Patriots Top Five Best All-Time Draft Classes

[PatsFans.com Article]

Patriots Top Five Best All-Time Draft Classes

Steve Balestrieri

We went back and made a list of our Top 5 drafts in the Patriots history. And the 2016 class will have some big shoes to fill.

Continue reading...

 

[Ian]

Patriots Top Five Best All-Time Draft Classes

Steve Balestrieri

We went back and made a list of our Top 5 drafts in the Patriots history. And the 2016 class will have some big shoes to fill.

Continue reading...

Kudos to Steve for putting this together. It's a great read, especially for the older fans who remember a lot of the earlier teams

 

[realtime]

Good read. Interesting to note the role that the terribly lopsided (in the Patriots' favor) Plunkett trade had in two of the drafts on Steve's list. To put that trade into today's context, it would be like the Rams trading the package they just surrendered to the Titans for Mark Sanchez instead of the #1 overall pick.

 

[IllegalContact]

year 2000 brought Tom Brady

no first round pick and you wind up with the greatest football player of all time

 

[realtime]

year 2000 brought Tom Brady

no first round pick and you wind up with the greatest football player of all time

"Wind up" is the right way to put it. Use 5th round picks on two guys who can't even play in the NFL, then sit quietly while the Steelers and Ravens fill their QB needs with QB's who can't play in the NFL either.

 

[oldrover]

Two points:

First, to Ian, or whoever does this... that article was annoyingly laid out and took FOREVER to load/read. Five different clicks, five different images loading, not to mention I had to click twice just to get there in the first place... I made it to page 3 and then said the hell with it. FWIW... which may not be much. LOL

Second... while I'm one of those old guys who remembers those killer drafts in the 70's... the truth is:

year 2000 brought Tom Brady

no first round pick and you wind up with the greatest football player of all time

No further discussion is needed.

 

[Jimke]

Good read. Interesting to note the role that the terribly lopsided (in the Patriots' favor) Plunkett trade had in two of the drafts on Steve's list. To put that trade into today's context, it would be like the Rams trading the package they just surrendered to the Titans for Mark Sanchez instead of the #1 overall pick.

Fairbanks had three #1 picks in the 1973 draft: their own, one from the Carl Garrett trade, and one from
the botched Phil Olsen situation. As you have indicated the successful 1976 and 1977 drafts were laden
with #1 and #2 picks from the Plunkett trade. The 1995 draft and the 2003 drafts were just superior drafts.

 

[Jimke]

year 2000 brought Tom Brady

no first round pick and you wind up with the greatest football player of all time

The Brady pick is obviously the best draft pick of all time and changed the Patriots from an
average team to a dynasty. But why did they wait 199 picks to draft him if he was so good and
would they have drafted him if **** Rehbein had not been around to recommend him?

 

[IllegalContact]

The Brady pick is obviously the best draft pick of all time and changed the Patriots from an
average team to a dynasty. But why did they wait 199 picks to draft him if he was so good and
would they have drafted him if **** Rehbein had not been around to recommend him?

because its all about 'value'......and rubbing in the noses of the GMs of the teams that thought more highly of:
Chad Pennington
Giovanni Carmazzi
Chris Redman
Tee Martin
Marc Bulger
Spergon Wynn

 

[Ian]

Two points:

First, to Ian, or whoever does this... that article was annoyingly laid out and took FOREVER to load/read. Five different clicks, five different images loading, not to mention I had to click twice just to get there in the first place... I made it to page 3 and then said the hell with it. FWIW... which may not be much. LOL

Noted, and you're right, it was taking too long to load. So I took the video out of the post since it wasn't related and that should speed it up. But given the length and the fact that it was broken up by year, that's why it was separated into pages.

 

[zydecochris]

year 2000 brought Tom Brady

no first round pick and you wind up with the greatest football player of all time

The Brady pick is obviously the best draft pick of all time and changed the Patriots from an
average team to a dynasty. But why did they wait 199 picks to draft him if he was so good and
would they have drafted him if **** Rehbein had not been around to recommend him?

Why is where the Patriots drafted Brady relevant to the subject of this post?

I don't see how anyone can argue IllegalContact's point that the 2000 draft had to be the best because it brought in the greatest player of all time, and he has been super productive and relatively injury free (except for one year) for 16 freaking years to boot.

I thought Balestrieri's article was an entertaining read, but he must have been using some unexplained criteria for his rankings, otherwise I don't see how you discount the 2000 draft.

 

[IllegalContact]

Why is where the Patriots drafted Brady relevant to the subject of this post?

I don't see how anyone can argue IllegalContact's point that the 2000 draft had to be the best because it brought in the greatest player of all time, and he has been super productive and relatively injury free (except for one year) for 16 freaking years to boot.

I thought Balestrieri's article was an entertaining read, but he must have been using some unexplained criteria for his rankings, otherwise I don't see how you discount the 2000 draft.

and we're not even bringing up the fact that the 1st round pick in that draft brought us BB

so that draft produced 2 GOATs

 

[Ian]

Why is where the Patriots drafted Brady relevant to the subject of this post?

I don't see how anyone can argue IllegalContact's point that the 2000 draft had to be the best because it brought in the greatest player of all time, and he has been super productive and relatively injury free (except for one year) for 16 freaking years to boot.

