Patriots head coach says still open to trading No. 3 NFL Draft pick

Jerod Mayo, head coach of the New England Patriots, told reporters on Sunday that the team remains open to trading their third-overall pick in the NFL Draft that will begin on April 25.

The Patriots had a poor season in 2023, finishing with a 4-13 record, the worst in the American Football Conference (AFC). They missed the playoffs and parted ways with six-time Super Bowl champion coach Bill Belichick after 24 years of cooperation. Mayo was the linebackers coach under him.

The Patriots traded Mac Jones, their starting quarterback (QB) for most of the past three seasons, to the Jacksonville Jaguars in March for a sixth-round pick in this year's draft. They signed veteran QB Jacoby Brissett on a one-year deal, adding the third option to the position after 2022 fourth-round selection Bailey Zappe and undrafted Nathan Rourke.

"Obviously, quarterback is definitely a priority. With that being said, we're still open to any type of deals that come our way," Mayo said on the first day of the NFL annual meeting. "We're very far [into] the process, but we still have a long way to go. Definitely feel like we have time to really nail down our prospects in who we are going to go after."

According to ESPN's latest draft predictions on March 21, QBs Caleb Williams from the University of Southern California and Jayden Daniels from Louisiana State University are among the top five prospects. The sixth-placed Drake Maye from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is also a QB prospect.

The Patriots wanted to retain their wide receiver, Calvin Ridley. However, he chose to join the Tennessee Titans after becoming a free agent. Marvin Harrison Jr. from Ohio State University, Daniels's college teammate Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze from the University of Washington all play this position in ESPN's top-five rankings for the draft.