2011 Draft makes a lot more sense now

[condon84]

I don't think BB planned on depending our DL's play on a lazy turd from the Redskins and an over the hill Jets castoff.

For whatever reason, BB seemed to like what he saw from our DL guys last year enough for him to ignore the position during the draft. It's not like there were a lot of impact free agent DLs going into this offseason.

 

[The Gr8est]

With BJGE and Woodhead, Vereen and Ridley were a bit of a head scratch, but again, they seemed to be the long team solutions to an eventual problem.

I'd say they were less of a "head-scratcher" and more of a no-brainer".

If BJGE went down with an injury are you comfortable with Woodhead as your lead back with JAGs in reserve?

How about Fred Taylor or Sammy Morris?

Getting more young blood at RB was critical for this team going forward and BB added two very complementary backs to the mix.

 

[borg]

Any chance BB will find some DL that can play 2 downs in a row?

 

[brady199]

Mike Vick will never lead a team to the super bowl. So that shouldn't be a concern.

I thought the same thing about Eli Manning, and we all know how that turned out. I would of said Vick had a better chance of beating Brady in a playoff game then Sanchez.

Also don't forget Vick was if I recall correctly the first QB to ever win a playoff game in GB. It was quite a feat at the time.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

With BJGE and Woodhead, Vereen and Ridley were a bit of a head scratch, but again, they seemed to be the long team solutions to an eventual problem.

Going into this offseason, the only RB they had definitively under their control was Woodhead, and even he's only signed through 2012.

 

[Ring 6]

Or, BB, knowing he had resources to use on trades and FA selected the best players he could in the draft, and filled in the rest of the needs in FA.
I'm pretty sure that if the best players available when we went LT,RB,RB were DL and LB he would have taken them, and focussed on LT,RB in FA. In addition to the Ocho move.

 

[Urgent]

I just laugh when ppl question the draft strategy of BB. I followed this board until I officially joined a couple days before last draft. Every body last year was Pissed no pass rush moves were made. PPL here had a boner for that Penn St. was it Ordick??? don't remember name. it is like 80% of the ppl here think they can draft better than BB. He selects his players with a vision beyond just 1 year. Hence-Lee Smith usurping crump. I took my shots w/e. BB doesn't try to fix everything based on NEED he looks at the VALUE of the talent on the board and picks who he thinks best fits this team. Don't ever question the motives of the master of the NFL Draft... The TREMENDOUS coach Bill Belichick:rocker:

The Patriots have made as many draft mistakes as any other team.
They have never completely whiffed on a first round pick, and do better than the average team.
Their second round record is below league average.
They have had a couple years recently where few players from the draft ever contributed, and a couple years where they got a great return.

I see this draft like any other.
And it's fair game to second guess the decision makers.
That's what we are here for. That's our role. We take it seriously.

 

[ausbacker]

All the draft proves is that it's silly to look at the draft in isolation given Free Agency, trades and UDFA's are the other ways in which team building can occur.

This off-season has been weird but exciting in the same token. Putting aside the CBA issues, I've thoroughly enjoyed the past few weeks.

 

[Patriot Missile]

The Patriots have made as many draft mistakes as any other team.
They have never completely whiffed on a first round pick, and do better than the average team.
Their second round record is below league average.
They have had a couple years recently where few players from the draft ever contributed, and a couple years where they got a great return.

I see this draft like any other.
And it's fair game to second guess the decision makers.
That's what we are here for. That's our role. We take it seriously.

I can still say even though the Patriots have made their fair share of mistakes that they still are better at drafting then most.

Better than the average team? Sounds like half a compliment considering they rarely whiff on their 1st rounders like some have.

Care to compare the Pat's 2nd rounders as opposed to other teams? We've had a few more 2nd rounders than most teams so it will hurt the average of success a bit. Remember, average is around the 16 team mark so you will have to list 17 teams that did a better job in that department to be below average.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

This year it was the reverse. After the draft, he didn't address the pass rush or the need for a WR, wah wah wah, BB sucks, pats going 3-13, 6-10 if they are lucky. The he signs the guys he wants, and as Rose Ann Rose Anna Danna used to say, "Oh. Never mind."
.

