Pittsburgh's Mike Wallace Could Have Been A Patriot Instead of Brandon Tate

[randomk1]

Not to throw more salt on this one, but didn't the Packers select Jennings with the 3rd round pick that NE gave them in order to move up to draft Chad Jackson. :bricks:

Yes indeed.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

I've certainly been wrong on my share of prospects but I loved Wallace coming out and couldn't believe they took Tate. When the Steelers took him with the next pick I thought man does that suck.

That said...........Who knows in NE if he would have been able to make the right reads or if he would have fizzled out like others who couldn't get on the same page as Brady. Vrabel in Pitt a backup, in NE a Pro-Bowler..........

I think Bethel Johnson comes to mind.

Also, is he "Mike Wallace" with Welker/Gronk/AHern in the mix.

 

[Rob0729]

I am so tired of these exercises. It is easy to play Monday Morning QB and say a couple years later that the Pats should have taken this player over that player. You can do that with every team.

Fact of the matter is that many players exceed their predraft expectations and others fall far short of them. I don't remember anyone saying Mike Wallace was sure fire pick. In fact, I remember he was a project and projected as a lat round pick.

 

[fumbrunner]

He would have essentially played the same role as Randy Moss. Not sure picking him would have made alot of sense with Randy on the team.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Even the Homiest of Homers have to agree that Belichick's biggest weak spot (hindsight permitted) is evaluating and eventually selecting WR talent in the draft for the past 5 years or so.

If he coached like he drafts WRs we might have gone 0-16 the past few years...fortunately that is not the case.

 

[BB4PRez]

Tate has been a good special teamer in Cinci - arguablebly the most productive player cut by the Pats in the summer. Objectively it is hard not to rate his overall production as being better than Ocho for a lot less money (I don't think Tate really picked up the Pats offense all that well either). I looke at Ocho (and Tate when he was here) as Branch injury insurance

Wallace looked like Bethel Johnson coming out - I undertand why they passed

That said Pats are 5 and 1 and the team appears to have all oars pulling in the same direction. Overall I am happy

 

[Rob0729]

Even the Homiest of Homers have to agree that Belichick's biggest weak spot (hindsight permitted) is evaluating and eventually selecting WR talent in the draft for the past 5 years or so.

If he coached like he drafts WRs we might have gone 0-16 the past few years...fortunately that is not the case.

Belichick's record past drafting David Givens has been horrible, but that doesn't mean that he should have know Wallace was going to be a very good WR. It wasn't like Wallace was a sure fire pick considering he was drafted in the 3rd and the 11th WR selected. He was selected after Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi. Many people thought the Steelers reached on the guy.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Belichick's record past drafting David Givens has been horrible, but that doesn't mean that he should have know Wallace was going to be a very good WR. It wasn't like Wallace was a sure fire pick considering he was drafted in the 3rd and the 11th WR selected. He was selected after Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi. Many people thought the Steelers reached on the guy.

I know Belichick doesn't have hindsight perception,no one does and some teams just hit the jackpot at wideout like Green Bay for example
....just bad luck in the draft with WRs has been the weakness of our coach,it happens.

Like I said,it might have been even worse,we could have taken Patrick Turner who was drafted by Miami lower in that round....Turner was beyond bad.

 

[ScottieC]

Oh this is fun, lets just look at all the past 40 years of drafts and figure out who could have been a Patriot!!!!!

Awesome. :bricks:

 

[BelichickFan]

I am so tired of these exercises. It is easy to play Monday Morning QB and say a couple years later that the Pats should have taken this player over that player. You can do that with every team.

Many (probably most) here wanted the Patriots to take Sergio Kindle over Rob Gronkowski. Kindle went the pick after Gronk. Some people need to get a life and realize that we aren't going to make every great pick and we aren't going to be mistake free. Wallace would have been the better pick. Gronk was the better pick over Kindle. In fact Gronk was probably the best value pick of the entire draft. How the hell that happened with the lousy Tate over Wallace front office, I'll never know.

:bricks:

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I read yesterday how the Charger fans are even more pissed than Patriots fans over missing the opportunity to draft Clay Matthews.

The Chargers had a real good opportunity to draft Clay in the 09 draft but instead went with Larry English who they thought was a better prospect.

English has been put on IR with a foot injury and for the second year will miss much of the season..only starting in 9 of 20 games in his short career and may be made of glass.

At least Belichick didn't go LB in round 1 in that draft anyway .... SD wanted a LB as thier first pick and swung and missed,that makes it even harder to swallow.

