DRAFT DAY DISCUSSION OFFICIAL 2023 Patriots Draft Day Discussion: Round 2/3

[hornetfb85]

Classic situation here, a few hate the Mapu pick. Likely will turn into a good LB/S hybrid for us and those will 360 and brag how they always loved the pick. Same story different chapter.

 

[DaBruinz]

Mapu is a classic Belichick pick. He's also someone they spent time with.. Surprised to see Moody go off the board to the 49ers.

 

[State]

He's a really good player, dude. Pats had a ton of meetings with him.

Same also with Joeslow Williams and N’Keal Harry.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Classic situation here, a few hate the Mapu pick. Likely will turn into a good LB/S hybrid for us and those will 360 and brag how they always loved the pick. Same story different chapter.

Is your user name sac state hornet?

 

[hornetfb85]

As Dale Doback once said, What’s done is done. He’s a Pat let’s move on.

Gonna call that tomorrow we trade one of the early 4th rounders for a 5th and a 2024 3rd.

The other 3 will be used for Warren McClendon, Andre Carter and a punter

 

[nextsuperstar]

There's many rankings, and lots of them had him well below the 3rd round.

Lance Zerlien of NFL.com had him slotted in round 5-6 and the site projects him to be an average backup in the NFL.

Marte Mapu Draft and Combine Prospect Profile | NFL.com

All Combine and Draft-Related Analysis, News, Video, and Biographical Information for Marte Mapu

www.nfl.com

ProFootball Network has a 7th round grade on him. PFF had him ranked 125. DraftScout had a 6-7th round grade.

Sporting News ranked him as one of the worst value picks of the draft. Here's what they wrote:

Patriots: Marte Mapu, LB, Sacramento State​

• Round 3, Pick 76

Mapu got a lot of love from NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah when the Patriots selected him. He took to Twitter to praise the pick after it was made.
Despite the ringing endorsement, this was a bit earlier than Mapu was expected to go. The FCS star is a safety/linebacker hybrid who will be a good fit for the Patriots defense, but he never ranked higher than 156 on the consensus big board ahead of the draft. He was viewed as a positional tweener, so Bill Belichick and Co. will have to figure out exactly how best to use him at the next level.

So for you to say that he was picked "exactly where he was ranked" is pretty disingenuous.

So some see him as a potential sleeper candidate while others think he will never amount to anything.

In other words, the exact kind of player who gets picked in the third round.

 

[hornetfb85]

Is your user name sac state hornet?

 

[State]

We don’t have huge needs at wide receiver. Borne Parker, juju Thorton. We could improve at o line.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t some of these guys playing their last year in their contract? And Thornton didn’t show us much last year. At all.

 

[DaBruinz]

Same also with Joeslow Williams and N’Keal Harry.

So, you're back to being the poor man's Capt Stone clone and whining also. *SMH*

The sooner you realize that you don't know enough about the players to be making the kinds of statements you make, the better and happier you'll be.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Ok. Just saw Hornetfb and wondered. My daughter went to Sac State.

 

[Immortan Joe]

I went into tonight very offensively minded and trade ready. Pats were quiet on an active night which is interesting but see what happens I guess. Not sure if I'm just buzzed optimism right now, but what if the plan was for Marcus to move to offense and special teams? I think with the skillset and measurables that could be an elite asset in BoB's scheme. Which would help me feel better (lol) of day 1 & 2 draft picks. FS is still somewhat of a question mark with several candidates to potentially move into the position. If it's not Jonathan Jones, then either him/Jack could be boundary or slot with Gonzalez.

 

[DaBruinz]

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t some of these guys playing their last year in their contract? And Thornton didn’t show us much last year. At all.

Thornton was buried behind Agholor and Parker. Not to mention the fact that he was completely misused. He was almost NEVER given routes where he stayed moving. How quickly you forget the poor coaching from Patricia and Judge. You act like that had NOTHING to do with Thornton not showing much last year.

As for Bourne and Parker being in the last year of their contract, SO WHAT? You act like that means a damn thing You do know they can RE-SIGN, right? You also know that the Patriots can also sign guys next year when they are projected to have over $100M in cap space.

Bourne and Parker are playing for their next contract. They both know it. They also know they aren't going to get contracts like JuJu and Meyers unless they surpass those two, which shouldn't happen. But Bourne putting up 700-1000 yards IS possible. And that would be a good thing with Thornton doing nearly the same.

I can EASILY see this offense having Juju over 1000 and those 2 just under..

