Greg Hardy

[Box_O_Rocks]

Hardy's your binky - got it. He's second round at best for me.

 

[mayoclinic]

Hardy's your binky - got it. He's second round at best for me.

I would rank Hardy a close #3 at the strongside DE/OLB position after Carlos Dunlap and Greg Romeus. All 3 guys have all pro potential. I would definitely consider Hardy seriously starting in the early 2nd round. If he were BVA where we pick in the 1st I would probably try to trade back a few picks. If any of those guys were available in the early 2nd round I would consider moving up for one of them with Jacksonville's pick, assuming we didn't take a DE/OLB in the 1st round.

 

[BillBelichickFan79]

Hardy's your binky - got it. He's second round at best for me.

Not my binky; my binky would be Spiller who I've loved for the past 3 years. I just believe Hardy is the most talented OLB prospect in the draft. I think he has all the traits necessary to be an elite OLB in our defense. OLB is, in my eyes, our biggest need, and Hardy's injuries do not concern me as much as they concern you. He seemed healed from his foot problems early this year, and a broken wrist is not that big of an injury to come back from. If he had torn an knee ligament like Merriman did, I would agree. But he didn't.

Obviously we disagree on where he should go based on a variety of factors. You've had your binkies with Barwin and Gocong, who you thought higher of than others like myself did. Thought Barwin was a 3rd rounder at best.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Not my binky; my binky would be Spiller who I've loved for the past 3 years. I just believe Hardy is the most talented OLB prospect in the draft. I think he has all the traits necessary to be an elite OLB in our defense. OLB is, in my eyes, our biggest need, and Hardy's injuries do not concern me as much as they concern you. He seemed healed from his foot problems early this year, and a broken wrist is not that big of an injury to come back from. If he had torn an knee ligament like Merriman did, I would agree. But he didn't.

Obviously we disagree on where he should go based on a variety of factors. You've had your binkies with Barwin and Gocong, who you thought higher of than others like myself did. Thought Barwin was a 3rd rounder at best.

Binkies are where you find them, I'll revisit my assessment as we move closer to the draft.

 

[BritPat]

Not my binky; my binky would be Spiller who I've loved for the past 3 years. I just believe Hardy is the most talented OLB prospect in the draft. I think he has all the traits necessary to be an elite OLB in our defense. OLB is, in my eyes, our biggest need, and Hardy's injuries do not concern me as much as they concern you. He seemed healed from his foot problems early this year, and a broken wrist is not that big of an injury to come back from. If he had torn an knee ligament like Merriman did, I would agree. But he didn't.

Obviously we disagree on where he should go based on a variety of factors. You've had your binkies with Barwin and Gocong, who you thought higher of than others like myself did. Thought Barwin was a 3rd rounder at best.

That's fair enough. To me though, Romeus, JPP, Morgan (although he may be more of a 4-3 End), Lane and Hughes all have more 'talent'.

And much less questions.

 

[patsfan55]

Yessir couldn't agree with you more. You need to have game-changers on both sides of the ball. We have that in Brady, Moss, Welker, etc. on the offensive side, but we are lacking on defense at the LB position, especially OLB. It would be nice to see us trade up every once in a while to add a guy that can come in and have an immediate impact, rather than always moving back and having good but not great guys come in.

The perfect example is when we had the San Fran pick in 2008. We wound up selecting Mayo at 10. He came in and had an instant impact, won DROY, and was a playmaker at the ILB position where we definitely needed to get younger.

Right now, IMO, we need some young talent at the OLB position. It's extremely important in today's NFL to have a great pass rusher to get pressure on the QB. A lot of those elite pass rushers go in the first 15 to 20 picks. I say this year it's time we go get the elite talent and sacrifice a little value.

Did you go back to the archives and read my posts from 2002-present?

Couldn't agree more. Here's the problem with our opinions: others believe we sound like the typical new, unknowledgable fan when we say oh we need to get a Julius Peppers, oh we need to get a Randy Moss, we need to get a Demarcus Ware. And, we're not even saying that much. I would do anything for a Willie McGinest in his prime right now. I've been saying it for a while because I watched our linebackers getting older and didn't see any young successors coming in. Unless you count Ryan Claridge and Monty Beisel .

Are solid blue collar players the glue that holds a great team together for many years because you can keep them for low costs? Absolutely. But, you still need those playmakers on both sides of the ball. In our title years we had Richard Seymour, Willie, Vrabel, Bruschi, Rodney, Ty Law, Phifer, Tyrone Poole, and the list goes on and on. What playmakers do we have on defense right now? Mayo is close and will improve but he's not even really there yet. Meriweather is a playmaker. Bodden to an extent. Butler I think will be. That's pretty much it unfortunately. "Big time players make big time plays in big time games." Who stuffed Edge on the goal line? Who pressured Warner into his int? Who made that pick and returned it for a touchdown?.....All playmakers. We will not have anywhere close to an elite defense again until we acquire some playmakers, especially on the edge.

 

[BillBelichickFan79]

Did you go back to the archives and read my posts from 2002-present?

Couldn't agree more. Here's the problem with our opinions: others believe we sound like the typical new, unknowledgable fan when we say oh we need to get a Julius Peppers, oh we need to get a Randy Moss, we need to get a Demarcus Ware. And, we're not even saying that much. I would do anything for a Willie McGinest in his prime right now. I've been saying it for a while because I watched our linebackers getting older and didn't see any young successors coming in. Unless you count Ryan Claridge and Monty Beisel .

