Patriots Third-Round Pick: Why New England Forfeited No. 77 Overall in 2021 NFL Draft

The 2021 NFL Draft gets underway with the first round on Thursday, April 29. The full NFL Draft order is set, although one interesting part of the order includes the New England Patriots and the third-round pick they had to forfeit. Here's everything you need to know about the Patriots' forfeited third-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Why is the Patriots 3rd-Round Pick Forfeited?

The Patriots were forced to forfeit their third-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft due to an incident in 2019. Part of of the team's television crew filmed the field and sideline during a 2019 season game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, which is against league rules. The Patriots were then fined $1.1 million and docked their third-round pick in the upcoming draft (2021) during the 2020 offseason.

Patriots Third-Round Pick

The Patriots were scheduled to own the No. 77 overall pick in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft. However, New England had to forfeit the pick before the 2020 season. The New York Giants will make their selection at No. 76 then the Los Angeles Chargers will make the next pick where New England would've been picking.

Patriots Forfeited Draft Pick 2016

The Patriots forfeited a first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft after the Deflategate scandal as well. New England and QB Tom Brady were punished for purposefully using under-inflated footballs during the 2015 AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts. They also forfeited a 2017 fourth-round pick as a result of that incident.

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Isaiah De Los Santos is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Isaiah De Los Santos also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username zayyy05328. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.