2020 NFL draft: Patriots’ remaining draft capital is among the most valuable in the league

Entering the second day of the 2020 NFL draft, no team holds more than 13 picks. The one team to own this much capital? That would be your reigning AFC East champions. After trading away the 23rd overall selection yesterday, the New England Patriots still have a league-high number of picks at their disposal — five of which coming up later today: the Patriots own one second-rounder (No. 37) as well as four third-round picks (No. 71, No. 87, No. 98, No. 100).

Of course, volume and value are not the same when it comes to draft picks. Enter the value chart system which assigns a number to each available draft choice based on its overall worth as an asset. Here at Pats Pulpit, we usually work with the one created and maintained by Rich Hill. And when looking at the Patriots’ remaining picks through this value chart, we can see that their 13 remaining selections are worth a combined 410.58 points:

Round 2: 2-37 (161.67)

Round 3: 3-71 (68.30), 3-87 (48.01), 3-98 (37.68), 3-100 (36.06)

Round 4: 4-125 (20.67), 4-139 (15.13)

Round 5: 5-172 (7.26)

Round 6: 6-195 (4.35), 6-204 (3.56), 6-212 (2.98), 6-213 (2.91)

Round 7: 7-230 (2.00)

Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio mentioned the team’s flexibility when speaking about the trade-down from the 23rd overall selection last night, and its high total of picks should certainly give New England just that heading into Day Two. This holds especially true when comparing the Patriots’ combined value to the rest of the league. As can be seen, after all, the club ranks second in the NFL behind only the Indianapolis Colts’ 412.29 points.

Rich’s value chart is not the only one out there used to assess how much capital a team really owns heading into the different draft rounds, however. But no matter on what basis the the remainder of 2020’s player selection meeting is analyzed, one thing stands out: the Patriots and their 13 picks are generally near the top of the list when it comes to total value. A look at the following chart comparison compiled by René Bugner shows that New England either comes in as the team with the most or the second most valuable capital left:

What put the Patriots in this position was not only some trades made over the course of the last year — eight of New England’s selections were acquired via trade, including its two highest entering Day Two — but also the NFL’s compensatory draft picks formula. As a result of losing some high-priced players in free agency last year such as Trey Flowers and Trent Brown, New England was awarded the maximum four additional picks. Two of them come at the end of the third round (No. 98 and No. 100).

With compensatory selections being tradable since the 2017 draft, the extra selections have received added value. The ever savvy Patriots have been taking advantage of this, and 2020 is no exception. The two third-rounders are a big reason for the valuable draft picks portfolio they still own at this point, and the flexibility it gives them in combination with the capital acquired during last night’s trade with the Los Angeles Chargers out of the first round.

Considering that this year’s draft is considered a deep one, New England has put itself in a comfortable position to add talent and depth to its roster on Friday and Saturday.