7-round mock draft 1.0: Patriots build a hard-nosed team in Mike Vrabel’s likeness

The Patriots build in the trenches behind their new coach

The 2025 NFL Draft is exactly 100 days away, giving the New England Patriots a little over three months to find the best prospects to surround new head coach Mike Vrabel.

The Patriots finished this past season ranked 30th in points on offense and 22nd on defense. New England routinely lost in the trenches with pass block and pass rush units that ranked among the worst in the league, and poor receiving on offense and inconsistent play at the second level on defense only exacerbated the issues in the trenches.

The 2025 draft will be a key one. New England must balance building around Drake Maye with fixing a broken defense and finding talent that fits the new head coach.

Here’s my first 7-round mock of the cycle looking at some players who could fill those roles.

Round 1

1-4: EDGE Abdul Carter (Penn State): Abdul Carter is likely to be the best player on the board when the Patriots pick, and they should not over complicate this.

After playing off-ball linebacker his first two seasons, Carter switched to the edge with an immediate payoff. In 16 games, the junior recorded 12 sacks and an FBS-best 24 tackles for loss. PFF credits him with 66 total pressures on the season, including a season-high of 8 against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

Carter is an explosive athlete who can seemingly teleport between gaps or around the edge when getting after the quarterback, and his instincts and strong hands make him able as a run defender despite his small size.

Round 2

2-38: OL Donovan Jackson (Ohio State): Jackson entered this season as a mid-round pick at left guard. An injury to Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons thrust the senior outside to left tackle, and he has taken the challenge in stride.

He’s an intriguing prospect because of his potential versatility. With 36-inch arms, he has more than enough length to play left tackle in the NFL. In three playoff games at the position, he’s allowed just two pressures with no hits or sacks allowed. His tape there is good enough to think he could be a long-term answer at the position for the Patriots.

If it does not work out for Jackson at tackle, he could shift inside to left guard, where he is an excellent prospect with a track record of more than two years as a starter with strong play as a run blocker and in pass protection.

With both spots on the left side of the line open and Vrabel’s connections to Ohio State, this pick makes a ton of sense to the Patriots.

Round 3

3-69: WR Xavier Restrepo (Miami): Restrepo is a fifth-year wide receiver out of Miami with back-to-back 1000-yard seasons for the Hurricanes. He isn’t the tallest player at 5-foot-10, but he’s sturdy at 195 pounds.

The Miami product has played primarily out of the slot, playing over 90 percent of his snaps there for his career. He’s able to uncover quickly against man coverage, but his real strength is after the catch where he doesn’t stop moving or fighting for yards. He’s also flashed incredible hands.

Restrepo is a football player at heart who loves the game and isn’t afraid to get physical. The comparisons to former Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman draw themselves, and he’s the kind of player Vrabel would love to have in the locker room.

3-77: S Andrew Mukuba (Texas): The Patriots have been looking for a free safety to fill the void left by Devin McCourty, and Texas’s Andrew Mukuba could fit the bill.

A starter as a true freshman at Clemson, Mukuba found his true calling this season flying around Texas’s secondary as a true free safety.

Mukuba is a play-maker with a nose for the football. He recorded 5 interceptions in 2024, broke up 6 more passes, had 2 sacks, and even forced a fumble.

This kind of play-making is something the Patriots have missed in their secondary, and his ability to be a true deep safety and cover a lot of ground would allow New England’s other safeties to play their more natural positions.

Round 4

4-104: LB Jeffrey Bassa (Oregon): The Patriots address the spine of their defense with back-to-back picks here after it was an area of concern in 2024.

Bassa, a senior out of Oregon, is the kind of new-look linebacker who can help the Patriots in coverage in the middle of the field and at the second level. At 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds, Bassa is smaller than a typical Patriots linebacker but similar in size to many drafted in Tennessee when Vrabel was there.

The Oregon linebacker moves well and has good instincts which help make up for his lack of size in the running game.

Round 5

5-143: TE Terrance Ferguson (Oregon): Ferguson is a four-year product from Oregon who has improved every season with the Ducks. His receiving totals have risen every year, and he finished his senior year with 591 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns on 43 receptions.

An athletic player, Ferguson is great with the ball in his hands and a willing blocker. He finished 2024 averaging 9 yards after the catch per reception.

Round 7

7-217: WR Nick Nash (San Jose State): Nash is a truly unique player in this draft. He was the most productive wide receiver in the FBS this past season, winning the triple crown with the most catches, yards, and touchdowns. He’s also a sixth-year player who spent his first three seasons at quarterback before switching positions.

Nash has great size and length at 6-foot-3, and he knows how to use it. San Jose State used him as a big slot, where he was effective particularly as a red zone threat.

With New England’s needs at receiver, a player as productive as Nash is incredibly intriguing.

7-220: DT Cam Jackson (Florida): After three years at Memphis, Jackson spent his last two seasons at Florida. While he hasn’t been productive as a pass rusher with just 5 career sacks, the fifth-year defensive tackle has received strong marks as a run defender from PFF over the last three seasons with a grade of at least 75 in each of them. The site credits him with 60 “stops” over the past three seasons.

You don’t find as many players with the size of Jackson at 6-foot-6, 342 pounds. His ability to anchor a run defense in the middle could help fix the spine of New England’s defense that had issues last season.

7-239: OT Jalen Travis (Iowa State): Jalen Travis spent three years at Princeton before transferring to Iowa State to be the team’s starting left tackle in 2024.

Travis struggled at times as a run blocker, but he allowed just 11 pressures all season in pass protection at left tackle for the Cyclones. He also has experience at right tackle where he started in 2022 for Princeton. At 6-foot-7, 340 pounds, Travis is a big player who can hopefully see his pass blocking translate to the NFL.