DRAFT Welcome to New England, LSU OT Will Campbell

[Lansdowne]

I’ll be rooting for the kid and I hope we all are. He’s got the right attitude.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

A LT who allows 2 sacks in 989 pass blocks is a pretty special talent
Did you not watch the patriots last year?
Blocking is more important than running back

Yes, blocking is more important. To quote the post of mine you responded to: “OL is more important”

Tons of guys have had great college careers in the SEC but sucked as pros. It happens.

IF you see Campbell as a special talent then obviously he makes sense as the pick. That’s a given. My point is just that if you don’t, for a team that lacks any top talent basically they’d have been better off going for that. This whole roster still needs to be mostly recycled through and reconfigured anyway so the immediate needs/weaknesses don’t phase me much.

 

[maust]

Why are you so angry?

hes not angry, he's an idiot

The two are not mutually exclusive, in fact more often than not they go hand in glove. Just sayin'

 

[Ring 6]

Yes, blocking is more important. To quote the post of mine you responded to: “OL is more important”

Tons of guys have had great college careers in the SEC but sucked as pros. It happens.

IF you see Campbell as a special talent then obviously he makes sense as the pick. That’s a given. My point is just that if you don’t, for a team that lacks any top talent basically they’d have been better off going for that. This whole roster still needs to be mostly recycled through and reconfigured anyway so the immediate needs/weaknesses don’t phase me much.

They will contend this year. This will be a playoff team.
They have addressed every hole. They have upgraded half of the starting positions and many backups.
The biggest weakness in the team was OL and we have tried over 4 of the 5 positions (including strange being available at the start of the year).

What weaknesses have not been addressed?

 

[BennyBledsoe]

The world isn’t ending after this one upcoming season. These guys are signing 4 year deals with an option for a 5th. The entire roster around whoever we took at #4 is going to change. Our currently weak OL would be a massive concern for Jeanty’s rookie year production. But the expectation would be that toy address the OL over his time here. OL is more important, but you have to fill holes from the players available to you and taking Jeanty over Campbell would have just been playing the cards you’re dealt if you think he’s a special talent but Campbell isn’t.

I'm not against your way of thinking entirely, but our line has to get to at least average if we expect Maye (our most valuable asset right now) to survive year 2.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

They will contend this year. This will be a playoff team.
They have addressed every hole. They have upgraded half of the starting positions and many backups.
The biggest weakness in the team was OL and we have tried over 4 of the 5 positions (including strange being available at the start of the year).

What weaknesses have not been addressed?

Their receiver room sucks. Their OL still looks bad on paper because Strange/Bradburry have both been below average, aberage at best and Campbell, whatever you think his ceiling is, will likely be well below that as a rookie because most guys don’t come in as rookies at their career best level. Also, as encouraging as Maye was through the lense of a rookie QB taking his lumps, he wasn’t actually good as far as winning games yet.

Their Lbs and safeties can’t cover anyone. Their edge rush looks like close to worst in the NFL again. Their interior DL has no run stopping ability.

 

[raduray]

Will Campbell pick is as bland tasting as my ****.

I'm impressed by your flexibility. Or is it your size?

 

[Grogan14]

It doesn't matter.

You've sunk a 1st and two fourths already at the position. Now you've also tossed in the 4th pick in the entire draft. Meanwhile, you don't have a tackle and the rest of your team is suffering because you keep drafting guards.

In other words, you're spinning your wheels.

If there's a high possibility of this even happening, I would already say this is a bad pick.

The only reason the Patriots took the guy is that they have very high confidence he'll be playing LT.

Personally, I also believe the guy we took in the 60s last year is ticketed for guard.

I mean, look at this: Strange, Sow, Robinson, Andrews, Wallace, Campbell -- just incredible amount of resources! Not to even mention Mafi and

Their receiver room sucks. Their OL still looks bad on paper because Strange/Bradburry have both been below average, aberage at best and Campbell, whatever you think his ceiling is, will likely be well below that as a rookie because most guys don’t come in as rookies at their career best level. Also, as encouraging as Maye was through the lense of a rookie QB taking his lumps, he wasn’t actually good as far as winning games yet.

Their Lbs and safeties can’t cover anyone. Their edge rush looks like close to worst in the NFL again. Their interior DL has no run stopping ability.

Here is the thing, its hard to see real roster improvement with this team despite 120 million in cap space and the fourth overall pick.
Fans want to see an exciting team and yes that means a potent offense.
No playmakers on this team.
Vrabel not known for his love of offensive high scoring teams. No one wants to watch 12-10 games for another decade.
Vrabel and Wolf are not bold innovators.
I have no doubt none of the remaining draft picks are going to be impact players
This post Brady rebuild continues to suck

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Here's the upgrade:

 

[Lavictoire]

Happy with the pick!

 

[imahobgoblin]

And I hope Ian and every other mindless pajama wearing fanboy enjoys your *********** tonight, because the fall out from this pick is going to be painful.

The Pats won’t be sniffing the playoffs anytime soon, throwing away premium draft picks on good guys that can’t play.

Why do Jets fans come to this forum?

 

[signbabybrady]

We had our choice of OL and I like that as had conviction and took the one we liked. No trade downs and taking the one left.

2 straight free agencies we couldn't fill the need do this is what you have to do and it feels good at least for now to have checked that box. Obviously the concern is there still about his arms but I'd bet a large amount of money he's better than Lowe so that's a start at least.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Not the choice I wanted, but I would love to be wrong! I do like his attitude and workaholic tendencies.

