Just posted this
in the daily article thing, but here's an interesting bit from Belichick in that interview:
"In my experience, I think we've always graded a player for really what we think they'll be in year two," explained Belichick. "What will the player be in year two? Now, year two could be halfway through his rookie year, year two could be a year and a half. It might not be year two, it might be almost year three. But there's a point where the player figures things out. He gets it. He understands professional football. He's had a chance to train, to physically develop to a point where he can be at a very high competitive point, and then what do you have?"
"And I could cite a lot of different examples, but just going back to the Giants, Phil Sims, everybody talked about what a bust he was, and he was a great, great player but he played in some tough circumstances his rookie and second year, had a couple of unfortunate injuries. But Phil's a tough guy, he was a tough player. There was no softness in him, he was as competitive as they get. But the fans were on him, 'We blew it on Phil Sims, We blew it on Mark Haynes,' there's another guy that turned out to be an All-Pro cornerback who didn't play his rookie year."
"Brady didn't play his rookie year, and we have Tom Brady. You judge Tom Brady after his first year, and you have literally nothing. We're talking about the greatest player that's ever played. Lawrence Taylor was a different story. Lawrence Taylor, from day one, impacted the team, showed he was the best player on the field, played better than everybody else and built the defense around him going forward. So it's different with different players."
"But I'd say once the player figures it out, once he's had a chance to physically develop, especially for linemen, sometimes those guys need a little bit of time, or the technique on the offensive line, in particular, is something that can take a little bit of time. Quarterback is another position. But once they figure it out, then that's when you know what you have, and it's usually not day one of his rookie year."
"I would say Lawence Taylor would be kind of the one exception to that rule. But there's not too many guys, maybe like [Stephen] Gostkowksi, a kicker. You know, could come in, Pat [McAfee], you come into kick, from day one, if the skills are at a high enough level, you can see the impact already. But a lot of the positions, it just takes a little bit more time."