New England Traded Up, Then Traded Everywhere

SWN Analysis · August 29, 2026

The Patriots opened the 2026 draft by moving up for an offensive tackle and closed it three days later with a Boston College edge rusher. In between, they made more trades than almost anyone — with Minnesota, with Jacksonville, up and down the board.

Nine picks came out the other side. Here’s what they add up to.

Caleb Lomu, OT — No. 28, Utah

The player. New England traded up to take Lomu at 28, closing out a first round dominated by offensive linemen. Nine went in the first 32 selections — seven tackles and two interior linemen — beginning with Lomu’s Utah teammate Spencer Fano at No. 9 to Cleveland.

Two first-round tackles from the same college line is unusual, and it says something about the program that produced them.

Playing time projection. Starter or immediate swing tackle. First-round linemen who cost a trade-up don’t sit.

Gabe Jacas, EDGE — No. 55, Illinois

The player. New England traded multiple picks to move for Jacas in the second round, which tells you how the front office valued him.

Jacas leaves Illinois after a season with eight sacks — and his departure is a significant part of why the Illini are rebuilding an entire defensive front from scratch under new coordinator Bobby Hauck. Programs don’t lose players like that quietly.

Playing time projection. Rotational pass rusher from Week 1, with room to grow into a starting role.

Eli Raridon, TE — No. 95, Notre Dame

A third-round tight end in a draft where eight came off the board in the second and third rounds alone.

Raridon arrives from a Notre Dame program that sent significant offensive production into this league — running back Jeremiyah Love went third overall to Arizona and Jadarian Price went 32nd to Seattle.

Playing time projection. Rotational, with real snaps in two-tight-end sets.

The Day 3 haul

New England’s trades produced volume at the back end:

Karon Prunty, DB (No. 171, Wake Forest) and Namdi Obiazor, LB (No. 212, TCU) add defensive depth. Dametrious Crownover, OT (No. 196, Texas A&M) continues the line-building theme. Jam Miller, RB (No. 245, Alabama) is the seventh-round running back worth knowing — the position where late picks most reliably become contributors. Behren Morton, QB (No. 234, Texas Tech) is the developmental arm.

Quintayvious Hutchins, EDGE (No. 247, Boston College) closed out New England’s draft, and gives the roster a second rookie pass rusher alongside Jacas.

Trenches first, depth after

Two premium picks spent on the trenches — a tackle and an edge rusher — and seven more spread across depth positions. That’s an unglamorous, coherent draft, and it’s the kind of class that gets evaluated in year three rather than week one.

Around the AFC East

David Bailey, EDGE — New York Jets (No. 2). The AFC East’s headline addition and the direct counterpoint to Jacas. The Jets took Bailey over Ohio State’s Arvell Reese with the second pick, betting on his pass rush; Lomu will see him twice a year.

Kadyn Proctor, OT — Miami Dolphins (No. 12). The other AFC East first-round tackle, and one who arrived with baggage — former coach Nick Saban publicly described him as not really a self-starter. Miami took fourteen players in this draft, more than any other team.

Fernando Mendoza, QB — Las Vegas Raiders (No. 1). The class headline and one of the stranger career arcs in recent memory: unknown in August 2025, Heisman winner and national champion at Indiana by January, first overall pick in April, and the first Hoosier taken in the first round since 1994. He opened camp behind Kirk Cousins.

The pick that has to hit first

Jacas. A second-round edge rusher that a front office paid extra to move for should produce pressure by midseason, and New England’s defense needs it more than it needs anything else this class provides.

Lomu is the pick with the longer horizon. Tackles take time, and the Patriots didn’t trade up for 2026.

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