Sporting News: Patriots as only 1 of 2 teams given an A+ grade in the draft

[townes]

One of the big problems for fans evaluating the draft is that the concerns and expectations are immediate, whereas for the team they are more long term. You cannot have a draft philosophy for building a team long term that is focused solely on that year's needs or you will end up with far less talent than your competition. In short if you are taking the 6th best DL and then the 10th best OLB and 12th best WR while your opponents are taking the best OT, the 3rd best DB, and the 3rd best RB then they are going to end up with much more talent over the long haul, while you addressed needs with players who often don't pan out because they were taken above their grade out of need. The Patriots try to take players they have rated highest on the board so they end up with the top talent, and their success over the past decade demonstrates that they know what they are doing, whereas we certainly don't. We can criticize and ***** but in truth we are mostly talking out of our collective asses and haven't even seen most of the prospects in question play a full game, and that doesn't even begin to stack up against the thousands of hours they spend evaluating them.


The Patriots didn't get a pass rusher, we all get that, but they did pick players who can really improve their team going forward and set themselves up to do what they want again next year, and that's a good model to follow year after year.

 

[chicowalker]

I posted this on a Jets site and I think it is an appropriate response.

So I think if he broke the guy's nose or jaw with the first punch, he probably was already no longer an imminent threat by the second punch. Also, if Ellis could have gotten away without injury before the first punch, he may not have a self defense claim at all.

OT: maybe, but if it was a couple punches rather than a pummeling, as a juror I wouldn't consider it excessive force if the other person instigated it and had a weapon

It's speculation on both our part w/o more info.

 

[brady199]

I'm not saying I hated the Pats draft, but finding Draft grades given the day after the draft, are like Bible Scriptures... you can always find one to support your belief and your oppisition can always find one to contridict it.

 

[JoeSixPat]

As much as I want to give an A plus I have to default to "incomplete"

Those who expected teams to address all team needs without the draft and player trades are bound to be disappointed in the draft.

I'm pleased with the potential for starters and/or tradeable players - but ultimately I won't know the context of this draft until I see what Belichick can do with the other two legs of the tripod.

Overall I think Belichick deserves credit for stockpiling more high draft picks and picking up "the best player available" whenever he could.

Those teams who had GMs trying to address all needs in the draft, while appeasing fans, are likely going to discover they've frequently whiffed by drafting predominantly for need.

 

[Froob]

They got a guard rated as a top 50 pick in the 5th round!

Oh, thought he was a tackle my bad. Sweet.

 

[brady199]

Oh, thought he was a tackle my bad. Sweet.

He was a Tackle in college. Projects as a Gaurd that could play Tackle in a pinch.

 

[AzPatsFan]

We had the 2nd highest number of sacks in the second half of the season with most of our DL injured.

The solution for our terrible pass rush is healthy DL, and the maturing of our current LB corp.

The solution for our 3rd down stats is a D where all the players understand their roles and read the O the same way, again a matter of experience with such a young D playing this D.

Stop and Desist! You are making way too much sense...