With the NFL offseason in full swing, New England Patriots fans are already looking ahead to April's draft. The Patriots hold the third overall selection at the 2024 NFL Draft, giving them a chance to select a franchise-altering player after missing the playoffs in three of the last four seasons.
There's also a portion of the fanbase that's looking back at past draft classes. While it's fun to look back to see which picks the Patriots struck gold with, an exercise like that also leads to fans declaring which selections wound up being busts. After all, New England hasn't always had the best track record when it comes to its draft history.
With that in mind, here are three Patriots draft picks who are officially busts following the 2023 NFL season.
1. QB Mac Jones — 2021 Round 1, Pick 15
The Patriots used the 15th overall selection at the 2021 NFL Draft to select Mac Jones as their franchise quarterback. The rumor at the time was that Bill Belichick wanted to draft Stanford's Davis Mills, however, his scouts allegedly convinced him to go with Jones.
While Mills hasn't exactly had the best career so far, Jones certainly hasn't lived up to his draft status. After making it to the Pro Bowl as a rookie, the Jacksonville, FL native has regressed more and more in each of the last two seasons. The 2023 campaign was a new low for Jones as he threw for 2,120 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions with a 77.0 passer rating while leading the Pats to a 2-9 record in 11 starts.
Adding insult to injury, Jones was replaced by Bailey Zappe on four separate occasions. Considering how Zappe wasn't much better, it goes to show just how far Jones fell.
It's hard to view Jones as anything but a bust at this moment. The negatives outweigh the positives of his game by a long shot. The fact that the Patriots will likely use the No. 3 pick on a quarterback further seals his fate.
2. WR Tyquan Thornton — 2022 Round 2, Pick 50
It'd be hard to find a Patriots fan who wasn't excited about Tyquan Thornton heading into his rookie campaign. After all, the 2022 second-rounder was coming off a stellar season with the Baylor Bears, hauling in 62 catches for 948 yards and 10 touchdowns en route to second-team All-Big 12 honors.
Thornton's 2022 campaign was underwhelming, to say the least. He was limited to 13 games (9 starts) due to injury, turning 22 receptions into 247 yards and a pair of TDs.
The hope was that he could be better and healthier in 2023, but that wasn't the case either as he posted a 13-91-0 stat line in nine games (3 starts). His latest performance is even more disappointing given that the Patriots were dying for their wideouts to step up all season long.
Injuries can be out of a player's control, but it's not like Thornton has been that effective when healthy. He has six drops in 22 career games, essentially averaging a drop once every four outings. His 51.5% career completion rate is putrid and he has carried a passer rating when targeted of 65.7 or worse in each of his first two seasons.
Thornton is only 23 years old, but I don't see things getting any better. He just can't stay healthy and when he does play, he's one of New England's worst wideouts. At the end of the day, he just wasn't worth the second-round pick — especially when you consider how fellow WRs George Pickens and Alec Pierce were taken with two of the three picks after he was selected.
3. LG Cole Strange — 2022 Round 1, Pick 29
The Patriots left a lot of fans scratching their heads when they drafted Cole Stranger 29th overall in 2022. New England could've used that pick to draft offensive playmakers like Christian Watson, Kenneth Walker III, or Breece Hall, but opted to go with a guard out of Chattanooga, which hasn't generated a Pro Bowl or All-Pro offensive lineman in over 60 years.
Strange's rookie season left much to be desired. He surrendered 23 total pressures while taking six penalties across 598 pass-block snaps while also finishing with a putrid 48.3 run-block grade, per Pro Football Focus.
The 2023 campaign wasn't much better, though. While Strange's run-block grade increased to 66.2, his pass-block mark dropped from 67.8 to 57.7 after allowing 22 pressures on 340 pass-block downs — only one fewer than last year despite playing 258 fewer snaps due to injury.
I know that some offensive linemen take a bit longer to develop, but I don't think Strange's ceiling is all that high. He has solid moments now and then, but it's looking more and more like taking him with a first-round pick was the wrong choice. If anything, the Patriots should've used the 29th pick to draft Watson before drafting an O-lineman 50th overall instead of Thornton.
Hopefully, Strange finds a way to turn things around in 2024 because it's harder to look at him as anything but a bust for now.