Tavon Wilson????

[mayoclinic]

The Herald's Adam Kurkjian on Tavon Wilson:

If he was considered such a reach on draft day, he hasn’t looked like one so far. Part of that is due to Wilson being as diligent with his mental preparation as his physical approach to the pro game.

“You’ve just got to attack the playbook just like you attack the field,” he said. “You’ve got to be in your book as much as you can, like all the time, so you can be the best player you can be and you can be comfortable out there.”

The NFL veterans in the secondary have also helped Wilson get comfortable.

“He’s great,” safety Steve Gregory, entering his seventh year in the league but first with the Pats, said of Wilson. “He’s a good football player. We’re all trying to learn the system together and play together. We’re getting to know each other and learning to play together. It’s going well.”

Daily dose of improvement works for Tavon Wilson - BostonHerald.com

The Pats used a 3 man safety core group of Patrick Chung, Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders for a couple of years. If Gregory turns out to be a less athletic version of Meriweather with more discipline and smarts, and Wilson turns out to be a more athletic version of James Sanders, that wouldn't be a terribly bad group.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I wonder whether Tarpinian could possibly beat out Barrett or another DB as a DB/LB hybrid player and STer.

Agreed. I don't see Barrett making this team. Hes an upgrade over McGowan but not by much.

I do see Tarp making the team for exactly the reasons you say. The Pats need as many cover guys as possible on this roster and Tarp gives them a backup at LB, on ST and potentially as a DB.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The Herald's Adam Kurkjian on Tavon Wilson:



Daily dose of improvement works for Tavon Wilson - BostonHerald.com

The Pats used a 3 man safety core group of Patrick Chung, Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders for a couple of years. If Gregory turns out to be a less athletic version of Meriweather with more discipline and smarts, and Wilson turns out to be a more athletic version of James Sanders, that wouldn't be a terribly bad group.

The possibilities are endless with this secondary. Especially with the good reports so far on Wilson.

 

[Triumph]

Every team in the NFL has difficulty in the second round, it is not exclusive to the Patriots..

There are some hits, but there are a lot of misses also...

You cannot afford to miss with the 2nd worst pass defense in the NFL.

The pass defense has been bad for years. Everyone knew what would happen if the Giants had the ball at the end of the game in SB46. This pass defense gave up 70 yards in 4 plays.

 

[ausbacker]

You cannot afford to miss with the 2nd worst pass defense in the NFL.

The pass defense has been bad for years. Everyone knew what would happen if the Giants had the ball at the end of the game in SB46. This pass defense gave up 70 yards in 4 plays.

Look on the bright side. The defense shouldn't get worse.

 

[State]

And this means that dreadlocked players don't mean business?

What exactly do dreadlocks "mean"?

Military parlance for "high speed/low drag."

Tavon Wilson is not looking to be pretty. He has a job to do. He puts on the helmet without having to play with his hair like a girl.

That's my take.

 

[NEGoldenAge]

Military parlance for "high speed/low drag."

Tavon Wilson is not looking to be pretty. He has a job to do. He puts on the helmet without having to play with his hair like a girl.

That's my take.

This says a helluva lot more about you than it does about guys with long hair.

 

[Ring 6]

Matters about as much as your ****eyed player evaluations.

One thing is certain. That you will always love the draft pick and defend Wilson regardless of how he plays. Thats what Homers do.

So we have now learned 2 things.
1) You seem obsessed with my opinions
2) You are clueless as to what they actually are

 

[State]

The Herald's Adam Kurkjian on Tavon Wilson:



Daily dose of improvement works for Tavon Wilson - BostonHerald.com

The Pats used a 3 man safety core group of Patrick Chung, Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders for a couple of years. If Gregory turns out to be a less athletic version of Meriweather with more discipline and smarts, and Wilson turns out to be a more athletic version of James Sanders, that wouldn't be a terribly bad group.

Man, you're good.

Belichick has decided to make our passing defense better. I think Tavon Wilson will play a subordinate, though still noteworthy, role this season and the next.

Is he a good starting safety in the NFL? Time will tell.

