Plenty Of Room For Draftees

We could still decide to find a roster player by signing free agents or trading for players. However, as of now, we are looking to the draft. All the players below could be upgraded.

RB BJGE
OLB Redd
DE Smith
SS Williams
FS Spann
OG Yates
ILB Ruud
QB Gutierrez
P Hanson

I agree. It's kind of sad but part of nfl reality that the fringe players are always fighting for the roster spot and it's never secure because there are always "better" players coming out of college to challenge them.

moss4ever said:

I agree. It's kind of sad but part of nfl reality that the fringe players are always fighting for the roster spot and it's never secure because there are always "better" players coming out of college to challenge them.

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They might be fringe here in NE but in other cities (den,KC, Clev, Atl?), they will be watching the waiver wire to scoop them up.

mgteich said:

We could still decide to find a roster player by signing free agents or trading for players. However, as of now, we are looking to the draft. All the players below could be upgraded.

RB BJGE
OLB Redd
DE Smith
SS Williams
FS Spann
OG Yates
ILB Ruud
QB Gutierrez
P Hanson

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Hard to up-grade Gutierrez at QB since he has the most experience behind Brady. Some rookie isn't going to save the Pats from Brady missing an offensive series or two.

TealSox said:

Hard to up-grade Gutierrez at QB since he has the most experience behind Brady. Some rookie isn't going to save the Pats from Brady missing an offensive series or two.

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Neither is Gute. KOC is backup QB, not Gute. Even as a rookie, KOC was #2 and Gute #3. In fact, Gute had been cut and was not picked up by anyone. If Brady had not gone down, Gute wouldn't even have been a Pat. I think his is the position most likely to be upgraded.

mgteich said:

We could still decide to find a roster player by signing free agents or trading for players. However, as of now, we are looking to the draft. All the players below could be upgraded.

RB BJGE
OLB Redd
DE Smith
SS Williams
FS Spann
OG Yates
ILB Ruud
QB Gutierrez
P Hanson

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The odds of all those players being upgraded is pretty much nil. The odds of five or six of them, are pretty good, though. Depends of who gets drafted and how good they turn out to be.

ANyway you look at it, we have more draft picks than can make the team.

don't know how you can lump all of those guys together. Ruud was on IR last year but by all accounts he is smart (BB trait) and is a tough player. Redd did a servicable job for being a rookie. Tank was hurt last year but BB must think that he has some potential to bring him back in this year. And BJGE, he had a terrific 5 or 6 game run last year when the Pats needed him. No need to throw these guys under the bus so quickly.

Don't forget injuries...They strike all players, fringe or not. Figure to lose a couple of players during TC or Pre-season.

Fact is, they *could* carry eleven rookies, but it just isn't a good situation to have so many inexperienced players on the roster. You could lose a game early in the year that keeps you from making the playoffs.

KY Pats Fan said:

don't know how you can lump all of those guys together. Ruud was on IR last year but by all accounts he is smart (BB trait) and is a tough player. Redd did a servicable job for being a rookie. Tank was hurt last year but BB must think that he has some potential to bring him back in this year. And BJGE, he had a terrific 5 or 6 game run last year when the Pats needed him. No need to throw these guys under the bus so quickly.

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I don't believe he is throwing them under the bus, simply stating where we could use upgrades still. It's a very relevant post in regards to the draft coming up, and where any of those guys could possibly upgrade. One thing BB is adamant about is providing superior depth, it also promotes better positional competition--which is what we want. That's one reason that a lot of other teams pick up our guys that get pushed out, not because anyone's saying their no good, but because we simply upgraded.

But I agree that some, if not a lot of those guys have potential--so I can see where you're coming from. He's just pointing out which positions can be upgraded.

Lamanai said:

Don't forget injuries...They strike all players, fringe or not. Figure to lose a couple of players during TC or Pre-season.

Fact is, they *could* carry eleven rookies, but it just isn't a good situation to have so many inexperienced players on the roster. You could lose a game early in the year that keeps you from making the playoffs.

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Fact is if 5 or 6 make it, that would still be great--really don't see more than that, but that's just my opinion. It just depends on how BB and the coaches feel about the potential of some of those guys on the list, vs. some of the new rookies. You can pretty much throw in a 'surprise' sort of cut too almost every year. It's all about how we stand depth-wise.

That's why I'm somewhat of a defender of the 07 draft still, because even though we didn't keep hardly any guys, we still accomplished what was needed that yr, which is obvious by the record and SB appearance. We still had some decent depth even last yr too, even despite the crazy and unusual amount of injuries--as we still finished in the top 10 on defense, and were competitive down the stretch.

