Ochmed Jones said:
I don't think BB and/or Pioli are different from any other decision makers on any other team. They have a system( scheme, whatever you want to call it.) That system requires players with certain skill sets. BB's job is to find the best players he can that fit that skill set. I don't think he cares where the players come from, FA, the draft, trades, Canada, Europe or even college wrestlers. All he cares about is finding the right player (at the right price of course) Pretty much the same thing the other 31 teams are trying to do.
I think the reason he has picked so many DL players so early in the draft is because they are the building blocks of his defense, and they are very hard to find. And these last couple of drafts have afforded him the opportunity to get the type of DL players he wants. If the players weren't there, he would have moved on to other positions. At the end of the day, a lot of DT's can play in a 4 man line, however very few DT's can play NT in a 3 man line, or DE in a 3 man line.
I believe that BB would love to run the double TE offense as much as possible, in order to do that he needs 3 TE's that can block a little and get open in the seams. He's not there yet, but I think he'll keep drafting one or two in every draft until he hits with 3 that can do the job.
The one thing that I think BB and/or Pioli do that is so different from other teams is that they actually DO stay true to their draft board. All the teams say they do it, but very few actually do. (Pittsburgh stays true also.) BB has the courage to take a player regardless of what anybody else thinks (I think he could care less what the "draftniks" or ESPN commentators say.) How else do you explain some his odd selections. (overdrafting some would say) Brock Wiliams in the third. Hobbs in the third, Branch and Bethel in the second, etc, etc. etc.
In contrast to what others think, I think he values every pick in every round as an asset, an asset that has value and is versatile. It can be cashed for a player, or traded for other teams players, or even traded for future draft picks. His job is to get the best possible return for each asset. Sometimes that requires him to to perform a risk/reward analysis on players. (The asset is worth "X". If BB takes player "Y" and player "Y" performs in the system as expected, the return worth more than "X" therefore it is justified. - Givens and Cassels for example. If the player doesn't work out, the cost of "X" is forfieted on lost potential, Turner for example.)
The key to understanding how BB drafts is in understanding his system. What is required assignment wise on each position dictates what types of skill sets are needed from a player to best fill that position. In looking at the defense, I think I can predict the assignements of the DL on any given play with about 95% accuracy. Except for Big Mike, I think most anybody on this board could as well. At the LB level my percent drops to 65% and in the secondary, maybe 40% on a good day. Throw in nickel and dime backs and the percents drop even further. The point he is that BB knows what he needs for those assignments and we don't. When he scouts a player, he tries to project that player into the skill sets he desires. We can take the bit of knowledge we've gleamed from observation and project based on that also. But that didn't help any of us get Mankins in the first round last year. And even back a few years, 90% of us were howling for WR David Terrel, few were howling for "the beast" (Seymour).
I'll throw in one more variable. The oddball who doesn't meet a lot of the skill sets that BB desires, but somehow has that certain something that is so valuable, that it causes BB to toss the skil set required sheet aside for that player. Two perfect examples are Brady and Bruschi. Impossible to predict until you get them in your clubhouse.
The bottom line is the past years of actual games and drafts have afforded us a glimspe into how BB thinks. We use that knowledge to shrink the pool of potential draftees. I think every year we are getting better. How many times this year did someone put a player on thier mock only to have someone else say that that player was not a BB type player. As long as BB stays in New England, we'll get better and better at it. Why? Because BB he has to stay true to his draft board, which is based on his sytem, which we see on display for 3 plus hous every Sunday for 16 plus weeks every year.
Where the difference lies is that the system BB runs is more unusual than usual in the NFL.
Look at LBs for example. Most teams was 230 lb speed LBs. Their systems dictate that the job of the DL is to keep blockers off the LBs. You need a guy who can take advantage of that and run to the ball. In our system they need to take on blockers, and 2gap them in the running game. The DL is not at all designed to keep blockers off the LBs. Therefore the small fast LB doesnt work in our system, but the bigger guy who can shed blocks doesnt need as much speed--he isnt required to cover as much ground so quickly.
The 'pass rushing' DE who cannot play the run is loved by many teams, but cannot fit in here. The big DE who can take on blockers and play strong run D, but isnt lightning fast as a pass rusher is what we want.
All in all, there are taleted players who will fit both systems, but if you get deeper in the draft, at say DE, other teams have focussed on the pass rushers, so the guy we want as a run stopper is more likely to fall. We get equal value later, i.e. our guy in the 4th is as good at what we need as 'their guy' in the 3rd, because there is more demand for pass rushers.
As far as the DL we have built, I disagree that BBs system is built around the DL. This is the first time ever a BB coached team has had a great DL. Look at the Giant teams, the Browns, and Jets. He built a DL with maostly non-descript 2 gap run defenders. What I believe has happened here is that the BPA in 3 drafts were DL that were good enough to be #1s here, there or anywhere. In the end we built a great DL, because of what was available, not because we set out to.
That was my point, at certain postions, it just so happens that there are many excellent players that have BOTH the skillsets we value and that other teams value. That doesnt happen a lot at OL, WR, LB etc in round 1, but has happened at DL, and is likely to happen in the secondary.
If you look at BBs requirements (I'd love to read the Patriot scouting guide referenced in PAtriot Reign--the one that says the Pats description of a ideal QB is eerily what Brady has become--I think you would find that the positions where flat out athletic ability is most important is DL (strength) CB (speed and agility) and TE (you need a combination of both).
At WR for example, BB clearly values quickness and cutting ability over flat out speed and size. Almost every other team has it reversed. That is why we arent drafting WRs in the 1st....the guys we would have rated very close include guys that will absolutely fall to the 2nd because the skills other teams value more cause the other players to come off the board.
Clearly a player with ALL of that would be valuable to us. But if you are choosing between the 2 skillsets, and almost every other team prefers the set you don't its silly to not take the guy who falls, because the one who falls is actually the one who fits your system best.
I agree every team has a system that they draft players based on, but the difference is that our system is much less popular so we find players that fit it in later rounds than other teams do.
It certainly helps that we do a good job of scouting as well.
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