The New England Patriots' 2024 draft class was brutal. Outside of Drake Maye and Marcellas Dial (for now), every player New England drafted just two years ago is off the team:
WR Ja'Lynn Polk (37th pick): bust, traded to the New Orleans Saints after one season, and just recently announced his retirement.
OL Caedan Wallace (68th pick): played 10 total games across two seasons and was just waived.
OL Layden Robinson (103rd pick): waived after one season
WR Javon Baker (110th pick): one reception in 11 total games, waived after one season, did not make people in wheelchairs stand up.
QB Joe Milton (193rd pick): traded after one season, will probably never turn into an actual NFL-level quarterback
TE Jaheim Bell (231st pick): two career receptions for 20 yards, waived after one season
Yet, despite this draft class mostly being a disaster for New England, it's a huge testament that it didn't set them back all that much, and they were able to build a contender just one year later.
The Patriots have bounced back greatly from poor 2024 draft class
If it weren't for Maye (who has already established himself as New England's quarterback of the future), this draft class would probably go down as one of the worst among any team across every league.
But, fortunately for the Patriots, that's not the case. And now, they look like legitimate Super Bowl contenders once again.
They had a much better 2025 draft class (Will Campbell, TreVeyon Henderson, Jared Wilson, and maybe even Kyle Williams, just to name a few), at least so far, and their 2026 class has a lot of promise, too.
Plus, now that they have a real coaching staff and personnel, player development has been huge, and the team has done a good job of making the right moves to bolster their roster on both sides of the ball.
The Patriots were just in the Super Bowl last season, and they should be even better moving forward. They are elite on both sides of the ball, are mostly still a young team, and have already been battle-tested. Only time will tell if they will be playing football next February as well, but it's clear that fans have reasons to be excited about the team's outlook moving forward.
And considering where they were a little over two years ago, it's a borderline miracle that they ever got to this point, especially as quickly as they have.
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