Are you saying that before Thursday, BB said to himself "I want to get out of this draft with Solder, Dowling, Vereen and Ridley"? I find that very hard to believe.
Not saying that there weren't other players in the mix, but I do believe that:
a) OT, DB (S/CB) and multiple RBs were the goal
b) Solder, Dowling and Vereen were their top rated players at those positions
c) Ridley (contingent upon getting Vereen) was the top "other" RB they wanted
Consider:
- They had chances to get highly rated players at other positions and consistently passed, either trading or going OT/DB/RB. There were a variety of different types of players so I doubt all of them were bad fits.
- Solder was the 2nd OT taken so I suppose they could have rated T.Smith higher, but Solder was clearly ahead of everyone else. They had to know Carimi and/or Sherrod would be there at #28 so Solder was a priority over the next guys available.
- Dowling was the first player taken that can be expected to play safety at least part-time (notice that Tippett announced Dowling as a DB, not a CB)
- The Pats had the opportunity to take Ingram at #28, RWilliams at #33 and Leshoure at #56 and passed on all of them. The Pats could have gotten any of these guys plus Dowling if they really wanted to. That leads me to think that Vereen was the top guy on their RB list or at least their target guy unless Ingram and/or RWilliams slipped to #56.
- Like Gronk and Hernandez last year, you don't take two players at the same position relative high unless they are complementary. Knowing they were going after Ridley later puts the Vereen pick in context since he won't have to handle the between the tackles, short yardage, goal line, grind out the clock snaps. Vereen/Ridley makes sense where they were taken if you consider them together...and are more questionable if considered separately. Makes me think they were targeted together.
- The fact that Belichick effectively closed up shop after the Ridley pick leads me to believe that he considered his work done. Seriously, he traded his 3rd and 4th round picks before he was even on the clock. Nobody does that if they have guys left on their board that they are targeting.
- Mallett and Cannon were likely not targets but were value sliders at positions that Belichick couldn't turn into 2012 picks. BTW, if you are looking to make your roster tougher, adding a "Mallett" and "Cannon" is a good start. Far better than Pinkston or Love.
Frankly, that makes much more sense than thinking Belichick just let the draft come to him and had all positions in play...and those 4 guys were the result. If that is what you think, I can understand why you would be disappointed.