Dark-Horse Pick Patriots Could Make in First Round of NFL Draft

At the top of the NFL draft, it seems likely to consist of quarterbacks, meaning some great talent should fall to the fourth pick for the New England Patriots. However, which great talent to take is the main question, as the roster currently has a ton of needs to address.

The Patriots have often been mocked to take top prospects Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter, or addressing their top needs at left tackle and wide receiver with Will Campbell or Tetairoa McMillan.

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However, one underrated need the team has is at running back, after a rough season with fumble issues for starter Rhamondre Stevenson in his first season under a new coaching staff.

With another new coaching staff brought in, it is completely possible the team will replace Stevenson in the NFL draft. They could do that with a bang by selecting running back Ashton Jeanty, the Heisman runner-up to Travis Hunter, with the no. 4 pick in the NFL draft.

Jeanty is another clear top prospect, just at a position that is considered less important than wide receiver/secondary and edge rusher.

Jeanty could provide a huge spark to the Patriots' offense as one of the top running back prospects of the last decade.

However, the main holdback of the team making this kind of pick is one of their other needs directly relates to how good of a pick Boise State product could be.

The Patriots' top need, even after addressing it a bit in free agency, is the offensive line, which would make things much harder for Jeanty as a rookie.

A similar situation went down when Saquon Barkley was drafted by the New York Giants back in 2018 with the second overall pick.

The Giants didn't have a great offensive line, meaning no matter how good Barkley looked on any given play, it was hard for him to produce as well as he should have based on his talent without good blocking.

That led to him eventually leaving the team for the Philadelphia Eagles, who had one of the top offensive lines in the NFL last season, where he helped them win a Super Bowl.

While Ashton Jeanty may be an intriguing and exciting dark-horse pick for Patriots fans, it wouldn't be a smart pick, as running back is typically a position teams address after improving the rest of the roster.

While Jeanty would help the team a lot, he wouldn't help the offense as much as improvements on the offensive line or at wide receiver would, despite his immense talent.

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