Oh, let's all be sarcastic and hyperbolic.
How can we possibly be any good at drafting??? We usually draft after the top 10 spots!!!
Weak argument.
Granted - the Patriots missed on all the top 10 players that were good that they didn't draft, because they couldn't.
If you want to be sarcastic, go ahead. If you want to look objectively, take a look.
OK, how about in 2011 trading down from 28 to select Ras-I-Dowling when Muhammad Wilkerson was on board. The Patriots had been, and continue to, look for defensive linemen for the 3-4 set. Many folks on this board were hungering for Wilkerson, and were very unhappy when the Jets grabbed him. Want to point to that one? Picking Dowling when Brooks Reed, Torrey Smith, and other Patsfans favorites at the time were there?
How about Tavon Wilson in 2012 over LB Lavonte David, 3-4 DE Kendall Reyes, WR Rueben Randle, etc? In the same draft, selecting Nate Ebner - yes, an athlete, but pretty much every pick after him had some actual experience playing football. And before anyone researches what draft slot he was in, and says the success rate is really low anyway, yes, he was pick 197. The Patriots have had success in that vicinity historically. And if the Patriots could develop a rugby player into an excellent special teams player, maybe they could have done the same with another player with more experience.
Sure, the fans do not have any personal insight into real work ethic or capability to pick up a system.
Sure, the draft is an inexact science. Impossible to hit on all your picks.
However, there were some odd decisions, that were questioned at the time, where it turned out mistakes were made. If some of those risky decisions were simply replaced with some of the consensus picks, results might have been different.
Other than name-calling and hyperbole, hard to argue with those who question some of those decisions.