A tale of a draft SQUANDERED....

[skinnydog]

Of course its dumb, because you don't even understand it.
When have I said BB is always correct?
What I have said is he has an enormously larger amount of information at his disposal and is much better qualified to assess it than you (meaning any poster) are.
But the poster criticizing his decision before the player has put on a Patriot jockstrap is uninformed. It could be right or wrong, but either is just by dumb luck.
You have every right to give an opinion. But to claim your opinion is more valid than someone who has more facts and a better decision making ability is stupid.
QUESTIONING is very different than DECLARING you are right and the expert who would embarrass you in a side by side evaluation of any player on the board is ignorant.
Those ignorant people consistently fall back to the 'BB isn't always right' argument totally missing the point.

First you constantly defend his decisions on the ground that he made them. Second when has anyone here ever claimed to have more knowledge or qualifications than BB? Third, it's dumb to question BB's decision on a player before seeing him play? The board would be awfully silent then. fourth I have never claimed to have more facts at my disposal than BB and I have never seen anyone here make that claim. Sixth, your semantical game between QUESTIONING and DECLARING in nonsensical.

 

[ATippett56]

1st Round - Nate Solder, OT from Colorado

Could be a boom or bust pick. However if the New England Patriots allow Matt Light to depart via free agency, there will be alot of pressure on Nate Solder as the starting left tackle during the 2011 NFL Season. Worse case scenario is to move Sebastian Vollmer to left tackle and to play Nick Kaczur at right tackle. However, this contingency depends on whether Nick Kaczur has fully recovered from back surgery. In addition, this contingency leaves a gaping hole at right guard with the retirement of Stephen Neal.

I would have preferred to trade down from the 17th overall selection, selected Gabe Carimi, OT from Wisconsin and garnered at worst an additional third round draft pick in 2011. In this scenario, Vollmer would switch to left tackle, Carimi would be assigned to play right tackle, and Kaczur would switch to right guard.

2nd Round - Ras-I Dowling, CB/FS from Virginia

Ras-I Dowling will most likely replace Brandon Meriweather at free safety if not during the 2011 NFL Season then the 2012 NFL Season. I suspect Bill Belichick is fed up with Brandon Meriweather free lancing in the New England Patriots defensive secondary, hence the second round selection. Since Ras-I Dowling plays defensive back, he provides cornerback depth on the New England Patriots roster especially considering the horrendous play of Darius Butler last season as well as injuries to nickelback Jonathan Wilhite. Of the five draft picks in the first three rounds of the 2011 NFL Draft, Ras-I Dowling is the second best selection of the five with regard to talent and fulfilling team needs.

2nd Round - Shane Vereen, RB from California

A versatile three down back from California, Shane Vereen may become the feature back for the New England Patriots offense during the 2011 NFL Season. Of the five draft picks in the first three rounds of the 2011 NFL Draft, Shane Vereen is the best selection of the five with regard to talent and fulfilling team needs.

3rd Round - Stevan Ridley, RB from LSU

Stevan Ridley is a luxury for a third round selection since he was rated at best a late 5th round draft pick by NFL Draft Scout and a 6th round draft pick by Mike Mayock. Since the New England Patriots already have Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis, this pick only makes sense if a fifth round pick was expended on the LSU running back. Stevan Ridley is extremely limited in the passing game and his 40 yard combine time is actually worse than BJGE. Stevan Ridley will most likely be fourth on the New England Patriots running back depth chart. With regard to the lack of depth on the New England Patriots offensive line, Clint Boling, OG from Georgia would have been a much better value selection.

3rd Round - Ryan Mallett, QB from Arkansas

Ryan Mallett does not resolve the depth issues at the offensive line position, defensive line position, nor the outside linebacker position.

 

[fgssand]

Well, let's look at what we've got, though.

We can both agree that 1 RB this early made sense, but not 2, right?

Only if Morris + Taylor = 1

 

[Tunescribe]

Where did I make that claim? I put forth my opinion, just the same as you do. You're more than welcome to disagree with that opinion. It just shouldn't be too much to ask that you come with more than "BB did it, so it must be right".

Belichick had a hell of a 2010 draft. 2009 started out looking tremendous, but has taken some hits. 2008 has turned out to be a pretty bad one for the Patriots. Fallibility of this sort is to be expected.

For some reason, though, a fair number of people here feel the need to pretend that BB is basically perfect, and completely beyond question. Sorry, I'm not buying that.

