It was an obvious need that could have been addressed later in the draft or in free agency. Wilson did nothing to warrant picking him at #48 overall.
I understand your point, but there were at least 1-2 other teams that they reported that very day who were interested in taking him in the 2nd round.
I don't agree that "he did nothing to warrant picking him at #48," because he played in every single game and defended 7 passes with 4 INT's and 2 forced fumbles. You can't possibly say that his forced fumbles + all of his INT's were
lucky, can you? Certainly not all of the good plays were "luck." There may have been an INT, even two that seemed easy, but every single player in NFL history who actually plays is going to have some of those. That shouldn't discredit everything that he did show progress on.
If we would've picked someone else at his position at #48 and they did the same you'd likely be lauding them for their awesome rookie performance, but because Wilson wasn't on the "experts" boards, that makes Belichick and the scouting dept insignificant? For what it's worth Wilson was the 8th ranked safety on walterfootball.com's big board, yet there were a handful of those players ranked ahead of him who didn't go until the 6th or 7th rounds. The experts don't always have it right, and that's really all you have to go by with your pessimistic views.
I'm sure you think Kyle Arrington was the best CB in the NFL in 2011 as well, because you know, he led all CBs in interceptions. Was clearly great.
You're putting words in my mouth. I never said anything like that. If anything I would agree that some of Arrington's INT's that year were lucky, of course, maybe even the majority of the seven. I also think he is a good player for the star position here, where he plays much better, and was one of the reasons why our secondary improved down the stretch last year. He did a very good job on V.Cruz in the SB, I know that.
I would have much rather have taken that pick and traded it into the future and had a first round for this year and drafted Vaccaro or some other real playmaker. I know BB wouldn't have picked him without thinking he'd be good, but you shouldn't be taking gambles like that in the top 50 picks. They should be sure things, not massive reaches.
The problem is that all of these "other playmakers" from last year didn't put up the kind of numbers that Wilson did, as a matter of fact none even came close, so it's hard to make statements like that. For all we know Vaccaro could be a total dud and never live up to his hype.
I'd much rather have a player like Barron last year or Vaccaro too, but those players are going in the top 10-15 picks every year and the cost to trade up isn't nearly worth what it takes, so we have to make do with what we can--just like any other team.
As a whole our first 3 picks last year were in the top 48, and Belichick surprised everyone by using them all and actually trading up.
Since no one had anything to b!tch about, they had to resort to their expert scouting grading system on the reach that was Tavon Wilson. At the end of the day we've done much worse in the 2nd round, so just having a player who can contribute on a regular basis and produce on some level is totally fine with me, as opposed to the Brace's, Butler's, and Chung's of the world.
