Inside the Patriots’ quest for a QB at the NFL Combine
Pick or pass? Here's what NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry is hearing about the top quarterbacks at the 2024 NFL Combine.
It’s been 30 years since the Patriots have had a top five draft pick. Just a few months after owner Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994, New England took Willie McGinest fourth overall.
Now the Patriots are faced with the chance to draft a top quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft with the No. 3 overall pick. With a loaded draft class, as many as six quarterbacks could be selected in the first round this year.
The top three quarterbacks in the draft are rumored to be USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, and UNC’s Drake Maye. While mock drafts and expert predictions have yielded little certainty so far this offseason, the NFL Combine is well-underway and offers insight into what draft night could look like on April 25.
NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry is in Indianapolis and got the latest on what scouts are saying about Williams, the projected No. 1 overall pick.
“Caleb Williams is not everyone’s number one quarterback, which surprises me a little bit,” Perry said.
The reason, he explained, doesn’t come from off-the field concerns about Williams.
“There are football reasons as to why Caleb Williams might not be every scout, every coach’s favorite quarterback in this year’s draft class.”
It’s been widely speculated that the Bears, who hold the No. 1 pick, would take Williams. However, Chicago has not yet confirmed whether or not they’re looking to draft a new quarterback or double down and throw their support (again) behind Justin Fields.
“We have no big news for you today, we’re going through the process,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said Wednesday about his team’s draft strategy. “If Justin’s coming back, we’ll have a plan in place for that. If we have a new quarterback, we’ll have a plan in place for that.”
What’s an x-factor heading into this week for the Bears? According to Perry, they want to know who Williams is as a person.
“Convince the Bears that you’re worthy of that number one pick by how you interact with them in meetings,” Perry said about what Williams needs to do to retain his top position. “That’s a piece of the puzzle, like it or not.”
Regardless of what route the Bears take, it’s sure to make waves around the league. For the Patriots, it could leave an opening to bring Williams to New England.
Perry pointed out that if Williams was passed up by the Bears and the Commanders (who hang onto the No. 2 overall pick), the Patriots could face a difficult decision.
“Or maybe in their eyes, they would say it’s not difficult at all,” Perry said. “Because [Williams] is that talented.”
But talent, as Perry noted, is not scarce in this draft nor is it the only factor considered by the Patriots.
Perry confessed that Daniels, the 2023 Heisman winner, could be the best option for New England.
“It’s a quiet confidence that he has and it’s a quiet confidence he projects with teams,” he said.
Confidence and “swag” is a characteristic that new Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo said he looks for in players. Luckily, Daniels is set to meet with New England this week, offering the two parties a chance to assess their compatibility off the field.
“They are short interviews, but you can gain information just as far as the confidence level. We’re looking for someone who’s very knowledgeable of not only the game but also self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses,” Mayo said in a video posted on the team’s website Wednesday.
Daniels’s biggest weakness? According to Perry it’s his size.
“When he’s pressured, generally speaking, he scrambles to run, not scrambles to throw,” Perry said. At 6-foot-three and barely 200 pounds, scouts are worried about Daniels’s durability.
“That could be a problem at the NFL level. You might break,” Perry said
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