What is a BB draft without a few WTF moments. I guess we should be used to it by now. But its still always painful to watch, even when the end results have been so consistently good over the years. So for what it's worth here are my draft thoughts now that THIS part of the team building process is over.
1. For now I'm going to let BB's selections stand on their own merits. What I find interesting is what they tell us about what he thinks of his team and where it needs help.
a, The lack of serious picks at WR and DB's tells me he's happier with what he has at the WR and Safety spots than many here are. Don't sleep on Nate Ebner. He has all the measurables to be the so called SS everyone here seems to be demanding. Remember this is really only his 3rd season playing the position. Perhaps BB is happy with his development.
b. One can easily infer that all the picks on the OL could mean that he's not as happy with his OL situation as I thought he was. All those picks COULD mean that he's worried about Volmer's recovery from his ankle break. He isn't really thrilled about the prospect of a Connolly/Wendell RG/C combination. But then again who is.
c. The thing that struck me the most of those picks were that ALL these guys are BIG. In the past the Pats have prospered using relatively undersized, athletic OLmen. I have to wonder if drafting all this strength and size signals a departure from this strategy. Are me moving on, not only from Dante, but his philosophy? Are we now going from a "zone blocking" team to a more "power blocking" team?
d. At any rate TC will be more interesting this season. The OL competition is going to be fierce. I only can hope that in this TC, the OL will practice closer to the stands so we can actually get to see what's going on.
e The lack of a LB is also telling. On the surface it seems like we are pretty much lacking in LB depth. This might tell us how BB feels about the LB position in general, More and more it seems like the LB position is becoming devalued as defenses focus more on the DL and DB's configurations.
Back in the 3-4 days, BB would routinely carry 9 LBs on his roster, sometimes even 10. Now he might not even carry 6, if you don't count guys like Ninko. I mean how often are the Pat going to have 3 LB's on the field. The fact is that they are going to be in a "sub package" over 60% of the time, and in 90% of those "sub packages" only 2 LB's are going to be on the field. For that reason I won't be a bit surprise if the Pats end up carrying only 5 "true" LB's on their final 53 man roster. And that COULD be the reason the Pats didn't draft any LB's
2. Why no TE. If there was ONE universally agreed upon fact from both the media and the fans was that the Pats should take a TE in the first 3 rounds. Well 7 rounds have gone by and we still haven't added one. Why? Here are a couple of suppositions
a. He didn't like the players who were available to him at the time
b. He had a player that he wanted, but he was gone. Of the top 5 TE's only CJ Fedorowicz was available when the Pats chose at #62, and he was gone 3 picks later. Perhaps BB felt that the TE's who were left weren't any better than Hooman or DJ Williams
c. Maybe the speculation that the 2 TE phenomenon was more of a BOB thing than a Josh thing is right, and the Pats will use more 3 WR sets this year as a base so there is no need to carry 4 TE's.
d. They really like Mark Harrison to fill that "move TE role"
e. Gronk's health issues are being overstated
f. Keller will soon be a Patriot
g. Any and all of those things could be facts that led to us not drafting a TE
3. While this draft might not be filled with Fantasy Football future All Stars, the Pats first pick could very well be the single most impactful defensive player the Pats have drafted in years. Here's why I think this.
a. The single biggest threat to today's complex and prolific passing offenses is the threat of an effective interior pass rush. A heavy push up the middle disrupts timing and forces QB's to make short quick less accurate throws. It gets the QB "off his spot" and forces him into your outside rush.
b. The problem is that finding players who have that that skill set is rare. So rare that an undersized, short armed, DT from Pittsburgh was the 13th overall pick in the draft.
c. Now what has me so jacked up about this pick is the more that I read about Easly the more it becomes apparent that he has the potential to be the BEST interior rusher in this draft. Even better than Donald.
d. Easly has a skill set that the Pats haven't had in the entire BB era. I think he will be a dynamic presence in the Pats defense from the first game one.
e. And yes I am aware that he might be a liability in the run game, but only if you expect him to be effective 2 gaping or against double teams. A great coach plays to a player's strengths and doesn't ask him to do what he obviously can't. Fortunately that's one of BB's strengths, so I don't worry about Easly's lack of size that much. I trust that BB will only put him in positions to succeed.
4, Easly was the good news, now for the bad. I'm sorry, but even a day later, I CANNOT justify the Garapollo pick. Unless Brady has informed the Pats that he's only going to play 2 more years, it can't be justified. All I know is that the Pats picked a guy with the 62nd pick who isn't going to take a significant snap for them until the 2017 season.....and that's the best case scenario.
Even if the kid turns out to be the 2nd coming of Aaron Rogers, it doesn't make sense today, tomorrow or for the next 3 years. There were just so many solid prospects out there who could have contributed immediately and be potential starters with a couple of years. With that pick we could have take Fiedorowicz TE, Marcus Martin C, Crichton DE, etc. Even a WR at that spot would have been preferable IMHO ( and you all know how I feel about WR's in this draft
). So instead of a player who might actually play a few significant snaps before 2017, we get a guy who most significant contribution the next 3 years will be to play the "athletic QB" on scout teams, and to bring Brady is coffee for the QB meetings.
Christ if they felt the need to pick a QB this year, they could have had their choice of some great ones much later on. Logan Thomas would have made much more sense because he probably needs 3 years to develop and in the meantime he could have at least played on ST's or become a TE.
This pick might make just a LITTLE sense if the Pats somehow trade Mallett for a 2015 pick before the season starts. But as of now it makes no sense at all, even on a roster basis. We now need an extra roster space for a QB, which means its likely that one of the offensive linemen we drafted will be cut because we will only be able to carry 8 OLmen instead of the 9 we'd carry if we only had 2 QB's on the 53 man roster.
5. As for the rest of the draft, who knows. We have gotten some very good value at the bottom of the roster recently, But as of this moment, they are all just camp fodder until proven differently. I will be surprised if more than 4 of these picks make the 53 man roster. I only expect 2 to eventually be full time starters (Easly and Stork) by the 2015 season.
BOTTOM LINE - My excitement about Easly can't overcome the lack of an addition of a significant other pick in this draft. Beyond my HOPE that Stork can become the starting C in another year, I really doubt that any of the rest of these picks will ever be more than back up players on this team. Grade C-
BTW- The draft is one one aspect of the team building process, and while, except for Easly, this draft was a big disappointment, I remain EXTREMELY excited and optimistic about the 2014 version of our New England Patriots
