No matter where they pick, the 2025 NFL Draft is not going to fix everything wrong with this team.
It would be swell if the Patriots are in position to draft Heisman-winning cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter from Colorado. He'd help, maybe on both sides of the line of scrimmage. But the argument can be made that this team's most explosive skill player right now is Marcus Jones, an undersized cornerback who occasionally electrifies when he gets a rep or two on offense. He had a nifty 18-yard catch-and-run on Sunday.
The Patriots don't just need Hunter. They'd need to figure out how to clone him.
And the argument can be easily made that the brunt of the draft capital should be used on the offensive line. Ben Brown, their semi-reliable waiver-wire pickup at center, delivered a pair of bad snaps. Rookie guard Layden Robinson had a holding call -- his third in the past two games -- on the Patriots' first possession that wiped out a 15-yard run by Antonio Gibson. Vederian Lowe, miscast and overmatched as an NFL starting left tackle, got Drake Maye creamed by the Cardinals' Baron Browning on the second possession.
The Patriots do have some extremely promising players. Well, if two counts as some. Christian Gonzalez and Drake Maye, their last two first-round picks, are a pleasure to watch. There are a dozen or so other good players, a few other assorted gritty types, and the rest I'm ready to kick permanently out of state.
Anticipating the help that will come in the draft is one way to tolerate the remaining three games. But there are times, such as Sunday, when the Patriots make so many mistakes that it's easy to wonder whether there will be enough help to be found in one offseason. These guys need a draft like that of the '74 Steelers.
Christian Gonzalez: On the Cardinals' second play from scrimmage, Marvin Harrison Jr. beat the Patriots' second-year cornerback on a crossing route, picking up 23 yards. He probably had no idea then, but that would essentially be his last victory of the day against Gonzalez, who delivered an All-Pro caliber performance. That was Harrison's lone catch on five targets with Gonzalez in coverage. On a third-and-6 from the Cardinals' 46 with 9:45 left in the second quarter, Murray took a deep shot down the left sideline, but Gonzalez didn't allow Harrison to get more than a centimeter or two of separation, breaking up the play. Later in the second quarter, on a third-and-6 from the Patriots 17, Gonzalez pried a perfect Murray throw loose from Harrison to prevent a touchdown. He broke up yet another third-down throw to Harrison on the first possession of the third quarter. At that point, it was borderline foolish that the Cardinals were still trying to challenge him. As analyst Ross Tucker said on the broadcast, "I think the Cardinals need to stop trying to throw to Harrison Jr. when Gonzalez is matched up on him. He can't beat him."
James Conner: The Cardinals' tough running back delivered his typically efficient, effective performance, running 16 times for 110 yards and a pair of 1-yard touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He also provided the biggest play of the game in terms of yardage -- 53 yards, to the Patriots 27 on the first play of the Cardinals' second possession. He accounted for more yardage on that single play than the Patriots totaled as a team in the first quarter (41).
Jonah Williams: He was on some free-agent wish lists around here in the offseason given that the former Bengal plays offensive tackle and we're still not sure if anyone on the Patriots does. He's a right tackle and not the most consistent player, but the two-year, $30 million contract he signed with the Cardinals looked like a winning deal Sunday. Williams had a crushing block on the aforementioned 53-yard Conner run, and also lived the dream of every big fella when he scored a touchdown after hustling to recover a Greg Dortch fumble that looked like it would trickle through the back of the end zone for a touchback. I don't think he'd have been the long-term answer for the Patriots had he signed here instead, but he's better than anyone they have right now.
GRIEVANCE OF THE GAME
This was a really, really bad day for Jerod Mayo, whose mistake-prone team didn't appear to build or improve upon a single thing coming off the bye. Perhaps even worse, he also caused himself more problems with yet another bizarre postgame press conference in which he said, "You said it, I didn't," when a reporter noted that Maye is a good runner and asked why the quarterback didn't carry the ball on the failed third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 attempts from the Cardinals' 4 in the third quarter.
There are rookie mistakes, and Mayo has made plenty of those, but implying that another coach is to blame for something is a total shirking of accountability. Yes, I'm starting to think he doesn't survive the season. But hey, at least he did finally get bold and go for it from fourth-and-1 from the Patriots 44 late in the second quarter. Rhamondre Stevenson converted, and the drive ended with a 50-yard Joey Slye field goal for the Patriots' first points.
The defense has regressed in all sorts of ways -- weird, guess those Belichick fellas knew what they were doing there -- but especially when it comes to tackling. Kyle Dugger lunged at air on Greg Dortch's 39-yard catch and run in the final minute of the first half. Jahlani Tavai was a notable whiffer on a couple of plays, including another Dortch catch in which he gained 13 yards. He also got put into the spin cycle by Conner on a 12-yard run early in the fourth quarter that preceded the Cardinal back's first rushing touchdown . . . They weren't exactly putting on Air Coryell levels of aerial production, but Maye (7 for 7 for 43 yards) and Murray (4 of 4 for 34 yards) combined to complete all of their passes in the first quarter. Murray threw the first incompletion of the game at 10:37 of the second . . . A Jonathan Jones interception deep in Cardinals territory on a foolish Murray jump-throw got negated late in the third when Anfernee Jennings was called for roughing the passer. Tough call given Jennings had jumped to try to block the pass and seemed to do everything in his power not to bury Murray.