Draft thoughts ...

Grades so far, Yahoo has awarded Pats a B, MMQB C+, CBS loser.

The Ringer gave Pats no awards which surprised me as I thought BB's dog was a shoe-in for a supporting actor award.

Mel Kiper hates the Pats draft according to ESPN Boston but not paying for his rant. I'm guessing he's pissed that Pats made him look foolish for his prediction of an early QB pick.

BelizePats said:

I think two years is plenty to have a good idea of where this rebuild is headed. You have this year's draft and next years, plus about 110 million in cap space next year. By July of 2021, we will have a much clearer idea of where the franchise is at. The 2020 draft was not going to be able to fill all the holes in the Pats roster. The 2020 draft was not a magic pill.

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I keep reading posts like these like the Pats are the Bengals or the Jets. We were 12-4 last year with a team that won mainly with its defense and STs. I just don't see this rebuild at all. It is more of a reset with a new QB who can hopefully bring something to the table, a new skill set with athleticism that allows us to be more dynamic. Admittedly, finding the right QB is not easy thing but the team overall is pretty rock solid especially if some of these draft picks hit.

amfootball said:

I keep reading posts like these like the Pats are the Bengals or the Jets. We were 12-4 last year with a team that won mainly with its defense and STs. I just don't see this rebuild at all. It is more of a reset with a new QB who can hopefully bring something to the table, a new skill set with athleticism that allows us to be more dynamic. Admittedly, finding the right QB is not easy thing but the team overall is pretty rock solid especially if some of these draft picks hit.

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We let a lot of defensive players go: Van Noy, Harmon, Collins, Shelton, Roberts. It'll be a while till the defense gets sorted out, IMO, especially with there likely to be no real off season program. This will put more pressure on the offense, and of course without TB12 the offense will also take time to sort out.

Some draft picks will hit, some will not. Some vet pick ups will hit, others will not. It's all gonna take time to sort out. Mean time a lot of other teams were already largely sorted out. For instance BUF gave us tough times last year and they didn't lose much and did add a lot. MIA also did and has added talent so will be better. NYJ will suck, that's their fate in life.

I think it will be a typical rebuild kind of year, with us still having a tough schedule after being a playoff team and with tougher competition in the division it'll be hard to rake up wins.

I unquarantined myself to go out and buy some grass seed, was listening to Christian Arcand (??) and he was lamenting how BB has not drafted a pro bowler since 2012.... I said to myself WTF has this world come to..

Then he went on lamenting how they did not draft a "speedy WR" and in my mind I am thinking that the Pats will probably go back to their dink and dunk offense as they did when Brady took over the helm..

On Monday when the sportstalk yakkers show up I will probably not listen to the radio, as their day will be filled with "would ofs", "should haves" and "could haves".. it will be insufferable ....

Bill Lee said:

We let a lot of defensive players go: Van Noy, Harmon, Collins, Shelton, Roberts. It'll be a while till the defense gets sorted out, IMO, especially with there likely to be no real off season program. This will put more pressure on the offense, and of course without TB12 the offense will also take time to sort out.

Some draft picks will hit, some will not. Some vet pick ups will hit, others will not. It's all gonna take time to sort out. Mean time a lot of other teams were already largely sorted out. For instance BUF gave us tough times last year and they didn't lose much and did add a lot. MIA also did and has added talent so will be better. NYJ will suck, that's their fate in life.

I think it will be a typical rebuild kind of year, with us still having a tough schedule after being a playoff team and with tougher competition in the division it'll be hard to rake up wins.

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I don’t think the defense will miss a beat.
Shelton and Harmon were replaced by FAs and any drop off would be insignificant.
Roberts barely saw the field.
Kvn and Collins will be replaced by increased snaps for some plus the new players added.

Winovich
Bentley
Simon
Uche
Jennings
Calhoun
Wise

will contribute in different proportions to the 3 de/lb/edge guys plus Hightower that play alongside 5 dbs and 2 DTs in our base.
We won’t miss Collins at all and KVN much.

look back at the 12 wins last year. How many would we have lost with average an play?
This was very far from a bad team carried by a QB.

amfootball said:

I keep reading posts like these like the Pats are the Bengals or the Jets. We were 12-4 last year with a team that won mainly with its defense and STs. I just don't see this rebuild at all. It is more of a reset with a new QB who can hopefully bring something to the table, a new skill set with athleticism that allows us to be more dynamic. Admittedly, finding the right QB is not easy thing but the team overall is pretty rock solid especially if some of these draft picks hit.

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You may not like the term rebuild and I get that but I'd say where the team was prior to Friday is exactly in that territory. We are without our 20 year QB, where the offense was entirely geared towards one player. On Defense, I think you are underestimating the impact of the starters who are no longer on the team. Additionally, like the WR position, I'd argue that the DT and or NT position were also ignored in the draft. There are simply too many holes on this team to fix in one draft.
Are we Cinci? No. But are we currently able to compete against KC, Baltimore, San Fran? Would you put money on that? Just look at our last two games of the year. We lost at home to Miami with a first-round bye at stake and Miami playing out the string. And then we lost at home in the playoffs to a better Titans team. If we're not rebuilding, we're also not yet ready to compete with the best teams in the league. You can call it whatever you are comfortable with.

13 draftnks and their average puts us seventh—from the bottom.

