Idle thoughts - the morning after....

[signbabybrady]

If your so pissed we took Wilson over Iloka then what are your thoughts on trading out of the 5th with Iloka still on the board?

 

[BSR]

If your so pissed we took Wilson over Iloka then what are your thoughts on trading out of the 5th with Iloka still on the board?

According to some, the above is an indication that 32 scouting departments suck. Nobody ever points out that the draftniks "reach" badly on guys like this all the time.

 

[patfanken]

I think the bad value trade at the end of Round Two revolves around Nick McDonald. Perhaps we had a verbal agreement with Green Bay, after Koppen went down, to allow us to acquire McDonald from their practice squad (without GB simply promoting him). Possibly a Fifth, which may be the difference in value per the chart. I admit I'm guessing but that's all I can think of it being.

Abby as strange as that may seem, it does make a modicum of sense. I think GB is one of those organizations that the Pats have decent relations with. Its not out of the realm of possibility that this was part of a quid pro quo deal.

Just maybe, now THEY own US one.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

See you all in June.

Most welcome sentence in the post... I hope you are finally over yourself when you return. He knows more than you ever did or will, ken. If he ran the team as you would have him it would be an unmitigated disaster. I'll take his decade plus track record over your increasingly idle if not addled thoughts seven days a week and twice on Sunday's or during the draft or FA or post Superbowls...

Can't threaten to hold the 5th rounder against him anymore, now it's multiple end of the draft picks, perhaps to get a jump on the better UDFA's rather than having to compete for them or if someone else wants some to trade back to 2013. How's about if the day two disasters end up playing significant roles and are still here or are playing elsewhere in the league if we can't retain them in past 4 years you stop posting altogether...

It's becoming increasingly apparent you don't understand how the money works, what the rules entail or how to build a team to play the game the way it is played at this level. There was no quid pro quo or wink and nod agreement for McDonald. All practice squad players are free to negotiate with any team for a spot on a 53 man roster (where they must remain for at least 3 weeks) and there is nothing the team whose practice squad they were on can do to block that once the player and the acquiring team reach an agreement. Just because you don't understand the rules of this league isn't reason to believe every move a team makes must be due to some under the table wink and nod arrangement...

The agony of defeat you speak of pales in comparison to the agony of your periodic
overwrought threads about your personal disappointments suffered as a fan of the team with the best damn performance record in the league for over a decade now...

These aren't the good old days when the ownership was overwhelmed and the management was incompetent. Try observing and learning from a HOF HC/GM instead of persistently second guessing him. You just might learn something in the process.

 

[Fencer]

Ken,

I have a simpler theory:

1. BB had a very low opinion of the "consensus 2nd-round grade" group of players that many draftniks were so high on. He worked hard to trade up into the higher tier. After that, he picked in a lower tier. But the "26-75" rated guys didn't interest him much at all.

2. He didn't do well in maximized trade-down/trade-out value on the second day. It happens. All negotiating strategies are gambles. This time the second-day strategies didn't play out.

It's like having a spectacular failure of a play call -- if it happens occasionally, that's life. If it happens regularly, you have a problem.

 

[kennyb]

300 players get invited to the combine....these are the only players the media gets introduced to. Yet when you think about it, there are a 100+ Div I teams not to mention scores of 1A and DII teams with quality players. In other words, 2 to 3 players per team on average get the to the combine, leaving 15-25 seniors or draft eligible underclassmen on every team that stay home and get ignored by the main stream media. There are thousands eligible for every draft and the experts have limited time and resources....they stick to the names we have been spoon fed via the combine introduction. As far as the Pats are concerned, it seems their roster has more undrafted FAs that make their roster than from bottom round draftees.
Get over it. Belichick believes he found a "player" and needed to grab him early. Clearly he was a target and BB felt he had to go early in order to guarantee his services. Isn't it obvious that he felt this kid would not be available at 62. Trust your coach, ignore the hair.

The "media" is not the scouting services who are following these kids years ahead of time. They are well aware of all the kids, long before the combine. And he was nowhere on any service as in they knew who he was but had him as UDFA material. Even his own conference didn't award him all conference first team or second team. So sorry, you just don't know what you're talking about.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I actually liked what I read on the draft forum about Bequette. He was a riser just like Derrick Wolfe obviously was. I'm OK with the Bequette pick. I'm even OK with the Wilson pick, since I wanted a DB in the 2nd round. HOWEVER.....

