Just for nothing is taken out of context, here's a transcript:
Lynch: "Are the Patriots in a position of strength right now, as opposed to the last few years?"
Zolak: "Absolutely. 100%. And you talk to Coach Belichick at the meetings, at the league meetings, and he said 'Well, we usually don't focus on a group of guys that we know are going to be gone at the top of that first round.' Now all of the sudden he's gotta pay a lot of attention there. Like I said, who knows who falls? What if Jake Long falls? What if Chris Long falls down there? Or, if the phone is ringing off the hook for Matt Ryan, they need to see what 8, 9, 10, and 11 behind them need, because those are the teams that are going to be calling them if one of those players, key players, falls to them at 7."
Reiss: "I look at it a little bit differently. I actually think they almost would have been better if the league took away this pick and kept them with the 31st, just because I think that's where the true value of the draft really is."
Lynch: "Really?"
Reiss: "And I know that's--"
Zolak: "Yeah, just take both away, penalize them--"
Reiss: "I know that's extreme thinking, but I do feel strongly. And again, when you look at the numbers, this player that comes in is probably going to be the second or third highest paid player on this team. And, to me, this isn't a position of strength, because it's a 50-50 proposition on draft picks -- some of them work, some of them don't, history tells us that. Now I know the Patriots have a pretty good history with the draft picks, but I'm just not a fan of these top ten picks."
...Now, let's keep in mind Reiss is probably more connected to the Pats, especially Belichick, than any other writer out there. Secondly, I think Reiss' belief (at least partly) that the greatest value in the draft may be in the later part of the first round comes from Belichick's pre-draft press conf conference:
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2008/04/belichick_talks.html
That was the draft that, as it turned out, a lot of players in the second round – the Brett Favres, the Roman Phifers, the Phil Hansens and guys like that – they probably had better careers than a lot of guys in the first round of that draft.”