So how do you grade this year’s draft?

[crawhammer]

Spot on. Was QB a need in the 4th round? Another RB? A guard with the first pick? I don't understand it all.

They created their own need at OG by trading Shaq Mason to the Bucs.
The RBs are redundant. If Damien Harris and Stevenson are fulfilling their roles then neither of the drafted RBs should be seeing the field much.
Zappe won't make a noteworthy contribution to the team ever.

 

[PatsFan2]

Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports broke down games played and snap percentages for each of the Patriots draft picks since 2019. Only 2 of the 28 players drafted have played more than 75% of the snaps (Mac Jones and Michael Onwenu). Just 12 of the 28 have participated in more than 50% of the games played since they were drafted and only 5 of them have been on the field for more than 50% of the snaps in the games they played. 8 of the 28 players never appeared in a game. Makes you wonder if the Patriots know what they want?

Here's the raw data from Curran's report:

Mac Jones (Rd 1, 2021): 100% games, 96% snaps
Christian Barmore (2, 2021): 100% games, 55% snaps
Jake Bailey (5, 2019): 100% games
Michael Onwenu (6, 2020): 96% games, 77% snaps
Chase Winovich (3, 2019): 91% games, 34% snaps
Kyle Dugger (2, 2020): 87% games, 63% snaps
Justin Herron (6, 2020): 85% games, 43% snaps
Joejuan Williams (2, 2019): 73% games, 23% snaps
Rhamondre Stevenson (4, 2021): 70% games, 34% snaps
N'Keal Harry (1, 2019): 67% games, 53% snaps
Josh Uche (2, 2020): 63% games, 31% snaps
Damien Harris (3, 2019): 55% games, 27% snaps
Anfernee Jennings (3, 2020): 42% games, 33% snaps
Byron Cowart (5, 2019): 38% games, 31% snaps
Devin Asiasi (3, 2020): 30% games, 28% snaps
Dalton Keene (3, 2020): 18% games, 40% snaps
Hjalte Froholdt (4, 2019): 16% games, 11% snaps
Yodny Cajuste (3, 2019): 14% games, 17% snaps
Jarrett Stidham (4, 2019): 14% games, 11% snaps
Cassh Maluia (6, 2020): 6% games, 2% snaps
Ronnie Perkins (3, 2021): 0%
Cam McGrone (5, 2021): 0%
Joshuah Bledsoe (6, 2021): 0%
Will Sherman (6, 2021): 0%
Tre Nixon (7, 2021): 0%
Justin Rohrwasser (5, 2020): 0%
Dustin Woodard (7, 2020): 0%
Ken Webster (7, 2019): 0%

Let's hope WR Tyquan Thornton continue our recent Second Round success following Dugger and Barmore.

 

[crawhammer]

I don’t necessarily agree with the criticism that our draft is receiving, but at least it’s somewhat understandable. However, the flak that GB is receiving (especially from their fans) is Wild..

-Walker (GA)
-Wyatt (GA)
-Watson (NDSU)
-Rhyan (UCLA)
-Doubs (NEV)
-Tom (WF)
-Enagbare (SC)

They even drafted some nice athletes in the later rounds as well.

The two Georgia defenders in the 1st round were great picks. However GB hasn't done enough to makeup for losing Adams and MVS. Who's their #1 WR?... Allen Lazard? Trading up to select Christian Watson didn't make a lot of sense either because they probably could have taken him at one of the 2nd round picks they already had and there seemed to be better receivers on the board... missed opportunity there... they would have been better off standing pat and selecting 2 WRs in the 2nd. GB probably wins their division with ease again but they're also probably making another quick exit from the postseason.

 

[JackBauer]

Sean McVay and Les Snead laughed at the pick because they graded Strange as a late 3rd rounder and the Patriots reached for him at #29. If you want to believe they were laughing at themselves because they supposedly undervalued Strange then you're as dopey as you seem.

Belichick used a 1st round pick on a 2nd round player at best. The overwhelming consensus is the player may be good but he was taken way too early and certainly was not 1st round caliber.

