One NFC assistant's take on Tavon Wilson (inside info)

[SteveKiner]

I'd say you have a pretty good read on that situation.

LOL

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[State]

If and when Bill Belichick writes his tell-all book he'll have to include a discussion of this pick. I'm confident he'll say something like,

Yeah, it was a reach. Not much. But I wanted to troll against Mel Kiper. And he turned out to be a pretty good player. In hindsight I probably should have gone with Lavonte David. But was worth it? Yeah.

 

[Off The Grid]

LOL

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I'm here all night, my Friend.

Try the Guacamole.

 

[State]

It looks as though the majority opinion is squarely on the side of those like me who say Wilson was taken too early.

Post-Draft Review/Future Outlook-New England Patriots | The Sideline View

 

[Sciz]

It looks as though the majority opinion is squarely on the side of those like me who say Wilson was taken too early.

Post-Draft Review/Future Outlook-New England Patriots | The Sideline View

Being in the majority and being right are two completely different things.

 

[patsfan13]

First I have no idea what Wilson will be. I also know that statistically the NFL draft is somewhat of a crap shoot (posted some articles from economist who had studied the draft) some some picks will work and some won't.

What I find funny is when GM's or Execs from other teams are referenced about BB reaching for a player (remember the Mankins reach?). The reason this is funny is because we know their organizations haven't been as successful as the Pats in all cases not nearly as successful as the Pats over the past 15 years (6 SB appearances).

IOW why the hell should I care about what losers think about our State of the Art franchise?

 

[mayoclinic]

First I have no idea what Wilson will be. I also know that statistically the NFL draft is somewhat of a crap shoot (posted some articles from economist who had studied the draft) some some picks will work and some won't.

What I find funny is when GM's or Execs from other teams are referenced about BB reaching for a player (remember the Mankins reach?). The reason this is funny is because we know their organizations haven't been as successful as the Pats in all cases not nearly as successful as the Pats over the past 15 years (6 SB appearances).

IOW why the hell should I care about what losers think about our State of the Art franchise?

Exactly. It's not like teams poll other teams to see whether they view a pick as a "reach". If you think a player is worth taking, you take him. And BB's track record on "reaches" is pretty good. Looking back at the 2005 draft, only 3 players taken after Mankins have had comparable careers, and all would have been considered reaches at 32: OT Michael Roos, WR Vincent Jackson, and DE Justin Tuck. Looking at the 2009 draft, the only guy taken after #58 who has had an impact greater than Vollmer was WR Mike Wallace. So regardless of what the "experts" think, maybe BB actually knows what he's doing.

 

[Ivan]

It looks as though the majority opinion is squarely on the side of those like me who say Wilson was taken too early.

Post-Draft Review/Future Outlook-New England Patriots | The Sideline View

lmao-the people who didn't rate Wilson highly before the draft think he was taken too high. I.E....The people who agree with me agree with me.

 

[Ivan]

If and when Bill Belichick writes his tell-all book he'll have to include a discussion of this pick. I'm confident he'll say something like,

Quote:
Yeah, it was a reach. Not much. But I wanted to troll against Mel Kiper. And he turned out to be a pretty good player. In hindsight I probably should have gone with Lavonte David. But was worth it? Yeah.



I'm sure that's why he took Brady as well. The idea that belichick gives one crap about Kiper's opinion, let alone makes high picks just to "tweak" him is really idiotic.

 

[patchick]

Exactly. It's not like teams poll other teams to see whether they view a pick as a "reach". If you think a player is worth taking, you take him. And BB's track record on "reaches" is pretty good. Looking back at the 2005 draft, only 3 players taken after Mankins have had comparable careers, and all would have been considered reaches at 32: OT Michael Roos, WR Vincent Jackson, and DE Justin Tuck. Looking at the 2009 draft, the only guy taken after #58 who has had an impact greater than Vollmer was WR Mike Wallace. So regardless of what the "experts" think, maybe BB actually knows what he's doing.

Interesting that his biggest draft misses were generally NOT considered "reaches," or were even supposed to be "steals." Laurence Maroney? Solid value. Darius Butler? What luck, he would have been a solid pick at #26! Chad Jackson? Top WR in the draft, amazing he fell out of the first!

Come to think of it, has BB ever missed on a pick that was considered a huge reach in the top few rounds?

 

[mayoclinic]

Interesting that his biggest draft misses were generally NOT considered "reaches," or were even supposed to be "steals." Laurence Maroney? Solid value. Darius Butler? What luck, he would have been a solid pick at #26! Chad Jackson? Top WR in the draft, amazing he fell out of the first!

