Patriots draft "grades"

Well you know it doesn't take more than an hour after the draft for the"experts" to grade the draft. Even though it really means nothing, I'm a bit surprised that the Patriots got as high marks as they did, given the comments here and elsewhere.
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/5/...lliams-dolphins-devante-parker-patriots-bills

What bugs me just a little, is how team need speculation is such a big part of these Draft grades.

Yes we lost Revis, but come on, Belichick is perfectly justified as the coach and GM in choosing not to pick up a CB up in this draft with the last pick of every round.

These Draft grades should reflect the players actually graded and not so much on the players not drafted -imho of course.

Every year, 90% of the teams get an A or B. The teams that don't are those who "reached" for someone according to the amateur beliefs of wannabe draft experts, or those who didn't fill a "team need" according to the amateur beliefs of wannabe GMs.

The odds are that most of these guys will bust, so luck is a huge factor, positional needs are almost never the same from one year to the next, and NFL teams pour in millions of dollars for scouting and investigators, while guys like Kiper and McShay go to Staples to buy an eraser board on their 70k salaries.

The mock drafts and "grades" are good entertainment; the post-draft "scores" that take place before these guys have even put on pads....insulting to one's intelligence.

In my opinion, the teams who you can say "won" the draft just based on what we know at the moment are those who created the most value by using real science rather than the Jimmie Johnson chart (in other words, typically a trade down of an overvalued high pick for a ransom) and those teams who drafted one or more QBs, since the draft still hasn't caught up with the positional value yet. Hitting a quarterback is like hitting on 6-7 other positions, whole missing on a quarterback is just one miss. I would advocate drafting 2-3 QBs, per draft for teams without a franchise QB. Until you get one, none of your other draft picks really matter much.

CBS graded the Colts first round WR pick as an A. Enough said.

VectorPrime said:

CBS graded the Colts first round WR pick as an A. Enough said.

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They also graded Mariota as a C- and Gurley as a C+.

Well, Adam Jones on 98.5 has ruled the draft a bust, although he allows the first pick was ok. Personally though, he would have traded up cause 'why do you need 11 guys?'

FYI, I averaged out the grades in the link from the 5 different sites, and the grades come down as such:

Miami earned between a B+ and an A-
New York earned a B+
New England earned between a B- and a B
Buffalo earned a C

So, next time you hear that BB screwed the pooch and the mystical magical Maccagnan is a certified Draft Wizard, know that not even the "expert opinions" back that up, overall.

My official "spoiled Pats fan who wished BB drafted all my binkies after I spent all that time watching draft breakdown vids" grade is a B.

Rounds 1 and 4 were outstanding and earn easy A's. The rest of the draft is uhm...ah... In Bill I Trust.

My heart sank watching Odighizuwa, Clemmings, Smelter, Hardison, McBride, and Shepherd come off the board.

It was a typical BB draft in which I throw my hands up in the air like a spoiled child who didn't get the Happy Meal toy I wanted and vowed to give up on caring about the draft.... 20 minutes later I was doing research on all the picks I knew next to nothing about and trying to figure out how BB is going to use them. It's pretty much an annual ritual, and after all these years I wouldn't have it any other way.

My general response toward immediate draft gradings from people who want teams to do what they want them to do is meh.

"On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson or the second-best tackle in the draft in Kenyatta Walker, they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who had 1 sack last season in the pass-happy SEC and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten the last decent receiver in Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon."
-Ron Borges, 2001

I remember the Pats getting bad grades in 2010 because McCourty was a special teamer who would never be more than a back up (many experts felt Belichick should have taken Kyle Wilson over him), Gronk may be done because his back, and Spikes was waste because he was too slow and couldn't fit into the Patriots' system.

I also remember the Pats' 2006 draft being universally loved because Maroney was a dynamic player and Chad Jackson was like getting a first round talent in the second round. Experts thought Jeremy Mincey and Le Kevin Smith were great values in the sixth. People loved Dave Thomas and Garrett Mills where the Pats drafted him.

My point is that evaluations just after the draft mean nothing.

I think its fun. We all know how meaningless this all is, but you can't deny we all felt pride when all the pundits told us what a steal Brown was. Just like we all cringed and thought to ourselves "WTF, not again" when Jordan Richards name fell from Ty Law's lips. Then of course we all had our binkies that we'd invested time and effort into and , and no one can be happy when YOUR binky isn't BB's. , and he doesn't draft him even when he's available

But again, THAT is all the stuff that makes the draft fun. It has NOTHING to do with the building of a football team, which is BB's job (thank god). So while I know how dumb it is, I will still hit every new link I see that offers "their" draft grades. And I'll be happy when the applaud Bill's efforts and want to defend him when they don't.

The thing is, when you think of the things the most of these kids can do athletically, EVERYONE add talent last weekend, everyone. What makes BB special is his skill at turning that talent into a winning football team that has to compete with equally and sometimes more talented squads.

