The Patriots face a fair share of pressure to nail their 2025 draft, but Mike Vrabel and company will benefit from a significant alleviating factor in late April.

Unlike years past, New England will enter this draft with the utmost confidence in its quarterback situation. Drake Maye lived up to expectations after he was selected No. 3 overall last year, and the future for the young signal-caller in Foxboro, Mass., looks very bright.

Maye’s prospects of becoming a legitimate star quarterback very well might influence how the Patriots approach the 2025 draft. Longtime draft expert Todd McShay suggested how that could happen in a conversation with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.

“If you really go study the organizations that have had success, when they have their quarterback, they spend like drunken sailors in the draft with draft capital on defensive front guys,” McShay told Breer. “The Chiefs, the (Baltimore) Ravens, the Eagles, the (Buffalo) Bills — there’s a reason that these organizations stay at the top. You got one guy that can make up for a lot on offense, so you better have a great defense to match that quarterback, and that’s the recipe.

“There’s opportunity for the (New England) Patriots, the (Denver) Broncos, the (Atlanta) Falcons. This would be the year, if I’ve got three or four picks in the first three rounds, I’m using two or three of them on defensive linemen, because I don’t know if I’m going to have another opportunity to get difference-makers in rounds two and three in future years like I did this year.”

With four picks inside the top 80, the Patriots are armed with the necessary assets to take the route McShay suggested. And as a former linebacker who broke into coaching on the defensive side of the football, Mike Vrabel probably loves the idea of building a ferocious front seven through the draft.

Of course, New England also has major needs on offense such as offensive line and wide receiver. But if the Patriots believe Maye can excel without an elite supporting cast, they might roll the dice and favor defense in the early rounds this spring.