 

[RJB87]

Greg Jennings could have been a Patriot instead of Chad Jackson. **** happens.

edit: whoops didn't read the whole thread. Someone already pointed this out on page 2.

 

[Calciumee]

I do love what if's!

What happens if Brady had been picked 198?
What happens if Bledsoe hadn't rolled out?

Some things happen, some things don't!

 

[BingoBrown]

What! Nobody remembers Tony Eason when Dan Marino was still on the board.:bricks:

 

[TheSolderKing]

I've certainly been wrong on my share of prospects but I loved Wallace coming out and couldn't believe they took Tate. When the Steelers took him with the next pick I thought man does that suck.

That said...........Who knows in NE if he would have been able to make the right reads or if he would have fizzled out like others who couldn't get on the same page as Brady. Vrabel in Pitt a backup, in NE a Pro-Bowler..........

We have NO IDEA if he had the ability to UNDERSTAND our SYSTEM. Tate DIDN't know it. Ocho Doesn't know it who is to say Wallace would???
You can't think like this.


Coulda,Shoulda, Woulda DIDN'T Tate actually had the BETTER resume', but it did NOT Equate here in NE he UNDERPERFORMED. Everything is BEAUTIFUL in RETROSPECT. We have 0 Idea how Wallace would have fared here in NE. Tate did FAIL could Wallace be in same boat??? ABSOLUTELY. We can't Surmise Wallace WOULD have been successful here in NE just b/c he flourished in Pittsburgh.


Game,Set, Match

 

[RJB87]

I wouldn't say Tate had the better resume. lol Wasn't he injured a full year of college and only played WR for one season? He was mostly a KR/PR type player. We took a huge gamble on him and lost.

But I do agree, you can't just plug Player X and Y in our system and say they'd be successful. For the most part, Pittsburgh's offense is extremely simple compared to ours, especially Wallace's particular position. They do a good job of not needing him to run perfect routes.

 

[Criptonite]

I am so tired of these exercises. It is easy to play Monday Morning QB and say a couple years later that the Pats should have taken this player over that player. You can do that with every team.

Fact of the matter is that many players exceed their predraft expectations and others fall far short of them. I don't remember anyone saying Mike Wallace was sure fire pick. In fact, I remember he was a project and projected as a lat round pick.

Exactly Rob. At the time Mike Wallace was the equivalent of Bethel Johnson. He was viewed as a 5th-7th rounder. He was nothing special. Then at the combine he went off. I believe some had his 40 time in the 4.2s. That caused him to shoot up the draft boards. Same exact scenario with Bethel. The Steelers took a chance and it worked out for them. On the other hand, Brandon Tate was viewed as a borderline 1st round prospect until he tore his knee up. Many said he was better than teammate Hakeem Nicks. I didn't like Tate because of his failed drug test. I didn't care that he smoked weed, I just thought he was an idiot for smoking right before a planned drug test. Anyway, Tate was more of a Marcus Cannon situation. Highly valued prospect who went much later than he would if he had been healthy. Choosing Tate over Wallace was not a bad decision. The Patriots were going for delayed value and the Steelers were going for high risk/reward.

 

[sevengables_2207]

not sure if this has been broached on this thread yet, but is there certainty that wallace would be able to pick up the patriots offensive system and perform at the same level he is currently performing in the steelers scheme?

combine numbers aside, many players either flourish or flame-out based on the meshing of their mental ability to grasp the concepts in the playbook and then go out and execute said concepts or plays on sundays.

 

[Deus Irae]

Exactly Rob. At the time Mike Wallace was the equivalent of Bethel Johnson. He was viewed as a 5th-7th rounder. He was nothing special. Then at the combine he went off. I believe some had his 40 time in the 4.2s. That caused him to shoot up the draft boards. Same exact scenario with Bethel. The Steelers took a chance and it worked out for them. On the other hand, Brandon Tate was viewed as a borderline 1st round prospect until he tore his knee up. Many said he was better than teammate Hakeem Nicks. I didn't like Tate because of his failed drug test. I didn't care that he smoked weed, I just thought he was an idiot for smoking right before a planned drug test. Anyway, Tate was more of a Marcus Cannon situation. Highly valued prospect who went much later than he would if he had been healthy. Choosing Tate over Wallace was not a bad decision. The Patriots were going for delayed value and the Steelers were going for high risk/reward.

Brady was a 6th round pick. Every QB chosen before him was a bad decision.

 

[livinginthe past]

I, for one, just can't get enough of these hypothetical draft swap threads - especially when we can all pile on what has to one of the best (if not THE best) front office(s) in the last decade.

Intellectually rewarding and just super all round fun.

Encore....ENCORE!