{"id":17854,"date":"2025-03-18T12:43:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T12:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=17854"},"modified":"2025-03-18T12:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T12:43:16","slug":"breaking-news-mel-kiper-projects-patriots-top-pick-in-post-free-agency-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=17854","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS : Mel Kiper Projects Patriots&#8217; Top Pick In Post-Free Agency Mock Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-2021111\"><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??--><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??--><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/03\/Travis-Hunter-2.jpg\" alt=\"New England Patriots Archives - NESN.com\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The first week of NFL free agency seemingly set up an ideal draft situation for the Patriots, who could select one of the two best non-quarterbacks in the entire class at No. 4.<\/p>\n<p>Mel Kiper Jr., for one, sees the chips falling in New England\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n<p>In a new 2025 mock draft released Tuesday, one week after a flurry of moves across the league, Kiper projected the Patriots to take Travis Hunter with their first pick. The dual-threat phenom was available to New England after Cam Ward (Tennessee Titans), Abdul Carter (Cleveland Browns) and Sheduer Sanders (New York Giants) were taken with the first three selections, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Patriots have been active\u00a0in free agency, including signing\u00a0Milton Williams,\u00a0Harold Landry III,\u00a0Carlton Davis III\u00a0and\u00a0Robert Spillane. But as you can see there, the big-name additions have come on defense. All that spending and still no WR1,\u201d Kiper wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile Hunter could absolutely play cornerback in the NFL, I have him ranked as a receiver, where he can pick apart opponents with his ball skills, quickness and instincts. Despite playing both ways, he caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 scores last season. I just really like the fit in the Patriots\u2019 offense with quarterback Drake Maye.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Hunter might be a tad bit more suited to be a corner at the pro level than a receiver, New England already is in a great spot with its secondary \u2014 especially after landing Davis on a multi-year deal. This could allow the Colorado product to focus intently on offense, where the Patriots badly need an infusion of high-level talent. A creative offensive mind like Josh McDaniels also could maximize Hunter\u2019s wideout skill set.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Not to mention, New England fans still are looking for sources of excitement even after Drake Maye\u2019s emergence. One has to imagine Robert Kraft likes the idea of bringing on Hunter, who oozes star power and would help put butts in the seats at Gillette Stadium.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mel Kiper Jr. projected the New England Patriots&#8217; first-round draft pick following the NFL&#8217;s active first week of free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS : Mel Kiper Projects Patriots&#039; Top Pick In Post-Free Agency Mock Draft - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=17854\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS : Mel Kiper Projects Patriots&#039; 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