After five seasons on the Patriots beat, Chris Mason is moving to a sports enterprise reporting role at MassLive. He’ll author deep dives on the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins, but take a step back from day-to-day beat writing. As such, this is the final installment of his weekly mailbag. Thanks for reading!
Who would you take with the No. 4 pick? - Miller
So much is dependent on what happens with the three picks in front of the Patriots, so I’ll give you my Top 5 options at No. 4:
1. Penn State Edge Abdul Carter
An absolute game-wrecker, Carter is the best prospect in the draft. Because of that it’s unlikely he’ll still be around at No. 4 overall, however a foot issue may leave to door ajar. If so, the New England would be wise to pounce. Carter is exactly what a punchless Patriots pass rush needs.
2. Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter
Beyond Drake Maye and Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots are starved for blue-chip talent on their roster. The Heisman winner would certainly help in that area. In addition to forming a shutdown tandem with Gonzalez in the Patriots secondary, Hunter could be an intriguing situational wideout for Josh McDaniels on offense, too. The Patriots would improve on both sides of the ball with one pick.
3. Trade down
If Carter and Hunter are off the board, that means only one quarterback — likely Cam Ward — is gone. It’d be wise to try to sell this pick to a quarterback-needy team further down the board. Moving down to No. 6 or 7 and drafting somebody like Penn State tight end Tyler Warren would be ideal.
4. Michigan DT Mason Graham
Win in the trenches, win the football game. That old adage remains true, and Graham is billed as the best lineman in the draft outside of Carter. Size is a bit of a concern, but not to the level of LSU tackle Will Campbell. Graham isn’t Plan A, but he’d undoubtedly help the Patriots defense.
5. Penn State TE Tyler Warren
This is likely a reach — it’s the fifth option for a reason — but Warren is a dynamic pass catcher. For all the talk about weaponizing the Patriots offense for Drake Maye with a star wideout, Rob Gronkowski was one of the best weapons Tom Brady ever had. Tight ends can make life a whole lot easier for quarterbacks, especially with McDaniels calling the plays.
How do the Pats spend big in free agency but also make sure they get the right value so we don’t have a repeat of 2021 spending? — Conor M.
That’ll take a few different things. One will be having a better gauge of the market.
Nelson Agholor was a major whiff back in 2021. Though he wasn’t a top-tier option, the Patriots misread the market and paid him like one (2 years, $26 million), agreeing to terms just six hours into the legal tampering period. They rushed to sign Agholor and it burned them.
A major key this time around will be identifying Vrabel’s style of players. If the Patriots want to have a hard-nosed, play-through-the-whistle identity like Vrabel’s Titans did, they’ve gotta find the right guys. Fortunately, there’s tape on every single target out there. Some of them may be elite, while others are mid-level players that fit the mold.
Then some of it is just luck. Free agency is an inexact science. Every single player’s team has allowed them to hit the open market for one reason or another. There’s always risk involved.
Have you heard any of the rumors regarding Vrabel and the connection he’s allegedly making with Ja’Lynn Polk? I would love to see more rookies from last year have a meaningful role on the team - Jesse O.
I haven’t heard anything specific regarding Vrabel and Polk, but I did love his quote about the rookie class in general.
“They had some talent. Didn’t have the impact that maybe everybody would have wanted. But that’s OK,” Vrabel said on Sirius XM at the Combine. “I’m trying to explain it to some of those guys — (instead of) the whole ‘sophomore slump’, maybe we just had the ‘freshman 15.’ And now we have to lose a little weight in the second year.
“Let’s say that this first year wasn’t exactly what we wanted. But how can I help you? How can our staff help you have a better second season and really help contribute to the youth and the energy of this roster?”
I think all of last year’s rookies will get a fair shot at training camp this summer. With more established coaches, it’ll be on the players to raise the bar and prove their first season an outlier.
How is Josh McDaniels going to evolve what he used to do this time around? - Chris
I think some will be tailoring things to Drake Maye and some will be adapting to the offensive changes around the game. McDaniels was visiting colleges last fall and I’d imagine his playbook has some newer wrinkles.
When Kliff Kingsbury was designing Washington’s offense, he asked Jayden Daniels what a few of his favorite plays from college were, then put them in the playbook. It set him up to succeed right away. McDaniels would be wise to take a similar approach with Maye.
What were your favorite plays from your rookie season? What do you think you were doing well? How can we capitalize on that?
Should the Patriots have traded for Joe Thuney to return and would that have fixed our left guard problem? —@faircatch.bsky.social
He would have fixed the left guard problem in the short term, but turning 33 next season, I don’t think Thuney would have been a long-term answer there. The Patriots need fewer Band-Aids and more real fixes.
What was your favorite story from covering the Patriots? - Matt K.
Favorite one that I’ve written? That’s probably the feature I wrote on Drake Maye’s upbringing. MassLive flew me down to North Carolina and Drake’s father, Mark, drove me around his hometown for an hour and a half in his Suburban. Can’t ask for a better tour guide, right? Hoping to do more stories like that in my new role.
What’s the weirdest thing you ever encountered since you started covering the team? - Ryan B.
Dakota Randall.
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