The New England Patriots have hit free agency with an open wallet. They are in an interesting position as they rebuild their club, and it’s important they don’t lose sight of the best way to do that. They shouldn’t be concerned with winning right now but rather with putting together a team of young players who can win later. They have filled some holes on their team with free agents, but what should they do with the fourth overall pick int the 2025 NFL Draft?
The answer is that they should ignore conventional wisdom and take a player they don’t really need. They should also break a wise rule, that running backs should not be taken in the first round of any draft, regardless of their talent and ability. They need to take Ashton Jeanty out of Boise State.
Drafting college players is complicated if it’s done right. Team needs should be taken into account, but should not be the determining factor on who that team selects. For example, if the team needs a tackle (which the Patriots do) but the best tackle on the board isn’t worth a top-five pick, taking him at fourth overall is nothing more than burning draft capital. On the flip side, if the best player on the board, is a player the team can’t utilize (like quarterback), it also doesn’t make sense to take the best player available.
When the Patriots are on the clock, with the fourth overall pick, it’s extremely likely that the best player available will be Jeanty. While running back is not a position of need for New England, it is a position that could be utilized. If the team decides that no position of need is worth the pick, it will come down to two choices. Trade the pick for more assets, or select the best player on the board.
Rhamondre Stevenson has been a great player for New England, and considering he was a fourth-round pick (120th overall), he has been a steal for them as well. He is also 27 years old, which is an age that represents the back nine of a running back’s career. Jeanty is five years his junior, which in NFL terms, means he is a contract and a half younger. Younger and fresher legs are more desirable in a rebuild than age and experience.
Stevenson was also benched last year for having butter fingers. Dropped sing passes and fumbles led to Antonio Gibson getting the start later in the season. A second-year quarterback needs reliability in the backfield and needs someone he can hand the ball off to twenty times a game. Stevenson is past the age of handling that kind of workload. With only $6 million in dead money on his contract, the Patriots could move the former 1,000-yard rusher for a late-round pick, and replace him with a younger, better player.
Jeanty ran for more than 100 yards in every game he played last year. In six of those games, he eclipsed 200 yards. He averaged 7.0 yards per carry, totaling 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns. He had arguably the best running back season in college football since Barry Sanders in 1988. The Patriots still need a WR1, but there isn’t one in this draft class, and there also isn’t an elite tackle. Jeanty may be the only elite player available when the Patriots pick at four, and he should be the only player they consider there.
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