The majority of those 11 players picked are NOT going to make the final 53, but every single one of them will be a lot better players for being here, regardless of where they end up playing football.

I think you hit the nail on the head, patfanken. At the end of the day it's all in good fun.

I think people who get all offended and start listing Belichick's accomplishments and remind people how unqualified they are for questioning his decisions because they dislike one of his draft picks are just as ridiculous as the people evaluating the picks themselves. It's like this strange defense mechanism comes over people and they act like they're somehow in BB's hip pocket. Good grief, we're football fans, not Jonestown followers.

It's OK to have an opinion. That's part of being a fan. It's all in good fun. No one is claiming to know more than Belichick. The guy could have drafted 11 kids from Foxborough High School and we'll still go 12-4 and make a run into the playoffs. That is assuming their parents signed permission slips

mrbean said:

Rounds 1 and 4 were outstanding and earn easy A's. The rest of the draft is uhm...ah... In Bill I Trust.

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I agree with an A for 1st and 4th rounds. I would also give an A to the 7th round. Roberts had a 5/6 projection and ****son a 4/5 projection. They be Practice Squad players, but one might be the one late player who makes the team. The 5th produced a LS for 4 years or more, starting whenever he shows up; that can't be bad. So, that 7 of the picks.

For the rest (Rounds 2, 3 and 6), it is indeed In Bill We Trust.

rochrist said:

Well, Adam Jones on 98.5 has ruled the draft a bust, although he allows the first pick was ok. Personally though, he would have traded up cause 'why do you need 11 guys?'

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God he is just the worst. Pretty much felger without any charisma and instead a boring monotone voice

ESPN had the beat writers give thumbs up or thumbs down. The vast majority gave thumbs up. Different ones argued that teams should draft for need or shouldn't.

One of the few imaginative ones was Rodak's -- he gave the Bills a Thumbs Down saying, in effect, "They traded away their 1st and more before the draft, so how good was it going to be?"

Fencer said:

One of the few imaginative ones was Rodak's -- he gave the Bills a Thumbs Down saying, in effect, "They traded away their 1st and more before the draft, so how good was it going to be?"

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Was this to acknowledge the fact that when you pick #32, your Draft is simply not going to be as good as the team picking #6?

(or shouldn't be)

mrbean said:

I think you hit the nail on the head, patfanken. At the end of the day it's all in good fun.

I think people who get all offended and start listing Belichick's accomplishments and remind people how unqualified they are for questioning his decisions because they dislike one of his draft picks are just as ridiculous as the people evaluating the picks themselves. It's like this strange defense mechanism comes over people and they act like they're somehow in BB's hip pocket. Good grief, we're football fans, not Jonestown followers.

It's OK to have an opinion. That's part of being a fan. It's all in good fun. No one is claiming to know more than Belichick. The guy could have drafted 11 kids from Foxborough High School and we'll still go 12-4 and make a run into the playoffs. That is assuming their parents signed permission slips

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I almost never see homers attacking criticism if they are worded with even a hint of politeness.

I find the vast majority of absolute Belichick Knows Best and abject appeals to authority talk from the homers comes in response to someone in a thread being way too over the top in how they go about criticizing him or any particular move of his.

Basically, if you don't rant, homer's wont appeal..

If you don't belittle, homer's won't rebuttal..

Damn, thought I was on a roll. I should have stopped at the first one.

mgteich said:

I agree with an A for 1st and 4th rounds. I would also give an A to the 7th round. Roberts had a 5/6 projection and ****son a 4/5 projection. They be Practice Squad players, but one might be the one late player who makes the team. The 5th produced a LS for 4 years or more, starting whenever he shows up; that can't be bad. So, that 7 of the picks.

For the rest (Rounds 2, 3 and 6), it is indeed In Bill We Trust.

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Good point on the 7th rounders.

****son was tied for 6th in sacks and 10th in TFL in the SEC, and Roberts led the C-USA with 18 passes defended. His pro days numbers are straight out of a video game, too.

The Cardona pick at the bottom of the 5th kinda irks me due to the Navy commitment. I could be wrong (and I often am), but from what I understand the first two years of his 5-year commitment are mandatory before he can apply for his exception to play ball. If his exception is granted, the remaining three years gets doubled to six years as a reserve where can still be called back to duty. So theoretically we could be waiting two years for a snapper who could still get called back to duty when he finally gets here. It's definitely a head scratcher for a 5th round pick. To BB's credit he did trade down to the bottom of the round to collect an extra pick. And d%#*!@t I still had binkies on my board, too!

As much as I agree with Patfanken.. always thought that every team should get an incomplete and grades should be given out after year 2... that might be more accurate, but not as salacious as speculation.. doesn't garner many "myspace" followers or "tweeter followers" that way.

So the prognosticators grades come out to be Buffalo C-, Miami B+, Pats B- and Jets B+.. I am skeptical.