Jordan Richards

[mgteich]

Not taking that bet. McCourty and Chung will both be 30 when the season starts.

This argues for having a quality #4 safety.

It does not make Richards a better choice.

 

[Tuck]

This argues for having a quality #$ safety.

It does not make Richards a better choice.

Or it argues for youth and they got none in the draft or free agency so far. I'm not sure they are as down on the kid as most people here are.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Reading about Richards pre draft, he was an exceptional student of the game. A team leader who gave 110% every play, every practice. However he lacked physical gifts...particularly top end speed and recovery speed. Also lacked range, had below average instincts, and struggled in man coverage. He was projected as a 5-7th round safety.


It's been 2 years since he was drafted in he second round. What's your opinion and evaluation of him so far? Do you believe he has a future with this patriots team? So far he has been buried on the team depth chart, and has been a healthy scratch quite a few times. I haven't seen him make much of an impact on defense yet or special teams for that matter. In fairness to Richards, guys like Mccourty Chung and Harmon are exceptional players.

The only problem I have with Richards is that we used a 2nd rounder on him.. He clearly was not worth a 2nd rounder and could have been had much later in the draft.. He has barely contributed any snaps on defense and he's not lighting it up on special teams either...

Seems like a solid, high character guy... unfortunately he was just drafted wayyyyy too high and that isn't his fault

 

[maineman209]

The only problem I have with Richards is that we used a 2nd rounder on him.. He clearly was not worth a 2nd rounder and probably could have been had much later in the draft.. He has barely contributed any snaps on defense and he's not lighting it up on special teams either...

Seems like a solid, high character guy... unfortunately he was just drafted wayyyyy too high and that isn't his fault

Richards was taken with the last pick in the 2nd (#64). There were something like 8-9 safeties taken after him, beginning sometime in the 4th round, IIRC. None of those guys have set the world on fire, even while getting playing time in secondaries that are still looking for safety help.

There were 12 safeties taken after Wilson. I think maybe 3-4 of them ever saw significant snaps on defense, and another 3 never saw an NFL field after rookie camp.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Richards was taken with the last pick in the 2nd (#64). There were something like 8-9 safeties taken after him, beginning sometime in the 4th round, IIRC. None of those guys have set the world on fire, even while getting playing time in secondaries that are still looking for safety help.

There were 12 safeties taken after Wilson. I think maybe 3-4 of them ever saw significant snaps on defense, and another 3 never saw an NFL field after rookie camp.

Yea its quite a crap shoot no doubt.. but that's what makes it sting, because we could have drafted just as ineffective of a player in the 7th round at that position as we did in the 2nd round

 

[Kontradiction]

Yea its quite a crap shoot no doubt.. but that's what makes it sting, because we could have drafted just as ineffective of a player in the 7th round at that position as we did in the 2nd round

They could have drafted David Johnson. Oh well. Not many teams saw him coming.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I root for Bill's contrarian head scratching reaches most of all because they make people so angry at him. No one cares that Jake Bequette never saw the field, Taylor Price sucked and Ron Brace was a bust. Were they drafted where the Mel Kipers of the world thought they should be drafted? And yet we can't stop hearing about Jordan Richards, Duron Harmon, and Tavon Wilson over and over again. (And the one guy on here who keeps bringing up the Bill drafted Cunningham over Carlos Dunlap every month)

That's ME!!! I still can't believe he did that.

I actually forgot Richards was still on the team last year, when I was recalling all the second round Busts that BB has made!

Maybe we can trade Richards to the Texans for JJ Watt

 

[mgteich]

Or it argues for youth and they got none in the draft or free agency so far. I'm not sure they are as down on the kid as most people here are.

I didn't indicate that the team was down on Richards. We don't know. In fact, I posted that perhaps he has shown enough in practice for the team to have confidence in him as the backup to Chung.

 

[fnordcircle]

Sure are a lot of people willing to talk smack but not willing to risk sporting the avatar of my choosing for a month...

****ification of America

 

[Keyser Söze]

Still can't believe BB took this scrub in the 2nd. Horrible 3-4 round reach.

 

[meatface]

I dont know what to make of it because Tavon Wilson has been solid for the Lions and everyone viewed him here as a scrub.

