Mayo: Patriots had 'genuine interest' in Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy

How serious the Patriots were about J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr. isn’t entirely clear, but at the absolute least there was “genuine interest” in the two quarterbacks.

New England drafted its hopeful quarterback of the future in Drake Maye on Thursday with the third overall pick in the NFL Draft. Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels already were off the board by the time the Patriots picked, and they opted to go with the North Carolina project in Maye.

Maye was one of six quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round, with Penix, McCarthy and Bo Nix all going in the top 12. There was chatter leading up to the draft that perhaps the Patriots could trade back, but they opted to stay put.

The Patriots hosted Maye, McCarthy, Daniels and Penix for top-30 visits leading up to the draft. Head coach Jerod Mayo told The Greg Hill Show on Monday that those visits weren’t just smokescreens.

“There was absolutely a discussion (about McCarthy), and you can throw Penix in there as well," Mayo said. "One thing is when we bring guys in on the 30 visits, we’re not trying to mislead the public, we’re not trying to get cute with who we bring in. We had genuine interest in every player that we brought into the building. Those exposures are very important throughout the evaluation process.”

Penix ultimately became the surprise of the draft when the Falcons took him at No. 8 overall, despite just signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal. McCarthy was drafted by the Vikings, who traded up to No. 10 to get him.