Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps we shouldn't focus on picks in the 6th and 7th. But neither should we focus on players not picked. Let us then evaluate the three picks we did actually made in the 1st, 4th and 5th rounds. And let all of you tell me why the three choices worked out so well.
I'll make it really simple for you. First we are talking about ONE draft, the 2007 draft. And, yes, I know you disagree. ....
Here we go...AGAIN
LS: No problem
K: No problem
P: No problem (at the time)
Offense:
QB: Not a need for either a #1 or #2
RB: Not a need for any RB #1-4
TE: Not a need at #1-3
WR: Not a need at #1-7
OL: Not a need, but ALWAYS an area to be addressed by this team
That's the entire offense. The team didn't have a need for any players at all on offense. Any draft picks made here would either have been ridiculous steals or projects to compete with projects (Oldenberg competing with Britt)
Defense:
DL: Not a need for #1-5, competition/projects for NT, DE depth, Always addressed by team
LB: Not a need for #1-5, competition/projects for depth
DB: Due to recent history with this team, this was clearly the area of concern heading into the draft. Between the impending Asante issue, the aging of players like Hawkins and the seemingly endless injuries in the past 2 seasons, THIS was the only area of true need on the entire team.
Now, let's break down the draft you're complaining about for no valid reason:
Round 1: Meriweather is taken
Why a safety? Well, Hobbs and Samuel have shown an ability to play through injury, although Gay has struggled with that: they also ended last season healthy. However, the starting safeties, both Harrison AND Wilson, were coming off of injury. After the 'stomping' incident, Meriweather was projected to be a late first/early second round draft pick, which is exactly what he turned out to be. What the people of this board rate means nothing. No, check that, it means less than nothing.
Round 4: With the highest need (DB) dealt with, it was time for a Belioli special: looking for beef on the lines. In that vein, they took a chance on Kareem Brown and brought him in to compete against the likes of LeKevin Smith and company. As the season wore on, he was unable to unseat the incumbents, players who were previous "finds". (LeKevin Smith is a 6th rounder from 2006, for example). So, your gripe here essentially becomes this: A low round draft pick from a bad draft was unable to beat out low round draft pick from a better draft, or Mike Wright, an undrafted 'steal' from a few years back. You might want to start re-thinking this one
Round 5 just becomes more of the same, where you're complaining that a low round player from that same weak draft couldn't beat out other low round players. O'Callaghan was a #5 the year before, and Britt's a #5 Chargers pick from 2005.
Oldenberg and Brown are both on the Jets roster, Justin Rogers is on the Cowboys roster, Lua and Richardson are Patriots, Elgin is on the Colts practice squad along with Justise Hairston, and Corey Hilliard is on the Colts 53 man roster.
In other words, every player drafted by the Patriots this season is either on an NFL roster or a practice squad. In fact, in a terrible draft year, the Patriots drafted 9 players.
Of the 9 players drafted by Belioli this season, 7 of them are on team rosters, with the other two on the Colts' practice squad. The Patriots (16-0) are the best and deepest team in the NFL. As we see from this paragraph, players that aren't good enough to make the Patriots are good enough to make it on other teams.
It's bizarre that this is even an issue, given the actual draft and the circumstances surrounding it.