And Brandon Meriweather was considered excellent value at 24 in 2007.

Come to think of it, has BB ever missed on a pick that was considered a huge reach in the top few rounds?

Marquise Hill and Ben Watson were both reaches in 2004. Bethel Johnson was a reach in 2003. None lived up to expectations, though opinions will vary on to what extent they were "misses".

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Interesting that his biggest draft misses were generally NOT considered "reaches," or were even supposed to be "steals." Laurence Maroney? Solid value. Darius Butler? What luck, he would have been a solid pick at #26! Chad Jackson? Top WR in the draft, amazing he fell out of the first!

Come to think of it, has BB ever missed on a pick that was considered a huge reach in the top few rounds?

The biggest miss that comes to mind is Kevin O'Connell.

 

[1960Pats]

"Needs to locate ball better(that is why they liked him at safety more)"

Man does that scare me. To me the Pats DBs biggest weakness is that they don't locate the ball well.

 

[DaBruinz]

It looks as though the majority opinion is squarely on the side of those like me who say Wilson was taken too early.

Post-Draft Review/Future Outlook-New England Patriots | The Sideline View

One of the things that is over-looked is that there is something like 24 teams that use the same scouting service.. So, if the 2 personnel executives both use the same service, then it would stand to reason that they would both have low grades on Wilson.

That doesn't prove anything..

 

[DaBruinz]

"Needs to locate ball better(that is why they liked him at safety more)"

Man does that scare me. To me the Pats DBs biggest weakness is that they don't locate the ball well.

Well, that is a very subjective statement by the "scout" the OP was talking about. Most other things I've read don't say that about him.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

If and when Bill Belichick writes his tell-all book he'll have to include a discussion of this pick. I'm confident he'll say something like,

Actually he will say something like this:

"I did what I thought was best for the team. He was a tough kid who worked hard. Football was important to him. He showed some versatility and had a good football IQ. "

At least that is the way it will start. How it will continue is anyone's guess. Either like this:

"He was solid player who contributed to our Super Bowl victory that season. After hard work on the JUGS machine in camp his ball skills improved and he was able to solidify the defensive backfield. "

Or:

"Any pick is a gamble, but at that point in the draft we felt that the gamble was worth it. Unfortunately, in this case, Wilson got caught in a numbers game and never got to spend much time on the field. He worked hard, but eventually we felt that we had to go in a different direction."

[It would not be too hard to create a computer program to grind out droll and boring BB sound bites. You know of course that BB is droll and boring on purpose as a defense against the jackals in the local press. ]

 

[captain stone]

You honor US, Brother MidWest and Brother York!!

"We Are All Brothers, in the Eyes of GOD." ~ Yon Preacher

"AAAAAAYAEAEAEAEAEAAEAHHHHHHH!!!" ~ Brother Bluto Blutarksy

Anybody want to guess which Yankee ~ she's from Lynn!! ~ starred in BOTH these movies??

No cheating!! :nono:

***

Verna Bloom, who I did not know was from Lynn, Lynn the city of Sin.

I really dug that outfit she wore underneath her coat in Otter's room.

 

[Avenger]

And Brandon Meriweather was considered excellent value at 24 in 2007.



Marquise Hill and Ben Watson were both reaches in 2004. Bethel Johnson was a reach in 2003. None lived up to expectations, though opinions will vary on to what extent they were "misses".

None of those were misses, Hill died, Watson is no Gronk but he put up pretty good numbers and blocked well the offense wasn't as TE based then also, and Johnson was a very good return man.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

And Brandon Meriweather was considered excellent value at 24 in 2007.

Marquise Hill and Ben Watson were both reaches in 2004. Bethel Johnson was a reach in 2003. None lived up to expectations, though opinions will vary on to what extent they were "misses".

Ha. No. They were only considered reaches in retrospect. At the time everyone was thrilled with the Bethel and a little perplexed with the Watson pick but no one said they were reaches.

 

[patchick]

Ha. No. They were only considered reaches in retrospect. At the time everyone was thrilled with the Bethel and a little perplexed with the Watson pick but no one said they were reaches.

With Watson in particular, I recall the complaint was "But we already have Graham! Who needs TWO top tight ends?"

Come to think of it, even when they took Hernandez it was considered a pure luxury pick based on talent available, because they'd already "filled the need" with Gronkowski. Now, of course, watching both Gronk & Hernandez play > 80% of snaps, we see the positional need very differently...as BB presumably envisioned back in 2004 with the Watson pick.