FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Must-haves, needs & wants: When assessing the Patriots' roster heading into the 2026 NFL draft that starts Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ABC, ESPN App), three categories provide a road map for what would be an ideal scenario for the team: must-haves, needs and wants.
The Patriots enter with 11 selections, and former New England defensive backs Devin McCourty and Jason McCourty are aligned in what they put atop the "must-have" category.
"A dynamic pass rusher, somebody that dictates defense. It's very hard if it's just Milton [Williams] and [Christian] Barmore in the middle, and that's all you have to worry about," said Devin, the NBC "Football Night in America" analyst who played his entire career in New England (2010-2022).
"I think about guys we played -- the J.J. Watts, Aaron Donalds -- it was always, 'We're just going to slide [pass protection] that way each time and leave the tackles one-on-one.' That showed up for me watching the Super Bowl. It was like, 'Man, they have nothing.'"
K'Lavon Chaisson, who led the team with 10.5 sacks (including playoffs), departed in free agency to the Washington Commanders. Eight-year veteran Dre'Mont Jones steps in as a projected starter in his place, opposite nine-year veteran Harold Landry III, who the team is banking on returning to form as he rehabs following offseason knee surgery.
"Edge rusher is at the top of the list," agreed Jason, the ESPN analyst who played 13 seasons in the NFL, winning a Super Bowl in New England in 2018. "Dre'Mont Jones was a nice pickup; he's a two-way type player where he can get after the quarterback, but [is] just as good against the run and can kick inside on third down ... but not an elite pass rusher.
"So it's getting a young guy to come in there who doesn't have to be the guy [right away] but can begin as a nice rotation piece."
Patriots vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said he views the draft deep at edge. Current backups include second-year players Elijah Ponder and Bradyn Swinson, and long-shot free agent signing Jesse Luketa.
Offensive line depth and development of others already on the roster are Devin's other "must-haves" for the Patriots.
"There have to be guys you talk about who are not a free agent signing, not a [2026] draft pick -- a Kyle Williams, TreVeyon Henderson in a bigger role," he said. "... I think about a guy like [cornerback] Alex Austin who they had, and everybody was excited about him, and it just didn't turn that way. They have to turn some of these people they have and look at them and say, 'Man, this guy became a really good player.'"
He points to running back James White as an example from his playing career. White, a 2014 fourth-round pick, played sparingly as a rookie and few were talking about him in the 2015 offseason. But when his opportunity came because of an injury sustained by Dion Lewis, he seized it.
"That's when you say, 'This is a really good coaching staff at developing guys, coming through their system in a year and picking it up, and now are off to the races running,'" Devin said, highlighting a player such as Swinson (2025 fifth-round pick) who ideally would fall into that category. "Everything can't be 'we have to go get this guy.' It's hard to build a team that way."
In a roster analysis, "must-haves" are more urgent, while "needs" fall into the category of keeping the pipeline stocked because building a team is an ever-evolving picture that has to account for injuries and contracts expiring in future years.
"O-line is a tweener for me between 'need' and 'must-have,'" Jason said. "I'm not on the train of 'Will Campbell is a terrible player now' because he had a bad playoff run. I think they found their left tackle and he'll continue to get better. But I feel like they need the depth here; obviously Morgan Moses isn't getting any younger, so if you can get a tackle that can potentially pair with Campbell in the years to come."
For similar reasons, Devin lists tight end atop his "needs" list, along with defensive back. The latter might surprise some given a cornerback depth chart headlined by Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis III and Marcus Jones, and a safety position topped by Kevin Byard and Craig Woodson.
"I felt like they were one injury away in the secondary where the whole [2025] season blows up," Devin said. "They need some depth ... The team they lost to in the Super Bowl, we could go on and on about how many different pieces they had in the secondary who were just flat-out ballplayers. Julian Love missed a lot of the season and they didn't skip a beat."
Then there are the "wants" -- things that a team might be able to get by without but ideally wouldn't have to.
"If I'm Eliot Wolf and those guys, I'm saying, 'What more can I give Drake Maye to see how much better he can get?'" Jason said. "The Super Bowl exposed some of that as well -- the offensive line obviously struggled, but guys also struggled to get open. They've been in the A.J. Brown conversation, but if you can get a wide receiver or tight end in the draft that can impact right now, that would be huge. Anything that helps Drake Maye even more weapons wise."
Devin agrees that a "stud wide receiver" would be a top "want," but with a caveat.
"I know everyone is going to say they need a blue-chip receiver, but I just don't see it that way. Look at Seattle, [Jaxon Smith-Njigba] was phenomenal, but no one is going to tell me coming into the year they would take JSN in their top five or that they rated JSN as this guy that would change the trajectory of a quarterback. It wasn't a thing," he said.
