The Official Patriots Draft (Day 1) thread

[Nikolai]

Man...you Kiper Littles crack me up...all last season all I read every game day was "Wilhite saucks!!!".."horrible Wilhite!!!", "not AN nfl CORNER!!!!".."we need to draft corners!!!!!!"

NOW that the draft is here and we use ONE of our first four picks, the 28th, on a top rated corner, all you Bawkers can do is b!tch and moan "why did we grab a corner!!!!!!". It must be true...the latest generation of football fans are A.D.D. crippled immediate gratification junkies.

Before the draft started there was a CONSENSUS that this is the deepest draft in 20 years, and especially full of value from the mid 1st to the top of the 4th. We have THREE more picks in the 33-64 range and the 90th pick...out of a draft considered to be of relatively same quality all the way to the 100th slot.McCourty is one of the top three corners in this draft, all GONE now after the Jets pick, but the Squawking Kiper Littles, who bleated all last season about the terrible corners, NOW want to let a chance to take an elite CB go by the board because there's some LB that has tickled their fancy that they can't bear to watch him drafted. Insanity. The meat and value at the LB position is RIGHT HERE in the 2nd round. BB has made the right moves all night...try waiting unbtil day two is over before jumping ship becuase they went out and got what you were crying about all last season. Or don't...become a Rats fan instead.

:rocker:

Nailed it!

 

[mgteich]

We picked at 27. We needed a corner. Gosselin had Wilson at #20 in his top 100 and McCurty at #24. Neither was a reach. It was about which player Belichick preferred. Neither Hughes (25) or Odrick (28) would have been reaches, although they weren't as good values.

The issues in addition to value were personal preference and how much a dropoff Belichick expects at these positions between 27 and 44. IMHO, there is a HUGE drop at corner, and a lesser one at DE and OLB.

Apparently even McCourty thought he was a reach:

shalisemyoung
Your NFL dream comes true, and where are you? In the bathroom. That's where McCourty was when Belichick called to tell him he was #27

 

[condon84]

Some of you guys crack me up. The odds of us picking up a good passrusher are quite good.

What the hell? I don't know how you can say this with a straight face. When have we ever picked a good pass rusher?

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

I liked the pick. A shutdown corner frees up a safety to bliz. Rex Ryan knows this; why doesn't most of the board understand? Tomorrow should be really exciting as the Patriots will fill the rest of the holes.

 

[slash83]

What the hell? I don't know how you can say this with a straight face. When have we ever picked a good pass rusher?

Sean Craple

 

[slash83]

I liked the pick. A shutdown corner frees up a safety to bliz. Rex Ryan knows this; why doesn't most of the board understand? Tomorrow should be really exciting as the Patriots will fill the rest of the holes.

We drafted a shutdown corner really?

 

[patchick]

Nobodies crapping on him he might end up a great or even good corner. Bottom line for me is Im not sure he makes the team any better then it was before the 1st round. If he comes in and earns the spot opposite of Bodden then he could help the team immidiatley, but doubt he starts over Butler, Wilhite, or even Springs if he does return. Where as a player like Bryant could of been selected and wiped his backside with Aiken or Patten.

This "starting" thing is misleading. As others have said, most snaps are now played in the nickel. The 3rd corner plays more snaps than than Wilfork & Warren. You want a starting-caliber player in that role.

 

[tombonneau]

Not a huge fan of the pick but whatever I won't pretend I know more than anyone else. The only thing that really bugs me about it is every writeup talks about him not having good hands. Then the combine clip on NFL.com shows him dropping an easy ball.

Really wanted a game changing playmaker on D but unless he improves his hands not sure he's the guy.

I guess the other terrible thing about the pick is it pretty much admits Wheatley is a bust which is too bad.

 

[upstater1]

Absolutely delighted with the McCourty pick.

Nickel CB at least, potential starter. We spend a huge amount of snaps in the nickel defense, and with Marshall and Holmes arriving in the division, we needed to add another quality corner.

Unless you guys were happy with Johnny Wilhite there.....

Superb day for us - I'd have been happy with McCourty at #22, let alone 27 - and we bagged a third and fourth rounder.

We only got a 3rd rounder out of both trades. We traded the 4th to Dallas.

 

[Fixit]

No way Devin McCourty makes this team.

 

[dakevdude]

I liked the pick. A shutdown corner frees up a safety to bliz. Rex Ryan knows this; why doesn't most of the board understand? Tomorrow should be really exciting as the Patriots will fill the rest of the holes.

From what's been heard around the scouting report, Devin McCourty is a far cry from being a shutdown cornerback. LOL

oh well maybe BB knows something more about this kid than they do...

 

[RobertWeathers]

While I agree on your first two points, great pass rush help teams win Super Bowls even with average CBs.

We would need Aso and Revis to help the pass rush we had last year.

You are the third poster to comment on this. I don't disagree. Who wouldn't want a great pass rush?

A good cover-secondary helps the pass rush (jumping routes, causes the QB to pull back, go through his progressions, etc.).

The Pats have zero chance in 2010 (regardless of who they drafted this year) of being an elite 45-50 sack, a go-zillion pressures pass-rushing team. Still plenty of good players left to help the pass rush and the run defense.