Are solid blue collar players the glue that holds a great team together for many years because you can keep them for low costs? Absolutely. But, you still need those playmakers on both sides of the ball. In our title years we had Richard Seymour, Willie, Vrabel, Bruschi, Rodney, Ty Law, Phifer, Tyrone Poole, and the list goes on and on. What playmakers do we have on defense right now? Mayo is close and will improve but he's not even really there yet. Meriweather is a playmaker. Bodden to an extent. Butler I think will be. That's pretty much it unfortunately. "Big time players make big time plays in big time games." Who stuffed Edge on the goal line? Who pressured Warner into his int? Who made that pick and returned it for a touchdown?.....All playmakers. We will not have anywhere close to an elite defense again until we acquire some playmakers, especially on the edge.

Lol, no I didn't go back and look at any of your posts, but I definitely share the same views as you. It's not like we're saying we need to be the Yankees with All Stars at every position. You absolutely need good blue collar guys for low salaries to be successful in the NFL on offense, defense, and special teams.

But to be a great team, you also need playmakers. Guys who can step onto the field and make plays that change the game. As you said, we had those guys in Seymour, Law, Samuel, Rodney, etc. As we rebuild this defense, we are lacking guys of that caliber. I'd consider Wilfork, Mayo, and potentially Meriweather and Butler the only playmakers we currently have. To add those types of talents, you often have to move up into the top 15 or top 20. I'd like to see us move up sometimes rather than just moving back looking for good "value" all the time. The best draft pick of the last 4 years, IMO, has been Mayo. Look at where we got him. It's not a coincidence.

 

[patsfan55]

Last year the Pats could've drafted Chung and Vollmer later than when they were selected. They could've traded back and gotten better 'value' for them both, but they didn't because they had guys targeted and didn't want to risk the chance on losing out on them to someone else.

I like this newbie.

When we drafted Volmer ppl said it was a reach, when we drafted Mankins ppl said it was a reach. If you value someone you go after him. You don't draft a guy 10th if he's the 50th best player, but taking him with the 32nd pick isn't that huge of a stretch.

This is especially the case with the Pats as we like to draft guys that will fit our system and fill a specific role.

 

[patsfan55]

Lol, no I didn't go back and look at any of your posts, but I definitely share the same views as you. It's not like we're saying we need to be the Yankees with All Stars at every position. You absolutely need good blue collar guys for low salaries to be successful in the NFL on offense, defense, and special teams.

But to be a great team, you also need playmakers. Guys who can step onto the field and make plays that change the game. As you said, we had those guys in Seymour, Law, Samuel, Rodney, etc. As we rebuild this defense, we are lacking guys of that caliber. I'd consider Wilfork, Mayo, and potentially Meriweather and Butler the only playmakers we currently have. To add those types of talents, you often have to move up into the top 15 or top 20. I'd like to see us move up sometimes rather than just moving back looking for good "value" all the time. The best draft pick of the last 4 years, IMO, has been Mayo. Look at where we got him. It's not a coincidence.

I'm so right there with you. I LOVED the Wilfork pick, but as soon as we made it I was screaming at my tv for us to trade up with the 32nd pick to grab SJax, we stayed pat and took Watson instead.

 

[BillBelichickFan79]

I like this newbie.

When we drafted Volmer ppl said it was a reach, when we drafted Mankins ppl said it was a reach. If you value someone you go after him. You don't draft a guy 10th if he's the 50th best player, but taking him with the 32nd pick isn't that huge of a stretch.

This is especially the case with the Pats as we like to draft guys that will fit our system and fill a specific role.

Exactly how I feel. If you have a guy you like, you go after him.

I'm so right there with you. I LOVED the Wilfork pick, but as soon as we made it I was screaming at my tv for us to trade up with the 32nd pick to grab SJax, we stayed pat and took Watson instead.

S-Jax would look great in a Pats jersey. I would've loved to see us do that, especially since we don't even use Watson that much.

 

[patsfan55]

Exactly how I feel. If you have a guy you like, you go after him.



S-Jax would look great in a Pats jersey. I would've loved to see us do that, especially since we don't even use Watson that much.

I still don't really get why we draft tight ends high, since we don't use them at all in the passing game. I know we like them to be versatile and block well, but man, you can get that in the mid rounds.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Defensive end Greg Hardy and kicker Joshua Shene have been selected to the East-West Shrine Game, which will be played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando and be televised on ESPN2. It’ll be interesting to see if either player has an NFL future. Hardy is incredibly talented, but really hurt his stock over the past few months because of his injuries and questionable attitude. He was looking for a big game in the Cotton Bowl, but really didn’t do a whole lot, breaking up one pass but making zero tackles. He’s a guy who could make his money with a great combine performance. He certainly has the ability to test well in almost everything. There’s not many 6-foot-5, 270-pound guys who can move like he can. Shene had an average senior season, making 15-of-20 field goals and 43-of-45 extra points, but he had a very good junior season, making 17-of-21 field goals and all of his extra points. For the most part, Shene was automatic the past two years from inside about 42 or 43 yards (The Cotton Bowl was obviously an abberation). Breaking into the NFL is hard as a kicker and Shene will have to prove he can hit field goals in the 40-50 yard range more consistently, but I think he has a chance. - David Brandt, Jackson Clarion Ledger via NFL Draft Scout

 

[VJCPatriot]

Hardy appears to be one of those guys who will perform freakishly well at the Combine. If he does you can forget about him dropping to round 2. If Peppers is available in an uncapped year, I think you sign him and go for a championship run with one of the most talented defensive lines in the NFL for 2010 -- Peppers-Wilfork-Warren.

I still don't really get why we draft tight ends high, since we don't use them at all in the passing game. I know we like them to be versatile and block well, but man, you can get that in the mid rounds.

We actually did not draft a tight end at all last year, which shocked me. How good would a Brent Celek look in this Pats offense??