While I would never dare to have the hubris to think I know more than BB (or even OTG for that matter), based on what I read, I can't help wondering why our 2 picks turned out to be Wilson and Bequette, instead of Still and Iloki or Reyes and Johnson.

I STILL want an explanation on why we made such a bad trade at the end of the round, value wise. I'm fine with them wanting Wilson, but what was so imperative that the get him THEN. What skill set did they see that made him SO much better than the other prospects available that they HAD to move up to get him so much earlier than expected.

I cannot justify this with comparisons to Volmer and Mankins. Those guys might have been deemed "reaches" but at least they were on the radar

Wilson. I dont get what all the outrage is about. BB has drafted players we have never heard of before.

Trading down, was that really bad value? The Pats turned a late 2nd rounder into a 3rd and a 5th. BB got Beqette in the 3rd, a guy who is a flexible DE/OLB tweener with 10 sacks in 10 games. He could be our next mike wright. That sounds like a pretty good pick to me.

In addition BB parlayed that 5th rounder into a 6th, 7th, and 7th. So he got a 3 for 1 and also got Dennard in those picks. A risky but high ceiling player. The Pats end up with 7 picks overall, and 3 potential first round talents if you believe some of the evaluations of Dennard. So let's not lose sight of the big picture. Overall it was a great draft, just oozing with potential and restocking/rebuilding the Pats defense!

 

[reflexblue]

Last season about this time I turned off the draft after the Mallet pick in a rage and composed a rant that among other things predicted the beginning of the end of the Pats dominance. (...and how did that turn out )

Well last night I was so stunned by the Wilson pick, I couldn't feel any rage.....UNTIL....the Pats decided to give away the 62nd pick in the draft for pennies on the dollar. THEN I threw something at the screen....and thankfully missed (proving once again why I was always the grunt and never the "skill player")

Fortunately I refrained from embarrassing myself by writing another insane rant, but now feel compelled to write something that will help me explain the events of the last 2 days, which can best be described by the old Wide World of Sports adage, "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat."......along with some more general thoughts on the draft.

The thrill of victory

1. Chandler Jones - Pats fans have waited for over a decade to see BB draft an impact pass rusher. A single player who has the potential to force DC's to adjust to HIM. We have to understand how rare these guys are, and how lucky we have to be to have one fall into an area where we are in a position to draft him.

Make no mistake Jones is far from a finished product. If he was, we'd never have had a shot at drafting him. His youth, missing 5 games, and unspectacular production, all conspired to drop him to a point where he BB could leap up and draft the first true "impact" defensive player he's had since Richard Seymour over a decade ago.

HOWEVER after this somewhat overly hyped build up, I have to reiterate, Jones is far from a finished product. He has to get stronger and develop those skills and experiences necessary to allow him reach his potential. We only have to look at JPP's experience with the Giants. He had a VERY unspectacular rookie year, where some even called him a bust. IIRC, he had only 4 sacks, before he exploded last season with 16.

Well Jones is somewhat a different player than JPP and probably won't get the sack numbers he puts up, but will end up being stouter against the run. But that's not the point. The point is that it would be very unfair to expect instant spectacular impact from him. Its going to take a year or two before we get full value from this pick.

IMHO, He'll start out sharing the snaps that Mark Anderson got in the the pass rushing sub packages and then eventually see some time as an OLB in 3-4 looks on passing downs. He will flash brilliance and then make horrible mistakes. His biggest impact next season will be (along with the other additions to the front seven) to allow BB to be much more creative than he has been the last 2 seasons.

2. Donta Hightower - I have to be honest here. I pretty much ignored Hightower throughout most of the run up to the draft. I dismissed him as a great LB, but I viewed him strictly as an ILB and it clearly wasn't a position of need with Mayo, Spikes and Fletcher already here and getting better each year. I also questioned the wisdom of drafting a player that high who plays a position that is shrinking in importance in today's pass happy league. to that end I was always looking at Mercilus, McCellin, Jones, Upshaw, etc as my outside guy, and then adding at DE/DT type with my second pick (Still or Reyes). I sort of conceded Hightower to the Steelers or Ravens as a great player, but not for us.

WRONG AGAIN - Because I dismissed him so early in the process, I missed the fact that not only is a better, more explosive athlete than, say, Upshaw; he is flexible enough to play all over the defense. So not only will he provide ILB depth, he can also play DE and OLB as well. He in essence becomes BB's utility/plug and play guy when he creates those week to week match up D's

Also, unlike Jones, Hightower should hit the field running. There won't be any ramp up time needed for him. This is an immediate impact player at multiple positions who will make everyone around him better and allow BB to get back to being the creative genius we saw in the superbowl years.

