Mel Kiper’s latest mock draft published Tuesday, he has the Patriots trading up to No. 10 overall with the Cowboys to land Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields was the fifth quarterback to come off the board in this mock draft even though Kiper believes he is the second-best player at the position behind Trevor Lawrence.
Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up, Kiper was asked whether this means the Patriotic would be getting the “steal” of the draft?
“Could be,” Kiper said, via NESN.com. “I think he’s the second-best quarterback in this draft, and we’ve seen the third quarterback — the fourth, fifth and sixth quarterbacks over the years — turn out to be a lot better than some of the guys that went ahead of them, and I think that’ll be the case with Justin Fields.
“If you can get him at 10, if he even drops a little further than that, which is possible. I thought about maybe Denver at 9. New England at 15 — do they just sit there and wait for him to fall in their lap? I didn’t think so. That’s why I have New England jumping up to 10 to get Justin Fields in a division where now you have Tua (Tagovailoa), Zach Wilson and the great Josh Allen. So, all of a sudden now you are a team that has to close that gap or even things up in terms of your quarterback in a division you dominated with Tom Brady for 20 years.”
The Patriots reportedly will be at Fields’ second pro day Wednesday.