What Draft Picks Will Make the Team (Roster Projection)

QB (3): Tom Brady, Ryan Mallett, Jimmy Garappolo
RB (4): Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, Brandon Bolden, James White
WR (6): Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Brandon LaFell, Aaron Dobson, Kenbrell Thompkins, Josh Boyce
TE (3): Rob Gronkowski, Hooman, James Develin
OL (9): Nate Solder, Sebastian Vollmer, Marcus Cannon, Cameron Fleming, Logan Mankins, Jon Halapio, Bryan Stork, Dan Connolly
DL (9): Vince Wilfork, Tommy Kelly, Chris Jones, Sealver Sealiga, Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Will Smith, Michael Buchanan
LB (5): Jerod Mayo, Donta Hightower, Jamie Collins, James Anderson, Steve Beauharnais
S (5): Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Tavon Wilson, Nate Ebner, Patrick Chung
CB (5): Darrelle Revis, Alfonzo Dennard, Logan Ryan, Kyle Arrington, Jemea Thomas
ST (4): Stephen Gostowski, Ryan Allen, Danny Aiken, Matt Slater

PUP(2): Dom Easley, Jeremy Gallon (major steal in a few years)
SUSP (1): Brandon Browner
PS (8): Roy Finch, Stephen Houston, Asa Watson, Justin Jones, Braxston Cave, Zach Moore, Daxton Swanson, Travis Hawkins

Crazy how people say our window is closing, I get it because who knows how many more years TB12 and BB have but this a young team with a lot of young depth that will be eventual stars

Still hate the OL and Garappolo picks. I did like all the others though. I still maintain that this last draft was a terrible wasted opportunity to upgrade with some serious talent. We shall see. Maybe the OL guys will be the missing pieces of the puzzle.

I too hated the Garappolo & OL picks. Halapio in particular has looked terrible. He might just be
the most unathletic OLman whom Bill has ever drafted, if not has ever had on his team. Sux that
John Urschel was taken by the Ratbirds 4 picks earlier, but there were still much better OLmen
available at 179 than this injury-prone blob. I thought that Stork was over-drafted at 105; if I had
to choose a Center there, I would've chosen Russell Bodine. And Cameron Fleming wasn't even the
best OLman on his own damn team still available when he was taken.

Anyway, here are my predictions (subject to change, of course):

Easley - makes it, though if he isn't off PUP by the Eagles game then all bets are off

Garappolo - makes it

Stork - makes it, depending on the severity of his injury

White - makes it

Fleming - makes it only because he's the only non-starter capable of playing OT if Cannon starts at RG

Halapio - does not make it unless he drastically improves. There's gotta be better options at backup
Guard than him

Zach Moore - might depend on the progress, if any, of Jake the Fake Bequette for the 5th DE spot

Jemea Thomas - thought he was a lock before his injury; now faces uphill climb

Jeremy Tiny Gallon - see Jemea Thomas above.

JerseyShore99 said:

QB (3): Tom Brady, Ryan Mallett, Jimmy Garappolo
RB (4): Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, Brandon Bolden, James White
WR (6): Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Brandon LaFell, Aaron Dobson, Kenbrell Thompkins, Josh Boyce
TE (3): Rob Gronkowski, Hooman, James Develin
OL (9): Nate Solder, Sebastian Vollmer, Marcus Cannon, Cameron Fleming, Logan Mankins, Jon Halapio, Bryan Stork, Dan Connolly
DL (9): Vince Wilfork, Tommy Kelly, Chris Jones, Sealver Sealiga, Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Will Smith, Michael Buchanan
LB (5): Jerod Mayo, Donta Hightower, Jamie Collins, James Anderson, Steve Beauharnais
S (5): Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Tavon Wilson, Nate Ebner, Patrick Chung
CB (5): Darrelle Revis, Alfonzo Dennard, Logan Ryan, Kyle Arrington, Jemea Thomas
ST (4): Stephen Gostowski, Ryan Allen, Danny Aiken, Matt Slater

PUP(2): Dom Easley, Jeremy Gallon (major steal in a few years)
SUSP (1): Brandon Browner
PS (8): Roy Finch, Stephen Houston, Asa Watson, Justin Jones, Braxston Cave, Zach Moore, Daxton Swanson, Travis Hawkins

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My only differences would be;

1. 6th LB instead of Chung and Ebner. I think they're too repetitive and we just keep 1 of them.
Want to watch pre-season before I pick my guy. My reasoning is that Hightower is going to play LDE in our nickel and just want an extra LB instead of SS.

