Grade the Patriots Draft: Instant Reaction

[BobDigital]

A. The only reason i don't give an A+ is because i feel there were missed chances in round 7. Which is kind of a weird criticism to have.

4 Campbell OT B- (needed an LT. No trade down chance. No one was REALLY worth this pick who was left. Still think McMillian was the best value, but still would have been a B or B+ at best. Fills a need. Will be the best LT we have this year and hopefully stay there).

38 Henderson RB B+ (Again, who was there who was clear value? Everyone who was falling had some concerns. No one was a home run. This fills a need, but RBs are typically not valuable and really need to be great to be worth this kind of pick. Also, the more i see of his WR skills, the more i am coming around on him. That is what i want. I don't want Derrick Henry who pounds 2K on the ground, looks good doing it but doesn't lead to much in actual value over the course of a season. I walk a McCaffrey! I want a Marshall Faulk! Those to me are the true game changes at the position which crush dreams. You think you have them contained, then a 50 yard catch TD and run ruins your day. That to me is where the RB position goes from being an accompaniment/beat up on bad front and put stats on the sheet. to guys who will hurt you no matter what you try. Stack the box? Watch me burn you in the air. Go light? Watch me gash you on the ground. That is my RB. Those big power backs on fun at times, but these are the guys who give even great Ds headaches.

69 Williams WR A+ (Great pick. Value. Need. Fit. Upside. For the first time they are not in a unfavorable spot in the draft and make the most of it.)

95 Wilson C A+ (Another amazing pick! Great value... long term will fill a need. Sounds just a tad raw, but that's okay. We don't need him to start week 1)

106 Craig Woodson C+ (Many thought at the time this was a bigger reach than it was. But as we've learned more it turns out he had been rising up boards more than we thought. Still kind of a reach, but not so bad. And he fills a need and has upside).

137 Joshua Farmer DT A++ (If you switch guy and Woodson's pick, you'd be incredibly happy with both player values. This was more than makes up for that one.) A Rare A++

146 Bradyn Swinson DE A++ (Swinson is not as good a value as Farmer... but damn close and still worth his grade. Many had him as a round 2 guy. IDK about that. Still he should have gone way higher than here. Most people had his absolute floor as a top 100 guy.) Another rare A++

182 Andreas Borregales K A+ (This to me is sneaky good value. You don't think about drafting kickers much or how valuable they are still you have a bad one... A top half NFL kicker is worth a lot. They may have gotten one on the cheap for years. Great value in rd 6).

220 Marcus Bryant OT A- (It is hard to give a bad grade for any pick here... but there were more interesting guys on the board and probably better tackle options. Logan Brown not being given a shot here is odd to me. Still he has interesting traits and we know he's ready to go now with no issuea(

251 Julian Ashby LS A (I don't mind the long snapper here at all. If you want to get who you think is the best guy this year, why not draft them here instead of risking to lose them as a UDFA.. Cardona is just about ready to leave and getting 1.6M this year. It's a smart move).

255 Kobee Minor DB B (Yeah... this feels like they met him and kind of liked him personally. There were more interesting guys entering UDFA, but they probably felt like they had an inside track on the 3 or 4 guys they really wanted). Probably already on the phone with them while this pick was being made. Feels like a total through away, Not a fan of that... would rather they take a shot a guy who they felt had a chance than just saying 'we're good!'. But at pick 255, can i give less than a B? I don't think so).

So overall they did about the best they could in rounds 1-2 getting a good mix of needs/value. killed rounds 3-6 and in round 7 while not perhaps the best picks, 2 of 3 i liked overall, even if not my prefered players.

 

[State]

Although some quibbles on day three—Not getting Will Campbell’s teammate in LG Garrett Dellinger and WR Ricky White of UNLV who is also a star on ST—this draft gives me a Bill Parcells 1995 draft haul vibe. This is premised on the prospect of warrior Will with the ballerina wingspan not being moved to LG. That would drive down the overall grade noticeably.

 

[Toofy]

This was freaking good draft..

