ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 26: The New England Patriots logo is seen on a video board during the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft at AT

The New England Patriots need to hit hard on their first-round pick in tonight’s NFL Draft more than ever before. Let’s see what the team plans to do!

The New England Patriots are in a bit of an obvious retooling period this offseason and will be doing most of their work through the NFL Draft starting on Thursday night. There are many areas of concerns the Patriots want to work on, but to do so, they need more assets to work the draft.

How can the Pats gain more assets leading up to the draft?

Well, to start, Rob Gronkowski surprisingly reached out to the team and told them that he would like to make a return to the NFL, but only if he could be traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to play with his former teammate, Tom Brady.

It all got done ridiculously quickly, as the trade negotiation between the Patriots and Buccaneers is now done after Gronkowski passed his physical. The official deal will be Gronkowski and a seventh-round pick to the Buccaneers in exchange for a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft.

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Another way to gain additional draft assets would be to trade Joe Thuney. Thuney is a top-three offensive guard in the NFL and is currently under the franchise tag ($14.78 million) with the Patriots.

Talented offensive linemen are a hot commodity in the NFL and are often hard to come by. Depending on the team, there is a possibility that Thuney could be traded in exchange for a higher-end draft pick, such as a third-rounder or even a second-round draft pick.

Lastly, the New England Patriots can gain additional draft assets by trading down in the draft via using some of the picks they currently have as leverage. Bill Belichick has the opportunity to turn a package of third and fourth round draft picks into a second-rounder or an additional third-round draft pick.

The future of the Patriots starts tonight. It’s going to be great to finally see the direction the team is going to take. The options to gain additional assets or even one greater asset are endless — it just depends on how far the Patriots are willing to go to do so.

New England currently has 12 draft picks in this year’s NFL draft starting tonight: one first-round (23rd overall), three third-round draft picks (87th, 98th, & 100th overall), two fourth-round (125th overall &139th overall), one fifth-round (172nd overall), four sixth-round picks (195th, 204th, 212th, & 213th overall), and one seventh-round pick.

We know that the Patriots need some offensive pass-catching weaponry, as well as depth along the offensive line. The Patriots are also very thin at the middle linebacker positions and would benefit greatly by drafting Kenneth Murray or Patrick Queen in the first round.

And, of course, there is the currently vacant quarterback position that might still be worth considering using a prime draft selection this year.

Everything the New England Patriots do tonight during the first round of the draft will tell us the direction the franchise is going in. Nobody has any idea what the Patriots are going to do, but as I mentioned earlier, Kenneth Murray or Patrick Queen would make sense in the first round.