2. You have 9 OL but only 8 listed. Kline would be my 9th. Wouldn't shock me if we keep Wendell. But, I wouldn't.

3. Same as OL, you have 9 but only 8 listed. I'll just say Easley plays week 1. Hoping we can get Moore on the practice squad by offering more than the minimum.

Reports indicate Swanson is looking good. He might beat out Thomas. My backup safeties are Wilson and Chung. I'd really like to upgrade that. Would prob waive both. Put Gallon and Thomas on the IR. Bring both Chung and Wilson back if we can't upgrade. But, will be scanning the waiver wire. To keep Gaffney would prob waive Bolden and then IR Gaffney. Bring Bolden back after he clears.

captain stone said:

I too hated the Garappolo & OL picks.

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I was fine with Garoppolo, but I'll admit I'm skeptical on the OLs too. The Stork pick made some sense...he was my 2nd rated center left on the board after Urschel, and was clearly readier. The other two, meh. I've never been a believer in the "road grader," but I hope to be proven wrong.

FWIW, my initial draft reactions broke down something like this...

Awesome, that's a guy I really like: Easley, White, Moore

OK, I get it: Garoppolo, Stork

Yawn, whateva: Thomas, Gallon

Bad feeling about this: Fleming, Hilapio

But of course, my initial draft reactions have seldom amounted to anything!

Don't worry, many of Bill's initial draft reactions have seldom amounted to anything either.

Feeling better about the Garoppolo pick now that he is showing some signs of competence. On the other side I'm hating the Mallett pick even more 4 years later due to his lack of growth and inability to get any sort of compensation for riding the bench all this time.

Easley I am very excited about but am starting to realize he is probably not going to be a stud overnight.

I was high on the Stork pick and thought it wouldn't take much to usurp Wendell. Instead it looks like Connolly is gonna do it for him. Not a good time to be injured rookie. He makes it and hopefully shows improvement over the course of the rest of training camp into the season.

Hallapio and Flemming just seem like big ogres to me out there. Why they are moving away from what has worked for a long time? I see the offensive line as this teams Achilles heal thus far and it really irks me. The team finally has seemed to get a good secondary together and now it is looking like another dike in the dam has sprung. I'm not pushing the panic button yet but it just isn't looking good right now. Especially when you hear rumblings of your starting LT struggling and no news of your RT who is suppose to be returning from a serious injury.

James White seems to be one of the better picks. Watch Ridley have a rebound season and relegate him to the pine. At least until his first fumble anyway.

Zach Moore is probably a lock and comes as no surprise considering his raw athletic talent. How much he plays depends on how fast he can pick up the defense.

can i get tuipulotu in there?

Patriot Missile said:

I'm hating the Mallett pick even more 4 years later due to his lack of growth and inability to get any sort of compensation for riding the bench all this time.

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Not me.

I hated that stupid-@$$ Pick as much as was humanly possible the moment it was made.

And I said so.

LOUDLY.

Who wants to talk about that brilliant Tavon Wilson Pick??

Patriot Missile said:

I'm hating the Mallett pick even more 4 years later due to his lack of growth and inability to get any sort of compensation for riding the bench all this time.

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The biggest problem with the Mallett pick was that, for various reasons, the Patriots were either unwilling or unable to get Mallett experience. We've literally never seen him with the first team offense, so how can we really say what he is or isn't capable of?

Off The Grid said:

Not me.

I hated that stupid-@$$ Pick as much as was humanly possible the moment it was made.

And I said so.

LOUDLY.

Who wants to talk about that brilliant Tavon Wilson Pick??

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I was the biggest fan of our '09 draft class, look dumb as **** right about now

Updated list:

Easley - yes

Garoppolo - yes

Stork - yes; I would've said no a couple of days ago.

White - yes

Fleming - yes; I'm glad that he has started taking reps at RG; could the better look be Fleming at RG,
and Cannon remain as the Swing Tackle?

Halapio - no; as of now, I think he's behind Kline, but if he plays well v Carolina, then Bill might
change his mind.

Z Moore - not yet; as of now, I think he's still behind W Smith, but if he plays well v Carolina…

J Thomas - no; unless only 1 of Chung, Ebner & T Wilson is kept, and if he plays well v Carolina…

Gallon - no, unless Boyce is waived and he becomes the 6th WR while Tyms is suspended. I'd rather see Gallon waived/signed to the PS and Boyce given 4 more weeks to show something.

captain stone said:

Updated list:

Easley - yes

Garoppolo - yes

Stork - yes; I would've said no a couple of days ago.

White - yes

Fleming - yes; I'm glad that he has started taking reps at RG; could the better look be Fleming at RG,
and Cannon remain as the Swing Tackle?

