Are the Patriots really this Terrible

[Kid~Brady]

..... at drafting and/or developing Wide Receivers?

From players like Bethal Johnson, Taylor Price, Aaron Dobson, David Givens and we all remember the Chad Johnson debacle. Remember the Brandon Tate pick, wasn't he picked literally right before Mike Wallace by the Steelers? The same team that ALWAYS seems to have a good grasp on how to draft WRs.

I will give them credit for Edelman and D. Branch, Troy Brown and of course Gronk and Hernandez but other than these guys, who have they really drafted and developed into superstars? Why are the patriots so below average in this state? I see all these other teams, including the Buccaneers (I live in Florida) draft all of this amazing wide receivers and offensive talent. Why has Bill missed on these same talents?

Anyone else feel this way?

 

[maust]

Oh good another clickbait style thread title...

Anyone else feel this way?

 

[Tunescribe]

Oh good another clickbait style thread title...

Anyone else feel this way?

Cliffhanger thread titles are the worst. Except for the one I did today in my AB thread, which no one seemed to appreciate.

 

[Clonamery]

Oh good another clickbait style thread title...

Anyone else feel this way?

Anyone? Or...”everyone?”

 

[Kid~Brady]

Oh good another clickbait style thread title...

Anyone else feel this way?

haha sorry. It crossed my mind and it's just one of those days

 

[203Pat]

I’m not out on Harry yet as he’s only played two games but I’ll admit so far I’m not liking what I’m seeing. He’s not a fluid route runner and seemed to just give up after Roby tugged him on the INT.

 

[Kid~Brady]

Anyone? Or...”everyone?”

Not sure. I'm an accountant, I like numbers

 

[signbabybrady]

..... at drafting and/or developing Wide Receivers?

From players like Bethal Johnson, Taylor Price, Aaron Dobson, David Givens and we all remember the Chad Johnson debacle. Remember the Brandon Tate pick, wasn't he picked literally right before Mike Wallace by the Steelers? The same team that ALWAYS seems to have a good grasp on how to draft WRs.

I will give them credit for Edelman and D. Branch, Troy Brown and of course Gronk and Hernandez but other than these guys, who have they really drafted and developed into superstars? Why are the patriots so below average in this state? I see all these other teams, including the Buccaneers (I live in Florida) draft all of this amazing wide receivers and offensive talent. Why has Bill missed on these same talents?

Anyone else feel this way?

I'm enraged that you do not consider David Givens a success. Dude was a beast for us got paid and then he got a brutal injury. Givens was awesome.

 

[upstater1]

..... at drafting and/or developing Wide Receivers?

From players like Bethal Johnson, Taylor Price, Aaron Dobson, David Givens and we all remember the Chad Johnson debacle. Remember the Brandon Tate pick, wasn't he picked literally right before Mike Wallace by the Steelers? The same team that ALWAYS seems to have a good grasp on how to draft WRs.

I will give them credit for Edelman and D. Branch, Troy Brown and of course Gronk and Hernandez but other than these guys, who have they really drafted and developed into superstars? Why are the patriots so below average in this state? I see all these other teams, including the Buccaneers (I live in Florida) draft all of this amazing wide receivers and offensive talent. Why has Bill missed on these same talents?

Anyone else feel this way?

David Givens was a fantastic pick. Excellent. You'd be hard-pressed to do any better.

50 receptions per year for 2 or 3 years and 15 yards per catch for a 7th rounder? Not going to do any better than that.

As for Troy Brown, he was not picked by the Belichick front office.

Also don't forget Ben Watson. He's had a very long and productive career.

Many receivers do not pan out, but the Patriots have been consistently bad. Between Price, Dobson, Jackson, Tate, Mitchell and Bethel, only Mitchell worked out--though his career was ended by his injuries. This is bad.

We know Brady can play with the Reche Caldwell's and Jabar Gaffney's of the world, but most of the drafted receivers aren't even of that quality.

And we know this is true since none of these receivers have excelled when they left for other teams. So the method of evaluation is flawed.

Which is bizarre since the Patriots have usually done well when taking under-regarded players from other teams like David Patten or Wes Welker or Chris Hogan and allowing them to flourish here.

 

[Kid~Brady]

I'm enraged that you do not consider David Givens a success. Dude was a beast for us got paid and then he got a brutal injury. Givens was awesome.

You're right and thats my mistake. I definitely take that name back

 

[maust]

Cliffhanger thread titles are the worst. Except for the one I did today in my AB thread, which no one seemed to appreciate.

