During the draft, the New England Patriots made interesting moves. Afterwards, they grabbed some decent free agents. But there’s more work to be done, and here are three moves the Patriots must make after the 2025 NFL Draft.
With 11 picks, the Patriots hit their offense hard early with their first three picks. Offensive tackle Will Campbell, running back TreVeyon Henderson, and wide receiver Kyle Williams will carry high expectations to Foxboro. From there to the finish, they mixed it up with offense and defense.
Now, Patriots general manager and head coach Mike Vrabel must attempt to settle in and tweak the roster into a division contender.
Patriots must use RB TreVeyon Henderson in starring role
Wolf left the draft feeling good about the way things went, according to yahoo.com.
“Just the volume of players that we were able to add at spots that we felt could help us,” said Wolf. “Offense, defense, and special teams were all addressed, and we feel like these guys can come in and help compete and help get us to where we need to go.”
The first thing Wolf and Vrabel need to do is make sure Henderson is a focal point of the 2025 offense. He stands behind Rhamondre Stevenson on the depth chart, but that won’t last long. The Patriots went hard after Henderson, according to centralmaine.com.
“I think we’ve been trying to be very intentional about the people, about some of the people to build the foundation that Coach Vrabel and his vision has here for this football team,” said Cowden, the team’s vice president of personnel. “That started in free agency, and that’s been a major emphasis for us as we’ve gotten into this draft process.”
Henderson got tabbed as an eventual plus starter by nfl.com.
“Henderson is capable of starring on third downs or biting off a bigger chunk as a three-down option,” Lance Zierlein wrote. “He has average size but above-average juice with good acceleration. He’s an average decision-maker inside and is not overly creative once confronted by the defense, but he has the pacing and subtle shiftiness to excel as an outside runner.
“(Henderson) might be the best pass-protecting running back in this draft and is more than capable as a pass-catcher. Henderson isn’t Jahmyr Gibbs, but he can operate in a similar role for teams looking to add a more dynamic player to their running back room.”
QB Drake Maye must get better protection
The Patriots won’t soar unless Maye does. That means they’ve got to turn over every stone to make sure he’s successful.
Certainly, Maye has the right attitude, according to patriots.com.
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“It's been awesome,” Maye said of learning Josh McDaniels’ system. “The ball's in my hands, I think you want that. I hold the pin last. That's what they say. That's what you want. I get the best view of the defense. You're the one who has to know where everyone is at, what everyone is doing. It'll be great for me to take the next step and take command of sending the guys up front where to go. I'm looking forward to it.”
Maye came to the Patriots as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He completed 67% of his passes, but threw only 15 touchdown passes with 10 interceptions. Also, Maye added 421 yards rushing with a pair of scores.
But there's much hope among the Patriots' organization that he can vastly improve those numbers in 2025. And Maye is working well with Vrabel.
“It's been great with Coach (Vrabel),” Maye said. “He's come in here, and it seems like he's been here a while. (And) he's so comfortable being a coach. He's done it before, he's done it at a high level, (and) won a lot of games. Looking forward to getting things going. You can see he's trying to install a new identity. I think we're building toward that.”
Patriots must get most out of WR Stefon Diggs
There’s no doubt Diggs could be a difference-maker. The problem is he has to be that. And he’s coming off an injury. But the Patriots can’t rush him into the fray.
At the same time, he needs to find an identity with Maye.
“Stefon, he's one of those guys growing up when I was in high school he was young in the league,” Maye said. “I had him on my fantasy team and things like that, playing with him in Madden. So it's pretty cool to hopefully now this season be throwing to him. He's coming back, obviously, from injury, and looks like he's doing great. He's been around. I think it's just going to be cool to throw to a receiver who's made plays like he has, who's made big plays in playoff games, who's been in different schemes, who's played with high-level quarterbacks.”
Diggs said he’s looking forward to working with Maye, according to patriots.com.
“Everybody says they're very much alike,” said Diggs, referring to Maye and Josh Allen. “I look forward to working with him, getting to know him more as a quarterback is one way, but as a person is another. You learn how they think. Is he a gambler? (Or) is he a guy who likes to take chances? Is he aggressive? The many quarterbacks I've played with are going to help me. Josh [Allen] is an MVP talent. He's always been an MVP talent. Drake has some of that fire.”