 

[State]

Is that why he was a sociology major?

 

[TinhWoodhead]

BB wants to stick it to Mac

 

[VJCPatriot]

Plus last years draft was heavily offense

Don't you mean heavily offensive?

 

[DaBruinz]

I went into tonight very offensively minded and trade ready. Pats were quiet on an active night which is interesting but see what happens I guess. Not sure if I'm just buzzed optimism right now, but what if the plan was for Marcus to move to offense and special teams? I think with the skillset and measurables that could be an elite asset in BoB's scheme. Which would help me feel better (lol) of day 1 & 2 draft picks. FS is still somewhat of a question mark with several candidates to potentially move into the position. If it's not Jonathan Jones, then either him/Jack could be boundary or slot with Gonzalez.

Just remember that it takes two teams to make a trade. There's a very good possibility that teams were trying to get the Pats to over-pay.

The word out of Foxboro is that Mills is moving to FS. There's a very good chance that Jack Jones, Jon Jones and Gonzalez will be the top 3 CBs with Marcus coming off the bench in Dime Situations.

It's unlikely that Marcus is moving to offense full time. He'll continue to be a 3 way player with the primary focus being on defense and punt returning.

 

[State]

I like the first two picks. Mapu over Downs seems like it would come back to bite the Pats.

It will come back. Like herpes. Over and over.

 

[Patriot Missile]

I went into tonight very offensively minded and trade ready. Pats were quiet on an active night which is interesting but see what happens I guess. Not sure if I'm just buzzed optimism right now, but what if the plan was for Marcus to move to offense and special teams? I think with the skillset and measurables that could be an elite asset in BoB's scheme. Which would help me feel better (lol) of day 1 & 2 draft picks. FS is still somewhat of a question mark with several candidates to potentially move into the position. If it's not Jonathan Jones, then either him/Jack could be boundary or slot with Gonzalez.

I think BB is building a team that is ready to play as many talented secondary players as he has to stop strong passing offenses. Seems he’s going in the direction of bigger, stronger atthletic players that have elite coverage skills who are also reliable tacklers. He’s not gonna get stuck in a set by a qb that tries to exploit it with a rb or vice versa. Super interested to see what the HOF coach comes up with.

 

[Immortan Joe]

Just remember that it takes two teams to make a trade. There's a very good possibility that teams were trying to get the Pats to over-pay.

The word out of Foxboro is that Mills is moving to FS. There's a very good chance that Jack Jones, Jon Jones and Gonzalez will be the top 3 CBs with Marcus coming off the bench in Dime Situations.

It's unlikely that Marcus is moving to offense full time. He'll continue to be a 3 way player with the primary focus being on defense and punt returning.

I agree with all that. I had a pipe dream of getting a few more in the top 100. I'm sticking by my Marcus call right now. With the depth and 3 defensive picks, two in the secondary, now deeper and not as weak... you never know.

 

[VJCPatriot]

He was viewed as a positional tweener, so Bill Belichick and Co. will have to figure out exactly how best to use him at the next level.

I just want to highlight this phrase here - positional tweener. It sounds like BB wants to use Mapu as his 'big nickel'. BB has played with this concept before but it has failed. Maybe he just didn't have the right type of athlete to make it work, and Mapu is the missing guy, or maybe this is going to be yet another BB 'experiment' gone wrong.

Regardless it just feels like BB intentionally threw away the idea of improving the offense in this draft and just wants to work on juicing up only the defense. And that might even work to a certain extent.

But keep in mind that the Patriots were the 30th ranked offense in the NFL this past year.

And they were DEAD LAST in red zone efficiency. That's right #32!!!

I get that we hired BOB, and that's a good change, but you still need PLAYERS and TALENT on offense to run your schemes!

We could have drafted a WR like Josh Downs at #76, we could have drafted an offensive tackle to protect Mac, or we could have drafted a big TE to act as a safety blanket like Darnell Washington who also would have been a big help in the blocking game and the redzone. Instead we did NONE of these things so BB could draft a 'pet project' hybrid big nickel tweener to 'tinker' with his defense some more.

Meanwhile Mac is begging for SCRAPS on the streets and getting absolutely NOTHING. This draft if anything is BB's not so veiled FU to Mac Jones.

BB is telling the kid with his actions, not words - "Hey, the owner might not let me trade you, but hell if you're getting ANY HELP from me! This is what you GET for seeking help outside the building!"

Sorry Mac, all you get is coal in your stocking!