Claim your alternative pick

[patchick]

In one of the rookie welcome threads, a poster wrote that a player "will be judged by how others on the board did." It struck me that he said others, not other, singular. That's the truth, picks are judged that way -- against a cherry-picked selection out of all the plausible alternatives, with the ease of hindsight.

Anybody care to join me in committing to one name, as the team itself has to do? After such a crowd-pleasing draft it may be hard to quibble, but if you would have chosen differently at any pick, who would you take instead?

I'll start with pick #220, where I'll take TE Luke Lachey over OT Bryant.

 

[signbabybrady]

I know you said 1 but based on how this draft went combined with who we took my biggest thing to keep an eye on is how Ashton Jeanty and Aireontae Ersery perform. I'd even throw Simmons in too since pick 25 was traded it's feasible we could have jumped KC for him.

Basically our top 2 picks were RB and LT so it will be interesting to see how the scenario could have been different if we went RB first and LT second.

 

[Grogan14]

Instead of Andre B in sixth round, I would have chosen Tommy Mellott from Montana
I predict he will be a star for the Raiders.
He is a faster version of Edelman.

 

[everlong]

The way the draft broke it was players just before our picks where I would have made changes had it broken differently. Such as Scattabo one pick before before Woodson as an example. To your point I really don't have one. In other years, N'Keal, I could have named dozens. Hopefully this pans out as well as we all think. This is the first time since 2010 where I haven't had major portions I would have revised, all due respect to 2012 and 2013 where I loved parts of the draft.

 

[patchick]

I know you said 1 but based on how this draft went combined with who we took my biggest thing to keep an eye on is how Ashton Jeanty and Aireontae Ersery perform. I'd even throw Simmons in too since pick 25 was traded it's feasible we could have jumped KC for him.

Basically our top 2 picks were RB and LT so it will be interesting to see how the scenario could have been different if we went RB first and LT second.

That works, it’s one name per pick! So Jeanty at 4, Ersery at 38 —an interesting swap.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I really wanted G miles frazier in rd 5, another lsu product to add to the trenches. Would have cost us the top kicker in the draft, but we could have grabbed fitzgerald or sauls in rd 7. Hopefully borregales is worth it

Didn’t help that Detroit was the one that traded with us to take him knowing their track record for drafting!

 

[The Gr8est]

Lon Larison rather than Cobee Minor.

Like taking candy from a baby.

 

[patchick]

Lon Larison rather than Cober Minor.

Like taking candy from a baby.

That's my favorite thing about this draft -- a lot of the "I would have" players, like Farmer, Swinson and even Dippre ended up Patriots anyway!

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

That works, it’s one name per pick! So Jeanty at 4, Ersery at 38 —an interesting swap.

I am happy with what the Patriots did instead of this. The Big Question is the Treveyon Henderson pick. It was bold move by Vrabel's team considering the alternatives, but I am OK with it so far. We shall see. Kyle Williams could turn out really well....nice draft

 

[Urgent]

If you had some AI bot to go back to the last half-dozen drafts, and identified the short list of players the members here wanted, I am confident this board was a better drafter than the Patriots.
This draft really wasn't that case. It was amazing how frequently people were saying Henderson or Kyle Williams or Farmer or Swinson or Borregales and then they were picked.
The only real complaints were S Woodson in the fourth, and then, come on, fussing about a seventh round pick. When 32 teams have passed on a player six or eight times, yeah, maybe they know something that's not apparent from Combine stats.

 

[upstater1]

If you had some AI bot to go back to the last half-dozen drafts, and identified the short list of players the members here wanted, I am confident this board was a better drafter than the Patriots.
This draft really wasn't that case. It was amazing how frequently people were saying Henderson or Kyle Williams or Farmer or Swinson or Borregales and then they were picked.
The only real complaints were S Woodson in the fourth, and then, come on, fussing about a seventh round pick. When 32 teams have passed on a player six or eight times, yeah, maybe they know something that's not apparent from Combine stats.

I would take that bet about the board being better drafters in the past.

I've heard a lot of names that people wanted in, like, the 3rd round, and then they don't get drafted, and they are never heard from again.

In the Cole Strange draft, there were a lot of people pushing for Devin Lloyd, Trent McDuffie, Kaiir Elam, Treylon Burks, Jermaine Johnson (me! I wanted him), Devonte Wyatt, Lewis Cine, Daxton Hill...

Go back and look at that thread. You'll see many many voices for all of those names.

And in hindsight, the only one who worked out, spectacularly, is Trent McDuffie. (On this board he was called small and slow by many). Jermaine may still become a player but will the Jets actually pick up his contract?

If you were picking 21-30 in that draft, your chances of landing a player were 1 in 10.

 

[bakes781]

I'll just come out swinging and say Damien Martinez (7th rounder) will have as good as career as Treveyon Henderson.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Easy decision for me. My binky-Jackson Hawes TE Ga. Tech instead of Marcus Bryant OT

 

[patchick]

Easy decision for me. My binky-Jackson Hawes TE Ga. Tech instead of Marcus Bryant OT

That would have been an easy trade off indeed! But I’m afraid Hawes was drafted in the 5th round — you’d have to give up Bradyn Swinson for him instead.

 

[Huckleberry1]

That would have been an easy trade off indeed! But I’m afraid Hawes was drafted in the 5th round — you’d have to give up Bradyn Swinson for him instead.

Well, I’m not doing that, guess it will have to be Membou for Campbell.

 

[signbabybrady]

Well, I’m not doing that, guess it will have to be Membou for Campbell.

The Jete took him why would you want that bust?

 

[Grogan14]

round 4- Deone Walker DT instead of Craig Woodson

 

[Grogan14]

I'll just come out swinging and say Damien Martinez (7th rounder) will have as good as career as Treveyon Henderson.

Hope you are wrong but give you credit for the hot take

 

[patchick]

Well, I’m not doing that, guess it will have to be Membou for Campbell.

Fair enough! But here's my prediction: Membou, a RT, will look great at RT for the Jets and there will be lots of grumbling that the Pats should have taken him as their LT even though he will continue to never take a snap at that position his whole life.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Fair enough! But here's my prediction: Membou, a RT, will look great at RT for the Jets and there will be lots of grumbling that the Pats should have taken him as their LT even though he will continue to never take a snap at that position his whole life.

Here’s the thing. Membou is with Campbell in the top 1% of all RAS scores for left tackles, and he just turned 21 a week or two ago. And the reason he didn’t play LT at Missouri is because Marcus Bryant ( a Patriot) couldn’t play RT, and they used Membou as a TE on the left side for certain sets they ran. I like Campbell but I would have taken Membou and thought him to play left tackle. I think it’s an almost uniquely patriots fan point of view that anyone who has ever played right tackle can never be a left tackle. Whereas I think that most of these kids come out of high school as left tackles, then play guard or right tackle their first year or two in college, before taking over at left tackle and getting drafted. But since Wolf drafted Carden Wallace to play left tackle and it didn’t work out his first year there are a number of Patriot fans who think that no one can ever make that switch again. And that’s not an indictment, as I have the same issue when it comes to receivers, as after N’Jeal Garry I never want another big wide receiver who can’t get open, like Teteroia MacMillen, who I’m thrilled they didn’t draft.