Welcome to the New England Patriots Jordan Richards

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss 9m9 minutes ago
Bill Belichick on Jordan Richards (2nd): "Plays both strong safety & free safety. Real productive. A guy you'll like having around here."

Deus Irae said:

Yes, you whine about disagreement in the real world. I'm not sure that's something you should be proud of.

Oddly enough, other forums are able to do it differently.

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Another time Deus. I'm not in the mood.

Deus Irae said:

I figured you were either trolling, a dupe, or both. Thanks for the confirmation. Welcome to the ignore list.

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You come at the king, you best not miss

Now you know that

The people already declaring him a bad pick need to pull their heads out of their asses.

Devil's Advocate...

Jordan Richards

• Height: 5' 11"
• Weight: 211
• Arm Length: 32½"
• Hand Size: 9⅜"
• 10 Yard Dash: 1.63
• 40 Yard Dash: 4.65
• Bench Press: 13
• Vertical Jump: 32"
• Broad Jump: 111"
• 3 Cone Drill: 6.74
• 20 Yard Shuttle: 4.22

Calvin Pryor

• Height: 5' 11"
• Weight: 207
• Arm Length: 31⅜"
• Hand Size: 9⅛"
• 10 Yard Dash: 1.59
• 40 Yard Dash: 4.58
• Bench Press: 18
• Vertical Jump: 34½"
• Broad Jump: 116"
• 3 Cone Drill: 6.98*
• 20 Yard Shuttle: 4.30*

I have no problem with them picking a safety if they think the value is there, screw the mock drafts, even if it's a weak class and even if there are interesting players available in areas of needs. It's important to have a intelligent player in the backfield reading and calling the plays whom you can trust, even if he's not the most talented guy available.

The problem that I have with this pick is that he's too undersized. NFL offenses are going with the tall guys and they are becoming more and more physical, you can't combat that with small framed guys. We saw how important is having two physical corners back there. Imagine a playoff game against Baltimore again, jumpball Joe will love it.

Gator Mike said:

Devil's Advocate...

Jordan Richards

• Height: 5' 11"
• Weight: 211
• Arm Length: 32½"
• Hand Size: 9⅜"
• 10 Yard Dash: 1.63
• 40 Yard Dash: 4.65
• Bench Press: 13
• Vertical Jump: 32"
• Broad Jump: 111"
• 3 Cone Drill: 6.74
• 20 Yard Shuttle: 4.22

Calvin Pryor

• Height: 5' 11"
• Weight: 207
• Arm Length: 31⅜"
• Hand Size: 9⅛"
• 10 Yard Dash: 1.59
• 40 Yard Dash: 4.58
• Bench Press: 18
• Vertical Jump: 34½"
• Broad Jump: 116"
• 3 Cone Drill: 6.98*
• 20 Yard Shuttle: 4.30*

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BBBBBBBBBut, my nfl draft guide had him as a 6th rounder! Wahhhhhh this is inexusable!

Deus Irae said:

Others don't take your approach.

Look, we can both certainly agree on two things:

1. BB is excellent in round 1, at least arguably never missing during his Patriots tenure
2. As is to be expected, BB hits on less than half of his picks after round 1

Given those, why on Earth should it be so evil to question BB's picks (at least after the first round) that the homers have to try stopping all negative discussion? They sure as hell don't take the same approach when it's positive discussion, after all.

And why the hell do we have to go through this conversation every damn year?

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"why the hell do we have to go through this conversation very year" is accurate. However, I think it can be taken further. I suspect we can all agree BB does drafting his own way, and I think every year there is a "reach". So if BB does this every year, why do we have the same conversation every year about "why did he reach!!"? It's akin to saying "why is he so damn stoic and terse!" after he holds a press conference. It's such a well established M.O. of BB it's hard to contemplate being continually upset about it (not directed at you).

A different approach to 'giving (fill in Coach or GM name) the benefit of the doubt' is certainly defensible. I'd say that's the holy grail of NFL fan-dom. Yet given BB's track record in W's, giving him the benefit of the doubt in matters of uncertain NFL decision making, such as drafting, seems s very high and defensible perch.

Gator Mike said:

Devil's Advocate...

Jordan Richards

• Height: 5' 11"
• Weight: 211
• Arm Length: 32½"
• Hand Size: 9⅜"
• 
  
• 40 Yard Dash: 4.65
• 
  
• Vertical Jump: 32"
• 
  
• 3 Cone Drill: 6.74

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Ran a 4.48 at his pro day and improved his vertical to 34.5"
3-cone time was top 3 for DB's ...

glm said:

The people already declaring him a bad pick need to pull their heads out of their asses.

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five words.... unsound use of draft capital. It might've made more sense for BB to go after higher rated talent, rather than possibly squander his 2nd round pick on a player projected to go in the 6th... It's not so much the player that's the problem, but the slot in the draft where he was chosen that is raising eye brows

primetime said:

I just don't see how anyone can defend a reach pick of a defensive back after Wilson and Harmon.

