I know nothing, but it's a thought. A DE to OLB is obviously a project, a 3-4 DE that's not used to that position, another.
Maybe the thought is to proceed with the number of young, or other projects already started last year, then go after blue chippers next year.
I don't hate Nincovich, in fact I thought he hustled and made some decent plays. Moore looked good and willing and Cunningham is in year two.
Maybe, in a disrupted season, players that need to learn a lot would be a distraction.
Two RBs? Just give them the ball and assignment. Much improved secondary means more time to get to the QB too.
I think we'll pick up a situational rusher, but anyone think that might have been a factor?
THANK YOU! This is just about the best post of the day. Someone finally trying to understand the moves in the full context of the team.
I've been consistently reading these forums for years, although rarely post. I've been too busy to even read much lately, but came back the past few days to get up to speed on what happened with the draft, read all the negative comments on the draft and remembered why I don't post much.
Each post and opinion is inherently based on a frame of assumptions and I, for the life of me, can't understand why so many actually begin with the assumption that Belichick doesn't know what he is doing. By no means is anyone flawless. Did he make a mistake these past few nights? Who knows. Maybe, but did anyone else make a mistake? HELL YA!
Everyone made a mistake tonight, but none of them know what it is yet, but they will. The one thing I can say is that I have every confidence that if my team made a mistake, they have the exact mental makeup to try to identify it and not make it again. I KNOW I can't say that for too many other teams. I know they'll make the same mistakes again and again to the point of comedy.
We could go on and on, but with Kraft and Belichick in charge, we've had more success than any other team and way much more than most. I don't know who could deny that. They are there at the end of year, every year, rain or shine. So to make the assumption that somehow they are not capable, if not the most capable, is just plain silly. They are some of the best at running a sports team as there has ever been. If you start from that assumption, then by all means question their thinking and try to find the logic, but to demonize them is just not rationale.
(i'll get off my soap box now.)
Getting back to the original post.
I think we saw Belichick doing exactly what he always promises to do; get the best value he can in the draft. I think that is a combo of pick, player, risk and team positional depth. I have no values on any of that, so my guess is Belichick felt he had starter quality openings for these players or too much value.
Solder is somewhat obvious. He is the #3 T at the minimum and if Light leaves or moves to guard, Solder is a starter. I assume Light leaves or moves to G.
For Dowling, I also see #3 behind McCourty and Bodden. That makes him a nickel or nickel replacement for one of the other two and that is starter quality minutes.
For the two RBs, I see them immediately replacing Taylor and Morris, but Faulk may need to be replaced too. One of them will likely get starter quality minutes at some point if BJGE gets dinged.
With Mallett, I think it was a case of too much value. He was so good for his slot in the Pats' eyes that they couldn't pass it up. He certainly fills the #3 backup spot, but could quickly challenge for #2. Or not. He might suck eggs and be out of football in two years. Whatever, he's the 5th pick and they are getting more. Might be a mistake.
For positions not filled, we didn't do squat on the front 7, so you have to look at what Belichick might think of what he has. On the D-Line we ended the season missing 4 starter quality players in Ty, Brace, Wright and Pryor. They all come back. Add in Wilfork, Stroud and maybe no player stood a chance for the value of their pick position.
OLB, I don't like our talent. I'm hopeful with Cunningham, but TBC is not the answer, Nink is pretty good, Moore was a nice find, but he needs to show he can sustain it and be consistent. My best guess is that Belichick knows what he needs and it's just too hard to find in the draft with too much risk for his liking. He likes steady growth. So the only thing he can do is take low-risk projects, Vrabel, Nink, Moore, Cunningham, Mincey, etc or buy what he wants Colvin, Thomas. It sucks royally that Thomas turned out to be such a turd. It certainly didn't look that way at the time. Bust on that one.
So, maybe he's about to go buy what he needs again and make a splash in FA. Or maybe Belichick may really like the way his low risk projects are paying off and may think with his D-line back that he has what he needs. That would be great, but strikes me as mid to high risk, so I'm betting on another FA here. And at that point, I don't see too many open positions left on this team, except for an OG and a couple project WRs or one decent FA.
I look back on last year as an awesome 14-2 team that lost almost it's entire D-Line over the last few games and it was too much to overcome. Throw in a sub-par Brady due to injury and we lost. It really sucked, but our team was really good and getting better every game. This is a team on the rise that could have easily have won the super bowl last year with better breaks. To suggest that we are at the beginning of the end is crazy talk and not worth a response.
