There was no shortage of rumors about a potential trade involving the New England Patriots No. 3 pick in the first round leading into the 2024 NFL Draft. The draft came and went without such a trade occurring, with the Pats obviously deciding to keep the pick and use it to take a quarterback in the form of North Carolina Tar Heels product Drake Maye.
New England did get some offers and feelers from other teams inquiring about the No. 3 pick, including the New York Giants and the Minnesota Giants, according to a source of ESPN's Mike Reiss.
“A source said the New York Giants had offered the No. 6 overall pick and their 2025 first-round pick, while the Vikings were ultimately willing to part with No. 11 and No. 23, along with a 2025 first-rounder, in exchange for the third pick and two mid-round selections from New England.”
The Giants, who still have Daniel Jones on the roster but were rumored to be eying a quarterback in the draft, ended up spending that No. 6 pick on a new weapon downfield in the form of LSU Tigers wide receiver Malik Nabers. New York was linked to JJ McCarthy at No. 6 too but it apparently could not pass up on Nabers, who could end up being the best wide receiver of the 2024 NFL Draft class. Meanwhile, the Vikings were able to find new trade partners after getting turned down by the Patriots.
“But clearly neither of those proposals met the criteria for the “bag” that Mayo said the Patriots would have needed to be OK with trading the pick, and explains why the Patriots called Maye immediately when they were on the clock at No. 3.”
“There were different points throughout the process where there were [offers]. All along, we knew we were in a unique opportunity to get a quarterback that we liked,” Wolf said.
The Vikings sent their No. 11 and No. 23 first-round picks to the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars, respectively.
The Jets used the No. 11 pick to get offensive tackle Olu Fashanu, while the Jags got wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. at No. 23.
The Vikings and the Jets basically switched places at No. 10 and No. 11, opening the door for Minnesota to select McCarthy, who just led the Michigan Wolverines to a College Football Playoff National Championship Game last season.
The Chicago Bears, as expected took USC Trojans star signal-caller Caleb Williams as the top pick overall, while the Washington Commanders went with LSU QB Jayden Daniels at No. 2. If the Commander selected Maye, the Patriots might have considered anew trading down, assuming that they did not feel as high with Daniels and believed they could get another quarterback with a lower pick.
Drake Maye provides promise in Patriots quarterback room
There is no guarantee that Maye will be under center for the Patriots in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL regular season, as New England also still has veteran QB Jacoby Brissett, but the expectation is that he will get there eventually. In three seasons with the Tar Heels, Maye passed for 8,108 yards and 63 touchdowns against only 16 interceptions while completing 64.9 percent of his throws. Either way, this is a fresh start for New England's QB situation after alternating Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe back in the 2023 NFL season in which the Pats were second-worst in the league with only 13.9 points per game.
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