 

[Patspsycho]

Man...you Kiper Littles crack me up...all last season all I read every game day was "Wilhite saucks!!!".."horrible Wilhite!!!", "not AN nfl CORNER!!!!".."we need to draft corners!!!!!!"

NOW that the draft is here and we use ONE of our first four picks, the 28th, on a top rated corner, all you Bawkers can do is b!tch and moan "why did we grab a corner!!!!!!". It must be true...the latest generation of football fans are A.D.D. crippled immediate gratification junkies.

Before the draft started there was a CONSENSUS that this is the deepest draft in 20 years, and especially full of value from the mid 1st to the top of the 4th. We have THREE more picks in the 33-64 range and the 90th pick...out of a draft considered to be of relatively same quality all the way to the 100th slot.McCourty is one of the top three corners in this draft, all GONE now after the Jets pick, but the Squawking Kiper Littles, who bleated all last season about the terrible corners, NOW want to let a chance to take an elite CB go by the board because there's some LB that has tickled their fancy that they can't bear to watch him drafted. Insanity. The meat and value at the LB position is RIGHT HERE in the 2nd round. BB has made the right moves all night...try waiting until day two is over before jumping ship because they went out and got what you were crying about all last season. Or don't...become a Rats fan instead.

We have 5 picks tomorrow, not 4.

 

[PatsFanJess]

Man...you Kiper Littles crack me up...all last season all I read every game day was "Wilhite saucks!!!".."horrible Wilhite!!!", "not AN nfl CORNER!!!!".."we need to draft corners!!!!!!"

NOW that the draft is here and we use ONE of our first four picks, the 28th, on a top rated corner, all you Bawkers can do is b!tch and moan "why did we grab a corner!!!!!!". It must be true...the latest generation of football fans are A.D.D. crippled immediate gratification junkies.

Before the draft started there was a CONSENSUS that this is the deepest draft in 20 years, and especially full of value from the mid 1st to the top of the 4th. We have THREE more picks in the 33-64 range and the 90th pick...out of a draft considered to be of relatively same quality all the way to the 100th slot.McCourty is one of the top three corners in this draft, all GONE now after the Jets pick, but the Squawking Kiper Littles, who bleated all last season about the terrible corners, NOW want to let a chance to take an elite CB go by the board because there's some LB that has tickled their fancy that they can't bear to watch him drafted. Insanity. The meat and value at the LB position is RIGHT HERE in the 2nd round. BB has made the right moves all night...try waiting until day two is over before jumping ship because they went out and got what you were crying about all last season. Or don't...become a Rats fan instead.

ROFL. Awesome. You always have a way to find the right words, Joker.

 

[JackBauer]

I'm giving him the chance as well, only because I know that the Pats are usually strong in the draft to make up for it. Last year I wanted Oher in the first round only to see the Patriots completely move out of it. However, I liked all the 2nd round picks after that so, while I was disappointed in the first, I eventually lived with it because the 2nd round was so strong. I hope that's the case this year. As of right now, McCourty sounds like he has a potential for greatness one day. Regardless, we just skipped out on the position of highest priority which is DE (followed by OLB) and took another CB. I hope he sees significant playing time early on.

Look, I'll be right there with you tomorrow if they don't take some OLB/DE prospects in the 2nd round.

I think we should let this play out a little bit more before we start swaying one way or another. If we can nab some quality picks in the 2nd, this could very well end up being a very, very good selection.

 

[Fixit]

We drafted a shutdown corner really?

According to stats and scouting reports, yes.

 

[TriplecHamp]

This "starting" thing is misleading. As others have said, most snaps are now played in the nickel. The 3rd corner plays more snaps than than Wilfork & Warren. You want a starting-caliber player in that role.

What about those who say a first round pick should be a 3 down player?

 

[NickOGS20]

Surprised by the pick, maybe even a little underwhelmed (no knock on McCourty who looks promising), but I don't see how you can even BEGIN to judge it until the end of the third round tomorrow at the very earliest (and obviously even then we will have no clue how the pick is really going to look until these guys see the field). With all the picks we have tomorrow there are a ton of options there for us in a deep draft with some real talent in rounds 2 and 3 - could easily end up addressing the obvious holes on the roster with some excellent prospects (lots of pass rushers still there, WRs like Tate, Benn etc still there, Gronkowski still there as well as lots of lower-ranked TE prospects, McCluster and so on) and then the McCourty pick starts to look a whole lot more enticing.

At the very least hold fire until this time tomorrow before losing the plot.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I guessed that, but I'd rather have Ben Tate at 53 than Golden Tate at 44.

I actually would be pleased with BOTH guys

 

[Kontradiction]

Look, I'll be right there with you tomorrow if they don't take some OLB/DE prospects in the 2nd round.

I think we should let this play out a little bit more before we start swaying one way or another. If we can nab some quality picks in the 2nd, this could very well end up being a very, very good selection.

That's what I'm saying. Quality picks in the 2nd make me feel MUCH better about selecting a CB (albeit one that supposed to be really good) in the first round. As of right now, I'm drinking. This just seems like a gamble to me but we shall see. A true shutdown corner would open up a lot for this defense (ala Revis with the Jets). Hopefully tomorrow yields great results.