Finally what shouldn't be dismissed is that BOTH these guys are "high motor" athletes who will do what's necessary to reach their high potentials. Jerod "Bellichick" now has Donta "Bellichick" as a kindred spirit. Jones might not have quite the ceiling of a guy like Coples but his floor is infinitely higher. BB drafted not only the next generation of talent on the D, but the next generation of leadership

The agony of defeat

2. I eagerly awaited the start of Round 2. After Thursday I had high expectations. We had infused the front seven with 2 spectacular prospects and now it was time to help the back end of the defense. I fantasized about Janoris Jenkins, but if he were gone there were several, if not "spectacular" prospects, nice ones that would improve us. Josh Robinson, Trumaine Johnson, George Iloki, Markelle Martin, Hosely, Flemming, and Bently all seemed to guys who might not be MY exact binky, certainly would improve the talent level and depth of the secondary.

Besides that, there would also be some interesting DE/DT's available Still, Reyes, Worthy, and Thompson were all still available. Perhaps one of those guys might reach us. And even if I disagreed with the need, there were a ton of OT/OG's that a lot of people liked if BB decided he needed to add depth there. I could live with a DB/DL or DB/OL 2nd round.

Well you all know the rest of the story. I won't belabor you with comments that that everyone has already thought and posted. Suffice it to say that it was "disappointing".
HOWEVER I will say that none of the disappointment should be directed to Tayvon Wilson. He just might turn out to be a very nice player in the end. There have been a LOT of very good S's in this league who where thought to have middle and round. Rodney was a 4th round pick IIRC.

No folks, this pick is an indictment of our own FO. Its hard to believe that these were the same group of people who have so deftly manipulated the draft process so we managed to restock this team on the fly and not suffer even a single 9 win season in the process. Its hard to believe that these are the same guys who brought us such joy, just the day before.

NO his pick can't be explained away with Volmer and Mankins comparisons. When Volmer was picked, although he was considered a reach, people at least knew who he was. There was footage of him. Wilson was such an out of the box pick that PFT, who has had a blurb about EVERY draft pick taken in the first 3 rounds, completely blanked on Wilson. Nothing, it was like he was never picked.

Now Kiper is often an idiot, but you can't deny his passion or his knowledge of the players who are draft eligible . He's the ultimate draftnik. And he had NO idea who Wilson was at first. Even OTG, who is as good as anyone we see in the media can't justify this move.

So, I sat there stunned, trying desperately to justify this pick and hoping that somehow the next pick will salvage the round, only to watch the team pull out of the draft with a trade that you'd expect the Bengals to make, taking pennies on the dollar to move out.

BOTTOM LINE: I guess I should be thankful that all my "needs" have been taken care of. It was an all defensive draft just like I wanted. We DID pick up a DB and DE/DT which was my 2nd choice. BUT when I think the DB and DT/DE that we COULD have gotten might have been Reyes and Iloki/Johnson, instead of Bequette and Wilson; my head wants to explode.

I tell you what. If that round 5 pick doesn't end up being a 5 year starter down the road, I will always remember the 2nd round of this draft as horrible lost opportunity.

I remember your post draft rant last year and it was justified, just as this one is. The FO has a Jeckle and Hyde feel to it. One moment it can make a great selection and or trade the next it makes up for it by making a totally mind numbing bush league move, not unlike Oakland or Cinncy would make. I just don't get it, probably never will. Although i can live with Bequette/Dennard picks

 

[Joker]

obviously you've spent too much of the past week at J.I., Ken...take a sabbatical, get the green germs eradicated from your bloodstream and recharge your batteries here amongst your fellow tribe...

 

[AzPatsFan]

I actually liked what I read on the draft forum about Bequette. He was a riser just like Derrick Wolfe obviously was. I'm OK with the Bequette pick. I'm even OK with the Wilson pick, since I wanted a DB in the 2nd round. HOWEVER.....

While I would never dare to have the hubris to think I know more than BB (or even OTG for that matter), based on what I read, I can't help wondering why our 2 picks turned out to be Wilson and Bequette, instead of Still and Iloki or Reyes and Johnson.

I STILL want an explanation on why we made such a bad trade at the end of the round, value wise. I'm fine with them wanting Wilson, but what was so imperative that the get him THEN. What skill set did they see that made him SO much better than the other prospects available that they HAD to move up to get him so much earlier than expected.

