The drop-off from round three for the Patriots in this year's NFL draft must be studied.
Whether it be the outside noise of Mike Vrabel not being available for day three of the NFL draft or just the fact that some players from rounds four to seven may not have the biggest draft stock, many have taken notice of the New England Patriots' draft picks and whether the later round selections were worthy ones.
When the Patriots released QB2 Josh Dobbs and re-upped last season's emergency quarterback Tommy DeVito to a brand new deal, it opened the door for the Patriots to potentially sign a free agent for a QB3 or draft someone new to develop.
The Patriots ended up drafting Behren Morton out of Texas Tech with the 234th pick in the seventh round.
Some saw this move coming; others felt the Patriots could wait to sign a veteran on the market before training camp starts. However, with DeVito, the Patriots have a solid quarterback who has both been a backup and started in the NFL. Drafting a young QB3 to develop in Josh McDaniels' game plans could be key.
Morton did get noticed as one of the poorer draft picks this year, via Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleski.
The full article goes through some of the worst picks in the draft. When it comes to Morton, Sobleski wrote, "The New England Patriots spent a seventh-round pick on a backup quarterback option with little physical upside when other, better possibilities remained on the board."
Morton's best season was 2024, when he threw for 3,335 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. In 2025, the Texas Tech starter saw his numbers dip, recording 2,780 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions.
Quarterbacks taken this late are often put into the pool as potential QB3s and develop over time into formidable backups. Then there are the rare sixth/seventh-round picks who go on to win championships, but nobody ever has that take in this stage of the process.
Morton's development is key this summer and hopefully through the regular season. If he could be coached into reading the field better and avoid racking up interceptions as he had at Texas Tech, if there ever were a chance for him to start in an NFL game in his career, the foundations of his success could be laid here in Foxborough.
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