The Patriots are trying to move up into the top 10 of the draft — but low in the top 10. Executives from two teams tell me New England offered its first-round pick and middle of three second-round picks (the 23rd and 47th picks overall) to Jacksonville for the eighth pick in the draft. Jacksonville GM Gene Smith, I’m told, said no … but I also hear the Patriots might be looking to Green Bay at nine to move as well.

Who might be the object of their affection? I’m told it may be a surprise, because smart money would say the target is LSU’s Tyson Jackson, the best 3-4 defensive end in the draft and the only end versatile enough to play every spot on the defensive line. But I’m not sure it’s Jackson. I think it might be an offensive player. Sorry to be so cryptic, but I truly don’t know.

The Patriots are Fort Knox on draft weekend — and, for that matter, on every weekend. Remember last year? New England traded down from seven to 10 in the first round and got the object of its affection, Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo, and no one ever knew Mayo was their man (well, except that draft oracle Donnie Brasco).

It makes infinite sense that New England would want the eighth or ninth pick, because the line of demarcation between sanity and insanity in the top 10 is right there. Check out the money that each of the players between six and 10 in last year’s draft would earn with minimum play-time incentives in their five-year contracts:

6. Vernon Gholston, Jets $32.5 million
7. Sedrick Ellis, New Orleans $32 million
8. Derrick Harvey, Jacksonville $23 million
9. Keith Rivers, Cincinnati $19 million
10. Jerod Mayo, New England $16 million

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