I cannot justify this with comparisons to Volmer and Mankins. Those guys might have been deemed "reaches" but at least they were on the radar

BB had appareantly decided there were only a few openings on his roster and wanted a FS desperately, only there few if any good ones in this Draft.

Having researched this a little, it is becoming obvious that Tavon is a smart, coachable, team leader and captain willing to do what the Coach and Team needed even at the cost of his own reputation.

He was recruited by a bundle of big time football powers and chose Illinois, which speaks well to his basic athletic ability, and his mental accuity. He was a team leader and captain, which affirms his leadership abilities.

He readily volunteered to play CB when he isn't a good one, because the Coach and Team needed someone to do it. Scouts saw he wasn't a very good
CB, and downgraded him. But he appears to be a pretty good FS, when he can play that position. He can also diagnose and set the secondary. Think of him as a better, bigger, faster, James Sanders. Not a superstar, but a fine glue for the secondary.

Then there were no Bowl invites for a losing Illini team, so little for the Scouts and amateur Draftniks to see. The amateur Draftniks get lots of their info from the Combine and All-Star team invites. He got none, so they never added him to their reports and lists. He simply fell through the cracks, to all but the NFL scouts.

It is being suggested that like Volmer, there were 6 or 7 other NFL teams interested in him, including the Chargers who took a S shortly thereafter.
Tavon is not a slot corner, but Arrington is. Notice that in all the discussion of moving people to Safety, Arrington's slot CB was never even considered. They are completely different positions. Coincidently, Alonzo Dennard is a very good slot CB, and will give Arrington plenty of competition.

I like this potential secondary, when healthy, and its texture even more. the Pats have very good outside CBs in McCourty and Ras-i. They have a pretty fair slot CB in Arrington. They have a good SS in Chung, and now a fair FS in Gregory. Now they have out side depth in Moore and Allen, slot competition in Dennard, SS safety depth in Barrett, and FS depth in Julian Edelman and Tavon Wilson.

 

[livinginthe past]

Yes, these 'Idle thoughts' are turning into some type of forum based catharsis....

You seem like a nice enough guy, but your mistake is to buy so heavily into what all those 'mock drafts' and 'draft guru's' have been selling for the past month or more.

I love reading mock drafts and picturing certain players in a Patriots uni - but when Bill makes his picks fanstasy goes out the window and reality takes over...or at least it should.

The reason alot of the 'usual suspects' were so happy with the 1st round was that they felt that they had finally been vindicated - that Belichick was finally learning to do things their way....the right way.

He was picking players they liked, and even better.... that Kiper et al also liked!

There have been enough articles relayed to the masses here that demonstrate that, compared to his peers, Bill Belichick is a very good drafter.

Yet still people question him because they wanted Reyes or whoever Kiper/Mayock etc had in their 'top 100'.

For your own sanity you do need to get over this fixation with buying into whatever the latest fad is the sports media are pimping.

For someone to describe an initially mystifying 2nd round draft pick as 'agony' is a strong indication that you need to get some perspective.

Go be a Bengals/Browns/Bills fan for a year and see how you like it.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Bedard has some not so idle thoughts this AM. I thought he might be a little pissy like Ken after going out on a limb and predicting the Pats would be purely drafting for 2013. In some ways they did. But Greg did what Ken never takes time to do, rationally reflect on what Bill may have been trying to achieve overall and what that has the potential to evolve into.

Zo was saying much the same yesterday. This defense now has the potential to be a real pain in the ass to diagnose as it can be multiple and disguised simply by virtue of a lot of similar and therefore hard to pidgeonhole for ID purpose moving parts. Lots of guys who can do/be two or three different things lining up all over the place without substitutions to help OC's and QB's diagnose what's coming. And an influx of reportedly heady as well as driven, versatile players with some experience calling the shots - as opposed to in the absence of one or two key players the blind leading the blind...

People need to (once and for all) wrap their heads around the FACT that it's not about talent collection in the NFL...it's about teambuilding with sufficient talent around a bonefide QB. Then generally speaking the more bonefide that guy is the farther you will go. Bill now has a much better selection of players with talent and/or experience from which to build the defense and ST components of the 2012 team than he did in 2010 or 2011. The offense was already fine and he augmented it sufficiently via FA. A veteran RB might still be a good idea, but there is time and opportunity to address that.