BelizePats said:

You may not like the term rebuild and I get that but I'd say where the team was prior to Friday is exactly in that territory. We are without our 20 year QB, where the offense was entirely geared towards one player. On Defense, I think you are underestimating the impact of the starters who are no longer on the team. Additionally, like the WR position, I'd argue that the DT and or NT position were also ignored in the draft. There are simply too many holes on this team to fix in one draft.
Are we Cinci? No. But are we currently able to compete against KC, Baltimore, San Fran? Would you put money on that? Just look at our last two games of the year. We lost at home to Miami with a first-round bye at stake and Miami playing out the string. And then we lost at home in the playoffs to a better Titans team. If we're not rebuilding, we're also not yet ready to compete with the best teams in the league. You can call it whatever you are comfortable with.

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Patriots offense was terrible last year, it can only get better.

Vatahala said:

Grades so far, Yahoo has awarded Pats a B, MMQB C+, CBS loser.

The Ringer gave Pats no awards which surprised me as I thought BB's dog was a shoe-in for a supporting actor award.

Mel Kiper hates the Pats draft according to ESPN Boston but not paying for his rant. I'm guessing he's pissed that Pats made him look foolish for his prediction of an early QB pick.

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This probably is a good sign

Ring 6 said:

I don’t think the defense will miss a beat.
Shelton and Harmon were replaced by FAs and any drop off would be insignificant.
Roberts barely saw the field.
Kvn and Collins will be replaced by increased snaps for some plus the new players added.

Winovich
Bentley
Simon
Uche
Jennings
Calhoun
Wise

will contribute in different proportions to the 3 de/lb/edge guys plus Hightower that play alongside 5 dbs and 2 DTs in our base.
We won’t miss Collins at all and KVN much.

look back at the 12 wins last year. How many would we have lost with average an play?
This was very far from a bad team carried by a QB.

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I disagree that we won't miss Collins and kvn much, those two especially kvn knew the system, they were savy vets. I don't expect rookies to be able to step right in and play at the same high level.

State said:

13 draftnks and their average puts us seventh—from the bottom.

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So they are saying that the Eagles, despite getting all of those speedy receivers, had a worse draft than the Pats?

DarrylS said:

I unquarantined myself to go out and buy some grass seed, was listening to Christian Arcand (??) and he was lamenting how BB has not drafted a pro bowler since 2012.... I said to myself WTF has this world come to..

Then he went on lamenting how they did not draft a "speedy WR" and in my mind I am thinking that the Pats will probably go back to their dink and dunk offense as they did when Brady took over the helm..

On Monday when the sportstalk yakkers show up I will probably not listen to the radio, as their day will be filled with "would ofs", "should haves" and "could haves".. it will be insufferable ....

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Christian Arcan(Also??) is one of a number of sports talk radio guys who are salivating at the chance to nip at Belichick's heels. They think he's finally vulnerable and they hate him with the fire of a thousand suns. Time will tell. If I have to put my money on either Bill or Christian Arcan, it's going on Bill.

Sfpat said:

So they are saying that the Eagles, despite getting all of those speedy receivers, had a worse draft than the Pats?

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I thought we had a good draft overall

ChrisR2223 said:

I thought we had a good draft overall

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Almost everyone here would have given this draft an "A" if we had drafted a WR at 37 and with our last pick.

In hindsight, I suspect that Duggar will be the better choice. We needed a top safety, and we weren't getting one in the rest of the draft or in free agency or likely in trade. As far as WR, we might trade for Jeffries tomorrow.

reflexblue said:

I disagree that we won't miss Collins and kvn much, those two especially kvn knew the system, they were savy vets. I don't expect rookies to be able to step right in and play at the same high level.

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The non rookie replacements are winovich Bentley, Simon and Copeland. . The rookies will play to the level they accentuate that.

Nunchucks said:

Patriots offense was terrible last year, it can only get better.

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I do expect the offense to be better. However, it certainly could be worse.

Ring 6 said:

The non rookie replacements are winovich Bentley, Simon and Copeland. . The rookies will play to the level they accentuate that.

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I don't agree but that's ok, hopefully we will find out This year.

DarrylS said:

..w.listening to Christian Arcand (??)

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Might have been Christian Iapatsfand

State said:

13 draftnks and their average puts us seventh—from the bottom.

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Draft grades and evaluations are so dumb and such a waste of time. Who cares what any one from outside the organization thinks about who the Patriots drafted. All that matters is that BB and his staff have picked the players that THEY think can execute on their plans.

BelizePats said:

You may not like the term rebuild and I get that but I'd say where the team was prior to Friday is exactly in that territory. We are without our 20 year QB, where the offense was entirely geared towards one player. On Defense, I think you are underestimating the impact of the starters who are no longer on the team. Additionally, like the WR position, I'd argue that the DT and or NT position were also ignored in the draft. There are simply too many holes on this team to fix in one draft.
Are we Cinci? No. But are we currently able to compete against KC, Baltimore, San Fran? Would you put money on that? Just look at our last two games of the year. We lost at home to Miami with a first-round bye at stake and Miami playing out the string. And then we lost at home in the playoffs to a better Titans team. If we're not rebuilding, we're also not yet ready to compete with the best teams in the league. You can call it whatever you are comfortable with.

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Depends how you define compete.
We were certainly competitive vs the chiefs last year and without the Edelman fumble and scoop and score we were competitive with bmore too. Losing one game to a weak team doesn’t doom a team a lot of good teams have a game like that.