 

[Thelonious]

Once they're here, as Belichick says, it doesn't matter how they got here, in what round they were picked. So the assertion that he doesn't play as well as you would expect a 2nd rounder to play is moot, except insofar as his salary is determined by his draft round: not much at all, that is. Belichick probably keeps him around because he practices well, does a good job on the scout team, tries, does what he's asked, and - most importantly, I think - is getting smarter as a safety. A lot of what makes a safety useful is what is between his ears relative to a particular defensive system, and likely the guy is solid by now in that department. Is he great? No. But he's not likely to do something disastrously stupid if you have to put him in, and that is really quite a strong reason to keep a guy as far down the depth chart as Richards is. He's not good, maybe, but he ain't bad, and you know what you've got.

 

[hellolin]

You have Pat Chung to thank for, they picked Richard in the case that Pat Chung was just a filler, then he end up to be what we thought he would be when we first drafted him and became an above average player, that made Richard's rep increasingly rare, plus the progression of Harmon that doesn't look good for him. It is rather a good thing though because that shows how good our safety groups are.

 

[Gumby]

Once they're here, as Belichick says, it doesn't matter how they got here, in what round they were picked. So the assertion that he doesn't play as well as you would expect a 2nd rounder to play is moot, except insofar as his salary is determined by his draft round: not much at all, that is. Belichick probably keeps him around because he practices well, does a good job on the scout team, tries, does what he's asked, and - most importantly, I think - is getting smarter as a safety. A lot of what makes a safety useful is what is between his ears relative to a particular defensive system, and likely the guy is solid by now in that department. Is he great? No. But he's not likely to do something disastrously stupid if you have to put him in, and that is really quite a strong reason to keep a guy as far down the depth chart as Richards is. He's not good, maybe, but he ain't bad, and you know what you've got.

The report (insider insight) on BB when he got rid of Collins was that BB values consistency way higher than physical skills .

 

[fnordcircle]

The report (insider insight) on BB when he got rid of Collins was that BB values consistency way higher than physical skills .

I'm not sure consistency is the right word, I'd say reliability is more key. As in a player who will perform the role/task to which you are assigning them on a reliable basis. I think BB would rather have McClellin sitting in a zone than a more talented/faster player who is prone to freelancing.

 

[Thelonious]

The report (insider insight) on BB when he got rid of Collins was that BB values consistency way higher than physical skills .

Particularly, I would think, down the depth chart, where it's not reasonable to expect stellar skills.

 

[Tuck]

I didn't indicate that the team was down on Richards. We don't know. In fact, I posted that perhaps he has shown enough in practice for the team to have confidence in him as the backup to Chung.

Yeah and I agree with you, I think consensus here is overly bearish on him. It's too early to call him a bust IMO.

 

[kennyb]

Just an amazingly bad pick. Scouts were exactly right, unathletic and slow as molasses in wintertime.

Game theory bill! Don't draft udfa in the 2nd round when there's a high high probability theyll be around much much later. And no, vollmer doesnt count, he wasn't well known but scouts who saw him were impressed. Houston wasnt much of a team back then. There was nothing about ruchards that said "snap this guy up before someone else does!". Crazy crazy pick especially for an econ major.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

Reading about Richards pre draft, he was an exceptional student of the game. A team leader who gave 110% every play, every practice. However he lacked physical gifts...particularly top end speed and recovery speed. Also lacked range, had below average instincts, and struggled in man coverage. He was projected as a 5-7th round safety.


It's been 2 years since he was drafted in he second round. What's your opinion and evaluation of him so far? Do you believe he has a future with this patriots team? So far he has been buried on the team depth chart, and has been a healthy scratch quite a few times. I haven't seen him make much of an impact on defense yet or special teams for that matter. In fairness to Richards, guys like Mccourty Chung and Harmon are exceptional players.

I think it would be fair and accurate to say that David Johnson would have been a much better pick at #64 in that 2015 draft.

But hey, we won a Superbowl since then so I'm not screaming for Belichick's resignation over it.

 

[maineman209]

They could have drafted David Johnson. Oh well. Not many teams saw him coming.

He was actually a binky of mine. Unfortunately, I admitted that publicly. BB heard about it and Johnson was instantly taken off the Pats draft board, as are all my binkies.