On the second day, Belichick, director of player personnel Nick Caserio, and director of college scouting Jon Robinson saw something in Wilson, the Illinois defensive back, that not many other teams did: a player with positional versatility between safety, cornerback, and linebacker that can help combat the rise of passing offenses almost immediately.

And in Arkansas end Jake Bequette, the Patriots added a player with a 6-foot-4-inch, 270-pound frame who can rush the passer, defend the run, and disrupt passing lanes on a variety of downs and in different packages.

On Saturday, the Patriots found Ohio State safety Nate Ebner, who has more experience in rugby than football. But if he can tackle with the type of speed and ferociousness in pads that he exhibited without them in his YouTube rugby highlights, not only will Ebner quickly become a fan favorite, he’ll make a difference on special teams now, and possibly on defense down the line.


Cornerback Alfonzo Dennard possesses the type of skills to play immediately, but off-field concerns caused him to plummet to the seventh round. The Patriots obviously had some concerns or else they would have taken him earlier. But in being a final-round pick, the Patriots basically have nothing to lose and much to gain by picking Dennard. It’s not a stretch to say he could emerge as a starter at some point this season.

Northwestern receiver Jeremy Ebert, the Patriots’ final pick, is a tough, physical, and smart slot receiver. With Wes Welker, Julian Edelman (restricted free agent), and Anthony Gonzalez all entering the final year of their contracts, Ebert has a chance to stick for development on the roster because of his special teams play, or on the practice squad.

Between free agency and the draft, the Patriots have not only added more talent to the defense, but most importantly for Belichick, they now have a variety of options at all three levels of the defense: the line, linebackers, and secondary.

The options, for Belichick, are literally endless.

“On paper, I think there are some possibilities for that,’’ he said. “It will be interesting to see how it goes with some of those players.’’

Flash back to the beginning of last season, and the roles for most of the Patriots were fairly well defined - for fans and opponents. And the 31st-ranked Patriots defense got chewed up.

Now, the Patriots set off into an offseason of great expectations with a defense that can emerge like a chameleon when the season starts. No one knows what it will eventually look like. That’s likely the way it will go week to week during the season, especially when opponents try to game plan offensively.

The Patriots have the potential to dictate the style of the game defensively with the scheme they choose. Usually that’s what the opposing offense does.

That word, chameleon is what this defense was back in the early part of the last decade. Due to heady players aging out and an inability to replace them in kind, we lost the ability to be that. With the exception of Seymour and Law who may one day reside in Canton, our defense was never the most talented. It was the smartest and most determined and hardworking and while disciplined more instinctive and chock full of heady playmakers who will probably have to settle for the Hall at Patriots Place, along with the Lombardi's they helped win.

That is what Bill is looking to recreate. A heady defense where no one or two stars are all you have to game plan against because the whole motley crew is a freakin' OC's nightmare of possibilities that you can't even diagnose even with a whole seasons worth of tape because the permutations are almost endless because of the scheme versatility of the whole lot of them...

You are about to witness the re-emergence of the genius... Not that what he did for the last 3-4 seasons with chewing gum and string defense backing up a world class offense wasn't fairly impressive...





As a whole, the parts seem to fit the Patriots - The Boston Globe

 

[DarrylS]

I like the term Chameleon.. have felt for a while now that BB is moprhing into a defense that defies description, and is flexible dependent on the needs of the situation as it is about situational football.. it will confuse the sports pundits, that is a good thing.

The less weak links you have, the stronger the defense.. you can go heavy d line, light and fast d line, half and half.. you have DE's that have the capability to back into coverage there are so many possibilities.. you can spell Wilfork without crapping your pants.

The same with the DB's you have a lot of pretty good bodies, and together with a year of maturity and playing together will only make them better. There are some new moving parts that may prove interesting..

On paper our ST's have vastly improved... and if one of these guys is a good KR or PR... it could get scary good.

 

[Nikolai]

I learned years ago that you grade the draft two years after at the earliest. There's no outrage from me about anything. We don't truly know what we have except some nice talent.

It's about being part IBBIT and part waiting to see what happens.

I direct people to my sig if you want to see the folly of draft outrage right after the fact.

 

[State]

I like the free agent pickup Zusevics OT Iowa who suffered the indignity of tearing a pec muscle at the combine during the bench press. He was slated to be a fourth-rounder by McShay but ended up being undrafted.

He's a player who I think could stick around here.

