**The official Day 2 Patriots Draft Thread**

[sg14]

Ridley is the power back we have been missing since Dillon, will he make long runs, probably not, will he punish the opposing team, yes.

As far as this whole draft, color me confused -expected totally different priorities, even taking the tackle when we may lose 2 guards,,

Just so you know, I was hearing, even before the Vereen pick that the Pats really liked Stevan Ridley. There may have been doubts here about this pick, obviously those doubts weren't there in the Patriots war room. Off to watch a couple of LSU games and see what's what about him.

 

[fumbrunner]

A gunner who runs a 4.66? Apparently they're ahead of the copycat league getting tape on the Connoly return. Wedgebusters run 4.66's.

He's being brought in to run goal line and short yardage. Ridley in ace personnel in third and short will be a nightmare for the DC's playcall.

essentially replacing sammy morris, I suspect. Still, taken way too early. Mayock had him with a 6th round grade.

 

[upstater1]

If I had to guess what happened with Ridley, the Patriots had the Raider trade banked and knew they weren't picking again until late 5th. So they took Ridley a round or two early. Could have traded back, I guess, if they had found a willing partner. I also suspect this means they were unwilling to move up into the 4th by trading two fifths. I bet this means the Patriots intend to use all their picks and they see a lot of late round possibilities.

As for drafting a WR, I think that ship sailed with Juli Jones. The Patriots are carrying enough right now, and any wide receiver taken would need to be good enough to justify getting rid of Deion Branch, Brandon Tate or Julian Edelman. a lot of scouts had been doubting Hankerson for a variety of reasons. The Patriots need a #1 receiver, they don't need yet another #3.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

BB on NFL-N

"Good value with Ryan (Mallett)."
"A football guy, comes from a football family."
"Hopefully we have depth at that position now."

On the running backs:
"We had some age at running back."
"Both very productive players, different."
"Vareen is a space player."
"Ridley is a physical player."
"Ridley was productive in all 3 of his years at a high level in the SEC."

On deal with Oakland:
"It (timing) was unusal. Started talking about it this afternoon. Seems like it too 6 hours to make"
"It was Oakland's mindset to get an extra 4th round pick. Once we picked up an extra third, we had a surplus and had the opportunity to move up into the 2nd round next year."
"There wasn't a player to draft this year that was comparable to what we could get in the second round next year."

 

[letekro]

If the Pats were really interested in improving the run game, I think they'd address their interior line. I like Solder, but I think he's more of an athletic pass protecting LT. I don't expect to see much dividends from him in the running game.

Judging purely from the youtube clips, he is a beast in the run game. His problem is staying with speed rushers, and also is susceptible to the bull rush if he can't get his hands on the guy. Now that we don't need to sign Light, we should just sign Mankins and look to upgrade Koppen and Connolly next year. Solder-Mankins-Koppen-Connolly-Vollmer will work just fine this year.

 

[RayClay]

He gets players he wants and can use, and sets up boards so he'll always have options.

I've given up guessing, and certainly putting any stock in hair hat Kiper and his ilk.

Pretty happy to be in contention every single year, unlike all but a couple teams.

Sit back, pour a tall one and enjoy the dry humor of Bill Belichick...

Belichick: This is best DL draft class in memory

And when it comes to finding players who might make impacts on the defensive line, Belichick says there's more of those "than in any draft I can remember."

"There is a lot of depth at the top of the draft," said Belichick. "Some good defensive front seven players [and] on the defensive front, probably more [depth] than in any draft I can remember."

 

[VJCPatriot]

Oh, and is anyone else wishing we had traded it all for Julio Jones.

NO! Atlanta got Prison R**PED in that trade. *shudders* Don't even joke about stuff like that!

Looks like BB traded out of the rest of the draft. He sent our #3 and #4 for Oakland's 2012 2nd. To me this appears to be a discount deal to Al. So I think he doesn't like whatever's left on the board now. Rounds 5-7 will be for STers, project players, and the like.

I think BB just doesn't like the front 7 DL in this year's draft. He'd rather retool the offense and pluck some skill guys a bit earlier while other teams are staring down those front 7 players. Wait for free agency if you want to see a new OLB on this team. I mean come on, history repeats itself. When has BB drafted an OLB early outside of Cunningham and Crable? And Crable was a disaster.

 

[skinnydog]

If you honestly saw the talent back then, then you should get a job on an NFL team, because other than Belichick and Ernie Adams I don't know of anyone that saw that 2001 team coming out of camp as being talented and having much of a chance at even a winning record that year - even more so after the start when two of the best players at that time (Glenn and Bledsoe) were unavailable. That was a team coming off a 5-11 in Belichick's (not Carrol's) first season as head coach that was filled with a lot of players with either very little starting experience, or at the end of journeyman careers.

