Getty Image / Erica Denhoff
Yesterday was the last day that NFL teams were allowed to have players in for visits ahead of this year’s draft.
With that, there were some surprising last-minute visits, including a couple of teams with unsettled quarterback situations meeting with players at the position.
One of those teams was the New England Patriots.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Pats had former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis come in for a Top 30 visit yesterday.
An interesting Top 30 visit on the final day teams were allowed: The #Patriots hosted #Kentucky QB Will Levis yesterday, source says, part of their due diligence to prepare for any scenario a week from now. New England picks 14th.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 20, 2023
This is a strange move from the New England Patriots.
They already have two quarterbacks competing for their starting job and based on what we’ve seen from Levis so far, there’s plenty of reason to believe both are better NFL QBs than he will be.
Throughout this offseason, the Patriots have done very little to show any kind of confidence in Mac Jones.
It took until this week for anybody from the organization to really say anything positive about Jones and even that was just Bill O’Brien saying Jones is getting a clean slate.
Still, even if the Patriots have changed their minds on Jones after just 2 seasons and a year after he led them to the playoffs, Levis probably isn’t the answer for them.
They are picking 14th and have plenty of QB-needy teams drafting ahead of them. There are good reasons why they think he might get past those other teams.
The Patriots also have plenty of other needs and might even want to consider spending that pick on a receiver to actually put pieces around Jones to help him succeed after having one of the league’s worst receivers corps for the last couple of years.
The New England Patriots have made some interesting picks early in recent drafts and it looks like they may do it again this year.