You suggest drafting as if there will be no new CBA agreement, and with no provisions in case there is. Personally I believe that playing under the current agreement in 2010 is much less than 50%. You choose, and it is your choice, to presume that Mankins will be an RFA next year. Sure, you can have Wendell start! He won't make the 2009 team, and you know it.
MG - I can not see the future and neither can you. Neither of us know what will happen. So for you to say that Wendell won't even make the 2009 roster is just dumb.
And you've read my analysis WRONG. I have not suggested drafting as if there is no new CBA agreement and you are wrong with your assessment that I have not put in provisions in case there is. You keep making jackass statements when I have OG weighed as my #2 concern.
Every team has different needs. Again, many GM's may choose believe that 2010 will be a non-cap year. I suppose if enough do so, they will have glaring holes in their 2010 rosters and will be unlikely to sign an agreement which changes the special 2010 RFA and cap rules.
You keep talking like EVERY TEAM isn't in the exact same boat as the Patriots. You keep going on and on about things and ignoring the fact that it hasn't happened yet. You also ignore the fact that, after the last extension, teams were given time to sign their own free agents before those free agents went on the market.
Personally, I believe that we have one the very top organizations in football, and will address these issues. You well understand the importance of adding a guard or two, or at least you understand this when posting in other threads. If you believe that there are no guards worth drafting in the first three rounds, just say so. If you believe that there are many starters just waiting to be drafted in the 4th and 5th round, that's fine.
Why are you making sh!t up? Where I have said ANYTHING about the level of talent at guard in this draft?
I understand that we can lucky with late round offesnive linemen. After all, Koppen starts for us. On the other hand, another six such draftees don't start for anyone.
Actually, beyond Koppen, the Pats have only taken 5 O-linemen in the 4th round or later. They are Elgin, Oldenburg, Hilliard, O'Callaghan, and Stevenson. And, of those 5, O'Callaghan did start for the Patriots. The other 4, have spent time on other teams practice squads.
But that doesn't prove your point whatsoever. And you using exaggerations like that idiot Bigglesworth doesn't help you prove your point either.