Synovia

Again, you're making the huge assumption that they didn't do just that. Everyone said the same damn thing last year, that they should have just drafted their guy instead of playing cute, and it turns out McCourty WAS their guy, and was arguably the 2nd best player in the entire draft.

BB had several chances to take an OLB. He clearly either

1) Didn't think it was a need
or
2) Didn't think any of them were that good. (for the patriots)

WhiZa

If they did want those guys at 56 then that was the grade they had on them. If they were graded much higher then the Pats would of tried to strike a deal to move up just like they did with Butler/Brace a few years ago.

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Sciz

It was this. The two OLBs that projected as future starters went at 7 and 14. After that, it was a bunch of one-dimensional guys that fans get hard for but Belichick doesn't value at all.

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VJCPatriot

And how do we know that Ras-I wasn't 'their guy' when they sat tight and took him rather then trading down and risk losing him to Buffalo who took a CB the VERY NEXT PICK? That's a much stronger indicator that he's 'their guy' than some phantom trade for an OLB that didn't materialize from the fevered imagination of some mediot following the draft.

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mgteich

I agree. I would not be surprised if both Dowling and A. Williams were much higher on Belichick's board than Reed and Sheard. All four were top 50 picks. Even Gilcrest was picked at 50.

33 was the time to make the pick. All the other options were likely to be picked in the next few picks. Any trade down, even a couple of spots, might have lost the man belichick wanted. A trade to say 54 with our favorite trade partner Philly would have lost the chance to draft any of these five players.

The issue IS NOT that Dowling would have been available later. He would likely have not been. The issue is that many poster thought that we needed Reed or Sheard much more than Dowling or Williams or Moore. Posters had Reed or Sheard with a higher value than Dowling or Williams.

I got it worng just like every one else. I wanted us to draft Reed. I expected us to trade down ( I too had read posters who doubted Reed). If we stayed, I had us drafting A. Williams, the highest value for me. HOWEVER, I was not at all shocked that belichick chose Dowling over Williams. Many posters had us drafting at 60 or 74. They simply didn't realize how weak the safety class was and that all four 2nd round quality safeties would be gone early.