I saw this post about five minutes after it was made, but haven't had time to put together a decent response until now. Hopefully the thread hasn't moved too far off this subject since there
His last five years which includes 2010 which was very good include two years he should have stayed home.
It's so easy to look at 90% of drafts and say that they missed on picks. You really like the Steelers' drafts, it seems. Well, the Pats did better in 2008 than the Steelers did. The Steelers got Rashard Mendenhall, a backup QB, and a backup safety. You can't say a draft sucks without comparing it to other draft classes. If you do that, you'll see how many teams are worse when it comes to drafting. That's exactly what the CHFF article is about, and it is pretty eye-opening. Remember, for every Laurence Maroney, there's a Justin Harrell. For every Terrence Wheatley, there's a Limas Sweed.
If there is a player that every scout and player personnel evaluator, and yes Cousins other Teams have won Super bowls in the last five years, will say is a consensus blue chip player, BB will pass on him just to gain a pick for the next year. Some tiny wart might pop out that irks Bill.
How about some examples? Who are those blue chip guys who Bill passes on? The one that comes to mind to me is Clay Matthews, but I've explained many times why Ninkovich would start over him in the Pats' scheme. I'd love to hear more.
Yet he will go to the well and jump up for a Slater who cost him to move up.
From the picks where Slater was picked to where Bo Ruud was picked, Slater is a top-5 fit for the Patriots. If you want to complain, then complain about Ruud. Slater was a very solid pick.
. The Steelers and Packers have had success drafting. They don't stock pile picks.
We must have a different definition of stockpiling. It's not like Bill is collecting future first round picks until he has 20 firsts in 2017 (if he had started in 2009, he would've been able to do it). Over the last 3 drafts, Bill has used 2 first round picks, 9 second rounders, and 4 (non-comp) third rounders. That's not stockpiling; that's getting amazing amounts of interest on short-term loans. Hard to complain about stockpiling when they're making multiple extra 2nd round picks year after year.
Players like Bowers and Prince slipped. IMO BB was not ready for those instances. The blinders were on.
Alight, this is you spewing random crap now. Not only did the Pats interact with both of these players, but they had them in for official visits. BOTH of them. So not only did that show some level of interest, but they had an extra chance to gather information about both of these guys. You don't think they had all the information they needed to either accurately place these guys on their board or remove them completely.
And I don't see how you think Bill didn't see it coming, considering that neither fall was overly surprising. Plenty of teams didn't have Bowers on their boards, and there are rumors that his career is already over. Rick Gosselin had Prince falling further than he really did in his final mock. Bill's not an idiot. He just liked certain players more than you did and certain players (a lot) less than you did. It had nothing to do with his preparation.
It was my belief that he was shocked Jordan was still available in the 20s but his goal was 2012.
Jordan.
Does.
Not.
Fit.
The.
Patriots'.
Scheme.
Too small.
Too much of a shooter.
Overrated as a player overall.
Refute that as much as you want, but I'm the guy who said in January that the Pats would pass on Jordan and that he'd go to a 4-3 team.
In the War room, his biggest disappointment was not getting SF to bite for a 2012 second rounder.
Very true, but not for the reasons you're thinking. The value just wasn't there. The 49ers gave up a 4th and 5th to move up from 45 to 36. In hindsight, it's obvious that they weren't going to give 45 and their 2012 2nd for three picks higher.
He screwed up his needs by playing the Solder pick and then panicking to get his 2012 pick from NO rather than sit down at #33 and trade that. He already had a deal in place for that with Al if he wanted it.
So he screwed up but drafting a player at a position where the previous starter is going to be 33 in a month, got destroyed in the most recent playoff loss, and has said that he's going to test free agency?
We watched Bill make that pick with the Saints, and it seemed like the exact opposite of panicking. They had the deal planned out in advance, hence the only question being whether the Saints' player was still available. And as the SF trade from 45 to 36 showed, the value at 28 was a hell of a lot better than the value at 33. And it sure does look like Bill had a deal ready with Al, considering the Raiders had no problem sitting at 48 and making a pick :rollseyes:
He could have got Solder, sent a pick to the Chiefs for a pick who were selling the #21 and got Jordan or Wilkerson or Heyward of for that mater drop to get Sheard or Reed whom I believe he really wanted but could not get there.
I've already explained Jordan. Wilkerson has great upside, but he wouldn't be starting over Brace or Deaderick this coming season. He's Raw with a capital R. Heyward has effort problems, so good luck keeping his effort up when he's in charge of the difficult and un-fun task of two-gapping.
Sheard playing OLB is a bigger joke than Jordan playing 3-4 DE. He lacks any semblance of OLB-quality athleticism. The single most annoying thing leading up to the draft is Mike Reiss' obsession with Sheard. And surprise, Sheard went to a 4-3 team where he won't be responsible for dropping into coverage. Hmm, I think I called that one too!
Reed went to (again, surprise) an attacking 3-4 scheme. You know, a scheme where his quick first 10 yards can be used to go around blockers, not to take on blockers like he would've been asked on NE. Reed is a very poor man's Clay Matthews, which isn't good when Matthews himself would be a glorified pass-rush specialist for the Pats.
He miscalculated where he could have gotten Dowling,
Yeah, not like the Bills took a very comparable player with the very next pick or anything...
and Ridley would have lasted at least another round.
Says who? I remember people saying that about Vollmer, and then we found out the Raiders were getting ready to take him with their next pick. Going back further, Mankins was considered a huge reach until a report came out that the 49ers were going to take him with the next pick. The draft is full of "reaches." Who would've been stopping another team from "reaching" for him over the next 10 picks or so? And is it still a reach if he outplays his draft position?
His biggest BS line is his "value". Love the man as a coach but I see the BS meter going through the roof. The last three picks were not even close to "value". He did NOT make those picks. The ST coaches did. Carter was well noticed as a top ST player. He fits a need and if that works, BB is a genius once again. Cousins his ST work was a consideration.
Bill sees value way different than a lot of people. Slater is a great example. There were plenty of flashier players available, but Slater was a guy who Bill apparently thought had a great chance of sticking on the roster. Which is better, a ST guy who makes the roster or a backup at some other position who doesn't?
...who has the highest potential of any tackle drafted over the last few years
a slightly taller Woodhead,
Since when is two and a half inches slightly? And you're selling Vereen awfully low with this. He was the best fit at RB for the Pats and was probably the best RB pass-blocker in the draft. I've seen comparisons to Marshall Faulk, and they're not as farfetched as you might think.
an overdrafted RB who had one signature game that BB saw as the deal maker,
And, you know, put up great stats against SEC defense with lackluster support.
My point is if he did take some blue chippers it would be easier for him to get them ready now than to take longshots and coach them up which gives him the most fun. With TB time is not on the Patriots side.
So basically, you want first rounders instead of extra 2nd rounders. That completely goes against what Belichick believes in, and it's hard to blame him. He's whiffed on a few 2nds (Butler, Brace according to a lot of people not including me), but guys like Chung, Cunningham, and Gronkowski were fantastic value picks in the 2nd. And as mentioned above, I'd like to see a list of some blue-chippers that Bill has passed on.
