Less pressure on the draft now.
 

That's a point Mike Nolan, coach of the 49ers made in an interview today. They also got a few new impact players and he said an extra advantage of that is that they don't have to worry so much about filling specific position needs via the draft. If a position that was in dire need of improvement has been addressed in FA, you don't have to panic if it doesn't produce somebody for you in the draft. No mention of Adalius going to the Pats. Of course, the local SF Bay Area guys interviewing him aren't as demanding as would be Boston people, laid back California and all. Just thought I'd pass along that point from another coach, about free agency going hand in hand with the draft. I'm sure some will say yeah, but we gotta get this and we gotta get that...

Re: Less pressure on the draft now.
 

With potential injuries to key positions...and every pats fans knows every year that is a problem ,the draft is still as important as it was 1 month ago....Some of the rookies will likely have to come in if injury bug hits again so I would say forget what we have in FA and focus on the BEST player at the time of the pick,regardless of position...thats been the patriots way and its worked thus far-no position is safe from injury damage and should be treated as such.

Re: Less pressure on the draft now.
 

I disagree, one LB doesn't fill our need for YOUNGER LB's. One #3 receiver does not cure one of the biggest weaknesses on the team, our WR's are average at best. Also, we could use more secondary help (can't count on Rodney forever, and maybe only 1 season of Samuel). We STILL have a lot of holes to fill, we may not need to use a #1 pick on LB anymore, but I would love to see us spend the picks on any of the three positions listed above. Plus despite spending several high picks on OL-men, we need to fix our running game, which was putrid in the last half of the AFCCG, and all of the Charger game. I don't know if we need to change our OL personnel, or our blocking scheme, but you need a good running game to win championships. Lot's of holes to fill still, despite some claims here, I definately don't think we are the odds on favorite to win anything, just yet.