The New England Patriots tried to double-dip in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft — and reportedly thought they had a deal in place to pull it off.
Until the Buffalo Bills pulled the plug.
That’s according to NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe, who appeared on the Patriots Daily Podcast to give a behind-the-curtain look at the team’s draft-day activity.
Wolfe reports that the Patriots were trying to trade back into the first round to land one of the top two receivers on their draft board: South Carolina’s Xavier Leggette and Florida State’s Keon Coleman.
The NFL insider said the Patriots were working on a deal with the Buffalo Bills to move up to No. 32, where they would have had a shot at either receiver. However, Wolfe says Buffalo nixed the deal with New England and instead made a similar trade with the Carolina Panthers, who moved up from No. 33 to take Leggette.
The Bills wound up taking Coleman at No. 33, leaving the Patriots to have to change their plans. However, Wolfe says the team wasn’t happy about Buffalo bailing.
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“I talked to someone with the Patriots who felt a little jaded,” Wolfe said. “Because they thought that they had a sort of, on paper, close to agreement with the Bills, and they believe that agreement was kind of shopped to the Panthers.”
Wolfe said that Panthers and Bills have a strong relationship, since Carolina GM Dan Morgan used to work for Buffalo GM Brandon Beane. He also noted that the deal worked out better for the Bills since it was a lower drop in the order and it also meant they didn’t have to help out a division rival in the Patriots.
“You hear all the time, ‘Hey, we got the guy we wanted, he was going to be our pick no matter what.’ That wasn’t the case here,” Wolfe said. “The Patriots would’ve loved to have Keon Coleman or Xavier Legette. It did not work that way.”
Wolfe stressed that his comments weren’t a slight on the Patriots, since this sort of thing happens to every team. In fact, Wolfe noted that Patriots de facto GM Eliot Wolf “did not panic” after losing out on the draft.
Instead, he changed plans. Wold traded down in Round 2 and took Washington receiver Ja’Lynn Polk. Trading down also helped the Patriots get a better pick in the fourth round, which allowed them to take UCF’s Javon Baker.
Wolfe said Patriots fans should look at the positive here. Yes, they missed out on their top two receivers. But the trade down also allowed them to “double-dip” at the position.
Essentially, New England got both Polk and Baker for what it would have cost to get either Coleman or Leggette.
It’ll be some time before we know who got the best deal. But at least the Patriots got a two-for-one after missing out on the trade up.
