The New England Patriots were heavily involved in trades on the first day of the 2023 NFL Draft. They ended up trading the No. 14 overall pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 17th overall pick.
However, they almost took a deal from the Washington Commanders, as noted in the recent Commanders Log episode.
Prior to the Patriots selecting Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez at No. 17 overall, Washington placed a phone call with the team in an attempt to trade for the No. 14 pick. New England director of scouting Eliot Wolf asked for a third-round selection in return, along with swapping No. 14 for Washington’s No. 16 pick.
But Washington would not budge.
Wolf then countered with an offer that included an additional sixth-round pick. This would send the 14th overall pick and a sixth-round pick to Washington in exchange for picks No. 16 and 97th overall. However, Washington would not budge on that either.
It would’ve been interesting to see New England’s draft strategy had the deal gone through. Washington ended up selecting Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes, and the Patriots came away with Gonzalez.
Wheeling and dealing on draft day has been a common theme for the Patriots, and there was obviously nothing different about their approach in 2023.