Three years out—rate the 2010 Patriots draft

[ctpatsfan77]

As a reminder, here's who the Patriots drafted:

1.27 Devin McCourty
2.42 GRONK
2.53 Jermaine Cunningham
2.62 Brandon Spikes
3.90 Taylor Price
4.113 Aaron Hernandez
5.150 Zoltan Mesko
6.205 Ted Larsen*
7.208 Thomas Welch
7.247 Brandon Deaderick*
7.248 Kade Weston*
7.250 Zac Robinson*

*Comp pick the Patriots could not trade

And, for those of you who consider such things, the Patriots also had two UDFA rookies make the team: Dane Fletcher and Kyle Love.

Note: I'm lumping everything C+ and under into one category for fairly obvious reasons.

 

[Nikolai]

Five starters + four still on the roster and contributing
An all-world player
Three Pro-Bowlers
One of the key personalities on defense

I could go on and on, but this is the draft class we thought we were getting in 2009. Very, very solid.

 

[EJ Blitz]

I'm stilling waiting for Taylor Price's break out year.

 

[captain stone]

Cunningham at 52 is a fail. Golden Tate should've been the obvious choice.

A 5th-rounder for a mediocre Punter, when SS Reshard Jones (among others) was still available? Meh.

Trading Up in the 7th round for Tom Welch? Why?

I gave the draft a B+. Some VG picks (McCourty, Gronk, Spikes, Hernandez); the rest, not so VG.

I wish I had the rest of the voters as my teachers when I attended Boston Latin.

 

[Sciz]

Cunningham at 52 is a fail. Golden Tate should've been the obvious choice.

I do not understand your obsession with a guy who had 664* yards this past season.

And that's ignoring the fact that Brandon Tate's 2010 season was better than either of Golden Tate's first two. The correct pick at 52 was clearly either Navarro Bowman, Jimmy Graham, or Geno Atkins.

 

[Ozymandias]

In hindsight, this draft deserves a B-. The hits are obvious but the misses become even more glaring because of the problems that still plague the team today. Such as a lack of an interior pass rush along side Wilfork and a dearth of exceptional coverage linebackers. Some combination of draft changes like Sean Lee over Jermaine Cunningham, or NaVorro Bowman over Brandon Spikes or even Geno Atkins over Taylor Price (picked 1 pick ahead of Bowman) likely changes the complexion of the defense today.

Of course all of this is in hindsight, but all in all I consider this draft to be a successful stepping stone for Patriots teams of the future.

 

[ausbacker]

McCourty, Gronkowksi, Hernandez and Mesko make this an A+ draft. The considerable hits outweigh the misses.

 

[Fencer]

1.27 Devin McCourty
Round 1 is an A or A+. I give it an A because we don't know whether McCourty's Pro Bowl rookie year was an aberration.

2.42 GRONK
2.53 Jermaine Cunningham
2.62 Brandon Spikes
Round 2 is an A or A+. 3 picks. One immediate All-Pro. Two guys who taken together are an OK starter.

3.90 Taylor Price
F

4.113 Aaron Hernandez
A++. Hernandez would be an A pick even late in Round 1.

5.150 Zoltan Mesko
A+

6.205 Ted Larsen*
B+. Highest possible grade I can give to a guy who was cut.

7.208 Thomas Welch
7.247 Brandon Deaderick*
7.248 Kade Weston*
7.250 Zac Robinson*
Round 7 is an A. Getting even one quasi-starter from Round 7 deserves an A.

I'm an older guy, who dates back before grade inflation, so I'll just give it an A. But I understand all the A+ votes too.

 

[ALP]

what are we comparing it to? a draft which everyone turned out to be an all pro or the pats best draft to date?


b/c this just might b the best pats draft to date, so its an A+, if you compare to the best draft every by anyone, im sure its more in the B range....

 

[patfanken]

I don't understand those "vicars of 20-20 hindsight" who demand hits on EVERY pick. This was a phenomenal draft. BTW- I think you have to include any UDFA's to the grade, and we got 2 winners there as well.

Christ, any draft that nets you the best player in the league at his position is a great draft. Five starters, (Gronk, Hernandez, McCourty, Spikes, Love) 3 contributors (Cunningham, Fletcher, Deadrick), plus a very good punter, is beyond great.

I think people get hung up on the failures and the would haves and could haves. Plus I don't understand the concept of Cunningham as a failed draft pick. He was a starter his rookie year, and had a very solid year despite having to make the most difficult position transition you can make (college DE to a 2 gap OL in BB's 3-4) His 2nd year was a waste, but his 3rd year was decent playing in certain packages as an undersized DE/DT in a 2 gap 4-3. It certainly didn't turn out to be a home run, but not a "bust" either.

