Should the Pats have drafted DK Metcalf instead of N'Keal Harry?

Deus Irae said:

He seems to have chosen the wrong Bulldog. There's no need to pretend this is some inscrutable plan that nobody but BB can create or follow. He thought Michel was more than he is.

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I don't think there is a problem with saying based on what we see this season that the team should've taken Chubb instead of Michel. But without hindsight just going by college production and college tape taking Michel was actually on a broad consensus the choice to go in terms of Georgia RB. This is no Jordan Richards or Duke Dawson kind of situation where Belichick completely went against the public opinion and randomly pulled a rabbit out of his hat.

PatsFan2 said:

And he cost us that Perfect Season SB too Team was teeing off on Brady and Mulroney couldn't even get out of his own way.

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The O-line was sucking against both pass and run. I'm amazed at this statement considering Maroney was a significant factor in the Patriots wins against Jacksonville and San Diego when he ran for 122 yards in each game.

BradyFTW! said:

This is all true, but one thing that I do think is fair to say is that I think it was pretty hard to watch Georgia games and come away with the conclusion that Michel was better than Chubb. What especially stings is that one of the few arguments you really could make for Michel: versatility, day-one utility in the passing game, hasn't panned out thus far in their pro careers, and has actually been a problem so far in Michel's pro career.

Granted, as to your post a lot of experts did seem to think that so I guess I'm just missing something, but to me at least it seemed pretty clear. I'm also wrong about this stuff all the time though, so "it seemed pretty clear to me" probably isn't worth much. I'm sure they saw something I didn't.

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Some guys continue to develop and some guys peek and you can't always predict it. I can't look at Gronk college highlights and conclude he would become the greatest TE ever. We obviously can't do that with Brady either. Then you have the sure fire, can't miss guys taken year after year throughout the league that do absolutely nothing in the pros.

Chubb has turned into the better pro, that much is obvious. But as others have said, it's not as if Michel has been a problem for us, so I'm not going to lose sleep over his selection. And since I'm the kind of guy that would still draft JR Redmond and Malcolm Mitchell because of the plays they made in the Super Bowl, I'm fine with Michel.

FCB02062 said:

Would rather they drafted a guy who can actually play....last 2 first picks have contributed a total of ONE game of a possible TWENTY SEVEN

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The first pick was a CB. Which CB should be benched for Williams?

pheenix11 said:

Right now? Yes. But it doesn’t work like that. Would I trade the SB we won last year for Chubb? No way.

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Lol the pretzels some homers will twist themselves into.

I would have been happy with Metcalf and McLaurin. I advocated for them a few times as prototypical X & Z receivers, respectively. I was also a fan of Brown as a big slot. Harry seemed like the best blend of all of them, although lacking specialization. He's a good all around player who can line up anywhere, make contested catches, block, and add some YAC. I was happy with the pick. Injuries have prevented us from seeing what he can do.

But, honestly, eight games into the season, how can we even have this conversation? Patience.

I recommend people to watch the college tape on Michel. Right now he looks way bigger but also way slower and less explosive than in his last college season. Don't know that exactly happened, but it's not like anybody could've seen into the future 2 years ago.

reamer said:

I would have been happy with Metcalf and McLaurin. I advocated for them a few times as prototypical X & Z receivers, respectively. I was also a fan of Brown as a big slot. Harry seemed like the best blend of all of them, although lacking specialization. He's a good all around player who can line up anywhere, make contested catches, block, and add some YAC. I was happy with the pick. Injuries have prevented us from seeing what he can do.

But, honestly, eight games into the season, how can we even have this conversation? Patience.

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Bolded is important.
DK wasn't the best blocker, 50/50 guy or someone you could put in as a big slot. At not now. Harry excelled in all areas.

I had Harry higher so I'm fine w the decision even though Rd1 WR
I had DK & TM graded almost identical though so wouldn't complain there either. Should of had Terry higher . Such a good rr & professional approach.

PF_SU said:

Maroney broke his should in game 2 of the 2008 season and only played 3 games that season. That was his 3rd season.

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And the very next season he plays 15 games and rushes for 750 yards with his usual infuriating running style. LoMo just failed to develop as a RB and had a bad running style for New England. That's why we finally let him go. Nice try but come on now.

Maroney was never worth a 1st round pick as a RB. We've had 3rd and 4th round pick running backs who were better.

I liked Metcalf alot and grabbed him in fantasy so I have been keeping a close eye on him this year. Honestly its hard to asses since Sea offense is sooooo conservative. He has had a few bad fumbles/drops but seems pretty effective down by the goal line. Russ either scrambles alot or throws to Lockett alot so Metcalf is an after thought and mainly used deep or red zone.

That said who knows what Harry is or can be. Barely saw him outside of training camp this summer. When he comes back is he to be considered 100%. His lack of speed always worried me but until he is integrated the jury will be out.

PF_SU said:

I don't think there is a problem with saying based on what we see this season that the team should've taken Chubb instead of Michel. But without hindsight just going by college production and college tape taking Michel was actually on a broad consensus the choice to go in terms of Georgia RB. This is no Jordan Richards or Duke Dawson kind of situation where Belichick completely went against the public opinion and randomly pulled a rabbit out of his hat.

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The strongest argument for Michel was that he was a better receiver out of the backfield, which has not panned out so far. But, even if it does, that should not have been the reason to take Michel over Chubb, since the Patriots have White to function as the 3dRB.