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/sarc on
Last time I looked both Tavon Wilson and Duran Harmon both made the Patriots final 53 multiple years.

Big busts aren't they?
/sarc off

PATSNUTme said:

The more I read about him the more he reminds me of Rodney, who was a mid round pick. We will just have to see how he does on the field rather than the draft "rankings".

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Rodney was quick enough to play some CB, all foot speed issues notwithstanding. I think he routinely played nickel (I presume slot) CB in SD, and of course he played CB for one legendary playoff game in NYC.

I came to the conclusion a long time ago, that the Patriots draft board does not sync with the talking heads that are ranking all players. We have 9 CB and 5 safeties on the roster. McCourty, Chung, Harmon, Wilson, Ebner. It looks like Richards is a hard hitting SS that lacks coverage skills but plays better in zone coverage.
Looks like Belichick wanted to add depth and competition at the SS position. Chung originally was a 2nd round pick of the Patriots too.

TheBostonStraggler said:

"why the hell do we have to go through this conversation very year" is accurate. However, I think it can be taken further. I suspect we can all agree BB does drafting his own way, and I think every year there is a "reach". So if BB does this every year, why do we have the same conversation every year about "why did he reach!!"? It's akin to saying "why is he so damn stoic and terse!" after he holds a press conference. It's such a well established M.O. of BB it's hard to contemplate being continually upset about it (not directed at you).

A different approach to 'giving (fill in Coach or GM name) the benefit of the doubt' is certainly defensible. I'd say that's the holy grail of NFL fan-dom. Yet given BB's track record in W's, giving him the benefit of the doubt in matters of uncertain NFL decision making, such as drafting, seems s very high and defensible perch.

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The "W's" is an example of arguing/appealing to authority. It's a fallacious argument. This is about drafted players.

Look, every year they hold a draft. Every year there will be discussion about players drafted: that's what a sports forum is all about, after all. Given that BB is not 100% in selecting players who make it in the NFL, it should be obvious, and acceptable, to even the most mind-numbed homer that discussion of said players might include comments that go beyond naked shilling for the team, even to the point of open dislike and criticism of said selection choices.

And, for the record, I was quite fine with last night's pick, and have not commented on either player drafted tonight.

Chiuba E. Obele said:

five words.... unsound use of draft capital. It might've made more sense for BB to go after higher rated talent, rather than possibly squander his 2nd round pick on a player projected to go in the 6th... It's not so much the player that's the problem, but the slot in the draft where he was chosen that is raising eye brows

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We won't be able to assess that until some post-draft reporting gives us a sense of where he really would have gone if the Patriots didn't take him. All it takes is for two teams to rate you at a spot in the draft and you might go there. If four or so teams rate you somewhere then you become pretty likely to go near that spot.

Chiuba E. Obele said:

five words.... unsound use of draft capital. It might've made more sense for BB to go after higher rated talent, rather than possibly squander his 2nd round pick on a player projected to go in the 6th... It's not so much the player that's the problem, but the slot in the draft where he was chosen that is raising eye brows

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But that's the point. Who's the "higher rated talent"? BB notoriously has really short draft boards. Richards probably was the "higher rated talent".

Sfpat said:

Vollmer was a good pick as several teams were rumored to want him in the third round so BB had to move. I never heard of any team having interest in Tavon Wilson anywhere close to the 2nd round and so far haven't heard of anyone with interest in Richards this early

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I didn't hear those Vollmer rumors before the draft. So it's too early to judge whether similar ones will emerge about Richards.

Hercules Rockefeller said:

Duron Harmon was the 91st pick in the draft. That is a time when teams start thinking about drafting the elite kickers and punters. It's very hard to reach at the 91st pick in the draft.

Harmon is seen as a good enough player by the league's best coaching staff that he was in the game in the final minute of the Super Bowl. The 89th and 95th picks in the same draft didn't even make it to the 1st game of their second season on the roster.

The expectations that people have are wildly unrealistic and borderline delusional. They also reflect a complete lack of knowledge or acknowledgement of the draft results of every other team in the league.

The idea that Duron Harmon was a reach because a draft website says so is funny enough, but he has shown that he can play in the league as well or better than a bunch of players who were drafted right around when he was.

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Agreed. It's OK to say that Harmon wasn't a great, amazing home-run pick, because he's never been a starter, and hasn't made many big plays. But calling him a bust or any kind of bad pick is pretty silly.

Huh. His teammates call him "Coach Richards"... maybe that's a hint about what BB sees in him. There's a lot of speculation around BB spending a 2nd round pick to play Special Teams. I'm pretty sure "Coach Richards" projects to be a starter on the Pats draft board.

Should we be surprised that the media scouts have a different draft profile than the Patriots do at SS? To me, the results speak for themselves. Bill always has a plan.