JoePats

First off all as of now there is a 55 pick gap between picks. That's pretty big. There are about 30 players, give or take, that we can't touch at this point without either getting extremely lucky, or reaching on.

We could get into that window but it will take several trades and/or the loss of later draft picks.

If we had 31, take a player like Groves or Cason for example. Probably in the 20s it'd be fine to take him. With 31, you can stay at 7 and trade up later on and away you go.

Without 31, does that impact the way BB approaches 7, whether to trade up to get the right guy, or trade back to give yourself a better chance to trade up later?

jeffbiologist

Short answer, YES of course. I think its such a rare event that we are drafting so high that BB/SP will likely vary their normal routine. Sure we can trade back a bit, ideally trading 1s and 2s with team like NO or Car., but to trade all the way back to the 20s(say with the cowboys)would be negating having such a high pick because we usually have one there. The problem is most agree that there is a significant drop off in TALENT after #6(Long,Long, Dorsey,Ryan,DMF and Gholston). Its very likely that unless we want Ellis(best player available)we can trade back a few spots, close that gap, and still get the guy we want.
Looking at the board though, there almost has to be at least one trade(maybe more)before we pick, and that shakeup could get really tricky if C.Long or Dorsey drops to or beyond 3. Too many things can happen, watch alot of TV next weekend.

jbb9s

Its amazing that with a few strokes of luck the Patriots would be drafting 2nd and 32nd. Now we are talking about working some cool draft scenarios.

Deus Irae

I just get annoyed thinking about the drafting 'firepower' this team would have had with the #7, #31, #62, #69 and #94 picks in the draft. This team could have absolutely dominated the first 3 rounds of the draft, and dropping down once or twice from the #7 pick would have made the first 3 rounds just ridiculous given the extra picks they could pick up by doing so.

Thanks, Roger!

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

BradyManny

It will probably end up affecting it a lot less than the league would've liked. Groves won't be available at 31, either the Jax or Niners will likely take him, if we want Groves, we'll have to take him in the middle of round 1.

It hurts that Cason will be available at 31, but a lot mocks point to him going in the middle of round 2, and I would take either him or Flowers as the top Pats-fit at corner, and if we can trade down and yield a mid 2nd in the process (or use another pick to move up in round 2), then we can get one of those two guys.

Basically, if we want Groves and Cason - and I do - then not having 31 has very little bearing other than it makes a little more work to trade and position ourselves in the right spot. Frankly, I think missing 31 isn't going to hurt us in the long run all that much, its just a pain in the ass that they took it.

RussFrancis

First of all, now that we're 5 days away, the sting of losing that pick is worse than ever. Id imagine it will peak come Saturday, then we'll finally put it behind us. Needed a second just to vent that away. Alright, Im cool now.

Like you said, 55 picks apart, I think the brass will try to shrink that gap by moving the early pick down, and the later pick up. The extra pick they gain from the early move will provide the ammo to make the move later. Our guys are a bunch of movers and shakers anyway, so Im not really sure how much the lost pick actually changes how they think. Theyre going to improve the value of their picks and get a quality player wherever those picks end up. What I think we may see is TWO moves in the 1st round. Possibly a trade down from 7 to 10. Then, a move from 10 to somewhere around 13-16. Can we imagine that happening? Would that just piss us all off? Sitting around Saturday for hours only to watch our guys make TWO moves down in the 1st round. I doubt it will happen, but I think its a possibility, and something Im sure they'd consider. Not sure theyre thinking that way sitting on the 31.