DocHoliday
In the Starting Line-Up
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.The Pats last 2 drafts have produced almost no impact players other than Jamie Collins and almost no help to the current offense. A review of the last 2 drafts and their offensive/defensive snaps in yesterday's game..... 2014 - D.Easley (16), J.Garrapolo (0), B.Stork (15), J. White (Inactive), C.Fleming (12), J.Halapio (Cut), J.Thomas (Cut), J.Gallon (Cut). 2013 - J.Collins (20), A.Dobson (Inactive), L.Ryan (60), D.Harmon (12), J.Boyce (Cut), M.Buchanon (Inactive), S.Beauharnais (0).
While it is obviously hard for a young player to break into a talented lineup, the lack of impact players in the last 2 drafts is alarming. Pats have had 15 picks in the last 2 rounds to come up with a player to help Brady in the twilight of his career and not one was on the field yesterday. Just have to look at a guy like John Brown in Arizona or Brandin Cooks in New Orleans to see a fast game changer who can bring a quick Percy Harvin type player to an offense sorely lacking in firepower or a Jordan Matthews who brings some size and talent to Philly.
Hopefully guys like Easley and Garrapolo will be future impact players but that is far from a certainty at this point. Can't afford too many drafts in the NFL where you don't help stockpile your talent, especially when Brady isn't going to be around forever.
If any team could regularly net two decent starters (let alone more than one explosive player) a draft they would win the Super Bowl every year forever.
If that trend had continued in the dark ages of drafting (2005-7, I'm referring to you), this team would be incredible.2008: Jerod Mayo, Matt Slater
2009: Sebastian Vollmer, Julian Edelman
2010: Devin McCourty, Rob Gronkowski, [Aaron Hernandez]
2011: Nate Solder, Shane Vereen/Stevan Ridley
2012: Chandler Jones, Dont'a Hightower, Alfonzo Dennard
2013: Jamie Collins, Logan Ryan, Aaron Dobson/Kenbrell Thompkins (work in progress)
I expect Dominique Easley and Brian Stork to become solid starters from the 2014 class.
Neither would being helping this team right now. The play of the OL is the reason why Edelman is the only WR that has done anything. Brady trusts him a **** ton. Matthews and Robinson would probably be game day in-actives.
unless we win the Geno Atkins type lottery of getting insanely lucky on a late round pick.
Why is it the Geno Atkins type lottery?
It's the Tom Brady lotttery.
The reality is in the absence of a longitudinal study of all NFL teams this means nothing... you need a comparison as to how other teams have done over the same period. There are hits and misses, but when you pick from 26th pick year after year, you have to be creative and take some chances...
The Pats have the opportunity to ease these draft picks in, Jamie Collins last year was an excellent example initially he played little and the end of the season he was ready. Stork this year is a good example in three games he has something like 25 snaps.. they are easing him in. Easly has played about the same, and he will get more snaps. Cameron has gotten a lot of snaps as a TE...
I think the picks when Pioli was here were pretty poor compared to how well we have done lately..
To have remained competitive for this length of time is unheard of in the salary cap era...
Never ceases to amaze that after a slow start this year, how many are on the edge... perhaps folks should have the opportuntiy to go back to the good old days of accepted mediocrity and really shytty teams...
YES!!!!! SCORN!!!! WE NEED MORE SCORN!!!
because like.....ummm......it makes a difference.......LOL
No, You are the joke.
So go support some other damn team, like the Lions who waste lot of premium picks on WRs. The Lions do so well with those selections, and must have won numerous Super Bowls doing so.
Last I looked JE was a Belichick WR draftee, and he may be better than either Branch or Givens. Why doesn't he count?
No it will drive away, or hopefully reform the mindless newcomers, who think the only thing they need contribute is mindless bile.
Keenan Allen's success should be no surprise. Dobson's lack thereof isn't surprising some scouts either.