Here's how some graded the Strange pick:

B- Vinnie Lyer, Sporting News
B- FOX Sports
C Pete Prisco, CBS Sports
C SB Nation
C- Yahoo Sports
D+ Kevin Hanson, SI
D Pro Football Focus
D Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald
D Phil Perry, NBC Sports
D Sheil Kapadia, The Athletic
D Chad Reuter, NFL.com
D USA Today
F Brent Sobleski, Bleacher Report

The cumulative grade there is a D+ as in poor.

Who cares?

 

[Pape]

..?.. What’s with you guys?..

its Strange


I do wonder though ... do Two Strongs make a Wright?

 

[SHOWTIME15]

They scouted the player because they had no chance to get him at 104?? You obviously don't realize how dumb that sounds. You think because the Patriots reached for the player in the 1st round that the Rams concluded their player evaluation was wildly wrong? The Rams had Strange valued at 104... their evaluation of the player doesn't change because some other team obviously overvalued the player. Seriously, get a clue.

They THOUGHT he was going to be available at 104 and laughed because they realized they did all that scouting for nothing. learn to read. And no, the Rams did not value him at 104 - we don't know where he was on the Rams draft board.

 

[Uptown]

The two Georgia defenders in the 1st round were great picks. However GB hasn't done enough to makeup for losing Adams and MVS. Who's their #1 WR?... Allen Lazard? Trading up to select Christian Watson didn't make a lot of sense either because they probably could have taken him at one of the 2nd round picks they already had and there seemed to be better receivers on the board... missed opportunity there... they would have been better off standing pat and selecting 2 WRs in the 2nd. GB probably wins their division with ease again but they're also probably making another quick exit from the postseason.

Haven’t done enough to replace DA & MVS? It’s May…I’m sure they’ll look to add at least a couple more receivers. They allegedly had/have interest in Deebo, KT, Landry etc. Regardless, that’s a pretty nice draft. As far as the early PA exit..nailed it.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

We drafted a lot of outstanding athletes from small schools. If you draft small school guys in R1 to R3 you are always going to be outside the "consensus" analysis because the consensus is focused around large programs. Large programs expose the players to high competition in practice and on game day, so there is a strong argument to draft SEC and Big 10 kids. We did not do that this year, Chattanooga, Baylor, Houston, South Dakota, ASU, etc. We can call it the "Rutgers" drafting strategy. We drafted the fastest WR and RB in the draft, not the kids from Alabama, Georgia, or Michigan. The "consensus experts" do not travel around the country and see all of the small school guys, so their opinion on the small school guys is limited. We will see. Obviously Groh, BB, and Wolf did not spend a lot of time at these small schools - let's hope the area scouts did a good job.

 

[Uptown]

its Strange


I do wonder though ... do Two Strongs make a Wright?

You’ve gotta be trolling bruh..

Pierre Strong Draft and Combine Prospect Profile | NFL.com

www.nfl.com

 

[Brotherblues]

It'll be interesting, down the road, maybe in 2 years, to compare the following 2 groups:

Strange
Thornton
Marcus Jones
Jack Jones

vs

McDuffie
Pickens/Moore/any of the available WRs that were perceived as safer bets
The Guard the Rams took in round 3

It's not perfect and I'm just sorta spitballing a bit here, with some ballpark guesses off the top of my head on the second group, but this is roughly how I'd look at this draft down the road.

The caveat being that if Strange is a stud, Thornton turns out ok, and either of the Jones CBs pans out, then the draft is a success and all else is moot.

 

[Pape]

You’ve gotta be trolling bruh..

Pierre Strong Draft and Combine Prospect Profile | NFL.com

www.nfl.com

just having some fun is all...

no draftniks were harmed in making these posts

 

[crawhammer]

Who cares?

About what? This is a thread about the draft, right? The OP is asking for opinions.

They THOUGHT he was going to be available at 104 and laughed because they realized they did all that scouting for nothing. learn to read. And no, the Rams did not value him at 104 - we don't know where he was on the Rams draft board.

