The Patriots were locked in on drafting Drake Maye, but multiple teams were candidates to trade into the No. 3 pick.
New England reportedly fielded offers from the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings last Thursday, but they were not tempting enough to pass up drafting a potential franchise quarterback.
A team that was a contender to trade up with the Patriots was the Denver Broncos. An offer didn’t materialize on draft night, but Sean Payton’s side did get their guy, Bo Nix, at No. 12. The Oregon product was one of Payton’s favorite prospects, and he might have received an outside opinion that helped solidify his conviction.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter revealed on his podcast this week that Payton called Philip Rivers about his opinion on the top quarterback prospects. The 42-year-old worked with Maye and Nix in Alabama and told Payton that while he was “really impressed” with Maye, he was really impressed with Nix.
Rivers’ praise of Nix helped the Broncos dig deeper into their process and stick with the 24-year-old as someone worthy enough of being a first-round pick. It also could have convinced Denver it didn’t need to trade up to take either Maye or J.J. McCarthy, whom it reportedly also was interested in with the No. 3 pick.
Time will tell whether the Patriots or Broncos were right with their convictions on draft night.
