The Patriots were prepared to land Tom Brady’s successor — and stick it to the Jets — all at once.
If Baker Mayfield had not been selected by the Cleveland Browns with the first-overall pick in the draft, Mayfield’s agent, Jack Mills, said that New England was going to try to trade with the Giants for the second pick, in order to take the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback.
“We knew that the Jets at [No.] 3 was the bottom line,” Mills said on NFL reporter Andrew Brandt’s podcast. “We had another team that said, ‘You may get a big surprise on draft day at No. 2 if he is available.’ And that team was the Patriots.”
Multiple teams that met with Mayfield before the draft were “well aware” that Mayfield’s group believed the Patriots were truly interested in taking him — following last season’s trades of backups Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett — and that New England attempted to have Mayfield visit them, according to The MMQB.
The former Oklahoma quarterback initially declined to go, but a meeting was then set up after the Patriots acquired the 23rd pick of the draft in a trade with the Rams, giving New England ammunition to move up, with two first-round picks and two second-round picks.
Instead, Brady will be 41 entering next season, with 32-year-old Brian Hoyer the only other quarterback on New England’s roster.
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