New England Patriots Draft Needs & Mock Draft for 2024

As a lead-up to the 2024 NFL draft, we've broken down the current depth chart of every NFL team and identified the biggest draft and team needs for the New England Patriots.

You can find additional team-by-team draft needs articles and other draft content on our 2024 NFL Draft Hub.

Who Did the New England Patriots Select in the 2024 NFL Draft?

The New England Patriots selected Drake Maye (QB, UNC) with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The Patriots also drafted:

Ja'Lynn Polk (WR, Washington)
Caedan Wallace (OL, Penn State)
Layden Robinson (OG, Texas A&M)
Javon Baker (WR, UCF)
Marcellas Dial (CB, South Carolina)
Joe Milton III (QB, Tennessee)
Jaheim Bell (TE, Florida State)

Patriots Draft Needs: Top Positions of Need in 2024

Quarterback
Wide Receiver
Offensive Tackle

What Picks Do the New England Patriots Have in 2024?

The New England Patriots have 8 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, including:

Round 1 (3)
Round 2 (34)
Round 3 (68)
Round 4 (103)
Round 5 (137)
Round 6 (180)
Round 6 (193)
Round 7 (231)

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New England Patriots Draft Capital Stats

Our Sharp Draft Value Rank is a valuation of draft capital based on a combination of average performance delivered and average dollars earned on second contracts.

This is based on two public models: performance delivered based on draft slot (the AV model created by Chase Stuart) and contractual earnings in non-rookie deals based upon draft slot (the OTC model created by Brad Spielberger and Jason Fitzgerald).

Patriots Sharp Draft Value Rank: 5 of 32 teams
Patriots AV Model Draft Value Rank: 4 of 32 teams
Patriots OTC Model Draft Value Rank: 5 of 32 teams

New England Patriots Draft Value vs. Other Teams:

The Patriots’ draft value is 25% higher than the league average of all 32 teams. Just four other teams have more draft value entering the 2024 NFL Draft.

New England Patriots Draft Prediction:

Brendan Donahue has the Patriots selecting Drake Maye (QB, North Carolina) with the 3rd overall pick in his most recent 2024 NFL Mock Draft.

Mock draft expert Ryan McCrystal believes the Patriots could target a quarterback like Drake Maye (QB, UNC) with their top pick at No. 3 overall in the first round.

New England Patriots Strength of Schedule, 2024

The New England Patriots have the second-hardest NFL strength of schedule for the 2024 NFL season.

New England Patriots Offense: Depth Chart, Analysis & Draft Needs

Rich Hribar breaks down the offensive depth chart by position for the New England Patriots, identifying areas where the team could improve in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft.

Quarterback Depth Chart, Patriots:

Jacoby Brissett
Bailey Zappe
Nathan Rourke

New England is resetting the table at quarterback this offseason after they remained at the bottom of the league in just about every passing metric in 2023.

Collectively, their quarterback room ranked 30th in the league in rating (73.8), 30th in yards per pass attempt (6.1 Y/A), 28th in touchdown rate (2.8%), and dead last in interception rate (3.8%).

The team has already traded Mac Jones to Jacksonville and brought back veteran Jacoby Brissett to where he started his career.

Brissett is presumed to add a veteran presence to the rookie quarterback that New England selects with the No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft.

Running Back Depth Chart, Patriots:

Rhamondre Stevenson
Antonio Gibson
JaMycal Hasty
Ke’Shawn Vaughn
Kevin Harris

The running game for New England took a major step back last season as this offense was a complete house of cards.

New England running backs combined to rank 25th in the league in yards per rush (3.7 YPC) and 25th in EPA per rush (-0.14).

As a group, they were 30th in the league in the rate of runs to gain 10 or more yards (5.6%) after ranking fifth in that department in 2022 (12.7%).

New England backs averaged only 1.08 yards before contact on their runs (22nd), but their backs were also far less explosive as they averaged 2.65 yards after contact per rush (26th).

Rhamondre Stevenson did not find the same success he had in 2022.

After amassing 1,461 total yards on 279 touches in 2022, Stevenson only managed 857 total yards on 194 touches before being shut down for the final five weeks with an ankle injury.

After averaging 5.0 and 5.2 yards per touch in his first two seasons in the league, Stevenson averaged only 4.4 yards per touch in 2023.