Illegal Contact doesn't support the Patriots, he's a jetsfan, he only pops into threads like these to take a few smelly dumps and has never contributed anything of substance to this forum, and if you challenge him to produce anything of substance he won't be able to do so. there are a number of these posters in this forum, and every time you challenge them to produce anything constructive or substantive they are never able to do so, and they slink away and simply wait for their next opportunity.
you do realize that when it comes to message board trolling, any response is a form of justification. I haven't said a thing about the pats other than a win being a win and their offense will be fine in october, and I'm being called a jets fan........I wasn't even trolling and I got the miserable to wig out
Now that's through the looking glass, the "miserable" are people like you who only go to sites to antagonize, not those who actually take the time to look at the team and discuss its strengths and weaknesses. it must suck to be such a no life that you actually engage in the sh.t you do.
The biggest problem I had with the past drafts is the constant trading back to stockpile more late round picks. The Pats have been on the top for more than ten years, if BB had more drafts like 2012, when he traded up higher and grabbed talent (Jones and Hightower, who both have been excellent) instead of constantly trading back and trying to outsmart everyone. Imagine if he could have swung a trade for Megatron back in 2007 instead of trading out (to SF which garnered a really high pick in' 08, which he traded back again and took Mayo (who has been good but not great).
Lets say its draft day, the Lions are on the clock, BB pulls a Mike Ditka trades all his picks (they had two first rounders that year, so they might have even been able to keep one of them or trade both of them and keep some later picks) for Megatron:
The Pats would have had Megatron and how many Superbowls??
Instead of this:
2008 Mayo
2007124(24)PatriotsBrandon MeriweatherDBMiami (FL)
2007428(127)PatriotsKareem BrownDTMiami (FL)
2007534(171)PatriotsClint OldenburgOTColorado State
200766(180)PatriotsJustin RogersLBSouthern Methodist
Pick Notefrom Arizona
2007628(202)PatriotsMike RichardsonDBNotre Dame
2007634(208)PatriotsJustise HairstonRBCentral Connecticut State
2007635(209)PatriotsCorey HilliardOTOklahoma State
200771(211)PatriotsOscar LuaLBUSC
Pick Notefrom Oakland
2007737(247)PatriotsMike ElginOG
Iowa
This argument comes up frequently, and responses typically fall into two firm categories:
One side: Our drafting is terrible. Look at all the failed second rounders.
The other: Look at all the AFC Championship games! Our drafting must be great!
I think these are two separate issues.
The success: the primary reasons the Patriots have gone to so many AFC Championships is:
a) Tom Brady & Bill Belichick - a winning QB who has been consistently great the past 15 years, and the best NFL coach of the Super Bowl era
b) incredibly weak AFC East that has not consistently threatened the Patriots - characterized by constant QB and coaching turnover - leading to annual playoff spots
The drafting results, anytime you do a quantitative analysis, are no better than average. The poor results in the second round are hard to ignore.
While the Patriots have won a lot of regular season games and constantly qualify for the post-season, and no team has consistently won the Super Bowl 10 times in a row, it's rational to wonder what the results might have been with better drafting. If the Patriots had succeeded in a few of those wide receiver and defensive back selections, could they have won one or two more post-season games? The window, while it has been open a long time, won't be open forever.
The draft reports of Dobson and Keenan Allen, however, have proven accurate. We really can't ignore what everyone was saying. While Allen was coming off an injury, he showed outstanding ability on the field. Dobson, on the other hand, was athletically gifted, but very raw.
You look around the league and guys like this are constantly flaming out. Guys like Stephen Hill and Darius Heyward-Bey. This year's version is Martavious Bryant. We'll see what all world athleticism yields with him. I can only think of Demarious Thomas as a raw guy that turned out to be good. Meanwhile, players like Anquan Boldin or Deandre Hopkins drop because of their 40 times, even though they produce on the field.
Keenan Allen's success should be no surprise. Dobson's lack thereof isn't surprising some scouts either.