DRAFT Cole Strange-Welcome to the Pats

[RobertWeathers]

No team ever said we were a guard away from winning the SB. OG was a need but not bigger than CB or LB. You can find starting guard in the later round. In fact, the best players on the line are later round player.

Andrews UDFA
Onwenu 6th
Brown 7th

Mason was a 4th
Thuney was a 2nd

Strange will not help us stop Allen and he is not the difference between scoring 17 pts or 30.

It’s a really bad pick. Bill overreached to pick a player at a position that was a need solely because he unecessarily created that need by trading Mason for nothing

Edit: and I would add the hole was also created by letting Karras go over a couple million.

Karras was an average player. CIN overpaid.

Based on your philosophy we can always get great players in the mid/low rounds. Let's trade out of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds and do that instead.

If you miss in the later rounds thinking you'all always get a starter- which is more probable than not, now we have a massive hole at LG- Mac's blindside.

You can't win SBs with a horseshit o-line.

We disagree on priority.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

A lot of folks are pretty sure here that this guy is a bust. I figure we should let him play first before we fire the coach.

It’s not really about if he plays well or not. It’s more about over reaching to get him while we could be got good talent at other position of need while still be able to draft this guy later in the draft. Or that the fact that it is easier to find good G later in the draft than find good CB. The matter of fact is that the best OL currently on the roster are all late drafted players.

Last year OL and draft position:

Wynn LT 1st
Karras LG 6th
Andrews C UDFA
Mason 4th
Brown 7th
Onwenu 6th

But yeah we needed to reach for a 3rd round G in the 1st round

 

[RobertWeathers]

Onwenu was already here, i am comparing loosing our two G from last year and replacing them with onwenu and strange.

Might be an upgrade.

i agree the hole but that doesn't justify the pick at all whether you agree or not

What do you have the problem with? The player or using 29 for LG?

 

[yukon cornelius]

Blah, what a depressing pick. Patriots had their choice of CBS and lbs, decided to pick a guard who is meh in the first when they had a perfectly capable guard already.

Terrible.

chances are there will be more CBs/LBs with a chance to make an impact available at 54 than there would have been G's ready to make an impact at 54......

 

[SHOWTIME15]

BB could have had this guy in the later rounds, if it’s value he preaches, he really doesn’t practice it in drafts.

I'm not saying that the Strange pick was not a reach, but there's really no way of knowing this. We can't assume this just because Mel Kiper or Daniel Jeremiah had them ranked lower on their boards - NFL teams aren't slaves to the draft experts. It seems like Strange was a guy the pats really coveted and were really interested in taking at 21.

Personally I think the Pats interest in Quay Walker at 21 was real and when he was taken by the Packers a few picks ahead of us the Pats decided to trade out. The Packers may have been spooked by Lazar's report the day before that the Pats wanted him and therefore decided to trade up. So blame Lazar if Walker turns out to be great and Strange a bust.

 

[1960Pats]

Really?

G was the biggest "who is gonna start" hole. You might not like the LBs or CBs but if they had to field a team tomorrow you could have Mills, Butler, Jones and Mitchell at CB and Bentley, McMillian, Wilson and McGrone at LB. G you got Onwenu and that's it. Ferentz is better as a backup C. Desjarlais would be the top option and he is coming from the CFL.

I would have went defense but I can understand why they went this way. He tested well, looked good at the senior bowl and fills a hole that very much affects the franchise QB and rumor is he may not have been there at 54 which would have meant a trade up in the 2nd in a draft where the middle rounds are loaded with potential and you just picked up 2 picks for moving back and still getting the guy you had as BPA at G.

We'll get the answer tonight if there is a run on OL in the top of the 2nd, if there is then Pats would be justified in picking him while also picking up another 2 picks in the top 125

Back in my baseball coaching days I remember when I coached the all star team there was one player from another team who I knew was good but when I saw him against the best we had he stood out. That's when I knew he was better than I thought he was. Maybe that's what happened with Strange when Bill saw him in the Senior Bowl.

 

[archstanton543]

A lot of folks are pretty sure here that this guy is a bust. I figure we should let him play first before we fire the coach.

No one's saying he's a bust. Everyone's saying he's over-drafted for a position that could have been addressed later in the draft. I'm sure Cole will be fine but we had two fine G's that Bill either traded or let walk.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Lewis Riddick seems high on him...

Louis Riddick 'Can See Why' Patriots Drafted Cole Strange In First Round

While many thought picking Cole Strange in the first round of the NFL draft was a reach, ESPN analyst Louis Riddick didn't see it that way.

nesn.com

“I got to tell you this, you throw on (the) tape against Kentucky, against an SEC defense,” Riddick said on the ESPN telecast, “he whipped them for 60 minutes. This is a guy who has a bar down the middle of his facemask. Old school. No tape on his hands.

“I can see why Bill looked at this and goes, ‘I want that guy.'”

In the game in which Riddick referred to, the Mocs nearly pulled off an upset win on the road over the Wildcats as the 6-foot-6, 301-pound Strange helped Chattanooga amass 339 yards of total offense, with 171 of it coming on the ground.

