It's time to put a twist on an annual NBC Sports Boston tradition.
Phil Perry has gone through all sorts of permutations and scenarios for the New England Patriots in his six 2025 NFL Mock Drafts to date, but every year, he puts one mock draft in the hands of the people.
In years past, Perry's "crowd-sourced" mock drafts drew from polls on Twitter/X that allowed fans to vote for each Patriots pick. But this time around, he ventured over to YouTube to host a live, interactive mock draft as part of a new Next Pats Podcast.
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SIGN UP HERE Here's how it worked: Perry fired up Pro Football Focus' mock-draft simulator, and when New England was on the clock for each pick, he rounded up four options based on the team's needs, posted those options into a poll and let fans vote for their preferred selection.
About 90 minutes and 20 highlight reels later, fans had voted for all nine of New England's picks across all seven rounds. You can watch the whole show on YouTube below, then read on for the poll results for each pick, followed by Perry's insights into the selections.
Round 1 (No. 4 overall): Travis Hunter, WR/CB
Poll results:
- Travis Hunter, WR/CB: 84 percent
- Will Campbell, OT: 10 percent
- Jalon Walker, EDGE: 4 percent
- Mason Graham, DT: 0 percent
From Phil Perry's NFL Mock Draft 2.0:
Consider this a version of the best-case scenario for the Patriots. Seeing two quarterbacks go off the board inside the top three picks means that one of the two blue-chip talents in this class slides all the way to No. 4.
The question with Hunter is this: What position will he play? He wants to play both ways, at cornerback and wide receiver, as he did in college. But league sources don't believe he'll be able to do that on a full-time basis.
Evaluators, for the most part, see him as a high-end corner who can moonlight at wideout. Which, for the Patriots, would have plenty of value. Hunter and Christian Gonzalez would represent one of the best corner tandems in the NFL.
But the greater need in New England is at receiver. Hunter is so talented that if he focused solely on receiver, he might still be a top-of-the-draft kind of pick. Could Mike Vrabel ever convince the Heisman Trophy winner that his best path is to play receiver and moonlight on the defensive side, playing in critical sub-package situations?
If so, Hunter's body type, his ability to track the football, and his footwork at the tops of his routes makes him at times look a little like Jets star wideout Garrett Wilson.
Wherever Hunter ends up playing, if he ends up in New England, he'll bring high-end talent to a team in desperate need of that kind of juice.
MORE PATRIOTS COVERAGE
Round 2 (No. 38 overall): Aireontae Ersery, OT, Minnesota
Poll results:
- Aireontae Ersery, OT: 65 percent
- Donovan Jackson, OT: 19 percent
- TreVeyon Henderson, RB: 10 percent
- Landon Jackson, EDGE: 4 percent
From Phil Perry's best fits for the Patriots at offensive tackle:
Ersery is a mountain of a man who looks like he'd fit in well in a hard-charging running game orchestrated by offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The 6-foot-6, 331-pounder had an impressive combine, posting a 9.36 RAS thanks in part to an eyebrow-raising 1.74 10-yard split and a 9-foot-3 broad jump.
Some teams may see him as a right tackle, but he played three years as the starter for the Gophers on the left side, and he could be available for New England early in the second round.
Round 3 (No. 69 overall): Tate Ratledge, OG, Georgia
Poll results:
- Tate Ratledge, OG: 38 percent
- Jaylin Noel, WR: 34 percent
- Marcus Mbow, OL: 14 percent
- RJ Harvey, RB: 11 percent
From Phil Perry's best fits at interior offensive line:
Ratledge has the reputation of being the kind of blue-collar worker and leader that Vrabel wants in his locker room.
At 6-foot-7, 308 pounds, he has the frame of a tackle. And perhaps his length will work against him when he's asked to work in tight spaces at the next level. But he excelled at right guard for Georgia as a three-year starter, and he has the physical talent to make it (three-sport athlete in high school, 9-foot-5 broad jump, 32-inch vertical).
Round 3 (No. 77 overall): Kyle Williams, WR, Washington State
Poll results:
- Kyle Williams, WR: 31 percent
- Ashton Gillotte, EDGE: 29 percent
- Charles Grant, OT: 25 percent
- Kevin Winston Jr., S: 13 percent
From Perry's live mock draft:
"Pull up a second screen and watch this guy at the Senior Bowl. Watch his releases and the quickness and the footwork. It is next level. So, I know you already got a relatively undersized -- and I say 'relatively undersized' because Travis Hunter is light -- but there is certainly a world in which you could play Hunter and Williams and Stefon Digs all on the field at the same time.