Deus, there is NO FREAKIN' WAY OF KNOWING how these picks are going to pan out in the context of how this team is currently constituted. These draft choices are so far removed from what we, as fans, came to want or expect that the only logical conclusion is to assume they're system-specific. And no one knows more about that than BB & staff. The Patriots have veteran guys returning from injury and our own FA to sign, so some of the gaping holes we've anticipated would be addressed in the draft might be addressed in-house. There's also free agency coming and the Pats have ammo for that as well. The Pats draft so far from a fan's perspective has been weird and frustrating, but it's going to be a while before the supposed logic behind them becomes apparent. I'm certainly willing to wait and see.

 

[skinnydog]

Well, that would be hard to do, since there is a court battle going on right now which will determine which players are free agents, but a few people today have named some possibilities.
One thing I can guarantee you is that there will be a better OLB available in FA for the 2011 season than anyone we could have drafted.

Did you make the same guarantee last year?

 

[shirtsleeve]

Only if Morris + Taylor = 1

This.

We replaced three RB's with two, and Ripley is a good shortarm away from being an animal...

 

[skinnydog]

How would I know that? Do you think he doesnt have one?

I thought he had one last year, how did that work out?

 

[Deus Irae]

Deus, there is NO FREAKIN' WAY OF KNOWING how these picks are going to pan out in the context of how this team is currently constituted. These draft choices are so far removed from what we, as fans, came to want or expect that the only logical conclusion is to assume they're system-specific. And no one knows more about that than BB & staff. The Patriots have veteran guys returning from injury and our own FA to sign, so some of the gaping holes we've anticipated would be addressed in the draft might be addressed in-house. There's also free agency coming and the Pats have ammo for that as well. The Pats draft so far from a fan's perspective has been weird and frustrating, but it's going to be a while before the supposed logic behind them becomes apparent. I'm certainly willing to wait and see.

You're welcome to wait and see, Tune. Others choose not to, preferring to discuss it as it happens and to revisit it over time, and they should be welcome to do so.

 

[Ring 6]

First you constantly defend his decisions on the ground that he made them. '

100% totally wrong. I give him the benefit of the doubt because of his track record. I believe he is more likely to be right than you, or a poster who lacks both the facts and knowledge he does.
That is miles and miles away from defending his decisions.

Second when has anyone here ever claimed to have more knowledge or qualifications than BB?

Are you kidding me? Have you read this board. There are a thousand posts today that X is a better player than the guy BB picked. Not posts saying I wonder what his decision was based on, but posts DECLARING HIM WRONG. That is exactly claiming to have more knowledge or qualification.

Third, it's dumb to question BB's decision on a player before seeing him play? The board would be awfully silent then.

I didnt say anything was wrong with questioning.

fourth I have never claimed to have more facts at my disposal than BB and I have never seen anyone here make that claim.

Didnt say you did, I said you don't accept that you have less, and when you say, for example, "Great we picked a developmental T who wont see the field for 2 years with the 17th pick" or "X player is better than the guy we took" you absolutely are implying you do. You cannot say you are right and he is wrong without implying you have the same facts, and ability to judge them, or simply lying.

Sixth, your semantical game between QUESTIONING and DECLARING in nonsensical.

Do you have any clue what semantics is?
There is a rudimentary difference between questioning a decision and declaring it wrong. Again, I see why you think it is nonsense because you don't understand it.
Questioning a decision is allowing for the possibility that there were other decisions that may have been better. i.e. I am confused why he would take Vereen instead of Leshour.
Declaring he is wrong, is saying you know better, ie What a stupid pick, he takes a 3rd down back when a stud is still there who will be a better player, what a stupid pick.
Hoepfully you can now see the difference and recognize which is so common on this board which creates these kind of threads.

 

[Ring 6]

I thought he had one last year, how did that work out?

14-2 best record in the NFL, division win, 1st round bye, playoff loss.

 

[Ring 6]

Did you make the same guarantee last year?

No I did not. Of course, free agency was over before the draft, so that wouldn't have really applied.
Any more questions?

 

[mac]

Arrington is a competitor but looked overmatched at times. So Dowling plays right corner, moving Arrington inside.
You have Bennie and Woodhead as your only RB's, and you moan because the Pats took two running backs?
Ryan Mallett is the heir apparent to TB. Down the road with an 18 game schedule, Mallett can share some of the load. TB should welcome the help.
I, for one, love today's selections.

