Did JJ McCarthy change Patriots’ strategy in NFL Draft? MassLive’s Mark Daniels weighs in
Did JJ McCarthy change the New England Patriots’ strategy for this year’s NFL Draft?
During this morning’s Toucher & Hardy radio program, Hardy and MassLive’s Mark Daniels chat about how the Patriots might approach the draft, particularly concerning the available quarterbacks at the third pick. Daniels notes the team’s earlier interest in three top quarterbacks but points out the rising popularity of JJ McCarthy. They discuss the option of the Patriots trading down yet still aiming to secure McCarthy or sticking to their initial preferences. Daniels also talks about the complexities involved in trading strategies, highlighting the challenges the team might face in navigating these decisions.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hardy: Do you believe, though, that either one of the quarterbacks available to the Patriots at three is blue-chip enough to get them to—I’m not saying refuse all offers because I know you said they haven’t received a serious offer, but the general notion is it doesn’t matter what the offer is. If you’ve got the guy who’s going to be your guy for a long time, no offer’s going to be good enough. Is it possible that the Patriots feel that strongly about either player? They could get at three where they would refuse even really good offers.
Mark Daniels: So that’s a great question because back at the combine, Karen, Chris Mason, and I were told by honestly over a half dozen team sources that the Patriots love the top three quarterbacks of the draft. At the time, it was Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye. Essentially, what we were told back on February 29th was three quarterbacks we like. It’s a no-brainer for us to draft one of them because that’s what we need. The biggest thing that’s changed over the last couple of months has been the emergence of JJ McCarthy. I was talking to a source who works in the front office for a different team this week, who told me it wasn’t agent-driven, that there are teams out there who actually like JJ McCarthy more than Drake Maye, and he wasn’t sure if the Patriots were one of them. I’m not sure if the Patriots are one of them, but what’s fascinating to me about staying at three and trading down is just that—it’s like, “Alright, the Patriots like Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels a ton.” Just based off scouting and watching their tape over the last couple of years, they were comfortable in taking them. But now all of a sudden, there’s another name in the mix. And I think you could also argue that, sure, you could trade down a spot or two and still get JJ McCarthy. So I mean, the Patriots think so. They think they’ll land that guy with this pick. And if they do trade down, they know they have to essentially take those assets and move back up, which is really, really complicated, right? Like if people always say, “Oh, I play chess, not checkers.”
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NICK GEMELLI is a Producer on Toucher & Hardy, weekday mornings 6-10AM on 985 The Sports Hub. He is also a contributor on 985thesportshub.com. Follow Nick on X (formerly Twitter) at @NickGemelli.
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