Williams (2,45), Harris (3,87) Why?

To be clear, I accept Belichick's judgement on the draft. I focus on positions, not the choice of player. And, yes (strangely to some, I'm sure), I'm fine with every choice in 2020 and all but two in 2019. That's really high "praise".

That being said, I don't understand the 2019 choices of CB Williams (2,45) or RB Harris (3,87).

Harris seems to be an emergency backup #4 RB (ahead of Bolden in that role).

Williams is so not needed at CB (except for being the #5 CB in his second year if McCourty didn't come back). Williams is so not needed at CB that we presumed that he surely would be playing safety in his second year. And then we signed Phillips and drafted Duggar. So, perhaps Williams might be safety convert in his 3rd year, and an emergency backup DB this year.

Nothing seems surprising about harris and Williams. basically, they seem to be what we thought they were. So, why, oh why, were they worth being drafted at 45 and 87. If there was no trade partner for 45, we might have drafted Winovich there and traded out his spot. The bottom line is that these picks made no sense then, or now.

Numerous Personnel Mistakes since the off season

patsinthesnow said:

Out of all the questionable moves made I would love to hear BB's rationale regarding drafting Joejuan Williams at pick 45 & his usage. Talk about a luxury pick.

preseason:

201 snaps
12 targets
3 receptions
39.6 passer rating
0.17 yards per cover snap

regular season:

80 snaps
6 targets
3 receptions
66.0 passer rating
0.60 yards per cover snap (3rd in NFL)

1) Why draft a 6'4" corner in the top half of the 2nd round when you have Gilmore, McCourty & Jackson on the outside while TE is a wasteland?

2) Why draft a 6'4" corner and not put him on TEs while Chung & Brooks are getting owned?

Unlike some recent picks Williams has shown in limited time that he can play. Not sure his path to playing time if they won't play him at SS moving forward.

Besides missing on picks players that may be hits (Winovich, Williams) don't play enough.

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Yup. The frustrating aspect is in limited time it looks like Joejuan can play. In 2018 BB didn't trust an internal player at slot CB in Jonathan Jones & in 2019 didn't trust an internal player at outside CB in JC Jackson. Both decisions didn't make alot of sense during the draft & have been proven foolish.

Harris pick is fine. He was considered a late 2nd round pick & fell to the late 3rd round. Rookie rbs often don't play here (Vereen, White) & even backup less talented players (Ridley & BJGE). Reiss is hinting at an open competition anyway:

My hunch is that the team thought they were players who could contribute and were graded out as a good addition at that spot.

The late **** Steinberg who was the Pats personnel guy for all those good and talented teams in the late 70s had a theory that you should draft a RB in the first three rounds of every draft because the position was so important.

In the game as it’s played today, you cannot ever have enough DBs because the are so important, so, maybe, Belichick’s theory is you need to select one high in every draft. It would explain a lot, wouldn’t it. In the end, even with the selection of Williams, late season injuries to J. Jones and J. McCourty May very well have been the reason the Pats D could not stop the Dolphins passing attack in the regular season finale because one the other 3 corners had to play out of position as the slot CB.

As for Harris, the plan was to be a run heavy team needing two good RBs to spread the carries around. Who would have bet that Rex Burkhead would have stayed relatively healthy throughout the season rendering Harris inactive for most of it?

As much as I love him, White might move on. Harris will probably have more touches this season and assume that role in his third / fourth years...

I like both picks. If Gilmore starts declining and/or leaves, we need an outside corner to replace him, even if we do extend JC Jackson. As for Harris, we needed a Sony backup. All our RBs are kind of old except for Michel, who may not even be the answer himself.

farn said:

As much as I love him, White might move on. Harris will probably have more touches this season and assume that role in his third / fourth years...

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I'm not sure Harris is that kind of RB. I like him, but as a more traditional type of RB.

fnordcircle said:

My hunch is that the team thought they were players who could contribute and were graded out as a good addition at that spot.