It's easy to say that team had talent know with the benefit of ten years worth of hindsight. However, I still say at that time the 2001 team was quantity over quality, lots of players expertly filling small (but important) roles - as opposed to being loaded with top-end elite quality (aka early first-round blue chip prospects coming out of college.)

First the team was filled with high draft choices, so someone who drafted them thought they were talented and second of course, hindsight counts here. But if you thing Their d-line and linebackers were a bunch of late round draft choices you are sadly mistaken. First and second round picks were all over that team.

 

[Banjo]

He gets players he wants and can use, and sets up boards so he'll always have options.

I've given up guessing, and certainly putting any stock in hair hat Kiper and his ilk.

Pretty happy to be in contention every single year, unlike all but a couple teams.

Sit back, pour a tall one and enjoy the dry humor of Bill Belichick...

Belichick: This is best DL draft class in memory

It's called reverse psychology! He said something about Ingram too but he clearly wasn't interested

 

[Wilfork#75]

Best move of day #2 getting a 2nd rounder for next year. Ridley is a huge waste at the 3rd round.

Normally I would agree with you, but with how little we improved this team, I think we could have really used those picks. I'd take clint Boling and Greg Romeus over another 2012 pick. But thats just me.

 

[skinnydog]

Pretty happy to be in contention every single year, unlike all but a couple of teams.

Belichick: This is best DL draft class in memory

is that really the standard you want the Pats to aspire to? Happy to be in contention? What are they now, the Bruins??

 

[Ring 6]

A gunner who runs a 4.66? Apparently they're ahead of the copycat league getting tape on the Connoly return. Wedgebusters run 4.66's.

He's being brought in to run goal line and short yardage. Ridley in ace personnel in third and short will be a nightmare for the DC's playcall.

And running inside to kill the clock with a lead, something we have been very weak at.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Kenrick Ellis to the Jets. Hope Koppen eats his spinach.

 

[Patspsycho]

A gunner who runs a 4.66? Apparently they're ahead of the copycat league getting tape on the Connoly return. Wedgebusters run 4.66's.

He's being brought in to run goal line and short yardage. Ridley in ace personnel in third and short will be a nightmare for the DC's playcall.

Let's put him in tank personnel, along with Vereen, hehehe. That would be a nightmare.

 

[Wilfork#75]

So now who have we got thats going to block Kenrick Ellis on the Jets. They only have 2 picks in the first 2 days but you would have to consider their draft much better than the Pats because they actually improved their team. Wilkerson and Ellis is going to be scarry twice a year.

 

[Keegs]

And running inside to kill the clock with a lead, something we have been very weak at.

can't wait until they run the ultra-slow stretch play on 3rd and 1 that get's stopped for a 3 yard loss 9 times out of 10 with this kid.

(i'm kidding. I don't mind the draft. And i think it's funny you people get pissed)

 

[skinnydog]

Normally I would agree with you, but with how little we improved this team, I think we could have really used those picks. I'd take clint Boling and Greg Romeus over another 2012 pick. But thats just me.

Here, here.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Kenrick Ellis to the Jets. Hope Koppen eats his spinach.

Meh. Would have liked to see what he could do next to big VW.

 

[ausbacker]

Step out for a minute and all hell breaks loose. Not sure what I make of the Ridley & Mallett picks given the teams needs. I'm reasonably hopeful that the Patriots will address some of the needs in free agency, like they did by adding Marcus Stroud to the front 7.

Getting an extra 1st and an extra 2nd in 2 days of the draft is daylight robbery by the Patriots. How the hell do teams still allow BB to do this?

This off-season is set to be one of the most intriguing in recent times.

 

[letekro]

If I had to guess what happened with Ridley, the Patriots had the Raider trade banked and knew they weren't picking again until late 5th. So they took Ridley a round or two early. Could have traded back, I guess, if they had found a willing partner. I also suspect this means they were unwilling to move up into the 4th by trading two fifths. I bet this means the Patriots intend to use all their picks and they see a lot of late round possibilities.

As for drafting a WR, I think that ship sailed with Juli Jones. The Patriots are carrying enough right now, and any wide receiver taken would need to be good enough to justify getting rid of Deion Branch, Brandon Tate or Julian Edelman. a lot of scouts had been doubting Hankerson for a variety of reasons. The Patriots need a #1 receiver, they don't need yet another #3.

I think you're spot on. Can't argue with their picks from an offensive perspective. Sad to see this offseason go by without front 7 help though.