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Here is one that was at least well thought out.
Pats #7
Grading every NFL team's draft performance over the last 5 years
At least it’s an ethos.
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Pats #7
Grading every NFL team's draft performance over the last 5 years
Gil lost his fastball a while ago
We have BINGOLol @ disagreeing with this statement.
The reason Brady is gone is because the last 4-5 drafts have been rock bottom.
The reason the Patriots are in danger of regressing back to the pack, at last, is because the last 4-5 drafts.
This isn’t even a debate.
I don't think he's significantly above the rest. Also, it's hard to phrase this without coming off like I'm a Belichick hater, which I'm not, but I find it hard to give credit for late round picks or UDFAs.
Brady, Edelman, Butler, Jackson are a few examples. If you're a great drafter, why don't you take these in earlier rounds if you have the slightest hunch they might turn out great? Why wait so long/risk UDFA if you genuinely see something promising? How do you justify that, other than to admit it's really just a massive crapshoot?
As others have said, stockpiling numerous picks to have more shots at the crapshoot is what he's done. Also throw in some great coaching, team-building (more than just picking the most talented player) & game planning to help these players shine during games, and you get these results; although most definitely not 6 SuperBowls without a bit of luck, like landing Tom Brady.
People on this board deny this on a daily basis!I think there's some difference in compensation.
There's no denying BB's GOATness and overall drafting record. The Last few years haven't been his best though.
The X factor has always been how good your QB is. We will see how good his drafts are with an average to above average QB (if we're lucky).To me, it’s all about comparative success. None of these people seem to have any idea what the actual standard is when they just make a blanket statement that Belichick is the best drafter or personnel guy. I suspect he is, but I don’t know. Don’t other teams also hit on some late round picks and UDFAs? Of course. Don’t other teams uncover great FA values sometimes but usually miss when they go bargain hunting? Of course.
Belichick seems to have a lot of hits and misses. What exactly that percentage is and whether that’s good, average, or below average really isn’t clear. It’s like evaluating baseball players before advanced analysis...just no actual idea besides guesswork and selective sampling.
A) That was a long time ago.
B) Borges is an idiot
On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson or the second-best tackle in the draft in Kenyatta Walker, they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who had 1 sacks last season in the pass-happy SEC and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten the last decent receiver in Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon.
- Ron Borges, MSNBC after 2001 Draft.
So now Belichick has hitched his future to Tom Brady. The remaining games are his to win or lose, barring injury or waffling from the coach. How those games go, and where Drew Bledsoe goes, will decide a lot of things for the New England Patriots.
They'll also decide one thing for Bill Belichick. Whether the future is now or nonexistent for him, because there's no turning back. Some people learn from their mistakes. Others are doomed to repeat them.
If you wonder which is Bill Belichick, go ask people in Cleveland if they've ever heard the story of the guy who benched Bernie Kosar for Todd Philcox?
The Pats have also had the least draft "points" of any team in history over the past 2 decades due to success and stolen picks by Goodell. Losing 2 first round picks hurts for several years.
Everyone complains about the Pats draft and points to this or that player as proof. But if you have nothing to compare it to it is all subjective. If you want to prove your point then compare each teams draft to the same examination you are doing with the Pats. Then you can argue about it.
there were a couple of long term studies done on drafting over long terms and one had the Patriots as the best franchise at drafting, and the other had the Tavens and Patriots as the best drafting franchises, and neither took average draft position figured into their criteria. Taken individually any team can be made to look bad at drafting as every team has their hits and misses, what matters is the overall productivity of the players drafted and UDFA’s..
I don't think Bill is better than his top peers at talent selection. What makes him great is he has a value system that he sticks to, he gives himself many more at bats than his peers and he tries to build a team not a collection of talent.
Ernie and Bill treat it like a doctorate class in economics which in many ways it is. They just use draft capital and value against salary to gain a competitive advantage. When a vet starts making more salary than what they think his value is they let him walk and take the comp pick to get more value. They may take a short term hit in talent at a position but they're usually in a better value situation. Sure you would love to still have Trey Flowers, just not at 17/year. Simon, Winovich, Wise.....not nearly the player Flowers is but combined they make less than a third of what he makes for 80% of the output.
We compared the Steelers 2nd round picks vs the Patriots a few years ago during one of the "Patriots can't draft in the 2nd round" rants. I forget the exact numbers but the Patriots and Steelers had roughly the same percentage of hits in the second round but the Patriots had twice the number of selections in the same time period. Bill knows that as good as they are they're going to miss. He's giving himself more hits by playing the numbers.
It's not like any of this is a revelation. We've had this discussion a lot over the years.
Perhaps even more interesting is Borge's bitter anti-Belichick rant from November of that year:
Boston Globe Online / Sports / There's a risk factor at work for Belichick
This is also the article with the "this Patriot team isn't going to win two Super Bowls any time soon" quote.
It's interesting reading for those who may have forgotten what Brady looked like that season; there was plenty of reason for doubts, as he had a couple of stinkers of games. Unlike what some of the Brady Brigade would have you think, Brady's GOAT-ness did not travel back in time and inspire everyone yet.
And it's also eerie how the criticisms then of Belichick's dumping of Bledsoe are mirrored in the criticisms of him today for passing on Brady.
Hopefully, there will be football this fall and we'll get to see how this actually plays out here and in Tampa Bay.
The last few years haven't been as productive, even discounting the injuries.
Here's the last 5 years by round...