mayoclinic

I'm bored. And with the news that Arizona signed Calais Campbell today to a 5 year deal, it raises the spectre of yet another player the Pats could have taken at #31 if the Commish hadn't taken the pick away for Spygate. Imagine if the Pats hadn't lost the pick and had taken Campbell at #31 in 2008. Would we still be running a 3-4 base? Would BB have traded Seymour to Oakland? Would we have another SB trophy, or 2? Some other great players went in the second round - Matt Forte, Ray Rice, DeSean Jackson, Campbell. Kenny Phillips went at 31. Who would you have taken?

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

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mayoclinic

It should be noted that the board binky in 2008 was probably Quentin Groves from Auburn. He didn't do much for Jacksonville and hasn't done much for the Raiders.

For me, it would be a hard call between Rice/Forte and Campbell. Rice and Forte are tremendous fits for the offense and would have made it much less one-dimensional. But Campbell would have been a beast next to Wilfork.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi

reamer

Although I've often wished we could have secured Campbell, I think that's probably hindsight speaking. I liked him, but the player I really wanted us to draft at the time was Cliff Avril. I was so disappointed when he was still around in the late second, and we passed anyway. He's been a very good player for Detroit, and last year he was borderline elite with 11 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery for a touchdown, and an interception return for a touchdown.

My biggest regret is that lack of ability to trade down. We could have gotten a mid-late second, picked Campbell or Avril, and also secured another first for 2009. How do our fortunes look now if we'd had an extra first with which to play the annuity draft game? Thoughts to ponder in a nostalgic moment . . .

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mayoclinic

I usually don't indulge in "what if?" speculation, but as I said, I'm bored.

If Goodell hadn't taken away the #31 pick the Pats would have gone into 2007 with picks #7, 31, 63, 70, 79 and 95 in the first 3 rounds (the ast 4 picks became 62, 69, 78 and 94 after #31 was voided). That's approximately 3000 points, or the value of the number 1 pick. With 3 third round picks the Pats had tons of ammo to trade up, and with 3 picks clustered in the late 2nd/early-mid 3rd round the Pats could move around and take their pick of players.

Taking away #31 messed up a lot of things. But even without that pick, the Pats still had a lot of ammo. 62, 69, 78 and 94 had a combined value of 857 points, or about the value of the #20 pick overall. The Pats ended up trading away 69 to San Diego for what turned out to be the #48 pick in 2009 (which he subsequently traded up to Oakland for Ron Brace). And they used #62 on Terrance Wheatley, #78 on Shawne Crabell, and #94 on Kevin O'Connell. So they basically got Wheatley, Crabell, O'Connell and Brace out of 4 "day 2" picks. What an incredible waste.

The Pats could easily have still done the SD trade with 69 and kept the 78 pick and used 62+94 to trade up to the 48-50 range and targeted someone like Campbell or Rice. And they could have picked up Jermichael Finley (91) or Cliff Avril (92) with the #78 pick instead of Crable.

What could have been. Losing #31 hurt. But missing on 4 consecutive top-100 picks after it hurt even more.

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"OVER Loading at ANY position can create a Fatal Advantage. THAT is what interests ME. Attacking With Concentrated Force. THAT is what WINS. In the words ~ more or less ~ of General Patton: 'I'm fighting a WAR, here. Let the B*****ES worry about their FLANKS.' " - Off the Grid

"The key to any successful organization is to anticipate things, not react to them." - Michael Lombardi

ZoisKing

Bringing up bad memories eh mayo?

I'm not as adamant as some are, but I do agree that the Pats haven't been the best 2nd round drafters. They ace the 1st round in my opinion. Meriweather was an incredible talent whose lack of intelligence hurt him. Maroney could be included in that as well.

However, as you've clearly listed, we've not done too well on our 2nd round picks. We've had our highlights, and those've been more pronounced the last couple seasons, but our misses-especially with the talent available-have been huge.

As for your poll question. Calais Campbell easily. Phillips 2nd.

Sciz

Didn't the Pats supposedly really like Brandon Flowers? He went very early in the 2nd round.

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IllegalContact

depends on how I can use my hindsight.

I would have traded the pick.......the bottom of the 3rd round produced more good players than the top of the 2nd round

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dryheat44

Well, having spent a first the year before on Meriweather, Phillips really wasn't an option. Somebody mentioned Flowers above, and he was a binkie of mine that year, although not as much as Groves was.

However, consulting my big board at the time ( New U-H Horizontal Sort, 3/26 ) my pick would have been Groves.

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The Gr8est

I agree with this. Getting to pick from players who we already know how they have played isn't really a good measuring tool since, as mentioned, it could easily have been Quentin Groves who was the choice.

I think BB would have "invested" it in ine "First National Golden Goose Bank".

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Off The Grid

Heh.

The SeaHawks gave the Packers #55 and #86 to move up to #38.

Think they would've given up #86 and their 2009 1st Rounder for #31??

I do.

The SeaHawks aren't exactly famous for the Long View.

#86 ~ WB JerMichael Finley
EL Cliff Avril

Take your pick.

#4 in 2009 ~ DT BJ Raji work for everyone??

...Or, if you want to go slumming...EL Brian Orakpo.

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