patsfan135
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.The questioni is"WHo of those players will be there when we pick 7??
Certainly not McFadden or Long...probably Laurinitis, definitely Gohlston and Philips.
I want ....... from THE Ohio State University
Vernon Gohlston
Chris Long
Kenny Phillips
James Laranitas
Darren Mcfaden
Let's draft the next phenom from Hofstra... in the 7th round.
We need to pick up some late round gems too.
Lately the Pats haven't really gotten any good players on day 2.
The best recent late round pick I can think of is Koppen.
And well that guy Tom Brady, but that was way at the beginning of the dynasty, so it doesn't count as recent.
The Patriots have also picked up some good undrafted FA's like Randall Gay, so I wouldn't say they've been unable to find players after the first 3 rounds of the draft.
This got me wondering about the Pats' record on UDFAs vs. late-round picks in recent years. Here are the current players from each category since 2004 (IR in parentheses):
Rounds 5-7
Matt Cassel
Ryan O'Callaghan
Le Kevin Smith
Willie Andrews
(Mike Richardson)
(Oscar Lua)
UDFA
(Mike Wright)
Randall Gay
Eric Alexander
Pierre Woods
Matt Gutierrez
Ray Ventrone
For reference, those six late-round players (including Richardson & Lua who might not have actually made the roster) were out of 17 total picks in rounds 5-7 from 2004-2007. Also, 9 current Patriots were signed as street (castoff) FAs during that same period:
SFA
Wesley Britt
Jabar Gaffney
Heath Evans
Chris Hanson
Kyle Eckel
Rashad Moore
Billy Yates
Antwain Spann
Stephen Spach
The upshot: not one true starter on the current roster has been found "on the cheap" via late-round draft picks, UDFAs or street FAs in the past four years. Draft rounds 1-4 have yielded 7 starters, including 2 pro-bowlers.
FWIW, Eckel--like Ventrone--was initially signed as a UDFA, then did a stint in the wilderness, so to speak (the 'lphins vs. the JEST for Bubba), and then came back to the Hub. So you have to move one of 'em.
From this evidence I would attribute the "unsuccess" this year merely from having a truly loaded Team and that there was no room at the Patriots Inn. Justin Rodgers was lost to the Cowboys and I think he will turn out to be a starter at OLB after some grooming for a year or two. There was no place to hide him, but they tried, and failed.
Think there's anything to the shorter deal? Like, maybe, Belichick is farming out his development or something?
Someone posted a reprise of the "poor" Patriots 2007 draft. He found out that every single pick has ended up ito be still in the League, even though many are on Practice Squads. That is extraordinary drafting, with all the sixes and sevens they had.
From this evidence I would attribute the "unsuccess" this year merely from having a truly loaded Team and that there was no room at the Patriots Inn.
Perhaps the oddest fact about this draft class is that the many picks from rounds 4-7 are all gone, while a UDFA remains.
Lua and Richardson are both still with the team...
It could be argued, though, that they'd have taken the Elgin-Hilliard-Rogers express if they hadn't hit the IR in camp. (Granted, Richardson looked pretty good.)
The street FAs were indeed picked up that way but they were NOT originally UDFA. Gaffney was a second round Draft pick; Evans was a third rounder; Britt was a fifth rounder; as was Russ Hochstein. I think TE Sprach was drafted by somebody too.
Someone posted a reprise of the "poor" Patriots 2007 draft. He found out that every single pick has ended up ito be still in the League, even though many are on Practice Squads. That is extraordinary drafting, with all the sixes and sevens they had.
From this evidence I would attribute the "unsuccess" this year merely from having a truly loaded Team and that there was no room at the Patriots Inn. Justin Rodgers was lost to the Cowboys and I think he will turn out to be a starter at OLB after some grooming for a year or two. There was no place to hide him, but they tried, and failed.