I thought Balestrieri's article was an entertaining read, but he must have been using some unexplained criteria for his rankings, otherwise I don't see how you discount the 2000 draft.

Because the 2000 draft, aside from Brady and a couple of players, wasn't a great draft overall:

2 Adrian Klemm, OL, Hawaii
3 J.R. Redmond, RB, Arizona State
4 Greg Robinson-Randall, OT, Michigan State
5 Dave Stachelski, TE, Boise State
5 Jeff Marriott, DE, Missouri
6 Antwan Harris, CB, Virginia
6 Tom Brady, QB, Michigan
6 David Nugent, DL, Purdue
7 Casey Tisdale, LB, New Mexico
7 Patrick Pass, RB, Georgia

The premise was the best complete drafts, which was what he was basing it on. I get that you can say the Patriots selected Belichick in round one and Brady in the 6th, but that wasn't the spirit of the piece he put together.

 

[IllegalContact]

fixed it for you

Because the 2000 draft, aside from Brady and a couple of players, wasn't a great draft overall:

2 Adrian Klemm, OL, Hawaii
3 J.R. Redmond, RB, Arizona State
4 Greg Robinson-Randall, OT, Michigan State
5 Dave Stachelski, TE, Boise State
5 Jeff Marriott, DE, Missouri
6 Antwan Harris, CB, Virginia
6 Tom Brady, QB, Michigan
6 David Nugent, DL, Purdue
7 Casey Tisdale, LB, New Mexico
7 Patrick Pass, RB, Georgia

The premise was the best complete drafts, which was what he was basing it on. I get that you can say the Patriots selected Belichick in round one and Brady in the 6th, but that wasn't the spirit of the piece he put together.

there is a certain amount of truth to this, but the bottom line is the bottom line......Brady's asset value alone outscores any other draft.....and the end result is even further amplified due to a league that demands parity

 

[zydecochris]

Why is where the Patriots drafted Brady relevant to the subject of this post?

I don't see how anyone can argue IllegalContact's point that the 2000 draft had to be the best because it brought in the greatest player of all time, and he has been super productive and relatively injury free (except for one year) for 16 freaking years to boot.

I thought Balestrieri's article was an entertaining read, but he must have been using some unexplained criteria for his rankings, otherwise I don't see how you discount the 2000 draft.

Because the 2000 draft, aside from Brady and a couple of players, wasn't a great draft overall:

2 Adrian Klemm, OL, Hawaii
3 J.R. Redmond, RB, Arizona State
4 Greg Robinson-Randall, OT, Michigan State
5 Dave Stachelski, TE, Boise State
5 Jeff Marriott, DE, Missouri
6 Antwan Harris, CB, Virginia
6 Tom Brady, QB, Michigan
6 David Nugent, DL, Purdue
7 Casey Tisdale, LB, New Mexico
7 Patrick Pass, RB, Georgia

The premise was the best complete drafts, which was what he was basing it on. I get that you can say the Patriots selected Belichick in round one and Brady in the 6th, but that wasn't the spirit of the piece he put together.

I think that you have just described the unexplained criteria for his rankings I surmised, the unexplained (and I guess assumed) premise that it was the best "complete drafts", I never saw that mentioned.

I still agree with Illegal Contact, how can you say "aside from Brady (and Belichick)" it wasn't a great draft? That is like saying that apart from Dave Matthews, the Dave Matthews Band isn't a great band.

However, I won't beat the subject to death, I understand it was meant to be a description of complete drafts.

 

[tasmlab]

year 2000 brought Tom Brady

no first round pick and you wind up with the greatest football player of all time

If the 2000 drafters had a crystal ball/time machine and knew what Brady would become, Brady would have been the undisputed #1 pick and would've played for the Browns.

I wonder if the Browns would've turned out awesome for 15 years or if the organization would've ruined Brady.

 

[IllegalContact]

looking into it deeper, how can 1977 be up there with clayborn and morgan (great players) ahead of 2001 with seymour and light

if you get down to career asset value, then 1987 with armstrong and gannon is up there, too

 

[IllegalContact]

If the 2000 drafters had a crystal ball/time machine and knew what Brady would become, Brady would have been the undisputed #1 pick and would've played for the Browns.

I wonder if the Browns would've turned out awesome for 15 years or if the organization would've ruined Brady.

great point except that's not what happened so it is no point at all..being compared are things that happened against other things that happened, not things that happened against someone's fantasy

the 2003 draft would be meaningless if it wasn't for a guy named Brady on the team

 

[Ian]

I think that you have just described the unexplained criteria for his rankings I surmised, the unexplained (and I guess assumed) premise that it was the best "complete drafts", I never saw that mentioned.

I still agree with Illegal Contact, how can you say "aside from Brady (and Belichick)" it wasn't a great draft? That is like saying that apart from Dave Matthews, the Dave Matthews Band isn't a great band.

However, I won't beat the subject to death, I understand it was meant to be a description of complete drafts.

LOL, I hear you. Brady was a miracle and obviously the best draft pick of all time. I think if he was rating actual draft picks, there's clearly not an argument there.

 

[archstanton543]

So is an indictment of BB the GM that only one of his drafts were ranked in the Top Five?