The Patriots have traded up for the second time in two rounds.
After moving up to snag offensive lineman Caleb Lomu in the first round, the Patriots made a swap with the Chargers to get in position to take former Illinois defensive end Gabe Jacas.
The Chargers will receive the 63rd, 131st, and 202nd picks in exchange for giving up their original pick.
Jacas spent the last four seasons at Illinois and had 11 sacks during his final college season. He also led the team in sacks in 2024 and had the team high in tackles for loss both seasons as well.
New England has six more picks over the final five rounds.
The Patriots used a first-round pick on an offensive lineman for the second straight year and faced questions about where that player will line up for the second straight year.
Will Campbell’s selection in 2025 was met with questions about whether he might line up at guard because of his short arms, but the Patriots started him at left tackle as a rookie. Campbell struggled in the postseason, which meant that Thursday night’s selection of another college left tackle in Caleb Lomu led to executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf being asked about where he’ll end up.
“Will’s the left tackle,” Wolf said, via a transcript from the team. “And like I said, Caleb has some versatility. So, we feel like some of the pro day workouts that he did were on the right side and we were comfortable with that. But again, he’s very athletic, so I don’t think either side will be a problem for him.”
The Patriots have veteran right tackle Morgan Moses returning for 2026 as well and Wolf was asked if Lomu could wind up at guard.
“I think it’s possible,” Wolf said. “Again, that’s maybe one that we’ll see a little bit more when he gets here. But just from a physical athletic standpoint, I don’t see a reason that he couldn’t.”
Whatever route the Patriots wind up taking on the line, they’ll need the group to be stouter than the one that fell short against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
One of the unanswered, and intriguing, questions about the photos that touched off the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini situation is whether the pictures were taken by a private investigator, possibly at the direction of one of their spouses.
TMZ reports this wasn’t the case.
And TMZ would know. The outlet was reportedly offered the initial photos for “four figures,” but passed.
Per the new report, the photos were taken by a “local couple” who was staying at Ambiente, the adults-only resort in Sedona, Arizona. The husband is a sports fan, who recognized Vrabel.
Vrabel, like most NFL coaches, is hard to miss. The head coach is shown on TV throughout every game. Vrabel has been a head coach for seven seasons, with plenty of prime-time and standalone games — including, most recently, the Super Bowl.
It makes sense that it happened randomly. If a spouse had hired a P.I. to take the photos, the play wouldn’t have been to sell them. It would have been to use them for some strategic purpose.
That said, the strategic purpose could have been the creation of as much chaos as possible for the potentially cheating spouse. But that drags the entire situation into the public eye.
As we’ve seen. For the last 17 days. And counting.
There’s a new rule of thumb in sports media. When you’ve landed on the radar screen of Pablo Torre, it’s rarely good.
Torre’s latest episode focuses on the never-ending scandal that first emerged 17 days ago — the photos of Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and reporter Dianna Russini, formerly of ESPN and The Athletic.
If it took a while for Torre to get there, it’s understandable. His relationship with Meadowlark Media and The Athletic makes it delicate, to say the least. Dan LeBatard of Meadowlark Media has openly said he doesn’t want to talk about the situation because Russini is a friend. And The Athletic is neck deep in this pit of quicksand, especially since it voiced clear and unequivocal support for Russini in the first comments on the matter. (Torre at one point includes a disclaimer explaining that the opinions expressed are his alone.)
Torre adds an interesting fact to the story. As Jay Glazer of Fox was hosting the annual, poolside “day-drinking day” at the Biltmore resort in Arizona, where the league meetings were conducted, Russini was trying to organize a competing event — with Vrabel.
“Two sources with direct knowledge of this have confirmed it to me,” Torre said. “So that pool, where Jay Glazer was hosting all of those NFL head coaches and others. Across the way of that same pool was Diana Russini and Mike Vrabel. And what she was doing, I am told, was effectively trying to host a rival Office Christmas party. . . . It was Diane Russini. It was Mike Vrabel, among the cabanas, and a few other head coaches.”
The situation raised plenty of eyebrows.
“All of these head coaches across the pool and their wives, I am told, started talking about Vrabel and Russini. And this was before — days before the photos broke in the New York Post,” Torre said, “which is to say also, a thing I found out, is that their friendship was not breaking news to the people at the NFL owners meetings. They all knew that, in fact, they were out front together at this other competing, aspirational party.”
Given the various other developments that have emerged in recent days, this news won’t have the same impact as, say, Thursday’s March 2020 photos from the New York Post. But it’s another new snippet of facts for a story that has generated plenty since the original posting of photos and the strong denials from all involved.
Before last night, it was obvious that receiver A.J. Brown wouldn’t return to the Eagles for a fifth season with the team. Once the Eagles traded up to No. 20 to bogart Makai Lemon from the Steelers, it became obvious that Brown will not be back.
Still, Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman is committed to the bit. Here’s what he said after round one, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“A.J. is a member of the Eagles. We don’t have any trades that have been made, or that are done. And I think for us, we’re taking this one day at a time. We’re going to look to improve the team tomorrow, and we’ll continue to address anything that we have to with our roster, not only through this draft weekend, but we’ll continue to look for ways to improve the team throughout the offseason, and as we get into training camp.”
We continue to believe that the Eagles already have an unofficial deal in place to trade Brown to the Patriots after June 1, when the dead-money charge will be divided over two league years. It’s permissible to have a handshake deal, and there’s no requirement that it be announced.
There’s also no requirement that both teams proceed.
It requires a basic level of trust and a leap of faith that both sides will honor the handshake deal. Unless someone reneges (or Brown fails the physical), Brown will be a Patriot on June 2.