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

Might be an upgrade.

let's hope!

What do you have the problem with? The player or using 29 for LG?

i like the player, i actually have him on my draft pick contest list here, but i would have liked him early third. I just don't see the value for the 3th G on the board at 29 when you can pick defensive players such as mcduffie, johnson, lloyd, hill, elam who were top 20 on many expert mocks. Those are more valuable positions to me and fill a big need at the same time as well. If you would have asked before the draft nobody did expect johnson or mcduffie to be there. They scream PTP and i would like to know why cole strange was higher on their board than those guys.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Might be an upgrade.

What do you have the problem with? The player or using 29 for LG?

Strange is not an upgrade on what we had last year IMO. He is not better than Mason or Karras. Maybe he will who knows.

I have a problem using a 1st round pick on a G and passing on good talent at more important position of need. I think getting talent on the defensive side of the ball was more important than a guard that you can find in the later rounds.

In fact, if you look at our line last year, Karras, Onwenu, Mason, Brown and Andrews were all 4th round or later players. Only Wynn was a first round guy.

In my opinion, there was no need to over reach for a 3rd round G in the 1st.

 

[Rob0729]

We were saying the same thing with Hightower. If he can go back to his level before his year off. How did that turn out?

If your best chance to be decent is to count on a 32 year old guy that had a year off for to comeback to his level before and be your best corner then you are not in a good position. Gilmore is 31 and he has already drop off. There is also a chance than come TC Butler think he had enough and quit again like he did with the cardinals.

We should not be in this position.

I can only speak for myself and I said the Pats should have moved on from Hightower last year. Hell, I didn't even think he would come back since he was so beaten up over his career. The difference is Hightower was pretty much on the decline and done before he took a year off. People were hopeful that a year off for Hightower would be a good rehab for him and would come back healthy and rejuvenated. But Butler had one of his best year in years his last year playing.

And Gilmore and Butler are two different CBs. Gilmore is a press man corner. He needs to be physical and follow the best receiver all over the field. That is physically demanding position. And he had major surgery last season. Butler is more of a zone coverage CB where smarts and heads play can make up for physical deficiencies.

I am not expecting him to be a lock down CB, but the Pats didn't have a lockdown CB last year. When they were good, they pressure opposing QB mostly with a four man rush. When they sucked, it was because opposing QBs had time to eat a sandwich in the pocket. Again this team lives and dies on the front seven the way it is made up. I am hopeful the young the LBs step up and they get Trey Flowers (or one of the other DEs still out like Clowney or Ingraham to rush opposite Judon and possibly Akiem Hicks to free up Barmore. But who knows?

But I wasn't expecting whoever the Pats picked at 21 going into last night to be a huge impact this upcoming season. It is gravy if they are, but at 21 or 29 the best you are usually going to get is a good starter with potential for the future. Hell, even guys like Wilfork who is a surfire Patriots Hall of Famer and borderline NFL Hall of Famer did almost nothing his rookie season.

 

[BelizePats]

This is a hard one to accept. The one thing that stood out for me last year on D was how slow they were. A lack of athletic talent stood out. Last night there was an opportunity to add to Barmore and Dugger with a blue chipper. Trading down and then selecting a guard is a mismanagment of resources. This is the first time I've started to question Bill. This one is hard to take.

 

[Ross12]

Here's the thread for when Thuney was drafted. It's a funny read, because pretty much all of the same complaints and arguments are made there as are being made here. Thuney ended up being pretty good, at least in my opinion! Seemed like the Pats knew what they were doing.

Patriots Add Offensive Tackle Joe Thuney With 78th Overall Pick

Patriots Add Offensive Tackle Joe Thuney With 78th Overall Pick Ian Logue The Patriots added some help to their offensive line with the addition of 3rd-round pick Joe Thuney on Friday night. Continue reading...

www.patsfans.com

 

[GreenCow]

Sean McVay literally laughed at this on live video.

Sorry but that was not very classy of McVay.

 

[JMC00]

Houston kid who’s a slow midget (Marcus Jones, rated 6th round).

You clearly have no idea what you are talking about calling him slow.

 

[PaulThePat]

Ah well, that's the draft over for another year. Um, hang on, there are still 6 rounds to go? Phew.

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

Here's the thread for when Thuney was drafted. It's a funny read, because pretty much all of the same complaints and arguments are made there as are being made here. Thuney ended up being pretty good, at least in my opinion! Seemed like the Pats knew what they were doing.

Patriots Add Offensive Tackle Joe Thuney With 78th Overall Pick

Patriots Add Offensive Tackle Joe Thuney With 78th Overall Pick Ian Logue The Patriots added some help to their offensive line with the addition of 3rd-round pick Joe Thuney on Friday night. Continue reading...

www.patsfans.com

only that it was the 78 overall pick...i think nobody is arguing about the player or need

 

[JayNM]

I loved the pick

Great reminder of why i stopped dwelling about drafts and picks.... can never guess what Bill is gonna do

Hopefully Strange is great and everyone picked from #21 through #28 sucks ass

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

 

[patsfanfromoversea]