"Maybe you don't love this pick because you love (DeMario) Douglas, and I like Pop Douglas. But I think Kyle Williams would give you a little more juice down the field. Pop Douglas a fast guy; he's more of a short-to-intermediate kind of option in the passing game. I think Kyle Williams is more than that."
Round 4 (No. 106 overall): Ashton Gillotte, EDGE, Louisville
Poll results:
- Ashton Gillotte, EDGE: 61 percent
- Jacob Parrish, CB: 20 percent
- Trevor Etienne, RB: 14 percent
- Jamaree Caldwell, DT: 3 percent
From Perry's live mock draft:
"He does not have the length that you want. He's not the prototype on the edge out of Louisville. But he tested extremely, extremely well. ... His frame is really solid, so you could easily envision him being a three-down player at the next level. He comes in at 6-foot-3, 264 pounds.
"To me, the first name that comes to mind when you talk about those measurables is Rob Ninkovich. I look at his motor as being one of his strengths, and that was one of Rob Ninkovich's strengths. That guy didn't come off the field; on a regular basis playing over a thousand snaps per season (on) all three downs.
"Gillotte has just 32-inch arms, so very rarely is he going to be using that long arm move where he's the first into the opposing tackle's chest and he's just powering him back purely with length. But he can beat you in other ways. ... He is a specimen athletically; 36.5-inch vertical, 10-foot broad jump, 4.65 (seconds) in the 40 (-yard dash), 4.35 (seconds) in the shuttle and a sub-7 (second) second three cone (drill) at 264 pounds/. That's hard to find.
"And he has a pass rush win rate, according to Pro Football Focus, of 21 percent. That's next level. That's elite of the elite."
Round 5 (No. 144 overall): Trevor Etienne, RB, Georgia
Poll results:
- Trevor Etienne, RB: 45 percent
- Thomas Fidone II, TE: 26 percent
- Jordan Hancock, S: 18 percent
- Miles Frazier, OG: 10 percent
From Perry's live mock draft:
"It seems as though he has made a visit to the Patriots. ... If you are familiar with Etienne's brother (Jacksonville Jaguars running back (Travis Etienne), not the same player.
"To me, he would be a third-down option. To me, he'd give you really good and sound pass-protection ability and really good hands; He's not as electric as some of the other guys that are actually still on this list. But I think at this point in the draft, that makes a lot of sense for him."
Round 5 (No. 171 overall): Danny Stutsman, LB, Oklahoma
Poll results:
- Danny Stutsman, LB: 36 percent
- Jordan Hancock, S: 24 percent
- Thomas Fidone II, TE: 22 percent
- Ty Robinson, DT: 17 percent
From Phil Perry's best fits at linebacker:
He's not the best coverage linebacker in this year's crop. He's not the most fluid athlete. But Stutsman has good size (6-foot-3, 236 pounds), and he aggressively pursues collisions near the line of scrimmage with backs and their blockers.
He's confident, fast (4.52-second 40), and he'd certainly qualify as "violent." Stutsman was also uber productive in college, having compiled over 100 tackles in each of the last three seasons. If the Patriots are looking for a future leader of their defense on Day 2, he seems to have traits they covet.
Round 7 (No. 220 overall): Oronde Gadsden II, TE, Syracuse
Poll results:
- Oronde Gadsden II, TE: 65 percent
- Eugene Asante, LB: 14 percent
- Hunter Wohler, S: 12 percent
- Smael Mondon Jr., LB: 7 percent
From Phil Perry's best fits at tight end:
Gadsden's father played receiver in the NFL in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which is where Gadsden began his career for the Orange.
He converted to tight end ahead of the 2022 season and was ultimately named a First-Team All-ACC honoree after racking up 61 catches for a school record 969 yards that season. He nearly cracked 1,000 yards again a season ago (934), and was named a third-team AP All-American.
Gadsden would fit for New England as a bit of an undersized athlete (6-foot-5, 243 pounds), like Okonkwo. If the Patriots are looking for another "move" option to add to 2024 seventh-rounder Jaheim Bell, Gadsden is an option.
Round 7 (No. 238 overall): Andre Borregales, K, Miami
Poll results:
- Andre Borregales, K: 40 percent
- Eugene Asante, LB: 27 percent
- Jalen Travis, OT: 21 percent
- Nickolas Martin, LB: 10 percent
From Phil Perry's live mock draft:
"We round this one out with a kicker, and Borregales is one of the best in this year's class. Maybe you wonder about how that's going to translate from Miami to Foxboro, Massachusetts and how he's going to kick late in season, but there is our draft."