Bro, if I had feelings they'd be hurt. I'm married with children, as such I readily accept being relegated to nobody status. Getting dropped down to being 'no one' here of all places...
Well that's just like salt in a wound right there or maybe more like...

 

[203Pat]

Bill claiming he would rather have Johnathan Baldwin over Julio in that draft shows he has an odd way of evaluating receivers.

 

[oldrover]

Cliffhanger thread titles are the worst. Except for the one I did today in my AB thread, which no one seemed to appreciate.

One reviewer did... he featured you on his show.

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

 

[PatsFan2]

Bill claiming he would rather have Johnathan Baldwin over Julio in that draft shows he has an odd way of evaluating receivers.

Yikes heard that too with lack of success at that specific position BB shouldn't be shopping for the groceries there.

 

[Kontradiction]

Harry has played in a total of two games and has never had the speed to create separation. His ceiling will be Boldin and his floor will be complete trash. But he’s a guy that the game is currently moving at a million miles per hour for on the field and he’s forgetting to do some of the little things (like running a route correctly) because of that. In other words, a rookie. A rookie playing in the hardest offense in the NFL to learn. He’ll have to learn to use that big body of his to pull down the ball. Hopefully he will, and quickly. But don’t blame him for the growing pains of the offense that are brought on because they’re trying to work in rookies at the WR positions. Blame the people who decided that this was the way to go while hoping they’ll eventually end up being right.

 

[luuked]

The same team that ALWAYS seems to have a good grasp on how to draft WRs.

That is a myth that has been debunked so many times. I don't understand how the Steelers being this supposedly amazing WR drafting team keeps coming up. They have had their fair share of duds. But they also take many more swings at it.

Here is the list of WR the Pats have taken in the first four rounds in the BB era:

Branch 02, Johnson 03, Jackson 06, Tate 09, Price 10, Dobson 13, Boyce 14, Mitchell 16, Harry 19

Steelers:

Burress 00, Randle 02, Gibson 05, Holmes 06, Reid 06, Sweed 08, Wallace 09, Sanders 10, Wheaton 13, Archer 14, Bryant 14, Coates 15, Schuster 17, Washington 18, Johnson 19

It is 9 picks vs. 15 picks. And if you look at the list of their WRs I think it is obvious why I refer to them ALWAYS having a good grasp to be a myth.


The complexity to learn the Pats offense on a rookie who comes into the league has been well documented. Unlike veterans they come in and are not only trying to understand the playbook, but have to upgrade their physique, polish and clean up their fundamentals (route running, how to use your body, ect.) and figure out life as a pro.

It doesn't help that projections from college to the pros are a crapshoot even if some snake oil salesmen want to tell you differently. If they weren't then we would not have as many busts every year through the league.

Also in the end -- and maybe most importantly -- roster building doesn't exclusively consist of the draft. If you can find pieces that can do specific roles for you -- based on proven NFL level film -- for a reasonable price (be it FA or a trade) then your assets are often better spend on other positions in the draft.

And lets not get started how much of it also is affected by long term thinking in terms of having continuity for players that will leave through FA.

The last point is why the lack of TE picks has been so baffling. The pipeline there has been ignored for too long. But as with everything I am sure there was a reasonable logic behind prioritizing other positions. I am sure nobody just "forgot" about it or thought it was "unimportant".

Ultimately roster building is a bunch of compromises given the constraints set by the league in terms of roster size and cap space.

 

[nabwong]

Jury remains out for Harry. He runs a similar 40 to Larry Fitzgerald so it’s not a given he can’t get separation. Right now, it’s a mental thing for him. He doesn’t know the offense.

 

[condon84]

Myers looks like he can be a productive receiver in this offense.

Agree with @KontradictioN regarding Harry.

As for other receivers picked, they just weren't good. None of them have gone on to different teams and been productive. Our FO simply misfired on them.

 

[203Pat]

Harry has played in a total of two games and has never had the speed to create separation. His ceiling will be Boldin and his floor will be complete trash. But he’s a guy that the game is currently moving at a million miles per hour for on the field and he’s forgetting to do some of the little things (like running a route correctly) because of that. In other words, a rookie. A rookie playing in the hardest offense in the NFL to learn. He’ll have to learn to use that big body of his to pull down the ball. Hopefully he will, and quickly. But don’t blame him for the growing pains of the offense that are brought on because they’re trying to work in rookies at the WR positions. Blame the people who decided that this was the way to go while hoping they’ll eventually end up being right.

I’d be extremely happy if he ended up like Anquan Boldin.

 

[Kontradiction]

I’d be extremely happy if he ended up like Anquan Bolton.

I’d even be happy if he ended up like Michael Bolton.