The New England Patriots boosted their offensive line depth on Friday night by selecting Penn State offensive tackle Caedan Wallace with the No. 68 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
Wallace is a talented offensive lineman who was mostly overshadowed by first-round draft pick Olu Fashanu, but he more than held his own in the trenches. The Patriots clearly needed to boost their offensive front after drafting rookie quarterback Drake Maye on Thursday night.
So in back-to-back rounds, the team hopefully improved two of the biggest areas of need on their roster by drafting wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk in the second and Wallace in the third.
Granted, more work needs to be done before anyone can make the argument that things would be comfortable for Maye under center. There are still questions at left tackle.
Wallace is projected to play on the right side behind Mike Onwenu, while Chuks Okorafor could end up being the left side option. There’s still plenty of time for the Patriots to add more help up front through the draft.
But that obviously isn’t the arrangement fans were hoping to see on paper.