And I wouldn't be surprised by mid season to have Dowling and Dennard the starting CBs. The duct tape boys.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I like the free agent pickup Zusevics OT Iowa who suffered the indignity of tearing a pec muscle at the combine during the bench press. He was slated to be a fourth-rounder by McShay but ended up being undrafted.

He's a player who I think could stick around here.

And I wouldn't be surprised by mid season to have Dowling and Dennard the starting CBs. The duct tape boys.

Duct tape holds the real world together, that's a fact. Allowing a guy who can get a team with a 31st ranked defense to the superbowl to surrepticiously (because he didn't listen to the media draft gurus advice) replace his chewing gum and string collection with several rolls of it can get down right scary.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Trust your coach, ignore the hair.

Exactly!

 

[grux]

Bedard has some not so idle thoughts this AM. I thought he might be a little pissy like Ken after going out on a limb and predicting the Pats would be purely drafting for 2013. In some ways they did. But Greg did what Ken never takes time to do, rationally reflect on what Bill may have been trying to achieve overall and what that has the potential to evolve into.

Zo was saying much the same yesterday. This defense now has the potential to be a real pain in the ass to diagnose as it can be multiple and disguised simply by virtue of a lot of similar and therefore hard to pidgeonhole for ID purpose moving parts. Lots of guys who can do/be two or three different things lining up all over the place without substitutions to help OC's and QB's diagnose what's coming. And an influx of reportedly heady as well as driven, versatile players with some experience calling the shots - as opposed to in the absence of one or two key players the blind leading the blind...

People need to (once and for all) wrap their heads around the FACT that it's not about talent collection in the NFL...it's about teambuilding with sufficient talent around a bonefide QB. Then generally speaking the more bonefide that guy is the farther you will go. Bill now has a much better selection of players with talent and/or experience from which to build the defense and ST components of the 2012 team than he did in 2010 or 2011. The offense was already fine and he augmented it sufficiently via FA. A veteran RB might still be a good idea, but there is time and opportunity to address that.










That word, chameleon is what this defense was back in the early part of the last decade. Due to heady players aging out and an inability to replace them in kind, we lost the ability to be that. With the exception of Seymour and Law who may one day reside in Canton, our defense was never the most talented. It was the smartest and most determined and hardworking and while disciplined more instinctive and chock full of heady playmakers who will probably have to settle for the Hall at Patriots Place, along with the Lombardi's they helped win.

That is what Bill is looking to recreate. A heady defense where no one or two stars are all you have to game plan against because the whole motley crew is a freakin' OC's nightmare of possibilities that you can't even diagnose even with a whole seasons worth of tape because the permutations are almost endless because of the scheme versatility of the whole lot of them...

You are about to witness the re-emergence of the genius... Not that what he did for the last 3-4 seasons with chewing gum and string defense backing up a world class offense wasn't fairly impressive...





I totally agree. Belichick is always looking for smart players who give 100%. This years draft class is made up of high motor players who were captains and showed leadership in the locker room. I am very excited to watch our defense develop over the next few years.

 

[The_Riddler]

I STILL want an explanation on why we made such a bad trade at the end of the round, value wise. I'm fine with them wanting Wilson, but what was so imperative that the get him THEN. What skill set did they see that made him SO much better than the other prospects available that they HAD to move up to get him so much earlier than expected.

I cannot justify this with comparisons to Volmer and Mankins. Those guys might have been deemed "reaches" but at least they were on the radar

Right, the pick of Wilson itself, I don't have a problem with. It's where he was taken and the lack of BB maybe trading this pick down to accumulate whether it be a future #2 as they've done in the past and a #3 or #4 where they could have taken Wilson. What made BB feel he had to take the kid at that premium spot ?? This pick itself is fine, but man, they could have gotten so much more and gotten the kid later on. That's the frustrating part.

 

[37Harrison]

FWIW, I have been taking a look at the immediate draft grades the media hands out right after the draft and some rate the Pats draft as an A, even with "the agony" of the 2nd round.

What I didn't like from the 2nd round was the pick of Wilson with their 1st pick. One would assume the Pats could've traded back a round or 2 and still got him. However, I am not sure if that was even possible after seeing what they received in return for their 2nd, 2nd round pick. Nor do we know if other teams were targeting Wilson as well. What I did like is the fact that the Pats went and got the guys they wanted.

I also love the Bequette pick in the 3rd and think he could pay immediate dividends to this D. The more I see out of him, the more I like. BB has restocked this D with young, playmaking leaders. What's not to love about that?