Welcome to the New England Patriots, Safety Duron Harmon

[Jackson 2]

When Brady retires is when fans like you guys will finally appreciate how good Brady is.

I've been a Pats fan since my father took me to the first game ever in 1960. Please don't lecture me about recognizing how good players and/or teams are.

 

[Leemo]

All the ratings by sites that have no direct affiliation with any football team in the NFL. Where most of the different people have little or no training on what is and what is not good technique. Who don't actually get to see the All-22 films.

Guess what? None of it matters because the Pats don't even use Blesto or National. You know, the 2 scouting services that actually DO get paid to scout and rate potential draft picks. And, last I looked, they get things wrong also.

people just don't understand this!

 

[DarrylS]

I do not understand who and why they draft.. but I know that this team will win between 11-13 games again this year.. that is all that matters.

This team has been getting younger and faster in the past few years, and is being rebuilt in front of our eyes..

Every team has hits or misses, and to say that BB has had more misses is done so without any empirical evidence and with tunnel vision..

 

[Leemo]

How were Mallett and Wilson screw-ups? Seriously. Mallett has beat out the competition to be Brady's back-up, instilling enough confidence in the Pats that they didn't need to carry a 3rd QB.

Wilson had a respectable rookie season,.

Just because they weren't your binkies doesn't mean the Pats screwed up. That's pretty friggin arrogant to say.

please ignore off the grid. This is the guy who said Stevan Ridley was a terrible pick. Rated Bequette as a superb pick... always criticizes BB after the draft, every year without fail

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Re: duron harmon isn't welcome?

I spent close to a decade in Rutgers as and undergrad and grad student.......and even I have no idea who he is!!!

Not sure why in the world BB took him in the THIRD ROUND!!!

You're just pissed because you're the only Rutgers alum BB hasn't drafted

 

[BritPat]

please ignore off the grid. This is the guy who said Stevan Ridley was a terrible pick. Rated Bequette as a superb pick... always criticizes BB after the draft, every year without fail

OTG doesn't always criticise BB.

I don't always agree with OTG, but he's a great poster who knows his onions, in fairness.

So anyway, I'd had a few too many beers watching the Draft on my own last night and slipped into unconsciousness about the middle of the third round. When I came too about 4AM, and tried to see who we'd picked with our third round choices all the while with just one eye open, I saw a name that I'd seen mentioned a maximum of three times in the pre-Draft evaluation process, and I had a nightmare that Bill had pulled his smartest guy in the room trick again, with Stedman Bailey sat there begging to be picked.

Alas the nightmare is true.

We'll see how Tavon Wilson MK2 plays out, but welcome to the Patriots fella!

 

[Lockdown06]

here's a clip of the guy mic'd up for a Rutgers practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=736rurngF4E

In my opinion, you can see why BB likes him -- he spends his time coaching up the other players in between drills, it looks like he's pretty much another coach out there.

 

[alvinnf]

Love that his pick! Rutgers was a top ten red zone defense and tied for 8th with ND. They were a top 5 D for points allowed. A very disciplined smart safety, not a flashy player, but very smart. Love this pick!

 

[doesntmatter1]

I was happy with the logan ryan pick and then i was like harmon who. Then I looked at that arkansas clip and i gotta admit i liked him. I wouldn't mind tavon wilson doing exactly what he did last year as a safety/lb but coming in to this draft I wanted us to get somebody to replace gregory and duran might do it.

 

[BlitzFritz]

Harmon headed to practice squad theory

sorry for the extra thread, but it just hit me that BB drafted for depth at Safety, a guy who is just at the right level to be VERY good to be on the practice squad, but not too good to get picked up on waivers.

thoughts?

now that would be devious and second level thinking

-- FRITZ

 

[Fencer]

Re: Harmon headed to practice squad theory

sorry for the extra thread, but it just hit me that BB drafted for depth at Safety, a guy who is just at the right level to be VERY good to be on the practice squad, but not too good to get picked up on waivers.

thoughts?

now that would be devious and second level thinking

-- FRITZ

BB doesn't use 3rd round picks on guys he thinks he'll cut before their first season.

 

[goheels22002]

True Story.

Too many Patriot Fans think it's Blasphemy to say that Coach Bill screwed up.

Coach Bill is AWESOME.

But he IS Human.

And he DOES screw up.

Just ask Kevin OConnell.

...or Ryan Mallett.

...or Derick Burgess.

...or Ras I Dowling.

...or Tavon Wilson.

Coach Bill is the BEST.

