PATRIOTS NEWS Patriots Rookie Minicamp Thread

[BUSTAMOVE]

I'm intrigued by Milton as well, but I think it's clips like this that work AGAINST the idea that he's got a future at QB in the NFL. Because all 32 teams decided a minimum of five times that, even with all that arm strength and athleticism, Milton wasn't worth taking in the draft. His strengths are eye-popping, but his warts are massive. If they were just the normal flaws, he would have gone in the first three rounds guaranteed.

Totally agree
He goes in the middle of the sixth round in a draft that was weak after the fourth round
He has had 6 years in College where he could correct his accuracy and touch and layering of passes. He still just throws a fastball and he is not very accurate
I keep hearing we have to keep Milton as QB 3 because someone will poach him from us.
Really. Nobody wanted him in the draft but he is this valuable commodity.
This is now. Maybe AVP is a QB whisperer and can help this kid
I hope he becomes a Superstar.
But right now all he has is these type of videos. He has a long way to go

 

[ohiopatsfan]

Pats signed 4 tryout candidates. Hope they also sign one of the tryout kickers. Ryland and Slye don't give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

 

[BTTA]

Second round:

Patrick Paul
6-8 331
5.13 forty
29.0 vertical
30 bench
7.65 cone
4.71 shuttle
86 ¼ wingspan 36 ¼ arms

Kingsley Suamataia
6-5 332
5.04 forty
28.0 vertical
31 bench
0.00 cone
0.00 shuttle
82 1/8 wingspan 34 1/4 arms

Third round:

Caedan Wallace
6-5 314
5.15 forty
31.0 vertical
No bench
7.73 cone
4.96 shuttle
82 5/8 wingspan 34 arms

Look at the ^ size, strength and wingspan disparity. Talent... at least athletic talent can be measured and they do it every offseason at the combine and at Pro Days.

For this decision to prioritize WR over LT not to be a foolish one, Polk had better become a stud #1 WR and these other LT's better fall flat on their faces.

There's nothing in those numbers that would definitively favor one guy over another. Look at the actual history of OT drafts. The pre draft numbers do not tell the story of success.

 

[BTTA]

If the light comes on for this guy who knows how good he could become?

In his case, I think "the light" will be a couple of years of different repetitive drills than he has ever done before. It may look like something sudden to us, standing on the outside, but the reality will most likely be an incremental improvement over months that allow him to be able to succeed in that job in the NFL.

Media and fans like to make up stories about athletes that suddenly decide to put in the work to become good. Most of the time, it is a mirage.

 

[Force Zero Boomer]

3. Even as a rookie having to work on his touch and accuracy he's a better option than Zapp.

Better option than Zappe for what? QB3? You’ll have Maye backing up Brissette for the “let’s draft a RT and start him at LT” experiment? If not, and Zappe and Milton are competing for a roster spot, you’ll have Milton at QB2? So the guy you drafted in the sixth round is getting NFL snaps before the franchise? That’s not happening. Maye would throw a fit.

 

[Wozzy]

Way to rain cold water on the Milton boner parade.

The guy has been in college six years and started one season... we need some perspective.

 

[Wozzy]

There's nothing in those numbers that would definitively favor one guy over another. Look at the actual history of OT drafts. The pre draft numbers do not tell the story of success.

You mean other than the first two guys are much better athletes at over 15 pounds heavier and both benched the moon?

Give me a break... Patrick Paul's wingspan is ridiculous.

Pre-draft athleticism doesn't ensure success and I say that all the time, but a lack of it almost always ensures failure and the best NFL players in history are overwhelmingly it's best athletes. Occasional outliers don't change that... this isn't Rudy.

 

[Wozzy]

I'm glad they got rid of Vaughn but these four guys are jags.