For those of you moaning about the defense, the defense cannot get any younger and still compete. Free agency veterans wil shore up the D. This draft is about rejuvenating the offense.

 

[ausbacker]

Arrington is a competitor but looked overmatched at times. So Dowling plays right corner, moving Arrington inside.
You have Bennie and Woodhead as your only RB's, and you moan because the Pats took two running backs?
Ryan Mallett is the heir apparent to TB. Down the road with an 18 game schedule, Mallett can share some of the load. TB should welcome the help.
I, for one, love today's selections.

For those of you moaning about the defense, the defense cannot get any younger and still compete. Free agency veterans wil shore up the D. This draft is about rejuvenating the offense.

I'd rather see Bodden, McCourty & Dowling on the field.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Matt Millen's forgotten more about drafting players than any of us and the talking heads in the media will ever know, too. Everyone who's ever been a GM in the modern NFL game can lay claim to that statement.

Did you just make Millen and BB equivalent simply because they have draft experience.....while just a few posts previous say that the Rodgers/GB scenario and our newly drafted QB/Patriots scenario is an absurd comparison?
Sports entertainment certainly can take on many forms....

 

[Ring 6]

I'd rather see Bodden, McCourty & Dowling on the field.

Yup.
McC and Bodden are the corners.
Chung and Meriwhether the safeties.

Dawson, Arrington, Butler compete for nickle work.

Dawson probably works at both corner and safety this year, and makes a permanent move next.

BTW, the video someone posted on Dawson is great. He is a huge hitter. I REALLY like his size and aggressiveness at corner. By 2012 we could have he and McC as the corner tandem for many years.

I think we are well on the way to building one of the best secondaries in the NFL. Please BB, keep drafting DBs, we can never have enough.

 

[BKBroiler]

PFK,

You are leaving out the one and two that we added to next years draft which if this is the begining of the end 4 of 64 next year could go a long way to reversing that.

You like Solder as do I and protecting Brady is as important as anything.

I think you still need to prepare for the unthinkable and a guy like Mallet should be as good a back up as most in the league have. Hopefully he matures and developes and he can net you something in the future.

I really like Vareen seems like a perfect Patriot and then Riddley seems to compliment him nicely not to mention they each seem to be good backups to BJGE and Woodhead and I think you have alot of young talent at a position that was aging fast a year or two ago.

Dowling comes with injury concern and may have been a reach but I think he adds real nice to the DB rotation and one thing I think he should do that will be Key is hopefully take some of McCourty's ST reps as McCourty is to good to play as much ST as he does.

I think if you want to key on not helping the front seven than the draft looks bad but if you step back and look at what you get and how it should fit on the team (all should fill a spot without moving much off the roster) it was a pretty good couple of days and you added a one and two to next years draft. IMO classic BB draft so far and to not give the man his credit is wrong and I usually like what you have to say.

Thanks
SBB

This thread should've ended after this post. No one could put the draft so far into better words.

 

[Wilfork#75]

Ryan Mallett is the heir apparent to TB. Down the road with an 18 game schedule, Mallett can share some of the load. TB should welcome the help

This part made me laugh. If it were up to Brady, Hoyer wouldn't get a single snap in practice. Brady is super competetive that I don't see him welcoming anything that would reduce his playing time. Sure some competition would be good for him, and I think he would be a great help for Mallet, but he wants to be on the field every single snap.

 

[Joker]

Yup.
McC and Bodden are the corners.
Chung and Meriwhether the safeties.

Dawson, Arrington, Butler compete for nickle work.

Dawson probably works at both corner and safety this year, and makes a permanent move next.

BTW, the video someone posted on Dawson is great. He is a huge hitter. I REALLY like his size and aggressiveness at corner. By 2012 we could have he and McC as the corner tandem for many years.

I think we are well on the way to building one of the best secondaries in the NFL. Please BB, keep drafting DBs, we can never have enough.

small correction, Andy...Dowling not Dawson...it's late...the moronic knee jerk over the top insanity has taken its toll on everyone

 

[BKBroiler]

If so many people are unhappy with the draft overall and the lack of OLB's drafted, how about you just stop rooting for the Patriots and band together to purchase another team. That way you can decide what the team's needs are since you all know so much about every prospect by watching college football games on your couch and youtube videos on your computers.

 

[Ring 6]

small correction, Andy...Dowling not Dawson...it's late...the moronic knee jerk over the top insanity has taken its toll on everyone

Yes, but Ive been calling him Dawson all night. Thanks for the headsup.