Methodological note:
When talking about players you drafted in your fantasy draft this year as players the Pats passed up, wouldn't it be interesting to note for counterpoint the other players the Pats passed up, or the washouts drafted before the Pats' pick?
Do it statistically in some way and it may be convincing. Mention just players passed up, without the washouts passed up, and you're just being bothersome. This isn't a kool-aid drinking point, it's a simple facts-of-life point. Simple fact of the matter is, there's a huge element of risk in any pick you make.
As for the guy who blabbered about who was an all-American that the Pats passed up, the gas stations and used car dealerships of this nation are littered with all-Americans who didn't make it in the pros.
In the effort to characterize the Pats' drafts as really horrible, we get things like "Jerod Mayo who has struggled all year," when he was the bloody defensive rookie of the year his first season out. Will he become a beast or a one-year wonder, when all is said and done? We don't know, granted, but you really can't look at a DROY and say "meh", based on season 2, any more than you can look at his DROY season and say "instant brilliantest pick of all time."
So here are some other guys who were still on the board when Mayo was picked, going through the picks between him and the next Pats pick:
Leodis McKelvin - I think I sent him flowers for a fumble recently, that was him, right? I know the name at least and he's prolly pretty good. Maybe he's now the heir to Deion Sanders, because the Pats passed on him. You tell me.
Ryan Clady - OT for the Broncs. You trading Mayo for Clady head-up? I'm not.
Jonathan Stewart - pretty good when he gets touches. If he were in NE we'd say he's made of glass and not Corey Dillon.
Chris Williams, OT, Chicago - I lost my secret decoder ring. WTF is a Chris Williams? I know I know if I really watched football I'd know he's the second coming... well I don't even believe in the first one...
Branden Albert, T, KC Chiefs - probably the reason the Chiefs are where they are today... wait, no, he's the reason they're not worse, right?
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, CB, Cards - another easily recognizable name. Question how his actual stats/performance actually pans out under the microscope. Trot them out, and make the case.
Gosder Cherilus, T, Detroit Lions - see Branden Albert. Although one could make the argument that he ruined an unprecedented second Defeated Season. The 08 Lions are popping the champale.
Joe Flacco, QB, Baltimore - he's shot straight to the middle. Seriously, he shows promise. The best QB the Ravens have ever had, and that's saying nothing.
Jeff Otah, T, Pittsburgh - Again - you trading head-up for Mayo?
Aqib Talib, CB, Tampa Bay - Pretty good but definitely no demonstrable case can be made that it was a whiff to pick Mayo instead
Sam Baker, T, Falcons - Who?
Felix Jones, RB, Cowboys - has really shone. Here we'd say he's not an every-down back and we already have Faulk at least for a year more... "wasted pick."
Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Pittsburgh - So far, so good. Steelers fans probably don't want this pick back to do over. Same's true of Jones, to be fair. Still, a slam dunk, head-up trade for Mayo?
Chris Johnson, RB, Titans - everybody who didn't draft him wants the pick back. That's 23 disappointed teams, including the Steelers and Cowboys. Eh well.
Mike Jenkins, CB, Cowboys. The reason the Cowboys D has been absolutely lights-out against the long ball. Wait, they're not...?
Duane Brown, T, Houston Texans. Someone tell me who this guy is and why the Pats needed to pick him.
Antoine Cason, CB, Chargers. Swap for Mayo? Really?
Lawrence Jackson, DE, Seattle Seahawks. The next Tuck, and I don't mean Justin, I mean the medicated hemmorhoid pads.
Kentwan Balmer, DE, SF - The best Kentwan in this draft class. What else?
Dustin Keller, TE, NYJ - Because the Pats needed more tight ends. I kinda like Watson there lately.
Kenny Phillips, FS, Jintz - A household name. No wait, that's the screwdriver.
...and that's just the first round. Go all the way til the Pats pick again, and you have to explain to me the questionable wisdom of passing up on Phillip Merling, Limas Sweed, Tyrell Johnson, and a ton of other "who?" picks. You also get to point to Matt Forte, who was good for 1 year, or Fred Davis, who's been good for 2 games, or make overbloated cases for the likes of James Hardy and Donnie Avery. You know, guys you've seen on ESPN who don't consistently produce but are at the right place at the right time now and then to make SportsCenter.
I know there are going to be instant reactions to some of these characterizations, but with the exception of Chris Johnson, I bet you go to the threads on any fan sites about any of these picks and you have a base of detractors, including the Mendenhalls and Felix Joneses of the world.
So out of the list above (just the 1st rounders, and that's really a very minor "slippage" range,) why don't you tell me how many you'd absolutely positively swap for Jerod Mayo, for the next say 10 years, and feel that there's no case to be made that the Pats picked right? How many you think that about on that list?
PFnV
I think at heart there may be a lot more belief in NE in bringing pressure without necessarily piling up sacks. The game may have moved past the Pats in this regard. Their defenses have never terrorized QBs but have always (in good years) pestered them and thrown them off their games -- just enough to make them make mistakes. I suppose the tradeoff with that approach is the flexibility to add a coverage guy w/o going to nickel or to add an edge rusher at will to get to a 4/3 alignment for all intents and purposes. We liked it well enough while it was working; it is possible that the Pats' focus is to get it to work again.
