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I would love it of BB could go back in time and get Orakpo instead of Brace and Butler
Drafting at #12 overall instead of #40 + #41 would indeed be a steal.
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.I would love it of BB could go back in time and get Orakpo instead of Brace and Butler
Drafting at #12 overall instead of #40 + #41 would indeed be a steal.
Bill should take a page out of the Giants book. They are always drafting, developing, and signing front 4 players. You have Osi Umenyoria, Justin Tuck, and Matthias Kiwanuka, and you still take Pierre Paul in the first round, who is turning into a monster.
Inquiring minds have been asking "Where is Cunningham" after 3 games.
Here is the Rap Sheet Twitter response to a fan:
@RapSheet Ian R. Rapoport
Hasn't been on the field. Bad sign. RT @Ogles_11: @RapSheet I thought Cunningham was gonna be a big pass rusher... hadn't heard his name
I know what you are thinking: "There goes another second round pick".
By the way Brook Reed and Jabal Sheard this year -- whom BB passed over for Ras_I have been playing -- and playing well. Something to keep an eye on.
Ah, did you notice that the high picks you mentioned were all with different teams? Parcells could spend lots of high picks on shiny players because he never stuck around long enough to deal with drafting late year after year. Belichick, though, sticks with the Patriots. How can he "emphasize" spending top-10 picks any particular way when he's only had one in the past decade?
Granted, he didn't spend that one on a pass rusher but an ILB, which was a pretty glaring need at the time. But let's say he made it more of a priority and passed on Mayo...who could the Patriots have drafted at OLB/DE instead?
The answers are: Derrick Harvey and Lawrence Jackson, or with a trade up possibly Vernon Gholston. Not one of them managed to last out his rookie contract.
It's just really, really hard to find pass rushers even at the top of the draft, and that much harder later. (That's not to say they shouldn't at least be trying, though! I'd even like to see more cheap picks like Markell Carter, super-athletic guys who might turn into something. That was Cameron Wake once, after all.)
And the fact of the matter is that the one thing Belichick has been good at is picking guys in the first round. So if he went after a pass rusher in the top 10, wouldn't you be pretty confident you're getting a top flight player? Wouldn't you be confident you're not getting a combine hyped Gholston or Maybin?
Of all the great pass rushers that have come from top 15 picks in the draft over the last decade (Ware, Suggs, Merriman, Orakpo, Peppers, Mario Williams, etc.), you don't think Belichick is skilled enough to assess and target these types of players? You think you're more likely to end up with a Maybin/Gholston than a Ware/Suggs/Peppers? That's a real indictment on Belichick and the Pats Draft Brain Trust then.
I'm so sick of hearing how it's "hard to find a pass rusher" at the top of the draft. Uh, no. Usually the best pass rushers are the consensus top college talents that are going in the top 10. Just like usually the best corners are going in the top half of the first round, not in the 2nd round. 1st round you Revis or Vontae Davis. Second round you get Butler or Wheatley.
You may not agree with it, but there's a reason he's doing this professionally and you're not.
1. We have no idea how good Belichick is at assessing pass rushers. He's never done it high in the draft, and he's never found a pass rusher in free agency that contributed for more than a season or so. Maybe the difficulty in evaluating is why he doesn't bother taking that risk.
2. Finding pass rushers at the top of the draft is a hell of a lot harder than you make it sound. Since 2001, the top 15 picks alone has produced Jamal Reynolds (3 career sacks), Michael Haynes (5.5), Jerome McDougle (3), Gaines Adams (13.5), Jamaal Anderson (5.5), Vernon Gholston (0), Derrick Harvey (8), and Aaron Maybin (0). If it were easy, the success rate would be a heck of a lot higher than the 50% or so that it is.
You want to flip a coin, getting a stud pass rusher if heads or a complete bust if tails. Bill flips 4 coins and gets either a solid starter if heads or a complete bust if tails. And his combined 4 guys are cheaper than your one. You may not agree with it, but there's a reason he's doing this professionally and you're not.
They have been playing well... but so has Ras-I so it's really one or the other.
There seems to be a history of picking injury prone DB's look at Wheatley Whilhite, A Samuel, Chung. And most of them had a HX of being injury prone in college, its a real head scratcher to me.Ras-I hasn't been playing, period! I don't care how well he looks when gets out there if it's only one or two games in seven (including preseason). He was made of glass in highschool and college and sadly it seems he hasn't shaken that in the pros. Most people saw that coming well before he was picked.
Gotta love the In Bill We Trust crowd. Nothing he ever does is wrong, his philosophies are right, fans aren't allowed to say his philosophies are wrong because he's a "professional" and you as a fan aren't. It's quite insufferable to listen to how Belichick is so much smarter than everyone else because he realizes that the draft is a crapshoot so he trades down and takes a whole bunch of guys so his margin for error is greater. You people try to rationalize what he does and you think it makes you seem football smart, but it's just insufferable garbage. Matt Millen was also a "professional" personnel guy in the NFL for a long time. Guess he must've been great at what he was doing too.
