Mayo says draft pool is 5 QBs deep
Add McCarthy, Nix
ORLANDO, FLA. >> It’s more than just a three-man race at the top of the 2024 NFL Draft as the Patriots search for their quarterback of the future.
The consensus top three quarterbacks in the draft are well known: USC’s Caleb Williams, who Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo seems to believe will be picked by the Bears, and then LSU’s Jayden Daniels and UNC’s Drake Maye. But Mayo would extend his top QB list to five players.
“When I first started watching these guys, it was that three-man race,” Mayo said Monday morning at the NFL Annual Meeting. “And now as you continue to go to the combine or the pro days and bringing guys in on the 30 visits and having time to spend with those guys to really get to know what makes them tick. I mean, it’s about five guys honestly that could come in and be a solid quarterback in the future.”
The Patriots, led by de facto general manager Eliot Wolf, held formal meetings with Williams, Daniels, Maye, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Oregon’s Bo Nix. Mayo said he expects the top QBs to come to Foxboro for official visits before the draft.
Mayo was asked directly about what the team liked about Maye after meeting with him in Indianapolis.
“Drake Maye had a fantastic interview at the combine. He brings a lot of energy,” Mayo said. “You can tell he has that leadership ability. And also the exciting part about a guy like Drake Maye is the ceiling. Like, there is really no ceiling with a guy like that. Now, in saying that, when we’re trying to put together this roster, I know a lot of people look at the ceiling, but you also got to kind of see how low is the floor? And I would say that a guy like Drake Maye, he has a lot of room to grow. He’s a young guy. Honestly, he hasn’t played football nearly as much as these other guys. So that’s definitely something that we’ve looked at, but he definitely is going to develop.”
Mayo was less expansive when asked about Daniels.
“Yeah, so Jayden Daniels I was on a Zoom with him. I met him before. Look, those guys have pro days coming up here soon,” Mayo said. “So when you think about the process, like when I leave here, I’m going to LSU and then when I leave LSU I’m going to Carolina before I get back home. But you have to do your due diligence. And once again it’s not all about me it’s not all about Eliot. What you guys have heard me say a lot, it’s about collaboration. And one thing that Alonzo Highsmith, one of our scouts, told me and I truly believe it. He’s been doing it for a long time, and he said all the bad picks that he’s seen, it’s really been where everyone wasn’t on the same page. And you would hope that you could get everyone on the same page, coaches and also scouts.”
If the Patriots don’t take a quarterback at No. 3 overall, they do have the option to trade down. One obvious team that appears to be looking to move up with the Vikings, who own two firstround picks next month after trading up to No. 23 overall.
Mayo said the Patriots are “open to trading the pick.”
“I know everyone likes to think they have the special formula to picking players. But honestly, the guaranteed way to win is to accumulate more picks,” Mayo said at the NFL Annual Meetings. “So if we don’t feel convicted (about whom to draft) at No. 3, we are willing to do that, as well.”
If they trade back, Mayo acknowledged the Patriots could regret passing on a quarterback and one of them develops into a star.
“I wish I had that crystal ball. You never really know,” Mayo said. “You’re going to find gems throughout the draft. Once again, as we continue to go through the process and look at these players, really, it’s about trying to find those gems later in the draft. Now, sitting at No. 3 is very unique because whatever happens at 1 and 2 — like, if you’re convicted on three or four quarterbacks, then I feel like we’re in a good position.”
Multiple members of the Patriots’ staff are comfortable Williams, Daniels or Maye sources told the Herald at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Over the next month, Mayo and Wolf will attend Pro Days at LSU and North Carolina to see Daniels and Maye, respectively. In the meantime, the team will be dedicated to filling out a few final details on all three quarterbacks’ scouting reports.
“The work is, ‘How does this guy learn? How does he deal with adversity?’” Mayo said. “Once again, you can go to the film and kind of gauge retention, like, what does he remember about this game here? And as they continue to talk and it continues to come together, that’s always the information that is added as we talk about them.”
If the Patriots aren’t completely sold, however, Mayo said he is open to first building out the rest of the roster and indicated the team is inclined to move back to achieve that goal.
“If we take a quarterback at three, that means we are (convinced) that this player is really the future of this organization. … Going back to your point that we said earlier, there are multiple pieces on this team that we want to fill,” Mayo said. “So if you can gather more picks, that definitely helps you out. I can put more chips on the table.
“Probably shouldn’t have did a gambling reference right there. But the more picks that you really have, the more likelihood you have to really hit on them.”