Coming off an uncharacteristically aggressive free agency period, the New England Patriots appear to have set themselves up nicely to make a trade up the board in the first round of the draft. The target for such a move would likely be a quarterback, with Ohio State’s Justin Fields seen as a possible candidate.
New England has indeed explored trading up, with the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers both having engaged in talks earlier this week. The belief is that the Patriots also contacted other clubs ahead of them to get a feel for the market and how the board might fall not just at quarterback but other positions as well.