I'm disappointed that OBerger blew his chance, but I cant really say its disappointing that 5th,6th and 7th round OL dont pan out. Those guys are long shots who need to develop, and many dont/
When it comes to any given draft pick, that's certainly true. But the fact that the Patriots haven't successfully drafted an o-lineman past round 3 since Dan Koppen is a little disturbing. (That span encompasses 9 OL picks.)
Well, yeah, but that number may be a little deceiving (by the way, I counted 8, not 9.) Two late round OL picks were from the 2010 draft, so it's too early to make a determination on them even though they (Larsen and Welch) were cut; they could end up on the practice squad and contributing a year or two from now. Two more were from a year ago (Ohrnberger and Bussey) that again could end up on the practice squad this year, and contributing to the Pats down the road. Obviously that won't be the case with all four players, I just think it's a bit early to close the book on all of them. After their first training camp, very few would have envisioned Neal and Connolly as starters with the Pats.
2007 was a weak draft and the Pats took three offensive linemen in that draft: Clint Oldenburg, Corey Hilliard and Mike Elgin. Going through the names of all players drafted late that year, there's very few that jump out and make me say 'we shoulda' drafted him!' And in '06 there was Dan Stevenson.
So overall we're talking about one 4th rounder (Ohrnberger), two 5ths (O'Callaghan, Bussey), three 6ths (Stevenson, Hilliard, Larsen), and two 7ths (Elgin, Welch.) With the starters remaining intact for so long, there's been very little opportunity for late round picks to make the roster, even as a backup until the last year or so.
Yea, I was just thinking this, What has the Dante Acadamey done for us lately??
( Not blaming the coach, or maybe I should, didn't he pick the O'burger groceries??)
We had to pick up someone else's developmental player in liu of our own.
Plus this year BB touted those OL as being 4th round talent, yea right.
Connolly is starting at guard, and Wendell is now the top backup on the interior line. I don't know if I'd characterize Ojinnaka as a developmental player; this is his 5th season. I'd say he was brought in as insurance to replace Kaczur as a backup if necessary. It's doubtful that either Dante or BB envisioned the team without both Mankins and Kaczur.
As for Ohrnberger, obviously he's a disappointment, but this hardly marks the first time that a 4th round draft pick failed to make an impact for the team that drafted him.
