Did Trading Down Hurt the Patriots Chance For Their New Qb?

There’s a good chance that the New England Patriots weren’t thinking about drafting a quarterback to take the reigns from the newly departed Tom Brady. They traded down and out of the first round to acquire a couple of picks from the Los Angeles Chargers. They’d go on to take linebacker Kenneth Murray and New England would get pick 37 and 71.

There was a long-standing rumor that the Patriots were targeting quarterback Jordan Love with their first pick. Since the top end of the draft primarily got their quarterbacks, there was a good chance Love would fall into the second round. That is until the Green Bay Packers pulled off the unexpected. Trading up from 30th to 26th, Green Bay would select Love with their first pick.

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Neither the Patriots trading down or the Packers trading up made sense. Even if New England were to roll with Jarrett Stidham, their offense could use the weapons. Maybe New England was expecting one of the two receivers taken by the Cowboys or Eagles to fall. There could’ve even been the sense with Rodgers in the fold, no other team ahead of pick 37 should’ve taken a quarterback. Picking up the extra pick wouldn’t hurt.

Then, of course, there’s Green Bay. Why did they trade up? To move from pick 30 to pick 26 is strange if Jordan Love was their guy. Again, no team between where the Packers picked at 30 and where they moved up at 26 that needed a quarterback. Now they’ve given up a pick in the fourth round and spent at a position of strength.

There’s nothing wrong with grooming your quarterback of the future, but the team is at least two years away from him being their starter. Green Bay is no stranger to drafting replacements early but a two-year project could’ve easily been found in the second round and they could’ve got an instant playmaker. If they were worried they wouldn’t get a QB that late in the second, they could’ve traded up at a lower cost due to a later round. Trading up 4 spots was a panic move.

Both the Packers and Patriots moves were head-scratchers and neither seems like they’ll pay off for this season. The Packers may have got their guy, but the Pats might have to draft a project to go with their current project at QB which could prove to be costly.