Concur, concur, concur.
Again, I think Coach Bill II The Mad is the BEST...And I have no problem with a guy taking a smart chance. Furthermore, I recognize that MOST picks fail, even if you make them all WELL.
But SOME of those moves...were stupid the MOMENT they were made.
1 ~ O'Connell??? THAT pick was HORRIFYINGLY stupid. -- Yeah, probably wasn't the year to even attempt to find a QB. Booty, Dixon, Ainge, Brennan, Woodson, Flynn and Brink (?!) were the QBs drafted after O'Connell.
2 ~ Maroney in the 1st Round in 2006. RB's are VASTLY overrated in the Drafts, in my view. In 2005, alone, the following guys were drafted, a year before Bill II dumped a pick on Maroney:
3rd ~ Frank Gore
4th ~ Marion Barber
4th ~ Brandon Jacobs
4th ~ Darren Sproles
UFA ~ Ryan Grant
--- In 2005, perhaps the Pats weren't in the market for an RB. They'd finished 2004 with Dillon and Faulk, the 6th-ranked ground game and a SB win. By the 2006 draft, we'd lost to Denver in the Divisional Round, Dillon had missed 4 games due to injury and the ground game had dropped to the bottom half of the league. In 2006, the Pats were back up to 12th in rushing yards, 4th in rushing TDs and 5th in rushing 1st downs with Dillon and Maroney splitting the bulk of the carries. By taking Maroney, though, we passed on Williams, Addai, MJD, Leon Washington, Jerious Norwood, Jerome Harrison and 7 JAGS. We did pick up Patrick Cobbs UDFA. If he stays healthy, Miami could bring him back to haunt us this season.
3 ~ Jackson in the 2nd Round in 2006: WR's are even MORE overrated in the Draft, if you ask me: That very year saw Brandon Marshall go in the 4th...and Marquis Colston in the 7th. 2007 would bring James Jones + Mike Walker in the 3rd, and Steve Breaston in the 5th. -- Not to mention Miles Autin, who went undrafted in 2006. IOW, 31 other teams passed on Marshal at least 2-3 times, and on Austin an average of six times. So their guys are all just as stupid as Belichick (and/or Pioli), right?
4 ~ And of course: The Deluge of Mediocre Tight Ends:
2002 #1 ~ Dan Graham, for God's sake.
2004 #1 ~ Ben Watson, for The Love of All that is Holy.
--- Graham was the Pats 4th leading receiver in '03 and '04, averaging 34 catches for 385 yds and 5 tds in 14 games per season. He was supplanted by Watson in '05 and in '06. In 2006, Watson was the team's 2nd leading receiver with 49 catches for 643 yds (better stats than Santonio Holmes, Greg Jennings, DEsmond Clark, Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, etc.), though he only appeared in 13 games. Watson's catches and yardage were down a bit in '07 (only 12 games), but he still caught 6 of Brady's record 50 TDs.
And others, but these two moves were ATROCITIES.
5 ~ And, of course: The 2nd for Dillon.
--- In 2004, for the Pats, Dillon was the 4th best RB in the league. In '05, hew was injured a lot and in '06 he split carries with Maroney (and quit in March '07 rather than continue to share).
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Again: DEMONSTRABLY stupid at the MOMENT those moves were MADE.
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Ironically, I was stupid enough to actually FEAR the loss of Pioli!!
But the last two Drafts ~ even allowing for Coach Bill's continued infuriating neglect of OLB, as well as The Ron Brace Debacle!! ~ have been STUNNING improvements...And if he can finish the troika by hauling in Robert Quinn, and perhaps Marcell Dareus and/or Greg Romeus, if it isn't too much trouble...we could be set up for an EPIC Run!!