But the key is the health of Chung, who is a good NFL safety.

 

[Ring 6]

And even if we didn't find out later we have to assume that Bill knew something the "draft gurus" did not.

But if somebody wants to question one of the finest football minds in the universe they are free to do so.

Well of course he knew things others who do not have their own scouting staff, insight to team needs, and position requirements, interviews, excessive film study, and experience in seeing how all those factors end up helping you predict the end result.
And no one would really argue he is as well equipped to analyze that information as anyone.
But the question isn't whether he is well, or even best qualified to make the right decision, but whether he actually did. You can name whoever you wish as the genius of geniuses regarding the draft, and you will find they made many poor decisions.
I think it is silly to question Belichick from a perspective of thinking you could do a better job but reasonable to question him based on the perspective that even though he has a tremendous track record in building and coaching this team he makes many mistakes too. Fewer poor decisions that others doesn't excuse you from scrutiny.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Posters here should all agree he was a huge reach, he was so far under the radar that most draft publications did not list him as a draft-able player. If that does not qualify him as a reach what does.

Because BB and apparently a few other FO types seen something in him that most did not, does not disqualify him as a reach to fans who don't have the same info as BB. It is a matter of where your looking at it from.

I tend to agree.

nobody ever won the superbowl because Mel Kiper graded your draft as an "A". And all it takes is 1 team to have a high or higher opinion of a player than you to make that player disappear off the board. BB has had plenty of round 1 reaches that work out quite well .

 

[Dragda]

And even if we didn't find out later we have to assume that Bill knew something the "draft gurus" did not.

But if somebody wants to question one of the finest football minds in the universe they are free to do so.

We exercise our freedom around here on a daily basis

 

[mayoclinic]

It's a little thing, and I wouldn't make too much of it, but it's interesting nonetheless:

Rams rookie Trumaine Johnson oversleeps, misses first day of camp | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports

I was one of the first guys to jump on the Trumaine Johnson bandwagon a year ago, and he was on my mocks for the Pats all the way up to draft day. But there were always character, maturity and selfishness questions.

 

[Patriot Missile]

It's a little thing, and I wouldn't make too much of it, but it's interesting nonetheless:

Rams rookie Trumaine Johnson oversleeps, misses first day of camp | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports

I was one of the first guys to jump on the Trumaine Johnson bandwagon a year ago, and he was on my mocks for the Pats all the way up to draft day. But there were always character, maturity and selfishness questions.

I was disappointed when we grabbed Tavon over Trumaine but after reading that, TJ is a freaking idiot. Who makes a flight for the "morning of" your first ever training camp?

 

[DarrylS]

You cannot afford to miss with the 2nd worst pass defense in the NFL.

The pass defense has been bad for years. Everyone knew what would happen if the Giants had the ball at the end of the game in SB46. This pass defense gave up 70 yards in 4 plays.

For your scrutiny.. the Pats are not alone:

Steelers..

2011.. Marcus Gilbert..OT currently starts for the Steelers
2010.. Jason Worilds.. playing ok, but seems to be a work in progress
2009.. no second round pick
2008.. Limus Sweed... has been waived
2007.. Lamar Woodley.. great pick
2006.. no second round pick

Miami's vaunted 2nd round picks..

2011...Daniel Thomas RB.. looks like a good pick
2010..Koa Missa. LB.. work in progress
2009..Pat White. QB... not in the game
2008..Phillip Merling.. not in the game
Chad Henne..
2007.. John Beck. QB...traded to the Redskins
Samson Satele.. C.. good pick
2006..no pick

The Jets absolutely wonderful 2nd round picks..

2011... no second round pick
2010.. Vladimir DuCasse
2009.. Shonn Greene
2008 .. no second round pick
2007.. David Harris
2006.. Kellen Clemens
2005... Mike Nugent
Justin Miller..

 

[patchick]

It's a little thing, and I wouldn't make too much of it, but it's interesting nonetheless:

Rams rookie Trumaine Johnson oversleeps, misses first day of camp | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports

I was one of the first guys to jump on the Trumaine Johnson bandwagon a year ago, and he was on my mocks for the Pats all the way up to draft day. But there were always character, maturity and selfishness questions.

