Not amused...

[cstjohn17]

The grass is always greener... I remember longing for a top 10 pick but looking at the draft boards I see very few 'franchise' players in the top 10. All I see is a bunch of pretty good players who will immediately be paid among the highest at their position.

For example a rookie in the top 6 will likely get a contract that is comparable to Samuel or Suggs, two pro-bowl players.

The whole setup is whacked.

At this point unless Long, Long or Feinstein, LLC. (or McFadden) fall to us I would trade back for almost nothing or just sit on my hands until the pick drops to the 11-15 range. At 11-15 a similar player could be drafted for 1/2 the money and still be retained for 6 years.

 

[PonyExpress]

It's still too early in the process to get down on this draft. We may be surprised by some players at the senior bowl and combine. Last year's draft was supposed to be bad, and it turned out to be a great draft with many impact players contributing immediately.

Scanning over the past 4 drafts, in each draft there are many players taken at #7 overall and after worthy of the #7 pick. Many of them turned out to be steals, and maybe your advice is correct: trade down and get #7 talent cheap. Right now, my feeling is if we sit at #7 there will definitely be a superstar talent like Patrick Willis, Haloti Ngata, DWare, Deangelo Hall staring us in the face. If we trade down, we might have the opportunity for Reggie Nelson and David Harris instead of Patrick Willis; a Wimbley and Fasano instead of Ngata; a Justin Tuck and K. Morrison instead of DWare; A Sean Philips and S Jones instead of a Wilfork.

These are the past 4 drafts including only players taken #7 and after. I left some Pats out like Kaczur Hobbs Sanders etc.

Tier 1 Talent are players I would have had no problem taking at #7 overall
Tier 2 are players I would have traded down for but still drafted in rd 1
Tier 3 are players I would have taken after rd 1


2007 draft (too early to pass final judgment)

1st tier talent

-APeterson
-Patrick Willis
-Darelle Revis
-Leon Hall

2nd tier

Michael Griffin
Aaron Ross
Reggie Nelson
Dwayne Bowe
John Beason
A Spencer
Ben Grubbs
Greg Olsen
Arron Sears
David Harris
Justin Durant
Eric Wright
Tanard Jackson

3rd tier

Meriweather
Tim Crowder
Aaron Rouse
Brian Robison
Fred Bennett
Clint Session
Antwan Barnes
Kolby Smith
Derek Landri
Ahmad Bradshaw
Chinedum Indukwe

2006

Tier 1 Talent

H. Ngata
B. Marshall
D. Ryans
A. Cromartie
M. McNeil

Tier 2


K. Wimbley
B. Bunkley
T. Hali
L. Maroney
S. Holmes
N. Mangold
Addai
E Sims
K. Jennings
T. Howard
G. Jennings
A. Fasano
D. Hester
MJ. Drew
C. Finnegan
M. Colston
M Huff
D. Whitner
M. Anderson

Tier 3

L. Washington
A. Bethea
J. Trueblood
T. Scheffler
D. Tapp
C. Ingram
F. Keiaho
G. Wilkinson
L. Williams
W. Blackmon
S. Tulloch.
B. Cofield
E. Dumervil
Dawan Landry
O. Gaither
K. Ellison

2005 (supposed to be a bad draft)

Tier 1 Talent

DWare
S. Merriman
Jamal Brown
L Mankins
H. Miller
Luis Castillo
L. Tatupu
T. Cole

Tier 2

D. Johnson
M. Barber
J Tuck
K Morrison
K. Barnes
OJ Atogwe
F. Gore
M Spears
M Clayton
R. White
M Jackson
B Ruud
C. Crowder
B. Jacobs
K. Rhodes

Tier 3

K. Hayden
L. Hill
R Brown
R. Parrish
V. Jackson
B. McFadden
D. Sproles
T. Hagler
D. Anderson
T Johnson

2004

Tier 1 Talent

Wilfork
Jared Allen
S. Jackson
C. Snee
K. Dansby
B. Sanders
D. Dockett
D. Hall
L. Evans
T. Harris
S. Andrews
W. Smith

tier 2
D. Robinson
J. Cotchery
S. Philips
N. Vasher
C. Cooley
Chris Gamble
B. Watson
I. Olshansky
S. Jones
A. Odom


tier 3
D. Smith
J. Jones
M. Turner
S. Olivea
B McCray
Bernard Berrian
Matt Schaub
Isaac Sopoaga
M.Moore
P. Crayton
D. Ward

 

[dryheat44]

To be honest, I wasn't fired up about taking Richard Seymour with the sixth pick. Or Ty Warren at 13/14. But I have a feeling that if we draft at #7, we'll be very pleased with the pick for years to come.

 

[patsfaninpa]

A couple of things could happen to make this draft more interesting. Teams usually trade up for skill position players. I'm not crazy about the qb's. Ryan,Brohm and Woodson. But, I wasn't crazy about the qb's when Couch,McNabb and Akili Smith came out. They went 1-2-3. The rb class is looking spectacular. I think every jr. except S.Slaton is coming out. Assuming McFadden goes in the 3/4 area. Some team might want to move up for a guy like R. Mendenhall. He looked very explosive against USC. My preference is to trade down. But, we will more than likely get a valuable building block at 7 if we stay there. R.Clady - LT - Boise St. could also move up. Dropping top def. talent to our pick.


Agree about salaries though. NFLPA has to do something about this. I'm sure the owners want a wage scale. It seems the NFLPA is helping kids coming out of college make a lot of money. While ignoring their established players. Give in on the wage scare if they can get the owners to guarantee a bigger portion of the contracts or something like that.

