Is a Day 2 move-up in the cards for the Patriots in the 2026 NFL Draft?

The New England Patriots enter the 2026 NFL Draft with 11 picks at their disposal, which is tied for the second-most of any team in this year's draft (Pittsburgh has 12). They have all of their original picks, plus an extra fourth-round pick from a draft-day swap last year and three extra sixth-round picks from player trades.

With all of that extra capital, the Patriots are well-positioned to move up the board if they want. According to a new report, that might just be the plan.

On Thursday afternoon ESPN posted a roundup of draft intel from all 32 NFL teams. In it, ESPN's Mike Reiss' was given the prompt "the Pats are tied for the most Day 3 picks in the NFL with eight. True or false, they will use those to move up on Day 1 or Day 2?"

"True. Or at least they will try to make this statement true," Reiss writes. "The Patriots have two fourth-rounders and four sixth-rounders and, according to some scouts, this year's draft is not considered as strong on Day 3 as it was in 2025. So, the Patriots are expected to explore the possibility of using some of those Day 3 picks as chips in trades to better position themselves for players they are targeting earlier in the draft."

How high the Patriots can move up will depend on where they're trading from. For instance, packaging an extra fourth and sixth will move up further in the third round than the second.

For ideas of what a trade up might look like, we highlighted trades made from the Patriots' assigned draft slots (or within a slot or two) over the past few years. For instance, in 2023 the Bears traded Pick 61 and Pick 136 to the Jaguars for Pick 56. Could the Patriots do something similar with Picks 63 and 131. You can find that full list of trades here.

Then there's the matter of who the Patriots are trading up for. NFL teams don't move up the draft board just to have a better pick, it's typically to target a specific player.

One position to watch, according to Thursday's ESPN piece, is defensive tackle. ESPN's draft insider Jordan Reid highlighted defensive tackle as a position to watch.

"It's essential for the Patriots to attack the offensive and defensive lines in this draft. Don't rule out a defensive tackle for New England in the first two rounds, as it wants to continue to strengthen its rotation at that spot," Reid writes in a 'what are we hearing about the Patriots' blurb. "Kayden McDonald (Ohio State) is someone to watch early, and Nick Barrett (South Carolina) is an interior defender to keep an eye on in later rounds."

This isn't the first time McDonald has been linked to the Patriots. The 6-foot-3, 326-pound run-stopping nose tackle visited the Patriots on a top-30 visit. He's projected to be a top 40 pick, going either late in the first round or at the top of the second.

As for Barrett, he's a projected late Day 2 or early Day 3 pick. At 6-foot-3, 312 pounds he's also primarily a run stopper.

Overall the Patriots return most of their defensive tackles from last year, with that group highlighted by Christian Barmore and Milton Williams. However the team did lose Khyiris Tonga - primarily a run-stopping nose tackle - in free agency. In 14 games last year Tonga played 40% of the team's defensive snaps, recording 24 tackles with two for a loss.