Halapio - no; as of now, I think he's behind Stork, but if he plays well v Carolina, then Bill might
change his mind.

Z Moore - not yet; as of now, I think he's still behind W Smith, but if he plays well v Carolina…

J Thomas - no; unless only 1 of Chung, Ebner & T Wilson is kept, and if he plays well v Carolina…

Gallon - no, unless Boyce is waived and he becomes the 6th WR while Tyms is suspended. I'd rather see
Gallon waived/signed to the PS and Boyce given 4 more weeks to show something.

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This all seems reasonable, yet my gut still says that Moore makes the team. I know he's not nearly ready to contribute, but I like the rate at which he's learning and improving.

Your gut seems to have been proven correct regarding Moore.

Updated list 2.0 -

Easley, Garoppolo, White, Fleming, Moore - all Yes.

Stork - Yes, unless the next few days show Bill that he's still not ready anytime soon.

Halapio - still No, but he's a lot closer to Yes than he was at this time yesterday.

Thomas - No, obviously; very disappointing that he didn't even make it to final cuts.

Gallon - still No, mainly due to a numbers crunch at the RB/TE/WR positions.

captain stone said:

Your gut seems to have been proven correct regarding Moore.

Updated list 2.0 -

Easley, Garoppolo, White, Fleming, Moore - all Yes.

Stork - Yes, unless the next few days show Bill that he's still not ready anytime soon.

Halapio - still No, but he's a lot closer to Yes than he was at this time yesterday.

Thomas - No, obviously; very disappointing that he didn't even make it to final cuts.

Gallon - still No, mainly due to a numbers crunch at the RB/TE/WR positions.

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I have not been impressed with the Barker, Cave, Halapio trio on the interior of the offensive line.

ATippett56 said:

I have not been impressed with the Barker, Cave, Halapio trio on the interior of the offensive line.

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Belichick started out to improve the aging, interior Offensive line.

He had the three fairly good incumbents, good enough to win with, returning: Mankins, Wendell, Connolly
Plus the prime existing reserves: Cannon Kline
Plus Draftees: Stork, Fleming Halapio
Plus PS developing candidates: Dever, Barker, Cave

That makes 11 players from which to draw. But two were in their thirties, and the line was judged as having a sub-par last season.

As the TC period is ending, He has traded one of the thirty plus year olds; and seemingly relegated the other thirty plus year old to interim nanny status, as Stork is groomed for the NFL. The other remaining incumbent, just entering his prime, is a tough hard-nose, but just undersized. He seems destined to be a spare tire reserve, and good depth.

It is not clear who the three newcomer starters are going to be, but some sorting has taken place. Both incumbent reserves are producing, Kline and Cannon.

Two of the draftees appear to have chances in Stork and Fleming.

One of the PS guys seems to be stepping forward in Dever.

The others seem to be good enough to merit PS status and may develop in the future in Cave, Barker and Halapio.

It seems to this observer that the interior rebuilding is incomplete, but going well. Three respectable starters should easily be found amongst these candidates and two out of three even may eventually achieve stardom.

So far:

- Dominique Easley played 26 snaps in the Miami game, and 30 snaps against Minnesota, with an interception, despite not playing in a game in the preseason. He's been used at the 0/1, 3, and 5 techniques, and has shown good effort and has generated some pressure. BB has said that he is ahead of expectations, and has good smarts and work ethic.

- Cameron Fleming played 26 productive snaps (including one non-play that was a PI in favor of the Pats) against Minnesota, lining up mostly at TE and as an extra lineman in jumbo packages. That included 11 rushes of 4 yards or more and 0 for negative yardage, 3/3 completion on play action passes, plus the PI against Minnesota on another play action attempt. BB has publicly lauded Fleming's smarts and work ethic, and said he is happy how quickly he is coming on.

- Jimmy Garoppolo made Ryan Mallett expendable as he won the #2 QB job in training camp and made us all take back our horror at using a 2nd round pick on a QB. I think we all don't want to see him on the field much any time soon, regardless.

- Brian Stork looked quite respectable in the pre-season, and in his limited time against Minnesota, showing good power and the ability to take on NTs. It's not unreadable to imagine him claiming the starting OC job sometime later this season or by next year.

- Zack Moore made the team, against many people's predictions. He hasn't done anything yet, but just making the team was a good start.

- James White got rave reviews in OTAs and practices and has done nothing on the field to date. He's a work in progress.

It's very early, but so far not a bad start for the 2014 draft crop.

I wonder if Fleming can play RG.

If Solder & Vollmer remain healthy, then RG is exactly where I see Fleming's future.