2024 NFL Mock Draft: Full three-round mock draft with aggressive trades
3) New England Patriots: Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina
The New England Patriots can’t really afford to get this pick wrong. There have been rumors that they might be interested in trading out of the third overall slot, but why would that be? Are they really fine punting the QB situation to 2025 with Jacoby Brissett and Baile Zappe as their primary guys this season?
I’m calling the Patriots’ bluff here. New England doesn’t have to fall in love with a QB, but we’ve seen way too many teams make the mistake of letting certain guys fall in the draft for no good reason. It feels like everyone is overthinking Drake Maye at this point. He undoubtedly has the look of a future franchise QB, and that’s a risk worth taking here for New England. Sorry, Vikings.
4) Las Vegas Raiders (from Cardinals): Jayden Daniels, QB, Arizona State
Raiders - Cardinals Trade
Four picks in, four straight quarterbacks. The Las Vegas Raiders are the flavor of the week this week to make a bold move up the board for a quarterback, and for the longest time, we’ve had an issue making this type of scenario happen. Jayden Daniels has been the presumptive 2nd overall pick for a long time, but what if he’s still on the board with the 4th slot?
The Raiders have a unique connection to Daniels with head coach Antonio Pierce having been on the Arizona State staff when Daniels was still there, before he transferred to LSU and became a Heisman winner. The relationship equity between Daniels and Pierce gives the Raiders a bit of an evaluation edge, and if he’s on the board after the 2nd selection, I could see Vegas paying whatever it takes to move up and get their guy.