It's possible that the knee injuries are the reason that Michel has not been as good as Chubb. But, looking at film, it's also possible that people were missing on their evaluations of Michel. He hasn't shown the "next gear" that many thought he would. He hasn't shown particularly good running vision. He hasn't shown an ability to shake tacklers. He seems to usually get what's easily there, and little to no more than that. That's fine if we're talking about a BJGE, or a later round pick. That's not fine when we're talking about a first round RB pick.

I hope that the OL gets healthy, and that springs Michel towards an excellent second half. I hope that Michel develops into what everyone initially hoped he could be, and I hope he can play for years after getting to such a point. Unfortunately, I think his limitations go beyond the line problems, and I think they were obvious even when things were going well at the end of last year.

And, yes, I'd love to be wrong on this.

PF_SU said:

It's completely ridiculous and disingenuous to compare Michel/Chubb to Dunlap/Cunningham. By all accounts based on pre-NFL experience Dunlap was the better player.

Meanwhile Chubb and Michel were very close and basically every mock draft had Michel going ahead of Chubb.

Here is Chubb and Michel's college production. Which one would you have taken for the Patriots system:

Player A:
47 games played - 590 attempts - 3613 yards (6.1 y/a) - 33 TDs - 64 receptions - 621 yards - 6 TDs
Of which in final season: 14 games played - 156 attempts - 1227 yards (7.9 y/a) - 16 TDs - 9 receptions - 96 yards

Player B:
47 games played - 758 attempts - 4769 yards (6.3 y/a) - 44 TDs - 31 receptions - 361 yards - 4 TDs
Of which in final season: 15 games played - 223 attempts - 1345 yards (6.0 y/a) - 15 TDs - 4 receptions - 30 yards

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I always thought BB choose Sony because of the Alabama game in 2017. In that game, Sony went 14 for 98 with some big runs. He looked fast and explosive. Chubb went 18 for 25 and was crushed all game. Based upon that game against a big time opponent, I would have chosen Sony all the way.

Deus Irae said:

The first pick was a CB. Which CB should be benched for Williams?

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The first pick was Harry.

mosi said:

I always thought BB choose Sony because of the Alabama game in 2017. In that game, Sony went 14 for 98 with some big runs. He looked fast and explosive. Chubb went 18 for 25 and was crushed all game. Based upon that game against a big time opponent, I would have chosen Sony all the way.

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But no team drafts a player based upon one game.
Right now Cleveland’s OL is far better than ours. If you didn’t see the difference in holes these 2 guys were running through you are t looking.

Ring 6 said:

The first pick was Harry.

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I may have misunderstood his wording. I thought he was referring to Harry/Williams, because that at least made some sense. If he was referring to Wynn/Harry, then he's talking about wishing players wouldn't get hurt after being drafted.

And that's just a fool's take.

Haven't read this whole thread, so I figured I'd give my 2 cents worth of opinion, whether you want it or not. MOST prognosticators had Metcalf rated as the #1 receiver in the draft, mostly due to the combine and his freakish physical tools.

I had fallen asleep before the Pat's made their pick (way before), and when I woke up, I still had the NFL Network on, and they were discussing how it was the first time the Pats ever selected a WR in the 1st round under Belichick.

I assumed it wasn't Metcalf, because I thought he would go considerably before pick #32. So I was thrilled the Pats took N'Keal Harry once I found out he was the pick. BUT, I didn't know Metcalf didn't go in the 1st round, was kinda shocked, and kinda upset he wasn't the Pat's pick.

Then the 2nd round comes around, and the Pats traded up for SlowJuan Williams (a pick I STILL hate), and in a roundabout way, the picks made in the 2nd round in the slots the Pats had, were WR Mecole Hardman (who has looked excellent for the Chiefs) and WR DK Metcalf.

So the Pats could've had N'Keal Harry AND Mecole Hardman, or N'Keal Harry AND DK Metcalf. So my anger isn't taking Harry instead of Metcalf, my anger is the Pats could've had BOTH, and wasted it on another 2nd round DB who plays mainly special teams. I'm excited to see Harry play in this offense, I liked what I saw in limited action. Only time will tell if it was a mistake to take Harry over Metcalf. Metcalf has looked pretty good so far. Hardman has looked even better.

Ring 6 said:

But no team drafts a player based upon one game.
Right now Cleveland’s OL is far better than ours. If you didn’t see the difference in holes these 2 guys were running through you are t looking.

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Cleveland's OL is garbage, and it is not "far better than ours". They'd just benched their starting LT, for crying out loud.

Deus Irae said:

I may have misunderstood his wording. I thought he was referring to Harry/Williams, because that at least made some sense. If he was referring to Wynn/Harry, then he's talking about wishing players wouldn't get hurt after being drafted.

And that's just a fool's take.

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I think he was referring to Wynn and Harry.

BB is actually pretty amazing at trades.

Kyle Van Noy was an amazing get.

As were Wes Welker, Randy Moss, Danny Amendola, etc. etc.

I'll give him that. Doesn't mean that he hasn't had his share of stinkers in the draft.

Countless 2nd round pick busts at DB and WR. We really get bottom of the barrel grades in those positions.

The last great CB we drafted Asante Samuel in the 4th round of 2003.

The last great WR we drafted Julian Edelman in the 7th round of 2009.

I always thought it funny how some people have such certitude about something so uncertain as the NFL draft or stock picking.

Uncertainties in life occur and nothing is ever written in stone. Who here would have picked Tom Brady #1 in 2000?

.

VJCPatriot said:

BB is actually pretty amazing at trades.

Kyle Van Noy was an amazing get.

As were Wes Welker, Randy Moss, Danny Amendola, etc. etc.

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FYI DA has never been traded in his career