Campbell, Henderson, Williams, Wilson, woodson, farmer, swinson, kicker have guaranteed spots on 53 . That's 8 spots.

Add to that a LS and potentially couple of UDFA gems in RB and WR

I understand we don't have the alpha number 1 WR , but who knows we could get lucky with Diggs. Douglas is going to get a OC who can scheme for slot . So let's get that to settle in . Baker is probably the most talent wr who got zero coaching last year . So we have some potential on the WR room which can make us scary good. If 2 out of baker, Douglas, Boutte , Polk trend up we are golden..

And to think that we have completely overhauled the offensive line while building depth for future. Let's not paper over that Cole strange is still a decent guard who can become mainstay at LG while onwenu works to justify his pay. Wallace and Robinson are fighting for spots and should see increased focus and determination and effort along with lowe. Let's not discount the fact that we had players experience a down year and it can possibly only go up and the experience should help. Last year starters should offer invaluable depth this year.

And now the best part is we have plugged a lot of holes

LT, center , Kicker, wr3 , DT,DE, FS . So should have a pretty solid core on rookie contracts.

 

[TomPatriot]

By the way, the Patriots’ draft was also fun!

 

[State]

By the way, the Patriots’ draft was also fun!

It was satisfying. The year Belichick took DB Jordan Richards in the second round solely on his stellar character coming out of Stanford when he plainly lacked nfl athletic requirements—obvious to me watching him in the Rose Bowl getting smoked by Michigan State RB Jeremy Langford on the goal line for a TD—was the indicator that he had lost his mind as a drafter.

Best draft since the 1995 haul.

There’s also a sadness. If we didn’t have such an incompetent crank making the Patriot selections, the Tom Brady Era would have had EVEN MORE RINGS!

 

[Dec54]

Solid A. I would have said A+ but that would have been reactionary over the past decade or so.

Looking in from the UK, and sitting up very late to watch the draft. It is a big fat Pat's A+ Well done the front office. Icing on the cake is UDFA some good picks.

 

[Real fan 02]

As the title says, what is your gut reaction to the Patriots draft? Give it your grade now!

I know they say judge a draft 2 years later, but who has time to wait? It's more fun to give your grade now and see if it holds up in the future.

For the first time in a long time, I had a satisfying draft experience. When you look at the whole picture it really feels like the Patriots had a cohesive gameplan going into this draft and stuck to it.

They focused on fixing the offense early and often on Days 1 and 2. Then they addressed adding additional defensive depth on day 3 and even picked up a kicker, another OT, and a couple of lottery scratch tickets at the end of round 7.

There might be some slight disagreements on the individuals picked, but the overall shape of the draft, positions selected, and where they were picked. It all felt like the value was there and they didn't make any huge reaches for coach binkies. It feels a lot more satisfying, when you don't have to ask "who the hell is that" every other pick and have to watch the media roasting what are obvious reaches that are making your team worse.

Personally I gave this draft a solid A. The Patriots as a group improved in much needed areas in the offense and also stockpiled some young talent on defense to add to the depth chart.

Agreed! I give it a solid A. Taking the best OL propsect in the draft staying put and investing in the roster. Getting Drake protection and WR help in Williams.. another guy that I absolutely love is farms the DT.. this guy feels like the real deal and projects to be a menance next to Williams, Barmore, white on the DL. The confidence and hope that Vrabel's restored in the fans is a great feeling. I feel like we will be a force to reckoned with come week 1.

 

[Real fan 02]

All drafts should receive incomplete grades until 2-3 years later but in terms of addressing their critical needs without "reaching" for players they did a great job.

Agreed. If you hadn't gotten a chance.. check out farms interview with NE media.. this guy is going to be a menace on the DL..

 

[BobDigital]

Not to throw cold water. But even if this draft lives up to are hopes. History shows 1 great draft isn't enough typically. You really need 2 to go from a bottom team to the super bowl. 1 great draft gets you back on track and makes you respectable. Two is what puts you over the top. One more like this next year and we are really talking about being back.

