We Are Counting On Lots Of Rookies

[RayClay]

Leaders develop. We're very young on D. I think we've got good character players, I sense a lot of positive attitude.

They need to learn to do their jobs and leaders will develop. Vince is a leader, hopefully Bodden will be, but expecting a bunch of leadership from players still trying to learn the system is silly. Relax, leadership will come with confidence, which will come with competence.

It's no mistake that BB is herding the defense around like a mother hen. He is the leader, they are the students. No coincidence he's treating a one point loss like it was 50 points either.

 

[Ring 6]

Heres the problem...those rookies were surrounded by veteran and all pro type players and great locker room influences....there are no Vrabels,McGinests or Bruschis around to help make the transition easier for them....much more difficult now IMO

Brady, Welker, Moss, Light, Neal, Koppen, Wilfork, Mayo, TBC, Meriwhether, Bodden. We have a lot of experienced veterans on this team as well.
In 2001, Vrabel had never started a game, Bruschi was still a young player and was changing positions and McGinest was considered damaged goods who couldn't say healthy.
Hindsight is 20/20. Winning teams always look better in retrospect than they did beforehand, especially in the leadership, proven winner category.

 

[BradyFTW!]

There is little to no leadership on this years defense and the rookies are going to have to do it differently then when those core group of guys surrounded them with the right mix of youth and veteran knowledge in those SB years,Pretty much the rookies will rely on thier own field of presence and knowledge of this system and either prosper or not off of it,I really dont see any guy on defense whose shoulders a rookie can lay his head on - Wilfork is probably the closest to that type of player.

Wilfork, Bodden, Sanders, and TBC are all capable of filling the role that you just described. Warren too, except he's not healthy. Mayo and Meriweather may not be cagey vets yet, but they're third and fourth year guys. Then you add in all the experienced vets on offense, and there you have it. I think your memory of the '01 team is a little clouded by nostalgia, this team has significantly more veteran leadership than that one did.

 

[DarrylS]

Leaders develop. We're very young on D. I think we've got good character players, I sense a lot of positive attitude.

They need to learn to do their jobs and leaders will develop. Vince is a leader, hopefully Bodden will be, but expecting a bunch of leadership from players still trying to learn the system is silly. Relax, leadership will come with confidence, which will come with competence.

It's no mistake that BB is herding the defense around like a mother hen. He is the leader, they are the students. No coincidence he's treating a one point loss like it was 50 points either.

I agree building this team through the draft is the preferred method, as bringing in a lot of high priced free agents, see A. Thomas, has never worked all that well..

These rookies seem to have a ton of talent also, and as we enter the season with all these rookies we have 4 picks in the first 64 in the '11 draft... this is a trend.

This leadership thing may or may not be overrated, pretty confident that there is a lot of behind the scenes prompting by veteran players on the "Patriot Way".....

 

[mgcolby]

I did write the initial post.

We have 7 top rookies, 3 on defense, 3 on offense and 1 on special teams.

The offensive players have plenty of leaders to learn from. All three (plus Tate from last year) are receivers and they have Brady, Moss, Welker and Crumpler (and Faulk) to learn from and as role models.

It is the 3 defensive players drafted this year and the 5 defensive rookies from last year who have no role models or veteran leadership except for Wilfork.

I meant the initial post that I was responding too. Not your post to start the thread.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Almost every team counts on rookies to some extent. But in many cases, rookies are drafted to fill an immediate need, and will be handed the starting job simply because there's no other choice.

We do have a lot of young kids in the line-up, and part of that is due to our poor drafting from 2006 to 2008. But I think we've done an amazing job in the last two drafts, and these kids are winning their jobs outright over proven players.

McCourty had a rough game against the Rams, but he's played pretty well all pre-season, and has passed Wheatley and Wilhite and suddenly is pushing Butler for that starting spot. And this is after Butler's improvement was enough to get rid of Springs.

Spikes overtook McKenzie and Guyton on his way to claiming the starting job. Guyton wasn't an All-Pro, but he played significant minutes for a play-off team.

Gronk and Hernandez have picked up the offense incredibly quickly. They'd be an upgrade over anyone we had last season minus Watson (or including Watson, depending on how you feel about him). Gronk is still learning the blocking side and Crumpler is a bit ahead of him here, but probably not for long.

The only rookie who was handed the job is Mesko, since we cleared out any competition for him.

From the 2009 draft, Butler and Chung have overtaken veterans, while Brace is beginning to contribute and should be part of the DL rotation. Vollmer proved himself last season. And Tate has moved up the depth chart with his play, overtaking Holt before Holt got injured.

So we do have a lot of young guys that will be playing significant minutes for us. But they weren't handed anything, and I'm not worried about their youth.

 

[Defsoul]

2005 and 2008 were fine, it's 2006-2007 that was kinda weak, and I won't really fault the Pats for 2007 either since they did get Welker and Moss out of it. The poor drafting angle is severely overplayed.

2008 was not fine. The two 3rd round picks are already gone and one of the two cornerbacks is not likely to make the final 53 men roster. Slater could also become a victim of the final cuts. That would leave the team with two out of seven (players drafted in 2008). I would consider that pretty underwhelming.

 

[chris66]

pats are relying on too many rookies...that's the problem.

i don't want to start anything, but this goes back to the poor drafting from 2005-2008.

I dont think we had poor drafting at all. what we had was a stacked roster with very few spots available. pats hit on and kept their first round picks and thats about all you can ask for. now that there are roster spots available the drafts look better.

 

[jmt57]

2008 was not fine. The two 3rd round picks are already gone and one of the two cornerbacks is not likely to make the final 53 men roster. Slater could also become a victim of the final cuts. That would leave the team with two out of seven (players drafted in 2008). I would consider that pretty underwhelming.

While the bottom line grade in critiquing the 2008 draft may be lower than we would have liked for it to have been, I really only have a problem with one pick. At the time I thought using a 3rd round pick on a backup that you would hope would never see the field (Kevin O'Connell) was an egregious error.

Obviously Crable did not work out but at the time it seemed to be a solid selection. Based on his play in college and what was known of him at the time, there was no way that the Pats or anyone else would have expected his NFL career to turn out like it has. Similarly, Wilhite and Wheatley seemed like good picks at the time.

As for anybody drafted in the 5th round or later, take a look at every name drafted in those three rounds; the vast majority have contributed little or nothing to the teams that drafted them. Many, such as Thomas Williams, are now with another team. For every Pierre Garcon there are a dozen Erik Ainges.

Had Roger Goodell not taken away the first round pick we probably would view the 2008 much differently. Crable's inability to get on the field still has a negative effect on the position today, but I wouldn't blame the scouting department or draft team for what happened with him. The only thing I can really point a finger at from the 2008 draft is the O'Connell pick.