The New England Patriots announced today that they have signed four rookie free agents: RB Terrell Jennings, G Ryan Johnson, LB Jay Person and Australian DE Jotham Russell. The Patriots will receive a roster exemption for Russell as an International Pathway Program player. All four players attended the Patriots rookie mini-camp this past weekend. In addition, the Patriots released RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn.

www.patriots.com/news/patriots-sign-four-rookie-free-agents-release-rb-ke-shawn-vaughn

 

[The Gr8est]

Totally agree
He goes in the middle of the sixth round in a draft that was weak after the fourth round
He has had 6 years in College where he could correct his accuracy and touch and layering of passes. He still just throws a fastball and he is not very accurate
I keep hearing we have to keep Milton as QB 3 because someone will poach him from us.
Really. Nobody wanted him in the draft but he is this valuable commodity.
This is now. Maybe AVP is a QB whisperer and can help this kid
I hope he becomes a Superstar.
But right now all he has is these type of videos. He has a long way to go

Nobody even drafted Malik Cunningham yet some team poached him.

Milton is a far better prospect than Cunningham.

Milton has a chance to be special, just like the next Powerball ticket you buy.

Milton is more likely to pay off than your next Powerball ticket, but people realize there are reasons why he lasted until the 6th round

Milton also has physical ability that you can’t teach.

 

[BUSTAMOVE]

Nobody even drafted Malik Cunningham yet some team poached him.

Milton is a far better prospect than Cunningham.

Milton has a chance to be special, just like the next Powerball ticket you buy.

Milton is more likely to pay off than your next Powerball ticket, but people realize there are reasons why he lasted until the 6th round

Milton also has physical ability that you can’t teach.

If someone poached him. Good Luck. It’s possible. If he was put on our practice squad with that arm talent. Then he has not passed a certain threshold that would demand he be put on the 53
These teams seen something in the meetings with Milton that they all said no thanks.
Does he have a cannon and worth the lottery ticket in the 6th round. Possibly. We need a QB and he has intangibles you can’t teach. The problem may be. Can he be taught.
6 years in College. Slow learner
I did not blink when Malik got poached. Will not blink if Milton gets poached.
Just my opinion.

 

[PScottman]

I just think that we are so desperate as fans to see great QB play again in Foxboro that even a meaningless spring mini-camp ,non competition has some of us wowed.

What was that QBs name with the cannon arm and the Don Knotts accuracy? Mallett?

 

[n1997y]

Shouldn't have had to come at the expense of Talent.

Let’s at least wait to the season starts before making these kinds of statements…

You know you are talking to the Captain, right?

You’re asking the Tiger to change his stripes.

 

[Joey007]

Dude's not an NFL QB.

Get that dude out there on the Hail Mary formation tho. We may be able to use that play from our own 30.

 

[n1997y]

Polk and Wallace were picked after the runs at WR and LT were over, so they both have limited ceilings.

By this reasoning, Brady was taken after the run at QB was over, so had a limited ceiling. JE was taken after the run at WR was over, limited ceiling.

Good point…

I'm intrigued by Milton as well, but I think it's clips like this that work AGAINST the idea that he's got a future at QB in the NFL. Because all 32 teams decided a minimum of five times that, even with all that arm strength and athleticism, Milton wasn't worth taking in the draft. His strengths are eye-popping, but his warts are massive. If they were just the normal flaws, he would have gone in the first three rounds guaranteed.

Speaking of Brady, what does it say for this discussion that all 32 teams decided a minimum of six times that with no notable arm strength or athleticism he wasn’t worth taking?

Agreed. It is like gambling, there are exceptions (winners). But playing the odds is best for an organization over the long run.

But is it really playing the odds, or is it just demonstrating that the herd mentality is a self fulfilling prophesy?