 

[Real fan 02]

A. Dunno how many will pan out but the picks all made logical sense, we addressed basically everything you could realistically expect them to cover and each pick was a good value for what each player was worth.

you actually got the sense they had a direction and knew what they were doing, even more than that in some situations. The trade backs still resulted in players that would have been good picks even at the original slot. They knocked it out the park!

Campbell, farms feel like day 1 starters. Farms.. he seems like the real deal at DT.. saying he wants to bring back the old NE patriots. Like Campbell he will come in with a chip on his shoulder.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Agreed. If you hadn't gotten a chance.. check out farms interview with NE media.. this guy is going to be a menace on the DL..

Yep. He is an angry man

 

[State]

John Schneider, the Seahawks GM now given final say that Pete Carroll was fired in 2023, was trained, like Eliot Wolf, in the Green Bay front office. The Seahawks draft this year mirrors the Patriots. But with a stronger finish. The three seventh-rounders by the Seahawks were very good.

The Patriots trades were good. Except for the last one with the Chiefs, giving up 228 for two later picks including Mr Irrelevant. They could have used that on who the Seahawks ultimately drafted, getting Kyle Williams Lite with special teams flavored gusto in Ricky White III.

 

[Real fan 02]

Yep. He is an angry man

All the angry DL men are gladly welcomed. I don't see anyone running on us.

 

[RobertWeathers]

All the angry DL men are gladly welcomed. I don't see anyone running on us.

Not sure how our run D will be but there is no question we have the makings of a decent pass rush

 

[Clonamery]

John Schneider, the Seahawks GM now given final say that Pete Carroll was fired in 2023, was trained, like Eliot Wolf, in the Green Bay front office. The Seahawks draft this year mirrors the Patriots. But with a stronger finish. The three seventh-rounders by the Seahawks were very good.

My one complaint is the Patriots trades were good. Except for the last one with the Chiefs, giving up 238. That was the pick the Seahawks ultimately ended up, getting Kyle Williams Lite with special teams flavored gusto in Ricky White III.

Hahahaha. Ok, alright, Spartan wankerman. Tommy Mellot the Montana State QB turned WR was taken before Ricky White. Good luck to him.

 

[TomPatriot]

Not to throw cold water. But even if this draft lives up to are hopes. History shows 1 great draft isn't enough typically. You really need 2 to go from a bottom team to the super bowl. 1 great draft gets you back on track and makes you respectable. Two is what puts you over the top. One more like this next year and we are really talking about being back.

Well, we can look forward to next year’s draft with 9 picks!

 

[Real fan 02]

Not sure how our run D will be but there is no question we have the makings of a decent pass rush

Williams, Tonga, Barmore, white, farmer.. if those guys can't stop the run then we are in trouble.. also landry and spillane are two of the best run playing LBs in the league. It all starts with the LOS.. can't stop the run.. can't stop an offense..

Take it from me RW,

 

[Huckleberry1]

I can’t remember a better draft. I think they got 4 guys who will start early in their careers the first two days, and I think Woodson will end up being the starting free safety, with Farmer and Swinson parts of the rotation at their respective positions. They also added a new long snapper and kicker. That’s as productive a draft as you’re going to get.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Not to throw cold water. But even if this draft lives up to are hopes. History shows 1 great draft isn't enough typically. You really need 2 to go from a bottom team to the super bowl. 1 great draft gets you back on track and makes you respectable. Two is what puts you over the top. One more like this next year and we are really talking about being back.

Agree. Bigger reality check is while these picks are seemingly sound, 65% won't be with the team in 4 years.

To your point, great teams draft well year over year meaning they land 2 starters and 2 solid contributors every year which is essentially still failing a majority of the time.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Williams, Tonga, Barmore, white, farmer.. if those guys can't stop the run then we are in trouble.. also landry and spillane are two of the best run playing LBs in the league. It all starts with the LOS.. can't stop the run.. can't stop an offense..

Take it from me RW,

Agree but I'm a wait and see guy