Patriots 2026 NFL Draft Preview: Quarterbacks

With the first major week of NFL free agency in the books, it's time to start turning our attention towards the 2026 NFL Draft.

As we do every year we'll be building up to the draft with position-by-position previews of this draft class, dropping every Tuesday and Thursday between now and draft week. The goal of these previews will be to get familiar with the top overall players and potential New England Patriots fits.

We'll start - as always - with the quarterbacks. Once again, it's not a major need for the Patriots. Drake Maye is, of course, Drake Maye, but his backups in Joshua Dobbs and Tommy DeVito remain under contract as well (DeVito, a pending RFA, was re-signed ahead of free agency).

Eliot Wolf comes from a philosophy where it's always good to be drafting and developing quarterbacks, even if they might not play. So we'll look at some late-round and potential UDFA options that the Patriots could target to fill out the room.

Plus, we'll take a Patriots-adjacent approach with two of the four teams in the AFC East needing quarterbacks this offseason. Who might Pats fans be seeing in divisional games in the near future? We'll highlight some of those players as well.

For the sake of being complete, and for those just starting to learn about his draft, Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza is widely expected to be the first overall pick for the Las Vegas Raiders. Mendoza led Indiana to a National Championship in the fall, and now will be the main piece in helping Tom Brady's Raiders get their turn around started.

Just like last year, this is a real light QB draft. Mendoza is the only quarterback viewed as a first-round lock at this point. That being said there are multiple teams in clear need of a quarterback. Could another arm sneak into the first round?

The one other name that's been linked to first round teams is Ty Simpson from Alabama. Simpson started the season on a high note for the Tide, but his play and production dipped as Alabama got further into SEC play. Injuries became a problem as well.

There are flashes of first-round talent on his tape, but concerns about consistency as well as his size (6-foot-1, 211 pounds) and play strength are fair. He also has just one season of full-time production, having thrown a combined 50 passes over his first three years in college from 2022-2024.

If Simpson does go in the first round he's mainly been linked to two teams - the New York Jets at No. 16 and the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21. With the Jets having two first-round picks (they also pick second overall), could they feel more comfortable reaching for a quarterback with the second one, putting Simpson in the Patriots' division? If he falls to the early second, could the Dolphins move up from No. 43 to bring him in and compete with Malik Willis?

The other impact this could have for the Patriots is that an unexpected quarterback going in the first round would push one additional player further down the board to their No. 31 selection. If Simpson falls, that's one more non-quarterback that goes above them, but also could make their pick more valuable to a quarterback-needy team if they want to trade down (like when the Giants traded up from 34 last year to get Jaxson Dart, or when the Ravens traded up from 52 to 32 to take Lamar Jackson in 2018).

Two other quarterbacks are currently projected to go in the top 100, with two more close to that range and on the rise. Again, with so many quarterback-needy teams, how many will shoot up boards?

The other top 100 quarterbacks are Garrett Nussmeier from LSU and Drew Allar from Penn State. Nussmeier is a true pocket passer at 6-foot-2, 203 pounds. He was originally viewed as a potential first-round pick before struggling in 2025, although it was later revealed he was playing through a oblique injury. If teams put more stock into his 2024 tape, that could help his case.

Allar is one of the more polarizing quarterbacks in this class. The third-ranked player and top-ranked quarterback in the high school Class of 2022, Allar went to Penn State with sky-high expectations. At 6-foot-5, 228 pounds he has tremendous natural ability both in terms of arm talent and mobility.

Despite that, he never put it all together in two-plus years as a starter fort the Nittany Lions. In particular, he struggled in big games. In six combined games against Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dane, and Oregon - the top teams on Penn State's schedule - he went 0-6 completing an even 50% of his passes for 150.8 yards per game with five touchdowns and five interceptions.

In his remaining games he went 26-3, with two of those losses in his final two games last year before a season-ending ankle injury. He completed 64.9% of his passes for 212.2 yards per game with 52 touchdowns and just eight interceptions.

Every quarterback's numbers typically drop off against better teams, but that's an extreme difference. His traits should entice teams, but the entire picture is still very much a work in progress.

Pushing the top 100 are Taylen Green from Arkansas and Carson Beck from Miami. Green was one of the big winners of the NFL Combine, setting QB records with a 4.36-second 40 and 43.5-inch vertical at 6-foot-6, 227 pounds. Green has 46 games of starting experience, going 24-22 between Boise State and Arkansas. Like Allar he has a lot of physical traits teams will covet but being two years older (he's entering his age 24 season) limits his ceiling relatively speaking.

Beck has an impressive pedigree, having gone 37-6 in three years as a starter between Georgia and Miami, leading the Hurricanes to the National Championship game last year. Still, the 23-year-old looks relatively maxed out at this point in his career. He might be more of a high-floor, low-ceiling option for teams trying to find this year's Tyler Shough.

Those who follow our draft coverage year-by-year know there's usually one or two Day 3 quarterback picks I like for the Patriots in developmental roles. This year, those players are few and far between. That's especially true with Green likely testing his way well out of the range the Patriots should realistically take a quarterback (sixth or seventh round).

If the Patriots do draft a quarterback, what are they looking for? The last few years they've targeted size and arm strength, but Josh McDaniels also has a history of working with more technically sound quarterbacks who don't put the ball in harms way. Let's look at one player for each.

Sawyer Robertson from Baylor would be the toolsey option. The 6-foot-4, 216-pound started 27 games over the last three years at Baylor. He has a big arm and puts good zip on the ball, and keeps that strength and velocity up when off-platform. He can also transition to making plays with his legs. However his accuracy needs significant work, and he's not always patient in the pocket.

On the other side of things is projected seventh-round pick/UDFA Joe Fagnano from UConn. He just wrapped up his seventh year of college football, having played four years at Maine starting in 2019 before heading to Storrs.

Fagnano started at least four games in every college season but one (2023, when he dealt with a shoulder injury), but only played a full season in 2022 (his last year at Maine) and 2025. In his first and only full FBS season last year he carved up defenses, completing 69% of his passes to the tune of 8.3 yards per attempt with 28 touchdowns to just a single interception.

That accuracy checks out and he has NFL size at 6-foot-3, 226 pounds but given his age he's maxed out at this point. He also was basically an adult playing against kids last year, which won't be the case in the NFL. Still, he has the profile of a third quarterback on an NFL team, which could get him drafted late.

One more quarterback to know is projected UDFA Haynes King. He'll be a 25-year-old rookie who was a three-year starter at Georgia Tech. King is a long way from being an NFL passer but he's a plus athlete who plays the game with a great intensity and motor and isn't afraid of contact. At 6-foot-2, 212 pounds he could be a candidate for a position change if he's open to it, perhaps playing some running back/Wildcat QB or even contributing on special teams.