1. You can make all the excuses you want for not drafting a pass rusher. More often than not, you have to move up to get one of those guys (Ware, Peppers, Mario Williams, Merriman, Suggs, etc). And if Bill really is as good as you say he is, then he his hit/miss ratio is proably 80/20 in the first round, maybe 85/15. But even when you're sitting in the 20's, and a pass rusher like Clay Matthews or LaMarr Woodley falls to you where it's better perceived "value," there's no excuse for not taking the guy.
2. Maybe BB shouldn't be doing this professionally. He's consistently failed to address the major needs of this team on defense. The linebacking corps has been in shambles since Bruschi retired and Vrabel was traded. The pass rush has been anemic as far back as late in 2007 after Rosie Colvin went down in the dying seconds of the Colts game. Pick after pick has been burned on non-impact trash on defense. Ron Brace, McKenzie, Butler, Wheatley, Crable, etc. Maybe he should just stick to coaching because his personnel moves over the last 4 years have been suspect at best.
3. Please stop with your 4 coins is better value crap. Just because you get more players doesn't mean you get BETTER players. You keep taking your 4 players, two of which will bust out and two of which will make the team as backup/role players. I'll take my one great player. Just look at what a player like Suh has done for that defensive line over the last two years. And look at what we were with Seymour and what we've been without Seymour. One player like that can make a massive difference.
4. All the religious IBBWT supporters take the trading up talk way out of proportion. You make it sound like fans want the Pats to trade up every single year and commit huge dollars at the top of the draft. That's not what people are saying. They know that's not smart and not feasible. But what people do want to see is the Pats trading up for once to get that stud front 7 defensive player that they have lacked for so many years. Sorry to break it to you but guys like Spikes and Cunningham went in the second round for a reason. They don't really scare anyone. A guy like Orakpo is a top 15 pick for a reason.
5. You were on the verge of mentioning salary cap jail with your cheaper and better value propositions. It doesn't exist. Dimitroff, a product of the "BB personnel tree" has been aggressive in the draft, trading up quite a few times over the years. He's also spent pretty big in free agency on guys like Dunta Robinson, Michael Turner, and Ray Edwards. He was also able to take care of paying his offensive lineman what they want and giving Roddy White one of the top 5 salaries for a WR at the time in 2009. The Patriots way of doing is business is not the only way. It's just one of the cheapest ways. Don't commit a lot of assets to big ticket free agents or high draft picks. Try to pay 75 cents on the dollar and see what slips through the cracks with mid level free agents and "value" draft picks.
Trying to be the smartest guy in the room with their value system and all that crap has burned this team and led to a severe talent drain. Tom Brady masks a ton of the deficiencies on both offense and defense and makes Belichick look smarter/better than he truly is.
Drafting at #12 overall instead of #40 + #41 would indeed be a steal.
After 5 games, not sure it is a good sign when ESPN Boston Pats' Blog has a column with the Q: "Where is Jermaine Cunningham?"
Enough said!
Doesn't sound like a guy who is in the doghouse."I think one of the things that Jermaine has had to work through is the time he missed in training camp and the preseason,
...
This year we transitioned to a little bit more multiple defensive front, and that's been an adjustment for him. Missing that time didn't help him any. He's worked hard and done a good job to get back on the field -- getting rehab and getting back out there. I think he's improving. He's gotten a little better each week. He's definitely on the upswing here. He's a guy that we hop [sic] will be able to contribute for us."
"...Here may be the nub of the fourth-down quandary. It's not that the decision is so complex, but, rather, that it's so conspicuous—far more so than, say, a new rule or scheme. Go for it on fourth down more often than any other coach, and you not only set yourself apart from your peers, but you call into question their intelligence. If your decision doesn't pay off—if you go for it routinely and your team fails—you'll stand accused of malpractice. If your decision pays off—if you go for it routinely and succeed—you'll be branded a maverick or, worse, a gambler. (The same tendency, by the way, has been demonstrated on Wall Street, where many fund managers shy away from big investments that may distinguish them from their peers.) And God help you if you stop winning. Break with the pack on such a conspicuous decision and you don't merely improve your chances of winning. You insult all coaches who do things the old-fashioned way. It may be excellent football strategy, but it's a risky career move" [/I]
The numbers show that NFL coaches should go for it more - ESPN The Magazine
There seems to be a history of picking injury prone DB's look at Wheatley Whilhite, A Samuel, Chung. And most of them had a HX of being injury prone in college, its a real head scratcher to me.