When you consider that Belichick entered the 2013 draft with less resources than he has ever had for a draft (that I can think of) it is especially impressive that he was able to find so many impactful players who appear at this time to have promising futures in the NFL.
• Jamie Collins – athletic freak who excites me because he has done what great players do when they enter the NFL he has improved week after week. Collins has also stepped up against our 2 biggest opponents this season the Broncos and Ravens.
• Aaron Dobson – he is a very good WR in my opinion, prior to the injury he was playing at an extremely high level. I saw some posters say he does not have NFL hands in the game day thread I was shocked to see that and feel it could not be any further from the truth. Dobson has played in 11 games this season, week 2 was his first game back from a hamstring injury, week 12 he left early due to injury and week 16 was the first game he played in a month, in the other 8 games this season not impacted by injury he has played great football, he was targeted 57 times for 32 receptions, 56.14% reception ratio, 436 receiving yards, 13.62 average 3 touchdowns; project those our over a full 16 games season and that is 64 receptions for 972 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns which is a great season for a rookie. Very few WRs enter the NFL and are great in year 1 if you look at the 2nd year leaps of players like Josh Gordon, Alshon Jeffery, Kendall Wright, Michael Floyd, T.Y. Hilton, Rueben Randle and others it highlights that year 1 to year 2 is a very dramatic for NFL WRs.
• Logan Ryan – snap for snap he has been the most impactful rookie in the NFL this season on the defensive side of the ball. Ryan has played 529 of a possible 1086 snap this season which equates to 48.7% of the defensive snaps, he has 30 combined tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 5 interceptions, 10 pass defends and 1 returned touchdown. Yesterday Ryan’s shutout his opponent not allowing a catch and on the season he is Ryan: 22-47, 278 yards, 3 TDs, 5 INTs with 15 plays on the football total. The most impressive thing about Ryan is that he has not been penalized all season.
• Josh Boyce – I am big fan of him and thought he was playing terrific football before leaving with an ankle injury. Boyce won the Browns game for us without his PI call we don’t know if that ending would have taken place. He has also added something to the kick return game.
• Duron Harmon – he has been a solid player who is always around the football, I have not seen him get beat on any plays which is a good sign for a rookie safety.
• Chris Jones – he was not our draft pick but he was a 6th round pick by the Texans who has really played some great football for us this year. He has not been as impactful in the past few games but he showed us a lot in the middle of the season and may have hit a rookie wall having played a ton of snaps over that period of time. On the season he has 50 combined tackles, 5 sacks, 19 hurries, 4 QB hits, 29 total pressures and 3 stuffs having played in just 11 ½ games.
• Michael Buchanan – personally I am big fan of this kid and think his future is very bright, he needs to learn some discipline and had some size to his length but when he does he could be a real impact player and a force as a pass rusher, of all of our draft picks not named Jamie Collins he athletic ability probably offers the highest upside, in limited reps (under 15% of the team’s defensive snaps) he has 2 sacks, 11 hurries, 3 QB hits for 16 total pressures.
UDFAs have also performed for us, Ryan Allen has developed every week and is kicking as good as any punter in the league, Thompkins has a game winning touchdown receptions and overall has a solid season going and Joe Vellano has contributed more than Kyle Love and Brandon Deaderick combined for last season.