2024 NFL Mock Draft: Full three-round mock draft with big trades

3. New England Patriots: Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina

The New England Patriots sort of luck into the ideal situation here. New head coach Jerod Mayo has tabbed Alex Van Pelt as his offensive coordinator, and the Patriots move on in the first year without Bill Belichick by making a potentially franchise-altering move at QB.

Mac Jones was benched for Bailey Zappe last year, and I think we’ll see him traded this offseason for a Day 3 pick. There are some physical and athletic comparisons between Drake Maye and Justin Herbert, and if Maye can even come close to that level of play, the Patriots should be back in the mix of the AFC East sooner rather than later.

4. Arizona Cardinals: Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State

We talked about how the Patriots sort of lucked into Drake Maye with their pick, but how about the Arizona Cardinals getting the top non-QB on the board here? If the Cardinals are still confident in Kyler Murray as their franchise QB, then they should be jumping for joy at the chance to get him a playmaker like Harrison at this slot.

Harrison could end up having the same type of impact in Arizona that we saw a few years ago from Ja’Marr Chase with the Cincinnati Bengals. Chase was seemingly the missing ingredient to get that Bengals team back into contention, and that could be the case here as well. The Cardinals have been a playoff team before, and a go-to weapon like this in the passing game could set them off.