eagle eye

Lawfirm for me, didn't expect him to be anywhere close to the top of the depth chart. Hell I thought he would be a gameday inactive for most games.

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IllegalContact

1100 yards and 16 TDs from rookie TEs......only what mccourty did comes close

asfpnepRefugee

I said Woodhead, thinking LawFirm was a close second. All the rest but the Branch trade were players I expected to at least be mediocre/decent - particularly the TE combo (which I expected to be awesome, I was on the Gronkowski train coming out of the Combine, was so psyched that he was drafted).

When they acquired Woodhead, I would have laughed if you told me that he would even be on a NFL roster at the end of the season.

PatsFanSince74

McCourty definitely exceeded expectations, but First Round picks are supposed to perform, so I won't call him my "most pleasant surprise." Gronk and Hernandez were also both highly touted coming into the season.

So, the "most pleasant surprise" award definitely belongs either to the two guys who weren't with the team in week 1, Woodhead or Branch, or to a rookie punter who is now clearly one of the best in the league, Mesko, or to a "solid" runner who turned in a 1,000 yard season, BJGE.

If you force me to pick one of the four, I'd say Woodhead since Branch was a known commodity and his game impact is clearer than Mesko's, even though we now have an awesome punter. The Law Firm was amazing, but he was already known and liked before the season, so not as great a "surprise."

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Aenima0810

How about a little consideration for Eric Moore? Ha, I know nowhere near as impactful as the others, but to me he seems like another typical Pats player that might help you guys for years to come. Doesn't he have 2 sacks and 2 FFs in very limited action??? Pretty nice if I do say so myself.

D-cleater

I'm underwhelmed by Mesko. he has had a few good moments but for a 6th rd pick you'd hope that he would be one of the best in the league, and I'm not sure that he is.

"Other" votes:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Cunningham. For having missed most of camp and all of preseason, I was half expecting a red shirt year, or at best, marginal contributions. For this kid to have snatched the position from established vet TBC is a huge surprise to me, and I think his value is under appreciated. I think if you asked Mayo and Chung who their most pleasant surprise is they'd tell you its the rookie OLB setting the edge on the weak side and directing the running back into their waiting arms.

How about Ron Brace? Maybe he didn't have the impact as the other nominees, but came up with a few big plays and was solid against the run, which is more than I was expecting after a disappointing rookie season.

Finally, I give thanks to Julian Edelman that Welker no longer needs to return punts. 2nd in the league in average return yards (behind only Devin Hester) amongst starting punt returners (determined by at least 15 returns, or at least one punt return/game). Pleasant surprise.

asfpnepRefugee

Honestly, I think it's safe to say that the team itself is the most pleasant surprise

Early in preseason, back when everyone was talking about how this team wasn't going to be so hot, I was asked what I thought about it. I said that it was a team with a ton of question marks - guys/things/situations that could be really good, but might not pan out (like the TEs, who I thought were going to be good, but they were rookies). If most of those question marks were answered positively, the pats would be really good. If most were negatives, they'd be the 6-10 team that some thought they'd be. Most likely they'd be a mixed bag and probably eek into the playoffs.

Because of those question marks, and because of how rough that interior chunk of the schedule was, it was real hard to believe that this team would end up the way they did ... so hey, that's the most pleasant surprise to me

PatsDeb

I voted TEs. It's been so long (since Coates!) that we've had such great production from that position. How many others thought "here we go again, wasting draft picks on TEs" when Gronk and Hernandez were drafted? How many others thought, upon the signing of Alge,"here we go again, picking up another old, slow, washed up vet who won't bring anything to the table?" what a great surprise it's been!

KontradictioN

I'm not sure that many people in here had that reaction to Hernandez and Gronkowski. I sure as hell didn't. I loved both selections, especially Hernandez.

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CREDIT - Sicilian

BradyFTW!

1. McCourty
2. Branch
3. Woodhead