Patriots
“It’s starting to feel to me like there’s less and less of a likelihood that Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter get to the Patriots.”
Given the number of glaring holes sprinkled across the Patriots’ depth chart, the case can be made that New England needs to target the best player available when they land on the clock with the No. 4 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Though the team’s most pressing need might be a left tackle, the Patriots’ best chances of adding an immediate impact player at No. 4 likely lies in either Penn State pass rusher Abdul Carter or CB/WR Travis Hunter falling to them at that spot on the draft order.
Both Carter and Hunter sit atop this current NFL Draft class as can’t-miss, blue-chip prospects — and would each give the Patriots a legitimate star talent who could make an immediate impact in 2025.
But as appealing as it would be to see Hunter reel in catches from Drake Maye or watch Carter rack up sacks alongside Milton Williams and Keion White, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer doesn’t see either player being available at No. 4 for New England in his latest draft outlook.
While the general consensus is that the Titans, who hold the No. 1 pick, are slated to pick Miami QB Cam Ward first, it remains to be seen if the Browns (No. 2 pick) and Giants (No. 3) will let both Carter and Hunter slip through their respective grasp.
“It’s starting to feel to me like there’s less and less of a likelihood that Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter get to the Patriots,” Breer said Tuesday on NBC Sports Boston’s Arbella Early Edition.
“The Browns and Giants have at least given off some signals over the last week or two that they could get position players — Carter at 2 and Hunter at 3 — and then double back on Day 2 and get quarterbacks.”
The lone scenario where one of Carter or Hunter drop to No. 4 would likely involve the Browns and Giants taking a QB with their pick, with Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders standing as a potential target for both teams.
But Sanders’ true value on this draft leaderboard remains murky, while New York also added veteran QBs in Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston this offseason.
Sanders could be a legitimate first-round target in this draft, Breer said, he also doesn’t have the tools or ceiling that warrants a top-three pick — even for a team in desperate need of a QB.
“I look at (Sanders) a lot like Bo Nix last year in that, I think if you polled all 32 teams, there will probably be over 20 of them that do not view him as a first-round talent,” Breer said. “He doesn’t have elite arm strength. He’s not a great athlete. He’s not overly big. There are a ton of flaws there.
“So the comparison to Nix here is, there are a lot of teams that felt that way about Bo Nix last year, so it had to be about fit for Nix. If Nix doesn’t go 12 overall to the Broncos, he might fall out of the first round altogether.”
While Breer is skeptical that Sanders is plucked before pick No. 4, ESPN’s Field Yates noted earlier this week that he believes both Ward and Sanders will be off the board as top-three picks, opening the door for the Patriots to draft the reigning Heisman Trophy winner in Hunter.
“I had nothing to say for the Patriots other than, ‘Congratulations, you just got the best player in the draft — who happens to fill a major need for New England,” Yates said of Hunter on “The Mina Kimes Show.” “More wide receiver than cornerback because they have obviously an excellent corner in Christian Gonzalez, and then a good corner in Carlton Davis who they paid big money for just a couple of weeks ago.”
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