So what's your point?... the Rams valued Strange even lower than 104? That doesn't help your anemic argument. 104 was their first pick, the end of the 3rd round, but according to you they may have considered him an even lower round pick. Nice job.

Haven’t done enough to replace DA & MVS? It’s May…I’m sure they’ll look to add at least a couple more receivers. They allegedly had/have interest in Deebo, KT, Landry etc. Regardless, that’s a pretty nice draft. As far as the early PA exit..nailed it.

Adams is best the receiver in the NFL. Deebo maybe could be a reasonable replacement but SF isn't trading him. GB doesn't have a legitimate shot at replacing Adams at this point. MVS was a legit deep threat for Rodgers... Christian Watson has similar measurables so we'll see if he can match the production... the problem is with DA gone, Watson has to be better than MVS. Rodgers won't be winning a third straight MVP.

 

[rochrist]

I like the players we took but I'm concerned we did nothing to address our porous run defense. It's all well and good playing safeties in the linebacker positions to get quicker but there's no one there who can stop the run, except Bentley who's slow as a week in jail. Also we're putting a lot of eggs in a very brittle, injury prone basket with McGrone, Peppers and Wilson.

Hopefully Godchaux improves and Henry Anderson can contribute, otherwise we'll get run all over again

McGrone had one injury in college.

 

[rochrist]

Spot on. Was QB a need in the 4th round? Another RB? A guard with the first pick? I don't understand it all.

Were you prepared to go into next year with no one backing up Jones but a 90-year-old Hoyer? This way he gets a year of work in and they can perhaps move Stidham at some point for at least a 6 or 7. Were you prepared to go into THIS year with no one to take White's role if he can't play (which seems entirely possible given he still isn't cleared for any football activity and the severity of his injury)? And don't JJ Taylor me. He had his chance last year. He's way too weak on blitz pickup for the Pats to hand him that job, whereas Strong in addition to being the fastest RB in the draft is very strong at blitz pickup. As for Strange, they had no one ready to step in to LG and no they have solid protection for Mac there.

 

[Username]

McGrone had one injury in college.

McGrone has torn his ACL in both knees. It's definitely cause for concern.

As many as 25% of athletes suffer a repeated ACL tear and up to 55% of those who suffer an initial tear never return to their previous level of play.

And that's all athletes. I'm sure the statistics are far more concerning if you were to focus on physical, impact sports like football or rugby.

 

[PatsFan2]

It'll be interesting, down the road, maybe in 2 years, to compare the following 2 groups:

Strange
Thornton
Marcus Jones
Jack Jones

vs

McDuffie
Pickens/Moore/any of the available WRs that were perceived as safer bets
The Guard the Rams took in round 3

It's not perfect and I'm just sorta spitballing a bit here, with some ballpark guesses off the top of my head on the second group, but this is roughly how I'd look at this draft down the road.

The caveat being that if Strange is a stud, Thornton turns out ok, and either of the Jones CBs pans out, then the draft is a success and all else is moot.

Don't forget Brady Zappe.

 

[Boomer B]

I think Strange will turn out to be a good player, but it's where he was picked that I'm not behind. We've won multiple SB's with interior linemen picked later in the draft: Thuney, Mason, Neal (ufa), Andruzzi (ufa), Andrews (ufa), Wendell (ufa), Connely (ufa), Stork, Koppen...

I know we got Mankens in the late 1st but that was a different team with fewer holes. This team could have used that pick on an impact defensive player: outside CB like Elam or McDuffie, LB like Walker or Loyd, D-end like Jermain Johnson and came back later in the draft to get a guard.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

So what's your point?... the Rams valued Strange even lower than 104? That doesn't help your anemic argument. 104 was their first pick, the end of the 3rd round, but according to you they may have considered him an even lower round pick. Nice job.

You have a major reading problem. It's bad...I mean really bad.

 

[Keyser Söze]

If we’re banking on McGrone at LB. Oof things are worse then I thought.

 

[Brotherblues]

Don't forget Brady Zappe.

Hey, I'm just ballpark roughstimating what I think the meat of the comparison could be. Feel free to adjust as you like.