IMO that's the key to this story. If we were talking about a player who had a reputation as a mature, responsible leader, we'd just say "you doofus!" and move on. But this is very much part of a pattern with Johnson.

 

[mayoclinic]

IMO that's the key to this story. If we were talking about a player who had a reputation as a mature, responsible leader, we'd just say "you doofus!" and move on. But this is very much part of a pattern with Johnson.

Yup. By itself it's a small thing, but given Johnson's history it's somewhat telling. Meanwhile Tavon Wilson's working his butt off, learning the playbook, bonding with the veterans, and not worrying about whether he was overdrafted or not. Johnson may well turn out to be a stud, and Wilson may turn out to be an overdrafted JAG, but still ... I doubt this is the last time Johnson will have this kind of an issue, or worse. Doug Farrar summed it up very nicely:

If you're a first-year player, your best shot at excellence is to hit the ground running in late July, and keep it rolling all the way through August.

These kids don't seem to realize that you have only one chance to make a first impression. I'm a big Shane Vereen fan, but I was very critical of Vereen last year for holding out on his contract and reporting to training camp late, especially given the lack of offseason activities due to the lockout. A few days later he tweaked his hammy, and the rest of his season was essentially toast.

Wilson's done everything right so far, and he seems to be earning playing time and is being used in a variety of roles, including a DB/LB hyrbid. It's very early, but so far it could have gone much worse. Meanwhile the Rams have two uber-talented but very mercurial (to put it nicely) guys in Janoris Jenkins and Johnson. It will be interesting to see how that works out for them.

 

[mayoclinic]

The Pats used a 3 man safety core group of Patrick Chung, Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders for a couple of years. If Gregory turns out to be a less athletic version of Meriweather with more discipline and smarts, and Wilson turns out to be a more athletic version of James Sanders, that wouldn't be a terribly bad group.

And, right on cue, Reiss chimes in with a piece on Gregory's football IQ:

Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty was asked about veteran safety Steve Gregory, who the Patriots signed to a three-year deal this offseason.

"You can tell when a guy just has high football knowledge, he kind of comes in and he fits in right away," McCourty said of Gregory on "Movin' the Chains." "Since he came in for OTAs, he's been making calls, getting guys lined up right, and that's not easy to do, when you get to a new team and you're trying to learn a new scheme, lining guys up and trying to take control. At the safety position right away, I think it was big for us, the addition of having him back there."

Gregory's football IQ impresses - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

If Gregory and Wilson do turn out to be smart, versatile, disciplined guys, then the secondary will be much better than it has been the past few years.

 

[Marqui]

And, right on cue, Reiss chimes in with a piece on Gregory's football IQ:



Gregory's football IQ impresses - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

If Gregory and Wilson do turn out to be smart, versatile, disciplined guys, then the secondary will be much better than it has been the past few years.

Hopefully this will mean less blown coverages and too many men penalties in the playoffs.

 

[spacecrime]

Posters here should all agree he was a huge reach, he was so far under the radar that most draft publications did not list him as a draft-able player. If that does not qualify him as a reach what does.

sure, but only if you define a reach as being measure of how wrong you were, not how wrong the drafting team was. Basically, when you announce a pick was a reach, you are merely saying,"I was wrong about this player." The bigger you think the reach was, the more wrong you were.

Because by the above definition, a reach is when a player is picked before Mel Kiper and Todd McShay thought he should be picked. I would look at it the other way: if a player is selected by an NFL team way before the draft pundits thought he should go, it is the draft pundits who were wrong, not the NFL team.

The other thing I keep hearing is that he could have been gotten in a later round. Really? And how does anyoneknow another team wasn't about to select him? Oh, yeah, because Mel Kiper says he was a seventh round talent. The last time BB had a huge reach was for Vollmer, who wasn't even supposed to be drafted. And the reach before that was Logan Mankins. At the time, everyone said Logan who? Go back and check the archives is such a thing is possible. The talking only stopped when the 49ers said they would have taken him a couple picks later.