The Patriots currently possess the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but they haven’t exactly locked it up.
New England was launched into position after a few things broke its way Sunday, as the New York Giants defeated the Indianapolis Colts to officially lose control of the top selection. Week 18 will decide whether or not that pick stays at One Patriot Place, however, as the Buffalo Bills won’t have anything worth playing for when they travel to Gillette Stadium to finish up the regular season.
The Bills already locked up the No. 2 seed in their victory over the New York Jets on Sunday.
How does that impact things?
It’s extremely unlikely that Buffalo would feel comfortable playing the majority of its starters, which means the likes of Josh Allen, James Cook, Dion Dawkins, Dorian Williams and Taron Johnson could all be watching from the sidelines.
New England wouldn’t consider also benching starters, would they?
No, absolutely not.
Drake Maye’s name was quickly floated as a possible option to sit the final regular season game out, but what kind of message would that send? The Patriots would be wasting a learning opportunity for their rookie quarterback, while essentially giving up on those that are expected to return in 2025.
It’s also a wasted opportunity to evaluate how the club is playing for Jerod Mayo, so unless you’ve already decided to move on, you can’t handicap him during the last game of the season.
New England has done plenty of dumb things before, but benching a rookie signal-caller would take the cake.
