Patriots Post-Combine 7-Round Mock Draft: Shocker at QB Leads the Way

2. (34th overall): Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia

One of the areas the New England Patriots desperately need to address in the 2024 NFL Draft is the wide receiver position. This team's collection of offensive skill players last year was embarrassing, and the Patriots made that bed for themselves.

The decision to throw a bunch of money at JuJu Smith-Schuster in the 2023 NFL free agency was ill-advised, to say the least. The decision to re-sign DeVante Parker was similarly troubling. The decision to use a second-round pick on Baylor speedster Tyquan Thornton?

Well, you can see where all of this is going. The Patriots may have the worst collection of offensive skill players in the entire NFL, and not that Ladd McConkey is the prototypical guy you'd build around, but he presents arguably some of the best value in the early 2nd round of this year's draft.

McConkey's ability to get open at every level of the field is going to be so helpful for a young quarterback like JJ McCarthy, and his soft hands combined with after-the-catch ability make him a much more dynamic option offensively than his numbers at Georgia might suggest.