I doubt there will be 11 rookies, i think BB will use some of them to either trade up or trade for some 2010 picks.

I definetly seeing one of the second rounds being traded.

Rossmci90 said:

I doubt there will be 11 rookies, i think BB will use some of them to either trade up or trade for some 2010 picks.

I definetly seeing one of the second rounds being traded.

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Unless he's packaging 2 of them to move up in this draft, I hope you're wrong on this one.

Deus Irae said:

Unless he's packaging 2 of them to move up in this draft, I hope you're wrong on this one.

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Exactly... there's tremendous value in the second round here.

You can also add Tully Banta-Cain to players that can be replaced. TBC is no lock to make the roster.

KY Pats Fan said:

And BJGE, he had a terrific 5 or 6 game run last year when the Pats needed him.

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To the tune of 3.7 ypc against a handful of bad run defences? The only games where he wasn't flat out terrible were against Buffalo and Denver. He's JAG. Replacement level. Kyle Eckle 2.0. I'd say hes the most likely on the team to be replaced, just as a cost savings, and on the chance you get someone with a little more upside. He'll be replaced by a 6th or 7th, or UDFA.


As far as Redd and Rudd, I don't think they get replaced, although there is a chance for competition. They're both too young, and have shown enough promise that they're worth being given a shot.

T-ShirtDynasty said:

Exactly... there's tremendous value in the second round here.

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And everyone knows that, so they will have that value. Getting a mid first next year for a mid 2nd this year isn't out of the question.

Synovia said:

And everyone knows that, so they will have that value. Getting a mid first next year for a mid 2nd this year isn't out of the question.

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Excellent point. Its not whether there is a lot of value in the 2nd round its whether BB feels the value there is as high as who he is trading with.
If no one thinks there is value, you never get trades (ie top 5 picks now) but when everyone sees value, trades happen. When trades happen BB is usually in the mix.

mgteich said:

We could still decide to find a roster player by signing free agents or trading for players. However, as of now, we are looking to the draft. All the players below could be upgraded.

RB BJGE
OLB Redd
DE Smith
SS Williams
FS Spann
OG Yates
ILB Ruud
QB Gutierrez
P Hanson

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There are more than that. You don't list a WR and we certainly could draft a WR that could make the team. Same with OT. Either of those spots could easily be considered a possibiloity wihtin the first 4 rounds, and a WR or OT taken in the first 4 is very, very likely to make the team.
TBC would also be upgradable. There is no certainty that Wilhite would beat out any rookie we drafted.
Slater is surely upgradable. I haven't even looked at a roster, and found all of these off the top of my head.
We will also have players placed on IR during camp that will open up spots.
In a PERFECT draft we could absolutely draft 11 guys who all make the team.
The issue is who and when we draft them. A 7th round OT isn't likely to make the team, but a 7th round punter, QB, WR (with s/t ability), maybe a safety with s/t ability, or even a RB (why wouldn't we be able to pick a guy better than BJGE if we found him too?) or LB could stick.
If the most unlikely upgradable spots are the earliest picks, and we fill in the weakest spots with late rounders the # that could make the team is much higher.

I think the most important point is that there is absolutely no question that at every slot we pick in there are players who will available who can make the team. We may or may not pick one, but all of the picks have that potential value.
The truth is from May until September you find out whether you drafted an NFL player or not. 95% of what a player becomes happens after you draft him and the intangibles (call it what Tom Brady has and Dave Stachelski doesnt). I think the LIKLIHOOD of 11 draft picks making the team is low, but there absolutely will be players capable of making the team on the board at each pick, its just a matter of what the ones we choose do with the opportunity.

Rossmci90 said:

I doubt there will be 11 rookies, i think BB will use some of them to either trade up or trade for some 2010 picks.

I definetly seeing one of the second rounds being traded.

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I hope so.

That has worked out so well for us in the past. We got Wilfork and Mayo by trading into next year, alkong with some other collateral picks.

KY Pats Fan said:

don't know how you can lump all of those guys together.

No need to throw these guys under the bus so quickly.

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They are the bottom end of the roster, don't you agree?

The Pats have six picks in rounds 1-3, and who do you think will lose their jobs when the early draft picks take up a roster spot on countdown day?

They all did well, and some will stick, but some will surely be replaced. BJGE did okay when called on, but if a top RB is available in round 2 or 3, do you really think that BJGE will beat him out? If so, great, but I think a high draft pick RB will cost him his job.

Likewise, first and second round LK draft picks are going to result in cuts of the above list.

The whole list won't go, obviously, but some surely will. It isn't throwing them under the bus, just saying that they are the guys who will likely get cut do to better players being drafted.