No no no. It was Emily Litella:


Rosanne used to go into a long diatribes about things hanging out someone's nose or the wet spot on the trousers or the food stuck in the teeth etc.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

Hindsight being 20/20, it was the right plan. Watt, Jordan, Sheard, Reed would all likely be benchwarmers for 2011. The defense is already young, it doesn't need to get younger.

We won't know for a month or two how good those guys will be but BB could easily have drafted 1-2 of these guys if they were at a value position in the draft. They were not; it seemed whenever the Patriots were about to pick the value pass rushers were snapped up so BB took traded down or took what was available (which he considered bargains).

 

[TheSolderKing]

The Patriots have made as many draft mistakes as any other team.
They have never completely whiffed on a first round pick, and do better than the average team.
Their second round record is below league average.
They have had a couple years recently where few players from the draft ever contributed, and a couple years where they got a great return.

I see this draft like any other.
And it's fair game to second guess the decision makers.
That's what we are here for. That's our role. We take it seriously.

fair enough I still would have taken Brooks Reed BB misses a lot in 2nd round. He does gr8 in 3rd and 5 right??? very good in 1st

I really viewed Reed as Best on board when we were up

I feel he hits much better than u credit him w/.

 

[TheComeback]

You think he passed up top shelf talent in the hopes of getting one year deals with a bunch of question marks on the defensive line?

You mean that he passed up a bunch of question marks in the draft to sign cheap, veteran defensive lineman who he knows are actually capable of playing in the NFL?

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The signing of Mark Anderson will impact the next 5 drafts or so

 

[Deus Irae]

You mean that he passed up a bunch of question marks in the draft to sign cheap, veteran defensive lineman who he knows are actually capable of playing in the NFL?

Like he "knew" Burgess was capable? Or like he "knew" that Lewis would work at tight end? BB doesn't "Know" about veterans at the end of the line. He takes a volume approach to filling in positions of need, as we've seen here pretty much every single year. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

I'll ask again, with a bit of fleshing out. Do you think the reason he passed on what was thought to be top shelf talent, when he had the picks to get them, was because he was hoping to get guys at the back of their careers and try for a 1-2 year fix?

I'm not asking to mock you. I'm asking you to try to understand your point here, and to get a fix on how far back you think this goes. You seem to be saying that Haynesworth was in the plans from the beginning, because hope and prayer without him on this line seems a bit extreme, even if your position is correct.

 

[ay-yo]

BB always goes for BPA in the draft (within reason, i.e. for 2011 no QB in round 1, no TE in rounds 1-3, etc.).

He then plans to fill holes through FA and trades. Did he know that he would get 85 and Haynesworth? No. I'm sure they had a list of targets for every position. WR had several names that would have represented upgrades:

85
Homes
Braylon Edwards
TO
Rice
James Jones
Malcolm FLoyd

as did DL:
Pat Williams
Shaun Ellis
Haynesworth
Stroud
Ty Warren (if things shake out differently he might still be here)
Cullen Jenkins
Ray Edwards
Charles Johnson
Osi Umenura
Justin Babin
Mathias Kiwanuka

Once we got to FA Bill evaluated what gave us the best shot to win this year and win the next several years.

Free agency after the draft added an interesting dynamic to this off-season. There was legitimate reason to question if we would change our draft approach due to the special circumstances. The answer turned out to be no. None of our top 5 picks will be forced to start this year.

 

[D-Money]

There are better pass rushers that where out there.I liked Cullen Jenkins much more then what they have acquire from the likes of Ellis, Carter, and Anderson.

 

[JackBauer]

Or like he "knew" that Lewis would work at tight end?

Lewis? Who is Lewis?

 

[Deus Irae]

Lewis? Who is Lewis?

Lewis is the result of a name flip in my head. I was flipping Greg Lewis and Alex Smith in my head.

 

[JackBauer]

Lewis is the result of a name flip in my head. I was flipping Greg Lewis and Alex Smith in my head.

How about Kyle Brady?