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Say it again, over and over. Bill Belichick knows more about football than you do.
He's the best. He's currently the champ. He's been in the coaching business for 40 years now. If he says that he does something that "is in the best interests of the football team", that's the end of it.
So here you are, Joe (or Jane) Average Patriot Fan, sitting at home enjoying your fresh copy of Three Games To Glory IV, wondering if you will ever get another one of these again. It had been ten years since the last one. How long will it be until the next one? Doesn't it smart somewhat when you see all these film shots of Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, knowing that they are no longer Patriots?
And, adding to all the post-Super Bowl angst you might be experiencing, the 2015 NFL Draft came and went without much help for the Patriots in the area of cornerback. Belichick did take one cornerback, someone in round 7 named Darryl Roberts from Marshall. Maybe Troy Brown recommended this guy. The other ten guys selected addressed mostly depth, and, thank goodness, the comforting fact that the long snapper position is safe and secure in 2020 and beyond.
This sort of thing happens all the time. Belichick lets great players walk, preaches the system uber alles, gets these guys you never heard of to replace them, and is still good for at least an AFC Championship Game berth. Members of the media who think they know more than Belichick condemn him for being a better head coach than a GM, castigate him for being curt, disingenuous and vague in press conferences, and predict doom and gloom for what used to be the marquee franchise of the NFL.
Well, we're at that time again. The Patriots win a Super Bowl about three months ago, and now the destitute Super Bowl champs only have a weak AFC East division going for them. The very thing that brought them their fourth Super Bowl title no longer exists. Revis and Browner delivered on all their promise, but in the end Revis hated not being a Jet (depending upon whom you talk to) and Browner has a skill set that could be replaced with someone who comes with fewer dollars and fewer penalties incurred.
In a nutshell, here is what the Patriots addressed in the 2015 draft.
Offensive line. The second most urgent area of need, Belichick picked up two offensive guards. He snatched Tre' Jackson from Florida State and Shaquille Mason from Georgia Tech. Both men grade out well, though they are from slightly different offenses; Mason is more into run blocking while Jackson is more into pass blocking. Both men will compete for guard positions with the Patriots though Mason was a center at GT. This gives the Patriots some insulation if Dan Connally is lost as a free agent, and gives Marcus Cannon some competition as well. Cannon and Ryan Wendell are the likely starters at guard if Connally leaves.
 Texas defensive lineman Malcom Brown was selected in the first round by the Patriots. (USA TODAY Images) |
Front seven. The first round pick was Malcom Brown, a defensive tackle from Texas who projects as Vince Wilfork's replacement. Brown was projected to go earlier in the first round, and his selection was viewed by most experts as a positive. Add to that third rounder Geneo Grissom from Oklahoma and fourth rounder Trey Flowers from Arkansas, and the Patriots pick up some more edge rushers to help offset the sharp downtick at cornerback. The Patriots also added linebackers Matthew Wells (Mississippi State, 5th round) and Xzavier Dickson (Alabama, 7th round) for more depth.
No sense at all picks. The other three picks are typical Belichick head scratchers, drafting players where there is no need at all. The Patriots are set at the safety position, but in the second round they took Stanford safety Jordan Richards. Unless they plan to try and teach him cornerback, he projects out as a special teams stud or a nickel/dime package defensive back. Richards received high marks for football smarts and dedication. His ability to cover wide receivers was not listed as a plus, though. He was projected as round 5-6 guy, but he went in round 2.
Tight end A.J. Derby from Arkansas was picked in the sixth round. The Patriots have the best tight end in football and the other three are at worst good to very good. Does this guy cover wideouts?
Then there's Joe Cardona. He is a long snapper from Navy, and he was selected in the fifth round. Danny Aiken, the current long snapper, is an unrestricted free agent, so this could be a position of need. However, the key word here is "Navy". Most Midshipmen have to fulfill a five-year military commitment before they can enter the NFL. For example, a Heisman Trophy winner from Navy named Roger Staubach was drafted in 1963 by Dallas. He joined the Cowboys in 1969.
So the Patriots might have to wait up to five years for Cardona. But Belichick won't mind it one bit. The United States Naval Academy cuts very deep with Belichick, whose father Steve coached there and where Bill the youngster first learned how to break down film, among other things. Midshipmen have been granted service exemptions in recent years; Cardona told the Globe that fellow members of his graduating class have been given their orders, but he has not received his yet. The Patriots might not have to wait five years for the player who was graded out as the best long snapper in the draft.
You could say that except for cornerback, this was a good draft for the Patriots. If Jackson and Mason solidify the interior of the O-line, if Brown clogs up the middle at lease somewhat well as Wilfork did, and if Grissom and Flowers take some of the pass rush load off Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich, then the Patriots did well. Not great, but well.
Maybe the next shutdown corner is still on the horizon. Malcolm Butler made a great play, but David Tyree's ridiculous catch in Super Bowl XLII was the last of his career. There is no certainty in Butler. There was in Revis and Browner. Patriot Nation will simply have to wait and see how this turns out.
Of course, 45-42 games are fun to watch, as long as it's the Patriots with the 45.
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