Why didn't we draft Everette Brown?

[PatsBoy12]

They acquired Shawn Crable and Tully Banta-Cain, didn't they? I agree that Barwin's a way more reasonable suggestion, but claiming that they're just standing pat simply isn't true. I'd think that Belichick would have a longer leash with the fans, but apparently there's a large portion of the Patriot fanbase that's exactly as whiny, petulant, and entitled as everyone claims we all are.

I have definitely come to the same observation/conclusion over the past few weeks. It's almost pathetic. I'll definitely be taking notice once this regime is gone and NE returns to obscurity (as every great dynasty eventually does) to see who sticks around and what kind of threads we'll have at that point.

 

[VJCPatriot]

We nabbed Ron Brace as "insurance" at 40. He's supposedly a one-dimensional player. There are persistent questions about conditioning. And two picks after the excellent Darius Butler pick, the Panthers took Brown at 43.

What about the greatest need for the defense this year, rushing the passer, and use all those high picks next year to package a deal for the possible 3-4 NT from Mt. Olympus, Mt. Cody?

Round 2 of the N.F.L. Draft

Everette Brown

He's got the height, weight, and certainly the speed Belichick is looking for. http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/13/233004-pass-rushing-olbs-addressed.html

What am I missing? You go Buter at 40, Brown at 41. And booya! Speed, speed, and more speed at the edge--just what the doctor ordered.

Not some fat slob who likes to watch cartoons incessantly, eating himself into a "knock down the wall" visit from the local fire dept. I mean we got the adult version of this.

When Everette Brown is wrecking havoc in the NFL, remember this posting.

I'll explain with 2 simple points.

1) Wilfork's contract extension is far from a done deal. If Wilfork leaves, who do you plug in? Some scrap off the free agent heap? In the 3-4 defense, the NT is a foundation piece, an anchor.

2) There's a reason why Everette Brown dropped to round 2. If he's as great as you think he is, he would have been taken in round 1 by someone. Maybe 42 NFL GMs are wrong, but I doubt it. I think there were some red flags that caused him to fall and for the Pats to pass on him.

 

[RayClay]

2) There's a reason why Everette Brown dropped to round 2. If he's as great as you think he is, he would have been taken in round 1 by someone. Maybe 42 NFL GMs are wrong, but I doubt it. I think there were some red flags that caused him to fall and for the Pats to pass on him.

There may be many reasons he wouldn't fit or make it in the NFL, but it's a good for discussion, but....


Remember when y'all jump all over me, a free agent is a player that dropped past all teams for seven rounds, so

 

[patchick]

So it has been 4 years since a round 1 OLB prospect has made an impact in the NFL. No dont you think if we change it up a bit and maybe take a chance in the SECOND round on a player who some here feel could rush the passer since that was our biggest weakness.

So since 1st-round OLBs haven't worked out much, maybe we should have been taking 2nd rounders all this time instead? Like Lamarr Woodley and...and...umm....huh, looks like he's been the only successful 2nd-round 3-4 OLB in the last 5 years. So nope, that wouldn't have worked either.

Successful players at this position are rare at any point in the draft. Even rarer are those who succeed early enough to qualify them as successful draft choices. How about #19 overall for Calvin Pace, who looked like a bust until a great 5th year that he parlayed into an immediate ticket out of town? Did Arizona get good return on that pick? Heck, Mike Vrabel didn't turn out to be worth the 3rd-round pick for the Steelers; Adalius Thomas didn't start until his 3rd year with the Ravens and wasn't a star until he was on his second contract; etc.

All of this makes a strategy of patience with cheap, physically gifted specimens like Woods and Redd seem pretty reasonable. If that really is the "strategy." Who the heck really knows? (Not I; I wanted Barwin.)

 

[BradyFTW!]

2) There's a reason why Everette Brown dropped to round 2. If he's as great as you think he is, he would have been taken in round 1 by someone. Maybe 42 NFL GMs are wrong, but I doubt it. I think there were some red flags that caused him to fall and for the Pats to pass on him.

While I agree with what you're saying, it's hardly a knock against a player that he lasted into the second round. There's tons of talent available in the second round, and that was particularly the case this year. I agree with what you're saying, though, which is that Brown has major concerns and isn't even a strong 3-4 candidate to begin with. Also, there aren't 42 GMs in the NFL.

