Justin Fields to the New England Patriots at No. 4 (via trade)
What Easterling Says
“Once the 49ers traded up to No. 3, this became the hottest spot in potential trade-up talks. If the Falcons don’t want a quarterback for themselves (Matt Ryan’s exorbitant cap number through 2022 alone could be enough to cause this), and they can live with passing on someone like Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, they could easily offer this pick up to the highest bidder.
If that happens, there should be no shortage of suitors. The Broncos at No. 9 would make sense, but the Falcons could easily get multiple future first-round picks in a deal with the Patriots, who are currently picking 15th. There might not be a huge difference in prospect value at the Falcons’ biggest positions of need between the No. 9 and No. 15 picks, so they could get better value and more compensation by making a deal with the Pats.
Bill Belichick has been aggressive in free agency, so why not do it here? He’s also probably not interested in a longer-term project like Lance, instead opting for the pro-ready Fields. Getting the second-best quarterback in this class as the fourth one off the board would be well worth the cost of moving up.”