"I think so much we talk about teams needing to get that blue-chip wide receiver and pay him big dollars, and it feels like each year we're watching a team hoist the Lombardi [Trophy], or the teams showing up in the Super Bowl each year, and it's not always those with that blue-chip guy. Teams that have the Justin Jeffersons, the Ja'Marr Chases, they didn't make it as far as we thought.
"So I just think that's something 'if you get it, you get it.'"
2. Vrabel: The Patriots' voluntary offseason program begins Monday, which is the first time coach Mike Vrabel will have the majority of players together since the New York Post published photographs of him together with NFL reporter Dianna Russini at a resort in Sedona, Arizona, the fallout of which led to Russini's resignation last week.
Since becoming head coach, Vrabel highlighted his desired team identity with four points:
Effort and finish
Ball security and ball disruption
Details, technique and fundamentals
Making great decisions
Given the final point, and how much it was stressed over the course of 2025, my view is that Vrabel will likely address the situation with players. Otherwise, the identity risks losing its meaning.
Jeff Darlington, Domonique Foxworth and Mike Tannenbaum discuss the Eagles' potential draft plans and what it could mean for A.J. Brown.
3. Trade winds: If the Patriots look to trade up from No. 31 on Thursday, how high can they go without dealing 2027 picks?
Rich Hill's trade chart provides a general range, with the team's third-rounder or two fourth-rounders getting them to No. 25. A package of a third- and fourth-rounder gets them from 31 to around 22. Giving up their second-round pick would move them to around No. 19 or 20. That is also mostly consistent with the old Jimmy Johnson chart as well.
As former Patriots director of football research Ernie Adams said last week: "Everyone knows you have trade charts."
And Wolf noted the team's 11 picks, saying: "We do have some flexibility. I think it'll depend a little bit on how the board falls. If we view there's a player that we need to go get, we'll be open to those opportunities."
4. Visit audibles: As is sometimes the case, last Wednesday's deadline for teams to host prospects at their facility sparked some late changes.
For example, the Patriots called off their scheduled visit for Florida edge rusher George Gumbs Jr., which sometimes happens when a team feels it has all the information it needs, or has an unexpected opportunity to use one of its 30 visits on another prospect. The change opened Gumbs' schedule to visit the Bills, which wouldn't have happened otherwise.
5. Brown's role: Patriots tight ends coach/passing game coordinator Thomas Brown's presence at multiple pro days in which some of the draft's top tight ends worked out was noted by one team. At Vanderbilt, for example, Brown was a hard-to-miss presence in putting Eli Stowers (projected Day 2 pick) through drills.
Vrabel said at the NFL's annual meeting that he hoped to draft a tight end at some point, and he had Brown -- whose initial hire in 2025 was viewed as a coup as one of the league's up-and-coming assistants -- scouring the country to complement the work of scouts in hopes of identifying the best options.
6. Prunty's traits: In a reflection of the depth of the Patriots' predraft visitors, they had Wake Forest cornerback Karon Prunty -- a projected Day 3 selection -- in town last Monday. That might have been a result of Prunty (6-foot-1, 192 pounds) not being invited to the combine, and then testing well at his pro day, which included being timed at 4.45 in the 40-yard dash.
The Patriots were one of four teams Prunty visited, and he might fall into the category of upgraded DB depth that Devin McCourty referenced could be targeted.
More on the Patriots' recent predraft visits can be found in this draft buzz notebook that will be updated until Thursday.
7. Draft timing: The NFL estimates that Thursday's first round, which begins at 8 p.m. ET, should end around 10:30 p.m. ET.
That would be a quickened pace from last year when the first round lasted 3:29. Each team gets eight minutes per selection in the first round this year, down from 10 minutes last year. If the Patriots stick and pick at No. 31, that would put them around the 10:22 p.m. ET mark.
8. They said it: "It is really special, especially being up there with guys like Adam Vinatieri and Logan Mankins. I was lucky to be part of something great, with a lot of amazing people, in New England." -- Rob Gronkowski, on being one of three finalists for the Patriots Hall of Fame, with an ongoing fan vote to determine this year's one inductee (to be announced April 29)
9. Did You Know, Part I: The Patriots have selected 24 players from Michigan since the franchise's inception in 1960, which is more than any other school. Boston College, which this year has receiver Lewis Bond and offensive linemen Jude Bowry and Logan Taylor as top prospects, is second all time with 23 players.
10. Did You Know, Part II: The Patriots have used at least their first four selections in the draft on offensive players each of the past two years. Prior to that, the last time the Patriots started a draft with four straight picks of offensive players was 2006 and 2000.