 

[imahobgoblin]

Their receiver room sucks. Their OL still looks bad on paper because Strange/Bradburry have both been below average, aberage at best and Campbell, whatever you think his ceiling is, will likely be well below that as a rookie because most guys don’t come in as rookies at their career best level. Also, as encouraging as Maye was through the lense of a rookie QB taking his lumps, he wasn’t actually good as far as winning games yet.

Their Lbs and safeties can’t cover anyone. Their edge rush looks like close to worst in the NFL again. Their interior DL has no run stopping ability.

Campbell is an instant upgrade over Lowe. I don't care how you want to spin it. We had no choice. We struck out in FA. The rest of your post is crap. We did well in FA at other positions. It takes 3 years to rebuild.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

It doesn't matter.

You've sunk a 1st and two fourths already at the position. Now you've also tossed in the 4th pick in the entire draft. Meanwhile, you don't have a tackle and the rest of your team is suffering because you keep drafting guards.

In other words, you're spinning your wheels.

If there's a high possibility of this even happening, I would already say this is a bad pick.

The only reason the Patriots took the guy is that they have very high confidence he'll be playing LT.

Personally, I also believe the guy we took in the 60s last year is ticketed for guard.

I mean, look at this: Strange, Sow, Robinson, Andrews, Wallace, Campbell -- just incredible amount of resources! Not to even mention Mafi and Hines.

Just to clarify my position… I am not saying you draft Campbell with the expectation that he’s ending up at guard. Obviously not.

As for the resources they’ve sunk into the guard spot… well they still need one. Arguably two because I doubt that Onwenu is here next year with his contract structure. They’ve drafted some but they’ve all sucked. So it is what it is…

All I’m saying is that IF Campbell fails at LT and the rest of this draft class is somewhat underwhelming like people are saying, then it wouldn’t be a terrible outcome if he ends up a great guard. Ideal or best use of the pick? Probably not unless everyone else really sucks. All I’m saying is that, in that set of circumstances it wouldn’t a total disaster.

Now if they end up passing on some mega star for that, that’s a problem. Or if he doesn’t even transition well to Guard, yikes.

 

[upstater1]

Just to clarify my position… I am not saying you draft Campbell with the expectation that he’s ending up at guard. Obviously not.

As for the resources they’ve sunk into the guard spot… well they still need one. Arguably two because I doubt that Onwenu is here next year with his contract structure. They’ve drafted some but they’ve all sucked. So it is what it is…

All I’m saying is that IF Campbell fails at LT and the rest of this draft class is somewhat underwhelming like people are saying, then it wouldn’t be a terrible outcome if he ends up a great guard. Ideal or best use of the pick? Probably not unless everyone else really sucks. All I’m saying is that, in that set of circumstances it wouldn’t a total disaster.

Now if they end up passing on some mega star for that, that’s a problem. Or if he doesn’t even transition well to Guard, yikes.

They haven't all sucked.

Strange is a better than average guard, Robinson was a rookie playing for a horrendous coaching staff. The 2x I've seen Andrews start, he did really well

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Campbell is an instant upgrade over Lowe. I don't care how you want to spin it. We had no choice. We struck out in FA. The rest of your post is crap. We did well in FA at other positions. It takes 3 years to rebuild.

How much of an upgrade? Even many of Campbell supporters are “hyping him up” as someone who can be an average LT. Most rookies aren’t their career peak level right away. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Campbell is a below average LT next year even if he does end up decent over the long haul.

I don’t understand your last three sentences? You say it takes 3 years to rebuild, but are throwing a fit over me saying that after one year the roster still isn’t very good? That’s inconsistent.

Despite everything I said about their roster, o agree they did well in free agency. They made good progress. But as bad a shape as their roster is in, you can make good progress and still suck which is the case here IMO.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Here's the upgrade:

Campbell didn't do the bench or agility drills. Campbell is an upgrade to Lowe but those two RAS pictures are not equivalent as Campbell skipped a bunch of test metrics.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

They haven't all sucked.

Strange is a better than average guard, Robinson was a rookie playing for a horrendous coaching staff. The 2x I've seen Andrews start, he did really well

Disagree on Strange. He consistently makes mental errors vs stunts and is often physically over powered.

You can blame coaching for Robinson. I’m not saying give up on him. He deserves another shot. But he sucked last year. That’s what his track record is right now, and there really weren’t many good things he put on tape.

JAndrews started two regular season games and did look good, but most were surprised by that because he sucked in the preseason. He was seen as a reach at the time anyway. Again, not saying give up on him, but hard to have any faith in him now or project him to be good IMO. I hope he surprised me.

 

[imahobgoblin]

How much of an upgrade? Even many of Campbell supporters are “hyping him up” as someone who can be an average LT. Most rookies aren’t their career peak level right away. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Campbell is a below average LT next year even if he does end up decent over the long haul.

I don’t understand your last three sentences? You say it takes 3 years to rebuild, but are throwing a fit over me saying that after one year the roster still isn’t very good? That’s inconsistent.

Despite everything I said about their roster, o agree they did well in free agency. They made good progress. But as bad a shape as their roster is in, you can make good progress and still suck which is the case here IMO.

It is amazing how you really have no clue who is even on your team. Lowe was one of the worst tackles in the league last year. If Campbell is just average, that makes us go from 32 to 16 in theory. That is a massive upgrade. If you are trying to claim it won't be, you are just a liar. I didn't throw a fit. I just called out your trash. Its just stupid.