 

[Patsmaniac]

I think the NLFPA and the agents would push back on the salary rookie scale. The agents are making $$$ of the large money handed to top picks. The NFLPA and agents prob dont want to disrupt that.

 

[patchick]

I think the NLFPA and the agents would push back on the salary rookie scale. The agents are making $$$ of the large money handed to top picks. The NFLPA and agents prob dont want to disrupt that.

You don't have to change the total pot of dollars, though -- just the distribution. There's a preposterous skew toward the top 10 players. Right now the first player in round 1 makes more than 7 times what the last player in round 1 makes. Bring that down to, say, a 3-to-1 ratio and share the wealth proportionally across the next few rounds. The large majority of draftees (and thus of agents) come out ahead that way, and the draft no longer punishes the teams with the top picks.

 

[ayjackson]

I think the NLFPA and the agents would push back on the salary rookie scale. The agents are making $$$ of the large money handed to top picks. The NFLPA and agents prob dont want to disrupt that.

The NFLPA does not represent agents, it represents NFL players. The players are going to get a certain amount of cash each year. Right now, more and more of that cash is going to players who will never have a meaningful NFL career and never be NFLPA members. This is ridiculous. If I was a player and NFLPA member, I'd be wondering why my union was letting upwards of $100m a year go to players who have never been to a union meeting, when that money could go to me and my comrades.

 

[PonyExpress]

You don't have to change the total pot of dollars, though -- just the distribution. There's a preposterous skew toward the top 10 players. Right now the first player in round 1 makes more than 7 times what the last player in round 1 makes. Bring that down to, say, a 3-to-1 ratio and share the wealth proportionally across the next few rounds. The large majority of draftees (and thus of agents) come out ahead that way, and the draft no longer punishes the teams with the top picks.

I like the jeopardy of the draft. it increases the pressure, the risk and excitement, like high stakes gambling. Reducing the monetary risk in the top 10 rewards mediocre NFL management types for making bad personnel decisions. As in all areas of the NFL competence is greatly rewarded, incompetence is severely punished. That's what makes the NFL great.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

In this day and age or win or else, mediocre managements are disappearing faster and faster, regardless of how they draft. Regardless of where you draft, your team must have a QB.

Where would the Patriots be today without Tom Brady?

Is draftting Brady in the 6th round a sign or great management by BB or is it a sign of poor management that BB passed on Brady until the 6th round?

 

[dryheat44]

In this day and age or win or else, mediocre managements are disappearing faster and faster, regardless of how they draft. Regardless of where you draft, your team must have a QB.

Where would the Patriots be today without Tom Brady?

Is draftting Brady in the 6th round a sign or great management by BB or is it a sign of poor management that BB passed on Brady until the 6th round?

It's a manifestation of BBs genius by not overpaying when he knew he could pick him up later. At least I'd like to think so.

 

[PonyExpress]

In this day and age or win or else, mediocre managements are disappearing faster and faster, regardless of how they draft. Regardless of where you draft, your team must have a QB.

Where would the Patriots be today without Tom Brady?

Is draftting Brady in the 6th round a sign or great management by BB or is it a sign of poor management that BB passed on Brady until the 6th round?

In every draft there are a dozen all-pro players. The teams drafting in the top 10 are guaranteed an opportunity to take one. That guarantee comes with great monetary risk. That risk is one of the elements which makes the draft exciting. Pressure is immense; the future of a team is on the line; Bad management teams draft bad players and suffer the consequences. Good management teams draft good players and reap the benefits. I see no reason to change that dynamic.

 

[dryheat44]

In every draft there are a dozen all-pro players. The teams drafting in the top 10 are guaranteed an opportunity to take one. That guarantee comes with great monetary risk. That risk is one of the elements which makes the draft exciting. Pressure is immense; the future of a team is on the line; Bad management teams draft bad players and suffer the consequences. Good management teams draft good players and reap the benefits. I see no reason to change that dynamic.

I like the idea someone floated a couple of years back: Have slots 1-32 open until the end of the playoffs, and then teams get to choose which slot they want. Maybe the Dolphins want to choose 4th...or 8th...or 14th. So they get that slot. Then the Rams choose, then the Falcons, Raiders, Chiefs, etc, until the Cowboys or Packers get the last slot by default.

The reasoning behind it is to avoid saddling the bad teams with a cap unfriendly contract if they don't want it. It would add to the excitement of the draft process, as there would be a selection show a few months before the actual draft.

 

[jeffbiologist]

I think they prize top rated linemen

I agree that with the exception of Wilfork, I havent been too impressed with our 1sts--especially the TEs. I think they draft high for safe picks, and let BB and the system turn them into what they want. I wouldnt be too down on Merriweather quite yet, see how Cromartie came along this year...I can see him doing the same with the experience and coaching. If we cant trade down we will definately be getting a new lineman, helping out our defense rotation.

 

[patchick]

Re: I think they prize top rated linemen

I agree that with the exception of Wilfork, I havent been too impressed with our 1sts--especially the TEs.

Really? Seymour, Warren & Mankins seem like slam dunks to me, and NO real busts, which is extraordinary.

 

[Cannon Arm]

It's a manifestation of BBs genius by not overpaying when he knew he could pick him up later. At least I'd like to think so.

Belichick knew that the Browns had Spergon Wynn ahead of Brady to be a back up for Tim Couch, the Saints had Marc Bulger ahead of Brady to back up Jeff Blake, the Steelers had Tee Martin ahead of Tom Brady on their QB board when they were looking to draft a back up for Kent Graham/Cordell Stewart?