Stevenson went from second in the NFL in yards after contact per rush in 2022 (3.81) down to 32nd last season (2.80).

He ranked 42nd out of 49 running backs with 100 or more rushes in explosive run rate (6.4%) after ranking sixth in 2022 (14.3%).

Stevenson enters this season in the final year of his rookie contract.

The Patriots went out in free agency and added Antonio Gibson on a friendly three-year deal with outs as early as next season.

Gibson is coming off a career-low 113 touches last season in Washington, but he did average a career-high 5.8 yards per opportunity on those touches.

After rushing for 1,037 yards and seven touchdowns in 2021, Gibson has only rushed for 811 yards and four touchdowns over the past two seasons, but he remained active as a pass catcher.

Gibson has increased his receptions from the year prior in all four of his seasons in the league, catching 36, 42, 46, and 48 passes out of the backfield.

With Stevenson and Gibson at the top of the depth chart, New England does not need to press the panic button here.

Gibson is the only back on this roster signed beyond this season, so if New England does add a running back, it will likely come on Day 3 as contractual depth.

Wide Receiver Depth Chart, Patriots:

Kendrick Bourne
DeMario Douglas
K.J. Osborn
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Tyquan Thornton
Jalen Reagor
Kayshon Boutte
Kawaan Baker
T.J. Luther

We are in what seems like a never-ending cycle of New England chasing their tail at the wide receiver position.

This team once again received basement-level production from their receivers in 2023.

New England wideouts combined to catch 175 passes (25th) for 1,909 yards (29th), and just five touchdowns (31st).

Only Carolina wide receivers averaged fewer yards per reception (10.3 yards) than New England receivers (10.9).

New England has not had a 1,000-yard receiver since Julian Edelman in 2019, which is also the last time any of their wideouts have even reached 900 yards receiving in a season.

In 2023, DeMario Douglas led the team with 561 yards receiving.

Douglas was a solid find in the sixth round of the draft last season, which at least gives them something.

Out of 27 rookie wide receivers to run 100 or more pass routes (he ran 330), Douglas ranked sixth in that group with 1.70 yards per route run and fourth in target rate per route run (23.9%).

Douglas only averaged 8.2 air yards per target (21st), which forced him to create 59.9% of his yardage after the catch. Only Rashee Rice generated a higher rate of yardage after the catch (69.7%) in the regular season among rookie wideouts.

At 5-foot-8 and 192 pounds, Douglas may never develop into an anchor at the position, but as far as recent New England wide receiver selections go, he was a win and a player who can contribute.

The same cannot be said for Tyquan Thornton and Kayshon Boutte.

After being selected in the second round in 2022, Thornton has not been able to get on or stay on the field.

He only appeared in nine games last season, catching 13 passes for 91 yards.

Through two seasons, Thornton has now missed 12 games in full and has not had more than four receptions in a game yet to open his career.

This unit badly needs a field stretcher (especially if they end up with Drake Maye), and the team is still hoping that Thornton could still be used in that capacity over the remaining two years on his rookie deal.

Boutte only appeared in five games, catching two passes for 19 yards.

JuJu Smith-Schuster only caught 29 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown over 11 games after inking a $25.5 million contract.

The Patriots can get out of that contract after this season for a $2.6 million dead cap hit, but he is on the books for this season since he would cost them $12.3 million to let go today.

There are concerns that Smith-Schuster has a knee injury that will prevent him from ever playing at a high level again.

New England extended Kendrick Bourne, who has been a solid player when he has avoided the doghouse.

Bourne was second on the team in target rate per route last season (23.4%) and led the team with 1.73 yards per route run.

While Bourne has been arguably the best New England wide receiver outside of Jakobi Meyers since the glory days of this offense, he still is more of an ancillary option in a passing game.

Bourne will be 29 this August with a career-high of 800 yards receiving in a single season (2021). He also is coming off ACL surgery in November.

The Patriots also went out and added K.J. Osborn on a one-year deal this offseason.

This is still a major area of need for the organization and does not provide a comfortable set of pass catchers for a pending first-round quarterback.

New England will have to sink their front-end draft capital into a quarterback over this potentially elite group of wideouts in the draft, but the depth of this class should provide them quality options at picks No. 34 or No. 68 to add another rookie to the mix.