MaineMan

"Final word" means that BB is "officially" responsible, on paper, as the head guy. But he can't possibly have thoroughly scouted each and every prospect in every draft by himself. As the head guy, he has to trust the observations and recommendations of his team, including the scouts and Pioli. Obviously, sometimes that trust has been misplaced. You're perfectly free to blame him for taking shi**y advice, but I don't think that's being very realistic.

Anyway, in '04 we got Wilfork, Watson (who was good for awhile), Marquise Hill (RIP) with the first three picks, and Randall Gay (who was okay for awhile) as a UDFA. Guss Scott (SS) was the only remaining top 100 pick and there weren't a whole lot of stars to "miss" after that - unless you count Jared Allen (#126), Michael Turner (#154) and, oops, Welker, who went undrafted, too. In '06, we got Maroney, Gostkowski and a bunch of decent reserve players out of a draft class that pretty much sucked after the first round, especially for WRs (though Brandon Marshall came out of that draft - at #119, just after Gostkowski, and Miles Austin was passed on 255 times). Again, you're free to blame everything on BB, but, when the store is out of steak by the time you get there, you take the hamburger because you gotta eat.

My point being that I'm really tired of hearing how BB effed up these drafts as if he did it all on his own and was always picking in nearly perfect circumstances from very deep draft classes. He gets a big share for picks not working out better, sure. But to put all the blame on him is just silly.

BelizePats

No one is blaming only BB for the franchise's draft choices.
I have been looking at the years from 2006 to 2008, a 3 year span. The Pats have a reputation for hitting on their first rounders and by and large we have. But, if you look at the critical picks from rounds 2 through 4 during that 3 year stretch, the Pats have been nothing short of brutal.
2006
Round 2 Chad Jackson
Round 3 David Thomas
Round 4 Garrett Mills
Round 4 Ghostkowsi (winner)

2007
Round 2 Traded with 7th rounder for Wes Welker (winner)
Round 3 Traded to Oakland for their 2008 3rd, which turned out to be Shawn Crable
Round 4 Traded to Oakland for Randy Moss
Round 4 Kareem Brown

2008
Round 2 Terrence Wheatley
Round 3 Shawn Crable
Round 3 Kevin O'Connell
Round 4 Jonathon Wilhite

I don't care what kind of a homer you are, this was Bobby Greiresque in its consistency to miss. If 2009 and 2010 2nd through 4ths were to have continued in this vain, we'd be in deep ***** by 2011/12.







Read more at: Meet the Patriots 2008 Draft Class

MaineMan

The thing is, it's incomplete analysis to simply look at the guys we took who didn't work out. You also have to look at the guys we didn't take who were still available when we picked and who also filled a position of need at the time, plus the depth of that class at each position. And, you also have to look at what teams may have traded ahead of us to snag a guy who we might have targeted. You also have to look at how the other teams did for that draft to keep things in perspective.

There were 32 WRs drafted in rounds 2-7 in 2006 (Santonio Holmes went to the Steelers in the 1st round). Those 32 picks produced Sinorice Moss and Greg Jennings (in the 2nd), Jason Avant and Brandon Marshall (in the 4th) and Marques Colston (at the end of the 7th) and 26 guys who never made a contribution. So, we traded up to get the (relatively) highly-regarded Chad Jackson before another team did. It's not like the odds were hugely in our favor to find somebody better later (worse than 1 in 6).

patchick

What can you say? It was a lousy stretch of drafting, period. But the (very) early returns on the past two drafts are extremely positive, so it's hardly a "throw the bums out" situation. (The Pats could easily start five '09 picks this year and get major contributions from several others -- pretty amazing.)

BradyFTW!

You conveniently left a certain pro bowl safety off of that list...

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chicowalker

Obviously he didn't work out, but I don't think an injury bust is at all the same as a guy who turns out not to be a fit, has a bad attitude, doesn't develop or simply can't play well enough.

BillBelichickFan79

really sucks that crable and adalius failed to live up to expectations. i dont know how you can honestly go into camp with TBC, ninkovich, woods, cunningham, murrell and expect improvement regarding the pass rush.

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MIAMI HURRICANES
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, & Patrick Patterson

captain stone

We have indeed been doing just that.

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BelizePats

I agree that this is a incomplete analysis to some degree but its still fairly black and white. Rounds 2, 3 and 4 are crucial to building depth and that 3 year stretch was about as bad as can be imagined. The early results of 2009 and 10 make it pretty clear that that bad stretch is over.
Not sure who the Pro Bowl DB we drafted in 06,07 or 08 in the second through 4th rounds is? Let me know as I did not intend to leave anyone off.
Respects,

Rich

IllegalContact

like taking marquise hill instead of darnell dockett?

if you picked ANY other WR drafted in the 2nd round, you would have gotten more out of him.

you're analysis is just as incomplete and your perspective just as skewed