patchick

Yesterday afternoon I threw my back out, so I spent the evening in bed on painkillers. This morning I woke up and said "OMG, the draft!!!" So I clicked over to Wikipedia's 2012 draft page, scrolled right down to #27 and #31, and saw the picks had been traded away.

"Wouldn't you know it," I said. "They traded out of the first round altogether."

It wasn't until a cup of coffee later when I finally bothered to scroll up.

dryheat44

With the trade up to take Chandler Jones, I think we can officially put to bed the notion that Belichick doesn't....

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When it's third and 10, you can have the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time. -- R.I.P. Max McGee

Hebeill

I didn't watch the draft figuring BB always trades down to take a DB. Go figure

patchick

Yep, we pretty much crossed off the last remaining "doesn'ts." Although I'd argue that there's still one great big "doesn't" left: Belichick does NOT put all of his draft ammo in one basket.

Remember him counseling Dimitroff against the huge Julio Jones deal? And there was no blockbuster move to #13 for Brockers, as several folks here had dreamed of.

These were strategic, modest trades that put BB in position to make the most of the the value of his picks. In fact, the Jones pick looks very much like Rook's old "value grouping" theory. (Target a group of players you rank closely, make modest trades up or down to secure a player in that group.) We'll never know whether they would have taken Ingram, McClellin or Jones, given their druthers.

Seneschal2

Correct. BB only gave up a 3rd and 4th for these two tradeups, which is in line with the most he's ever given up -- a 3rd and 7th for Graham way back when. I actually think he may have had reservations about parting w/ even one second-rounder this draft, which he kind of hinted at here:

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"What we want to try to do is maximize each spot on the roster; we want to be stronger at No. 1 than the opponent, stronger at No. 25 than they are, and stronger at No. 53 than they are, we're always looking to upgrade the talent level on the team, and play together to be functional."
- Bill Belichick -