Were the Patriots in the Baker Mayfield sweepstakes?

Was the Hoodie after quarterback Baker Mayfield? That is the new report coming out of Andrew Brandt’s podcast. According to Jack Mills, Mayfield’s agent, the New England Patriots had a plan to move up to the second-overall pick on Thursday night to select Mayfield, if he was not made the first pick by the Cleveland Browns. The Patriots grabbing Mayfield would have been horrible in the minds of Dolphins fans, but let’s face it, it also would have been hilarious to see New England leap in front of the New York Jets to steal Mayfield from them.

Mills said during the podcast (via Pro Football Talk):

We had another team which is going to surprise you. Another team had said, “You may get a big surprise on draft day, at No. 2, if he’s available.” And it was the Patriots. They had 23 and they had 31 and they had two seconds. We thought, “That’s gonna be a heck of a move, to get up that high from where they are.” And of course he wasn’t available so we never knew if that was reality or not.

At the end of the day - or technically at the beginning of it - the possibility of a trade up from the Patriots was a moot point when the Browns selected Mayfield with the first pick. But, the Dolphins may have dodged a bullet with Cleveland making that selection. As much as we all would have hated to see Mayfield in Jets green twice a year, it would have been so much worse to see him as a Patriots quarterback, ultimately the replacement for Tom Brady.

The cost would have been huge to make a move from the 23rd position all the way up to the second position, and it would have likely needed to include picks from 2019 along with this year’s picks. Would Bill Belichick be that aggressive? At least we never had the opportunity to find out.