Patriots Draft Class ’23: Grades and thoughts on Day 3 selections

New England Patriots could have done better

The New England Patriots first pick in the fourth round was center/guard Jake Andrews. He’s a solid player but was another reach.

Gargantuan offensive tackle Dawand Jones from Ohio State, a favorite here was still on the board. Not taking Jones was a big omission. They could have had Andrews later on. They still need an offensive tackle or two.

Taking a kicker in the fourth round is again a reach. Another fourth-rounder, Sidy Sow is a nice player and if he was selected to play offensive tackle, the pick makes more sense.

Otherwise, again, the team drafted a position that they had already addressed previously, with center/guard Andrews.

The Patriots repeated the same gaffe in the fifth round by taking another guard, Antonio Mafi. There were other positions of greater need at that point to address, two of which went completely unaddressed. More on that later

The sixth or seventh-round picks were fliers on players late and the team at least finally addressed the wide receiver position twice. Better late than never, but how much so is yet to be seen.

The grade for Day 3 of the NFL draft is a C.