I dont see how the op is all that crazy. Recently their drafts have been mediocre at best. 2003 was great, 2005 was decent but since its been lackluster. Its the truth just go by production. Luckily the team still had talent to overcome it. But if you saw the picks and production and it was another team, you wouldnt say they were scouting geniuses. When you watch the draft the pats always make these picks early where these guys were projected late, people say they know something, but then thes guys turn out to be unproductive. And i agree no sense in drafting garret mills and david thomas back to back then never puting them on the field.
How many friggin times to we have to go over this? Every time this idiot brings it up (this has got to be the 5th or 6th time in the last 6 month) People show how he is WRONG.
How the hell can you say that the drafts since 2005 have been lackluster? The jury isn't even out on the 2008 or 2009 drafts. So, lets look at 2006 and 2007. And 2006 is was pretty good. 2007, the draft as a whole, was poor in overall talent.
2006
Maroney - Starting quality RB. Has had some injury issues, but has run well when healthy
Jackson - Developed slowly as a rookie, but started finding his legs just prior to the play-offs where he tore his ACL on kick coverage. Missed a full season and then was cut when he couldn't develop chemistry with Brady. Bust.
Thomas - Was one of the best pass-catching receivers coming out of college. Has been a decent back-up..
Mills - The Pats felt that they had an H-back in the Chris Cooley mode with Mills and they tried to stash him on the Practice Squad so he could continue to develop. Unfortunately, the Vikings decided to snag him off waivers. He's been a solid back-up for them.
Gostkowski - Has made people forget about the previous kicker. Is damn near an All-Pro
O'Callaghan - jumped over Britt in TC to earn the starting position with Kaczur injured. Unfortunately, missed much of the next 2 years with injuries.
Mincey - For some reason, he dogged it in camp thinking that his status as a draft pick meant he would have a full year to learn the defense. Since then, he's been a reserve for Jacksonville
Stevenson - One of the many C/G's the Pats have brought in to try and find a quality back-up for Koppen. He was cut, then was added to the practice squad, but was cut again.
LeKevin Smith - Developed into a solid back-up at DE. Was active on the special teams units.
Willie Andrews - Was a special teams ACE for three years until off-field issues de-railed his career.
So, of the 10 picks, 3 could be considered busts, though I am not sure how much of a bust a 6th round pick can be considered.. Picks outside the 3rd round are generally hit or miss.
Besides that, we've got 2 quality starters and several solid back-ups. You can't ask for much more out of a draft.
As for the 2007 draft. Belichick and Pioli are on record as having said they did not like the talent in this draft. They were also stuck with 4 pciks they couldn't trade.
They grabbed Meriweather. They grabbed Kareem Brown, who stuck with the team through TC and was only cut because of injuries at the DB position required a roster space to be open up.
BB tried to get cute with Justin Rogers and it back-fired on him.. Rogers has been one of the Cowboys best special teams players since getting there.
Oldenburg and Hilliard keep getting invited to TCs for teams and usually end up on the practice squad.. Richardson was playing well until his injury and he gave the Pats one good season.
People want to say that 2007 could have been better and I always ask how they know.. And most of the time they blabber on about other teams. Yet they forget that the 2007 Pats were STACKED going into the Draft. And then they added MOSS. It was going to take a very special talent to make the team..
Also, people love pointing to other players and I always ask how they know that such player "X" would succeed on the Pats.. And they can't give an answer. Because they don't know.
BTW, the 2008 and 2009 drafts are looking pretty solid, at the very least. Right now, 12 of 19 are on the Pats 53 man roster. Of the 7 that are not, 3 are on the IR and 1 on the PUP. The other three, (O'Connell, Ruud, and Richard) were cut. And that is a 3rd and two 7ths. And there is a good chance that Richard will be brought back to the practice squad.
Of the 12 on the roster, Mayo was a starter as a rookie. Wilhite showed promise and poise as a rookie and seems like he's earned himself a shot as the starter. Wheatley was going well until he broke his left wrist (not the wrist he's broken in college). Slater, though he muffed a couple of returns, was a great special teamer otherwise. And the rookies this year seem like they are a cash crop. Chung looks like he should develop into a quality starter. Same with Butler. Vollmer is causing us to drool with thoughts of him taking over from Kaczur and possibly displacing Light as the starting LT in a year or two. Brace looks to be the back-up NT the Pats have been looking for. Edelman surprised everyone and forced the Patriots to make a spot on the team. As did Pryor. Ohrnberger could be the answer at RG when Neal is gone.
Now, those are just the pre-lims on the 08 and 09 draft. The future certainly looks bright.
