First four Patriots picks set in 2025 NFL Draft
The exact spot of the first four New England Patriots picks in the 2025 NFL Draft are set.
Following Sunday’s season finale, the New England Patriots are officially onto the offseason. While there are pressing matters to handle in the short-term – namely finding a new head coach – the upcoming NFL Draft will be a major talking point over the next four months.
With Sunday’s results, the Patriots picks in the first three rounds of the 2025 NFL draft are now set. That includes their three assigned picks in Rounds 1 through 3, as well as the Round 3 pick they got from the Atlanta Falcons for trading away Matthew Judon this past summer. The Patriots picks are…
–Round 1, Pick 4
–Round 2, Pick 38
–Round 3, Pick 69
–Round 3, Pick 77 (from Atlanta)
Sunday’s win over the Bills means the Patriots finish as one of three four-win teams. With the lowest strength of schedule they have the tiebreaker, putting them in the top of that group in the draft order and giving them the fourth overall pick, behind the three three-win teams.
However, having the fourth pick in the first round doesn’t give the Patriots the fourth pick in every round. The tied teams rotate picks in each round over the course of the draft, with the team at the top falling to the back of the group and everybody else moving up a spot.
For instance, last year the Patriots, Commanders, and Cardinals each finished with four wins. Here’s how their picks were originally awarded by round for the first four rounds…
1st: WAS, NE, AZ
2nd: NE, AZ, WAS
3rd: AZ, WAS, NE
4th: WAS, NE, AZ
Had the Patriots lost on Sunday, they would have still been tied with other teams and wouldn’t be picking at the top of every round. Instead, they’d be slotted with the first pick, 36th pick, and 67th. Their win cost them three spots at the top of the draft, plus two spots in the second and third rounds.
The remainder of the Patriots picks will be set once the league officially awards compensation picks. That includes the team’s own fourth, fifth, and seventh-round picks, as well as seventh round picks from the Tennessee Titans (from the Nick Folk trade) and Los Angeles Chargers (from the J.C. Jackson trade). They sent their own sixth-round pick to the Chargers as a pick swap in that Jackson deal.
Designating comp picks are usually happens around the start of the league year in March. Comp picks are given out from the third round on, tacked on at the end of each round. The Patriots are currently not projected to have any comp picks this year.