Patriots Select CB Cyrus Jones with the 60th Overall Pick

[Kontradiction]

He's going to compete for time in the slot from day one. If he's the type of corner the Pats were looking at, they must feel good about Roberts, Ryan, or Coleman on the outside. Out of the three, I'm guessing it's either Roberts or Coleman.

 

[zydecochris]

It depends on where you look. The only draft analyst I pay any attention to is Mike Manock, and he had Cyrus Jones ranked as the 41st best prospect in the draft, and we got him at 60, good value. I watched him at Alabama, and I love the pick, he was probably my primary draft binky. He isn't real tall but he is very solidly built and absolutely tough as nails. Fantastic tackler, and absolutely top notch run defender. A converted receiver, great ball skills. Great heart, and always wanted to take on the opponents best receiver. Defensive MVP in the semifinal Championship game against Michigan State. A real leader on the 2015 National Championship Alabama team. Love, love, love the pick.

Mike Mayock's 2016 NFL Draft top 100 prospect rankings

By the way, this is who he was starting ahead of (at outside CB, by the way) last year:

• Tony Brown, 5 stars, ranked 8th player overall in ESPN 2014 player rankings
• Kendall Sheffield, 5 stars, ranked 12 overall in ESPN 2015 rankings
  
• Mink Fitzpatrick, 4-5 stars, ranked 27 overall in ESPN 2015 rankings.

None of those guys got a sniff of playing time ahead of Jones at his outside CB position except when he was injured (although Fitzpatrick, who looks like a future #1 pick, started at the 5th db position in the nickel, called the "star" position in the Alabama defense).

 

[captain stone]

Cy Jones: another small CB, a 4th-round talent, over-drafted by Bill as a favor to his oldest buddy.

The amount of real talent bypassed is simultaneously staggering and sickening.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

That 4th is next year. So we get to live it again a little bit a year from now again.

Yay.

OTOH, from the posts around here, since we never hit on a draft pick anyway... no biggie.

 

[Joey007]

He's going to compete for time in the slot from day one. If he's the type of corner the Pats were looking at, they must feel good about Roberts, Ryan, or Coleman on the outside. Out of the three, I'm guessing it's either Roberts or Coleman.

Not Ryan?

 

[JMC00]

Cy Jones: another small CB, a 4th-round talent, over-drafted by Bill as a favor to his oldest buddy.

The amount of real talent bypassed is simultaneously staggering and sickening.

Go follow another team, troll.

 

[thecore762]

I like this pick, but the highlights are mostly of him returning kicks, not in coverage.

He is tough and feisty and, very important, he has good hands. Hands on a CB are very important; it make it risky to throw against him. Once he gets his hands on the ball, he is a threat to go all the way. Even if he occasionally gets beat, his hands can turn around a game, as we, ahem, know oh so well.

If we drafted him mainly to be a PR guy then it was a wasted pick in 2. But if the guy can play D like Malcom then we have a winner here. I've seen couple Alabama games and didn't really see him stand out as a cover guy. But again we shall see how he does after training camp and see how much he can improve.
Ideally I wanted us to go for a bigger guy on D to have some size since Browner left a void in there.

 

[Shed83]

I guess we were running low on C Jones' with Chandler being traded and Chris being waived to the Dolphins.

All is right again - we have a C Jones on the roster!!

 

[zydecochris]

Cy Jones: another small CB, a 4th-round talent, over-drafted by Bill as a favor to his oldest buddy.

The amount of real talent bypassed is simultaneously staggering and sickening.

C'mon Capt'n, all of us occasionally jump to conclusions, aren't you doing that a bit here? Have you extensively watched him play? I watched him all season long the last two years, I'm about an hour from UA.

You make him sound like some small little waif ("another small CB") that will blow away in the wind. He is strong, well built, tough as nails, a great tackler, and excellent in run support. At 5'10" and 198 lbs, he is heavier (and believe me, it is all muscle) than every one of the current Patriot DB's except for Harmon (at 205) and Chung (215), including of course McCourtney (who is the same height but 3 lbs lighter). Nobody knows who will be a successful pro and who won't, but I can pretty much guarantee he will at the very least be the toughest, hardest hitting, least-willing-to-give-an-inch corner the Patriots will have the day he walks into the Stadium. I also think he will be the best DB in run support of anybody except Chung (and maybe Harmon). Regarding your claim that he is a fourth round talent, Mike Mayock (the only draft guy I pay attention to) had him as the 41 best player in the draft, and he was drafted at 60. Part of his draft profile on NFL.com is copied below, with the relevant parts bolded:

STRENGTHS
Press corner with good build and strong lower half. Plus play strength. Confident and tough. Able to reroute and maintain positioning on receivers. From off coverage waits as long as he can before opening hips to turn and run. Willing to mix it up and likes to test receivers early in the game in an attempt to intimidate them. Plays receivers physically when they try to block him and is excellent in run support. Diligent in run contain duties. Scouts say he is well liked in the locker room and has some edge. Excellent return man. Blistered coverage units with four punt return touchdowns this year. Nicknamed "Clamp Clampington".
2016 NFL Draft Profile: Cyrus Jones

More importantly, he is my 2016 draft binky, and to my shock the Patriots actually drafted him.

 

[signbabybrady]

Cyrus Jones 1810 to 1913
Made his great granchildren believe
You could live to a hundred and three
A hundred and three is forever when you're just a little kid
So Cyrus Jones lived forever

 

[BelichickFan]

Cy Jones: another small CB, a 4th-round talent, over-drafted by Bill as a favor to his oldest buddy.

Hightower is our only other highly drafted Bama player. Bill isn't doing Nick favors; if anything it appears Nick steers Bill away from the many Bama busts.

 

[JMC00]

Hightower is our only other highly drafted Bama player. Bill isn't doing Nick favors; if anything it appears Nick steers Bill away from the many Bama busts.

2012 is a real good example of that.

Could have easily taken Hightower and Upshaw instead of Jones.

 

[JMC00]

Cyrus Jones 1810 to 1913
Made his great granchildren believe
You could live to a hundred and three
A hundred and three is forever when you're just a little kid
So Cyrus Jones lived forever

Good stuff. I like that song more solo than full band.


I also nominate that his nickname be "Gravedigger"