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And BB didn't anticipate Jones being as good as he ended up being this past year, and he wasn't sure about JMac possibly. Drafting a potentially high-level corner with good size (6'3", 212) and speed is not a waste of resources. He will be helping this team very soon, I imagine.

While I think both players will be good, I agree it seems those two were drafted at already deep positions. Perhaps we will see burkhead cut this summer...perhaps williams will push Jackson or Jason mccourty. Maybe he will be part of a big dime package?

Not sure

And I hope Harris really gives Michel a run at the RB1 position. As a reminder of what he can do...

Elijah said:

I like both picks. If Gilmore starts declining and/or leaves, we need an outside corner to replace him, even if we do extend JC Jackson. As for Harris, we needed a Sony backup. All our RBs are kind of old except for Michel, who may not even be the answer himself.

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So, you want Gilmore gone after this year, and then have Williams replace him for the last year of his contract? I don't like it at all.

I like the idea of injury insurance better, and our replacement for McCourty.

Elijah said:

I'm not sure Harris is that kind of RB. I like him, but as a more traditional type of RB.

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James White wasn’t that type of RB in college either. First three years - very few catches. 39 in his fourth year, but many many ground yards as well. Was just heavily featured as a SR.

Joejuan: 6'4" DBs don't grow on trees. I believe that he is one of only 2 or 3 CBs in that category (Sherman is another). He looked very good to me in the last preseason game and also look like he belonged during his limited playing time late in the season. In my opinion, they made a mistake not allowing him to cover athletic tight ends instead of Chung (see critical TD late in Dolphins game). I think he has a chance to be a major contributor this year, now that he is familiar with the defense and after gaining some additional strength in their S and C program, covering big WRs and move TEs. As much as BB loves him, would it be a shock if Chung is cut before the start of the season. In my opinion, no.

Harris: I think that he was their highest rated player left on the board at that point my wide margin and they couldn't pass him up. I believe that Caserio summed it up by simple saying "good football player". He could make a James White-like second year leap. He was impressive in the last preseason game and can play on all three downs, which, as we all know, makes the offense less predictable.

ivanvamp said:

And BB didn't anticipate Jones being as good as he ended up being this past year, and he wasn't sure about JMac possibly. Drafting a potentially high-level corner with good size (6'3", 212) and speed is not a waste of resources. He will be helping this team very soon, I imagine.

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Or not.

Perhaps quality insurance is worth a 2nd or 3rd, the place that we draft a DB every year.

With Sony's injury history and the limited lifetime of RB's, not surprised at all that they drafted a seemingly competent backup, even with Burkhead, who is also often injured, on the roster.

Hopefully Harris gets to complete with Michel this year. The offseason we drafted Harris, we were coming off a season in which Corderelle Patterson was the RB for a couple of games.

I think Bill just really liked Williams. Hopefully he'll be proven right. Bill loves his DBs and with so many 3-4 WR sets these days it's difficult to argue with depth there.

Not saying I love the picks then or now but that's how I see it.

mgteich said:

So, you want Gilmore gone after this year, and then have Williams replace him for the last year of his contract? I don't like it at all.

I like the idea of injury insurance better, and our replacement for McCourty.

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When did I say it was what I wanted, or what I thought the team wanted? It's all about contingency plans.

That way if say your #3 CB gets hurt, and your #2 CB "gets benched for unknown reasons" you still have a capable #5 CB who can slot in and you don't give up 41 points to a journeyman backup QB in the Super Bowl

Remember when James White didn't get a look in during his rookie year? Or Shane Vereen? I think Harris is a good player and we'll see that in the next few years.

1.) J.C. Jackson and James White are both in contract years. So, JJ and Harris might be pipeline replacements.

2.) I think Harris will supplant Burkhead this year....but that might be wishful thinking.

3.) JJ is a BIG CORNER.....those just don't grow on trees.....