Seneschal2
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
- Messages
- 2,221
- Reaction score
- 1
I personally see Barwin being taken with the #34 pick more than with #23, at least at this point. I do see him as becoming a starter by the end of the year, with Woods being a 1 year caretaker as a starting OLB.
The problem that I have is that almost all of the players that I like for the Patriots are probably somewhere in the 21-60 range: Barwin, Clint Sintim, Larry English, Clay Matthews at LB; Jarron Gilbert at DE; Sean Smith, Alphonso Smith, DJ Moore and Darius Butler at CB; Louis Delmas, Patrick Chung and William Moore at S; William Beatty and Eben Britton at OT; and Alex Mack, Mack Unger and Eric Wood at OG/C. Not to mention WR options (Percy Harvin, Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt, Brian Robiskie).
There aren't that many 1-20 prospects that I see as really meeting the Pats' needs and system, and who have even a remote chance of falling. I don't really want Malcolm Jenkins or Vontae Davis. There's no safety worth a top-20 pick. I don't think Brian Orapko will be a good OLB conversion, and I'm not sure about Everett Brown, Aaron Maybin or Michael Johnson. I don't think Maualuga is worth a 1st round pick, not to mention Laurinaitis. I don't want Jeremy Maclin or Darius Heyward-Bey. We don't need a TE and I think that Brandon Pettigrew is only a slightly better version of Chris Baker anyway. We certainly don't need a QB. I don't think either Andre Smith or Michael Oher is right for the Pats.
That leaves me with 5 players that I would love to fall to somewhere within range of us: 2 OT's (Jason Smith and Eugene Monroe), 1 WR (Michael Crabtree), 1 DT (BJ Raji), and 1 LB (Aaron Curry). The chance of us even being remotely close enough to trade up for one of those 5 players is extremely remote.
So unless a minor miracle occurs, I see us either using #23 on one of those 21-60 players, or trading the pick - either trading back, trading into 2010, or trading for a player.
Very much how I view round one, the value, and the Pats options. Actually -- almost word for word.