Were Patriots smart to value picks over NFL trade acquisitions?

The Patriots it was a missed opportunity for a team that shares the best record in the entire NFL with just two other teams.

Count Albert Breer among the dissenters.

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With the Patriots hanging onto all 11 of their 2026 draft picks, Breer believes they will be better off in the long run by taking as many shots on young players as possible.

"I still think the roster is a little ways away and you're gonna need these picks," Breer said on Early Edition.

Breer noted that the Patriots "made a call on" Seahawks linebacker Boye Mafe, indicating that the caliber of player available to them at this deadline was not really at a season-altering level.

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And though Tom E. Curran suggested that the Patriots don't need 11 picks in next year's draft, Breer disagreed.

"I think the way you get better is you get a lot of hacks at it in the draft, because no one hits a thousand percent in the draft," Breer said. "I think the Patriots need a lot.

"Here's the thing: Stefon Diggs isn't forever. Robert Spillane isn't forever. Hunter Henry is not forever. They have a lot of age on their roster and we're looking at some of these things and again, they're patching it together. It was the absolute right thing to do to handle it the way they did, but if you're being responsible about that, you're realizing, 'Stefon Diggs is not gonna be our No. 1 receiver two years from now.'"

Breer pointed out that Amon-Ra St. Brown was a fourth-round pick, while Phil Perry added that Diggs was a fifth-round pick. Curran threw sixth-round picks Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas into the discussion, too, noting that the potential of getting four years from a drafted player as opposed to eight or nine games from a trade acquisition is the ultimate equation that teams need to make.

"That's part of the value here too, is a fourth- and a fifth-round pick, you're paying that for two months of the guy," Breer said of deadline acquisitions. "And I think that's the part of this that people fail to realize over and over and over again.

"It gets a little frustrating -- you're not just dealing with players, you're dealing with contracts, right? And that's such a huge part of this."