Any draft that nets you 3 starters would be a good draft. How 2010 with 5+ can be rated less than an A is incomprehensible.

 

[Sciz]

I really dislike the draft hindsight game. The Pats were the beneficiaries of the biggest draft screw-up in NFL history. If teams didn't make mistakes in the draft, then Tom Brady would have been the first overall pick for the Browns in 2000. If you want to make the argument that the Pats should have picked the best available player at every pick, then you also have to give up Brady.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

You can't draft a grade on hindsight.

On people getting only a 50% hit on a good starter in round 1 (and the odds only go down from there), how can anyone not grade this as an A+/A?

We have secured 2 TEs that are scary good, McCourty is better than most people think (average fan that is). That alone nets you the A/A+...the rest is gravy and good gravy at That

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

6 of the 12 are contributing......Cunningham is a JAG who once in a while makes a play but I doubt he will be in the league too long.

This draft deserves an A-

 

[Lamanai]

Which NFL team had a BETTER draft in 2010...?

Also, consider draft position. Drafting near the bottom of each round makes it difficult to have a home run. Still, Pats did:

Grade: A

 

[dannydyn]

Would have given it an A+ had we not wasted a first rounder on DMC.... what a **** waste.

 

[JackBauer]

Would have given it an A+ had we not wasted a first rounder on DMC.... what a **** waste.

Ugh. This is just silly...to put it mildly.

 

[Deus Irae]

I really dislike the draft hindsight game...

You can't draft a grade on hindsight...

Since you can't evaluate/grade a draft on foresight, you only have one way to do it. If you can't handle the idea of a team's drafts being evaluated, a thread titled as obviously as:

Three years out—rate the 2010 Patriots draft

is probably one you should put on ignore, since it's clearly not hiding its intent. Also, the notion that you can't, or shouldn't, look back on drafts and judge them is ridiculous. GMs are hired and fired via such judgments. In this case, the 2010 Patriots draft was an excellent one. 11 picks, 8 in the 3rd round or lower, and 8 of the 11 picks were in the NFL last season. That number will likely drop in the next year or two (Cunningham being a prime candidate for dropping out), but when you've got Gronk, Hernandez, McCourty, Spikes, Mesko and even Deaderick coming out of one draft class, that's a hell of a good job done by the team.

 

[tonyto3690]

Belichick really wanted Graham...

imagine if we got him along with gronk and hern.

Would have been amazing seeing all three together.


Anyways voted A but should have A+, great draft.


I remember Gronk's reaction to be drafted by us and thinking he'd be great. Never imagined GOAT potential but knew he'd be a beast for us. Also wasn't that excited about Hernandez. Wasnt a huge fan of TEs that couldnt block.

 

[Rob0729]

I gave an A+. The Pats got four starters (Gronk, Hernandez, Spikes, and McCourty) with one being a potential HOFer. They got one of the better punters in the league in Mesko. They got a couple of role players in Deadrick (who is a solid role player) and Cunningham. That is a haul by any standards.

Also, the UDFAs were homeruns. Love is a starter. Fletcher was solid as a rotational guy before he got injured.

 

[Rob0729]

Cunningham at 52 is a fail. Golden Tate should've been the obvious choice.

A 5th-rounder for a mediocre Punter, when SS Reshard Jones (among others) was still available? Meh.

Trading Up in the 7th round for Tom Welch? Why?

I gave the draft a B+. Some VG picks (McCourty, Gronk, Spikes, Hernandez); the rest, not so VG.

I wish I had the rest of the voters as my teachers when I attended Boston Latin.

Mesko a mediocre punter? Huh?!? Mesko is a pretty damn good punter. His numbers may be low, but that's because he was 29th in the league in punting attempts. I would rank Mesko in the top 5-10 punters in the league.

I don't know how you can say that people are easy graders for giving a draft that produced two starters, a solid punter, and a couple of role players a great grade. I mean any draft that produces 2-3 starters is a good draft. Any more than that is an excellent draft.

I don't understand your expectations are to be a great draft, but it sounds like it is a draft that has never happened in NFL history where every pick was a homerun.

BTW, I may agree Cunningham was not a great pick, but why would Tate be a good pick. He is a mediocre WR. Personally, the pick they should have made was Sean Lee who is outstanding and was only picked two spots later. But hindsight is always 20-20.