He just isn't PERFECT.

And it's actually OK to say so.

Interesting to say that all these guys are busts. Tavon Wilson, Ras I Dowling and Ryan Mallett are still on the team and did what they were asked to do. Mallett is a backup QB - did we expect him to take Tom Brady's job? Dowling's been hurt. This is pretty much his last chance to prove he can get on the field and do the job. Tavon Wilson did fine in his rookie year - safeties do not step into the NFL as rookies and become Ronnie Lott - they just don't. They emerge after three or four years of experience.

Kevin McConnell? Who the hell cares? That is a bust? What did we expect out of him?

And Derrick Burgess? Who the hell was he? He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles!

Duron Harmon fits the picture perfectly if you understand what the Patriots have in place right now - McCourty, Adrian Wilson, Tavon Wilson on board - adding a smart, good kid with leadership ability to this group makes this a very strong unit.

Somebody has the quote on their posts, "We're building a team, not collecting talent." This is exactly that kind of addition.

Will he make the team? I don't know and frankly, it does not matter. They have a solid group in place and this kid makes things interesting.

All these picks do. The one guy they need to get it is the wide receiver. All the others are building blocks for the future, but are not essential to 2013-14 success.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

You have to take into account that Harmon would have been available in the 4th - or later. There were a bunch of very good players with much higher grades and potential available when BB took Harmon. You're going to tell me that Harmon will ever have more impact on this team than Jesse Williams the man eating DT from Alabama?? No chance. Williams would have come in and added a dimension to the D instantly, while Harmon will barely move the needle. How about Kenny Stills the WR? Or WR Quinton Patton?? Take them along with Dobson and at least one pans out, and if both do then we have some real youth where the Pats needs it. BB wanted a safety? How about Josh Evans from FL? This was a wasted pick, brutal.

 

[BritPat]

^^ Last time I checked, 31 other teams had passed on Williams three times as well.

Oh, and we have a massive man-eater. His name is Vince Wilfork. We need a penetrating DT. Omar Hunter out of Florida would be my swing for the fences pick.

 

[Gator Mike]

You have to take into account that Harmon would have been available in the 4th - or later.

And you know this... how???

For better or worse, BB found a kid he liked, and he picked him. Given the program he came from, I'm sure BB knows both Harmon and Ryan inside and out. I think Bill deserves the benefit of the doubt on the Rutgers kids at this point.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

^^ Last time I checked, 31 other teams had passed on Williams three times as well.

Oh, and we have a massive man-eater. His name is Vince Wilfork. We need a penetrating DT. Omar Hunter out of Florida would be my swing for the fences pick.

Wilfork is aging, and we have no one who is near his talent. 3 years from now no one will be going, who's Jesse Williams? No one else picked him, sure, but that doesn't matter to BB one bit it seems.

But it's not Williams I'm after here just someone with real impact that BB passed on - you pick the name. And if I gave anyone here 50 chances to choose, none would have picked Harmon!

 

[patsinthesnow]

*waits to see Harmon's Madden 25 rating

 

[Kontradiction]

Well hopefully Harmon will be as **hated** as that Ridley pick, cos we all know how that WASTED 3rd rounder turned out!

I loved the Ridley pick when it was made. This one would have been a good one... in the later rounds. It wouldn't have been completely mind boggling then. But, if it were up to me, I would have thrown the safety position out and just accepted that it would be a need again next season after Swearinger went off the board (who we could have had) instead of reaching like a French hooker.

 

[ausbacker]

Wilfork is aging, and we have no one who is near his talent. 3 years from now no one will be going, who's Jesse Williams? No one else picked him, sure, but that doesn't matter to BB one bit it seems.

But it's not Williams I'm after here just someone with real impact that BB passed on - you pick the name. And if I gave anyone here 50 chances to choose, none would have picked Harmon!

Jesse Williams isn't the guy you want spelling or replacing Wilfork. I'm not sure there is a comparable NT/DT outside of Ngata who can. For men their size, that sort of athleticism is a rare commodity.

 

[Kontradiction]

[B]Player         TKL TFL INT PDF[/B]
D.Swearinger   159 4.5 6.0  15
D.Harmon        99 4.0 6.0  14

Outside of the tackles, Harmon's numbers look comparable to Swearinger's across the past two seasons. Whilst I acknowledge numbers don't tell the whole story given the differences in College Football conferences, that took 5 minutes of digging.

Given the numbers, perhaps Rutgers fans should have been paying more attention.

Swearinger was playing against much more elite competition.