A linebacker was about the least important position to take in the draft, short of QB, TE and RB. {/quote]
Not convinced he will be a LB or at least a full time LB unless the Pats go back to a 3-4.
I don't buy the inside stuff from random posters when none of the reporters have the info.
I take insider stuff on this board with a grain of salt, but Dobson seemed pretty high on their list because there were still a lot of WRs on the board. It seems to back up the report.
Any way you look at it though, Dobson could have been high on their board and might have taken him with the Collins pick if they
Wilson sucked for most of the season. He had a short stretch were he didn't. That's a far cry from playing pretty well. That doesn't mean that he can't still become a quality player, but the team still went out and drafted a safety as well as bringing in another Wilson, which I consider informative, and not in a way I consider promising.
First, the reports out of OTAs is the Pats want Wilson to start. Whether he will is another story. That kind debunks they drafted Harmon because they are down on Wilson. Besides, Harmon is a year or two away from competing for a starting job if he ever is.
Second, Wilson played better than people give him credit for. When he was bad, he was really bad. But he had times when he played fairly well. I am not talking Ed Reed in his prime, but serviceable as a starter.
You're confusing "The class for WR didn't have an elite outside WR prospect" with being overrated, IMO. They aren't the same thing, at all. This was a draft deep with level 2 WR prospects.
And Dobson is one of them. Most of the draft reports I looked at had Dobson in the top 10 for WRs and either a second or third round pick. Let's not act like they took their first WR in the fifth round or Dobson was way overdrafted. He was one of 2 WR prospects you are talking about.
It's a frequent occurence around here for the homers to downplay the media when they disagree with the team, and to play it up with they agree, and for the pessimists to go the other way. In this case, as you know, my comments about the team needs, and then about the team's attempts to fix those needs, were happening independent of the media, and usually before the media had commented on them. The media in this town is no better or worse than most media, which means that it's about as good at analysis as a typical message board poster.
First, don't lump me into this group. I think the media is clueless like everyone else is including most of the teams about any given draft. Every year teams that get As for their drafts end up having bust drafts and teams with failing grades get multiple Pro Bowlers. I don't know if the Pats had a good draft or not. Neither do you. There are some picks I liked and some picks I hated, but none of us will know for a while if anyone's opinion is right.
Second, the Pats don't follow the need based picks and pick players based on BPA based on need. They may reach for players, but it is because they really like them not because they need that position. Sometimes that reach works out (Branch, Vollmer) and others they don't (Bethel Johnson, Ron Brace).
Belichick screwed up the draft starting with his first draft pick, IMO. The rest was just a continuation, and Harmon was just the icing on the cake. No doubt, though, there will be all sorts of claims about a team (or teams) who were going to take Harmon with the very next pick. I think BB had a chance to do great things this offseason, and that he instead screwed up on just about every level. I hope I'm wrong, and time will tell. We'll know on some things in weeks or months, and others will take years to really be sure about.
And it is your opinion. You may end up being right, but we won't know for a while. But if I remember correctly, you didn't have a problem with them trading out of the first round at the time.
Personally, I liked they moved out of the first round. It didn't look like the first round was all that strong. There were picks I liked and picks I didn't, but I am no draft expert and the draft is a crap shoot anyway and players everyone love end up being huge busts and others people panned turn out to be great picks.
Based on the last three drafts, I am willing to give Belichick and Caserio the benefit of the doubt. There were many picks over those drafts that people panned that turned out to be good picks. Hernandez (considered overdrafted), McCourty (just a special teamer who might turn into a nickelback as a ceiling), Mesko (too high for a punter), Ridley (drafted too high), and Spikes (too slow) were all trashed by a lot of so called experts and fans and all turned into good picks.