 

[RayClay]

So since 1st-round OLBs haven't worked out much, maybe we should have been taking 2nd rounders all this time instead? Like Lamarr Woodley and...and...umm....huh, looks like he's been the only successful 2nd-round 3-4 OLB in the last 5 years. So nope, that wouldn't have worked either.

Obviously, we had a hole a mile wide in that draft after Merriweather, but you're not saying no one here advocated going after Woodley, are you?

Obviously, drafting is hit or miss. Drafting #2's might not work out, but #3's and free agents, sure thing?

 

[jays52]

Obviously, we had a hole a mile wide in that draft after Merriweather, but you're not saying no one here advocated going after Woodley, are you?

Obviously, drafting is hit or miss. Drafting #2's might not work out, but #3's and free agents, sure thing?

"I'm not a football expert."

It's about risk mitigation. A player at said position cannot be effectively evaluated. Therefore, it makes zero sense to take a conversion prospect so high. Am I missing something in this thread? Is the translation between the positions beyond my comprehension? Is everything I worked so hard to master for four years of my life just a pile of dreck? I feel like I am becoming ******ed.

 

[unoriginal]

Sarcasm is the lowest form of comedy... -__-

still what does the offense have to do with anything in this thread?

Deus is one of the tunnel rats of the forum and anything that resembles the inane arguments of some of our more dogmatic posters triggers Vietnam-style flashbacks of previous battles.

 

[BradyFTW!]

"I'm not a football expert."

It's about risk mitigation. A player at said position cannot be effectively evaluated. Therefore, it makes zero sense to take a conversion prospect so high. Am I missing something in this thread? Is the translation between the positions beyond my comprehension? Is everything I worked so hard to master for four years of my life just a pile of dreck? I feel like I am becoming ******ed.

Nah, but this board as a whole is.

As sort of a corollary to that point, do you think that other teams have the same philosophy on 3-4 OLBs, and therefore a lot of the top-tier talent for the Pats' 2-gap system falls into the 3rd round anyways? I could be wrong, but it seems to me like the teams that draft 3-4 OLBs in the first round are predominantly 1-gap defenses, where the evaluation would figure to be easier since they're not asked to do as many different things?

The one notable exception to this that I can see is Mangini's Jets drafting Gholston last year, but if anything that's a cautionary tale and maybe an aberration at the same time.

 

[State]

I'll explain with 2 simple points.

1) Wilfork's contract extension is far from a done deal. If Wilfork leaves, who do you plug in? Some scrap off the free agent heap? In the 3-4 defense, the NT is a foundation piece, an anchor.

2) There's a reason why Everette Brown dropped to round 2. If he's as great as you think he is, he would have been taken in round 1 by someone. Maybe 42 NFL GMs are wrong, but I doubt it. I think there were some red flags that caused him to fall and for the Pats to pass on him.

Good points, VJCPat. #1 is certainly key. You're a knowledgeable fan. I respect that.

You convince me that BB was right, and I was wrong. Which is usually the case (though I was right about his moving up and nabbing D. Graham--I had wanted him to draft the TE later on we just got from the Jets. I was right there.)

If EB were 6' 4", though, as his school (and some websites) had listed him, he goes higher. Much higher.

 

[RayClay]

"I'm not a football expert."

It's about risk mitigation. A player at said position cannot be effectively evaluated. Therefore, it makes zero sense to take a conversion prospect so high. Am I missing something in this thread? Is the translation between the positions beyond my comprehension?

I'm sorry, is the argument now that it's too difficult to predict a successful move from DE to OLB so it's not worth the risk?

Funny, in the Julius Peppers thread the argument you and your friend proposed was that it was easy as pie so we should give Julius Peppers a huge contract without knowing if he could make that transition.

So which is it?

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'm sorry, is the argument now that it's too difficult to predict a successful move from DE to OLB so it's not worth the risk?

Funny, in the Julius Peppers thread the argument you and your friend proposed was that it was easy as pie so we should give Julius Peppers a huge contract without knowing if he could make that transition.

So which is it?

Probably has to do with Brown being a rookie and good athlete (there's plenty of inherent risk in that even if you're just drafting him to the same 4-3 DE that he was in college) whereas Peppers is a veteran and absolute freak of an athlete. I still don't agree that the conversion would be easy, but there's probably significantly less risk than there would be with using a top-10 pick on a conversion project.