Shane Olivea is > either overmatched Russ Hochstein or Mr. Inactive Billy Yates or old, slow, fat Oliver Ross, and would have been a more than adequate backup/replacement for the injured Steven Neal and the undependable Nicky da Snitch.
Yes, and you have such an eye for talent that you are a GM for an NFL team, right? OH WAIT. No, I forgot, you are the head scouting supervisor for a team... OH WAIT. You aren't that either.
Since you missed it, Hochstein was a starter on a SB O-line. Yes, he got over-matched against the Giants, but so did Light, Koppen and Mankins. If you'd actually watched the game, you'd have seen all 3 of them blow assignments during the game.
The FO had a chance this off-season to correct some of the many mistakes it made during the 2004 draft, had it signed as FAs Mewelde Moore, DJ Hackett and Shane Olivea, none of whom were unaffordable and each of whom would have filled a position of need or of questionable depth; in fact, it could be argued that each of them signed contracts for what could be considered below market value.
The many mistakes it made during the 2004 draft? Please show me a team that gets it right every year in the draft. OH you can't.
1) Hackett is injured more often than Bethel Johnson was. Why do you think the Seahawks didn't bother to try and re-sign him this year?
2) Yes, I'd have loved to seen Mewelde Moore here, but he'd have been behind Faulk and in Pittsburgh, he's their 3rd down back. Periord..,
3) Shane Olivea wasn't all that in San Diego.
I didn't realize that WR and 3rd down back were positions of need... Last I looked the Pats have a TON of talent at WR (Welker, Moss, Jackson, Washington, Aiken, Gaffney, C.J. Jones, Robert Ortiz, Ventrone and Slater). As for RB, there are only so many spots on the roster. Its highly unlikely that the Patriots were going to bring in Faulk's replacement and sit Faulk on the bench when he almost 2.5 million on the cap. And considering that he is still the best 3rd down back in the league, its unlikely the Pats would dump him just yet.
Keeping Tom Brady upright and healthy should be Priority #1, esp. when one takes into account the transition from the Charlie Weis-brand of Dink and Dunk, takin' what you're given Offense to the Skippy-brand of 7-step drop, eyeballing Randy Moss so he can break meaningless records Offense. In order to accomplish Priority #1, the best and deepest OL must be assembled to protect The Franchise. As of right now, the right side of the OL is not built to accomplish Priority #1. Would Olivea have helped? Maybe, maybe not; we'll never know now, and that's too bad. Drafting Roy Schuening, instead of Matt Slater, to groom as Neal's eventual - or immediate - replacement could have helped, too.
The FO is playing with fire regarding the health of the most important person in the entire organization; if it does not remain diligent in its efforts, then we all burn .
The Front Office isn't playing with fire regarding Brady's health. Its you blathering assumption that Olivea would have provided an upgrade over Kaczur. Yet you have no proof that Olivea could function in the Pats zone blocking scheme. Same with this idea of drafting Scheuning over Slater. You make the assumption that Scheuning would be able to work in the Pats zone blocking system and would develop into some great offensive lineman. Can you see an alernate reality that makes you believe this?
As for Slater, the Pats drafted him to replace Andrews. He's an extremely versatile player who was the best special teams player in this year's draft. Sorry that the Pats scouting department "sucks" compared to you and your great ability to see the future of alternate realities. I guess that they will just have to suffer.
