Most likely trade-up partner?

[Seneschal2]

I'm NOT suggesting that the Pats will trade up in this draft - quite possibly the opposite. There is a lot of value deep in this draft. BUT every year some elite prospects fall a bit in the 1st round, and if BB saw someone he wanted badly I could see trading up with last year's partner, New Orleans.

I tend to believe we sit still or trade down. Main reasoning has to do with the top 15 talent doesn't seem to fit the Pats as well as the lesser ranked prospects.

Of course we always can trade up, but in this draft, I'd actually be surprised if we didn't attempt to trade down. JMO.

 

[mesoslo]

If a good OL men or WR drops out of the top 10, trading up would be nice. With the #14 you can always grab a top prospect TE.

 

[mayoclinic]

I tend to believe we sit still or trade down. Main reasoning has to do with the top 15 talent doesn't seem to fit the Pats as well as the lesser ranked prospects.

Of course we always can trade up, but in this draft, I'd actually be surprised if we didn't attempt to trade down. JMO.

I agree with you in terms of likelihood, as I stated in my OP; but nothing's out of the question. If we actually managed to get a #19-22 pick for Cassel then I could even see us doing both - trading up from 19 if someone we really wanted fell to the mid-teens, and trading back from 23 to the bottom of the 1st or early 2nd rounds if we felt that there was better value. But I didn't want to get complicated.

While this draft is very deep, there are potentially a lot of fairly elite prospects at areas that could impact the Pats:

- 3 OTs: Monroe, Jason Smith, and Andre Smith
- 2-3 pass rushers: Orapko, Brown, and possibly even Maybin if he shoots
up draft boards as some predict he will.
- 1-2 LBs: Curry and possibly Maualuga
- 1 DT: Raji
- 1 DB: Jenkins

I'm not personally including WR as an option, though others may. Even so, that makes 8-10 players of interest who are probably top 15 picks, and who would be doubtful to last to #19-23. If someone like Jenkins, Curry, Raji or one of the top OTs fell to #14 I could see BB trading up. The more picks we have, the more likely I think BB is to move around in this draft.

 

[ice]

just a quick thought I just had.

Would you possibly include the TE Pettigrew in their.

My thought was this, With Brady returning after a year off, still favoring his leg, With Watson Reaching FA next year, Could we see the offense morph back to more of a two tightend Ball control scheme, to help ease Brady back and protect against watson leaving.

After Brady is back to form we could still go back to our spread attack.