 

[palialka]

Second round:

Patrick Paul
6-8 331
5.13 forty
29.0 vertical
30 bench
7.65 cone
4.71 shuttle
86 ¼ wingspan 36 ¼ arms

Kingsley Suamataia
6-5 332
5.04 forty
28.0 vertical
31 bench
0.00 cone
0.00 shuttle
82 1/8 wingspan 34 1/4 arms

Third round:

Caedan Wallace
6-5 314
5.15 forty
31.0 vertical
No bench
7.73 cone
4.96 shuttle
82 5/8 wingspan 34 arms

Look at the ^ size, strength and wingspan disparity. Talent... at least athletic talent can be measured and they do it every offseason at the combine and at Pro Days.

For this decision to prioritize WR over LT not to be a foolish one, Polk had better become a stud #1 WR and these other LT's better fall flat on their faces.

At least the front office addressed our 3 biggest needs with our first 3 picks. The team obviously prioritized WR in Rd 2 otherwise they may have went after one of the two OTs you mentioned…who knows.

I was happy to see that we had a plan going into the draft and it looked like we adhered to it. We didn’t have a real draft philosophy under BB (a lot of Bill’s drafts felt very haphazard) so this draft felt a little more organized to me at least.

Time will tell if Maye, Polk, Wallace and the rest pan out or not. I’m really looking forward to TC this year just to see the newness at work…fingers crossed.

 

[Real fan 02]

What was that QBs name with the cannon arm and the Don Knotts accuracy? Mallett?

Yes God rest his soul.

 

[Real fan 02]

Better option than Zappe for what? QB3? You’ll have Maye backing up Brissette for the “let’s draft a RT and start him at LT” experiment? If not, and Zappe and Milton are competing for a roster spot, you’ll have Milton at QB2? So the guy you drafted in the sixth round is getting NFL snaps before the franchise? That’s not happening. Maye would throw a fit.

No. You mis-read my post. Trying to say that by the end of camp when roster decisions have to be made and if Milton performs well and out shines Zapp.. he'll have earned a roster spot over him. We don't know who's the starter right now so no one can say that everything will be competitive.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Because it's been reported they were taking the WR the Bills took from FSU in the 2nd, and once he was gone they traded back and took Polk... they were taking WR no matter what. Which IMO is foolhardy, you play the board as it lays... not have a predetermined list of needs.

We all knew what the needs were; QB, LT and WR... they placed WR above LT and in my estimation that is dumb. God only makes a finite amount of 6'8" tall 330 pound humans who are also great athletes... God makes a lot of six feet tall athletes.

There were two stud LT's on the board in the second after they moved down, there were a gaggle of talented WR's... football is won in the trenches. This is why the Chiefs keep winning whether they have stud WR's like Tyreek or not. They've had one of the most expensive lines in the NFL and when they needed a LT this offseason they took one in the 2nd... one of the guys we should have taken.

You could be right that they should have gone OT in round 2, but it’s not that cut and dried. Polk looks like a good pick, and there wasn’t another WR taken in the 2nd round except Adonai who we clearly didn’t like, so Polk would likely have been gone by 68. And one of the key underrated moves by Wolf was trading down from 34 to 37 in exchange for a move up from 137 to 110, which got us Baker at 110.
The one head scratcher was the G at 103.

 

[Sicilian]

Speaking of Brady, what does it say for this discussion that all 32 teams decided a minimum of six times that with no notable arm strength or athleticism he wasn’t worth taking?

I think we need to stop using Brady as an example of anything repeatable. Brady is one of one.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

But is it really playing the odds, or is it just demonstrating that the herd mentality is a self fulfilling prophesy?

It is playing the odds. I explained in a longer post above. If you always pick after a long run at a position you decrease your odds of picking an impact starter. There are lots of All Pro players at many positions so there is no need to fixate on certain positions and force the draft selection. Go with BPA after runs on playing positions happen because that means other positions have dropped and are ripe for picking. Nothing is guaranteed, it is not a science, but in the long run the team will be better off.

Also every team should add a few FAs to reduce the need to draft at certain positions and allow the team to go BPA when appropriate. We didn't do that. Over $50M left in cap space led to forced draft picks, not BPA.