Irrelevant since he pats moved up for Gronkowski anyway......they would have had both.
Even so, they could have drafted barwin instead
You actually expect the draft to net you Gronk, Clay, and Barwin one after the other, year after year? You're just unrealistic.
You use 'hindsight 20/20' vision to envision a a
grand-slam in every draft. That's simply not realistic. At all. No team drafts that well over a long amount of time. You don't want to hear it; but every teams selects busts. That's right. Busts. All of them. You praise GB for Clay? How'd AJ Hawk work out? He was supposed to be the high impact LB. That guy has been a total disappointment. That's simply what happens when you put all of your eggs in one basket over the 1st rd pick.
If you cannot fully acknowledge this -- then you have flat out unrealistic expectations.
Passing on Clay is a microcosm of the Patriots Draft Philosophy. It's about spreading the risk. Diversifying. Having a
realistic approach. Knowing full well that every team will select busts; and devising a plan to minimize that impact. That's maturity. That's have a realistic approach. That's putting your own ego, yes,
ego, in-check; because you know full well that you cannot knock it out of the park in every 1st round.....like so many fans simply take for granted.
That's what BB does. He could use that 1st rd ammo to chase one guy. Convince himself he knows the player like the back of his hand -- like so many fans do
in retrospect. Put all the eggs in one basket. He doesn't. He'll trade down to the 2nd and 3rd round. Select one or two players, then --
in an aspect of his draft strategy that no one acknowledges -- he use some of that ammo to trade back
up for next year; and net another 1st rd pick.
So when the dust settles: you suffered through Butler, Tate, and Eddleman....but your strategy paid off with Gronkowski. You got your impact player. Just as impact-oriented as Clay would have been. You played the Law of Averages instead of putting the eggs in one basket. With that strategy, your averages are constant -- but by diversifying; you've increased the net total.
As such, you've both: (1) minimized the impact of the high rd busts; which every team suffers, and (2) opened the door for
more high round grand-slams.
It's solid, realistic thinking.
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Just to set the record on that trade...
#23(1) in 2009:
traded to Balt(Michael Oher) for:
- #26(1)
- #162(5)
#26(1) and #162(5) in 2009:
traded to GB(Clay Matthews) for:
- #41(2) used to acquire D. Butler.
- #83(3) used to acquire B. Tate
- #73(3)
#73(3) in 2009:
traded to JAX (Derek Cox) for:
-2010 #44(2)
-232(7) used to acquire Julian Eddleman
#44(2) in 2010:
traded - along with 190(6) - to Oak(Lamarr Houston, and Travis Goethel) for:
- #42 used to acquire Rob Gronkowski
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So to recap...
NE trades #23(1) in 2009 for Butler, Tate, Eddleman, and Gronkowski (+190 in '10)
