Draft thoughts ...

[Sfpat]

I would have taken Baylor WR Denzel Mims at 37.

Now Stidham is screwed. No speed at the perimeter for how many years now?

But Stevie has lots of moving pieces to play with.

It’s called nepotism.

No need to move up for fast feet slow thought Uche. Stay put at 71 and 98 and take our new Van Noy with Zack Baun out of Wisconsin and the athletic marvel DT Neville Gallimore out of Oklahoma. Dallas got him and will love him.

Any more and you’ve got to pay me.

I can tell by the number of SB trophies on your mantle that you should be the GM of the Pats. You're much more qualified than BB.

 

[farn]

I would have taken Baylor WR Denzel Mims at 37.

Now Stidham is screwed. No speed at the perimeter for how many years now?

But Stevie has lots of moving pieces to play with.

It’s called nepotism.

No need to move up for fast feet slow thought Uche. Stay put at 71 and 98 and take our new Van Noy with Zack Baun out of Wisconsin and the athletic marvel DT Neville Gallimore out of Oklahoma. Dallas got him and will love him.

Any more and you’ve got to pay me.

KC has a few strong WRs. Please provide the link between SB champs and « best WR group » in the 25 years preceding the most recent champ.

 

[primetime]

KC has a few strong WRs. Please provide the link between SB champs and « best WR group » in the 25 years preceding the most recent champ.

Even then KC really just has one elite ultra-fast guy (who's slightly inconsistent game to game) and an elite tight end/big slot receiver. Sammy Watkins isn't very good and the rest of the receivers were mediocre, and the running backs were scrap heap players. It's all about the quarterback. Less concerned about Stidham having weapons than Stidham just not being any good.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

You had Thaddeus Moss scored slightly higher than Keene. Moss went undrafted and signed with Washington. Was Moss undervalued then or is Keene overvalued ???

.

Moss was undervalued imo. Keene went right where he was supposed to go.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Been saying the same for months now

 

[PF_SU]

PFF having Amari Cooper as their highest rated receiver ever tells you all you need to know about PFF's rating ability.

While I'm not defending PFF's grading scale, Amari Cooper did have 124 catches for 1700 yards in his last college season at Alabama. Don't think anybody else in recent years came anywhere close to these kind of numbers.

 

[amfootball]

I pretty much expected this type of draft from Bill. He filled a bunch of needs with a team he is constructing to win with its defense. I am Ok with that until we see what we have in Stidham. Hopefully the two TEs pan out.

 

[Uptown]

While I'm not defending PFF's grading scale, Amari Cooper did have 124 catches for 1700 yards in his last college season at Alabama. Don't think anybody else in recent years came anywhere close to these kind of numbers.

How ironic...

Our very own Marqise Lee did.

USC- 2012:

118 receptions
1,721 yards
14 Tds

Marqise Lee College Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

 

[Sfpat]

While I'm not defending PFF's grading scale, Amari Cooper did have 124 catches for 1700 yards in his last college season at Alabama. Don't think anybody else in recent years came anywhere close to these kind of numbers.

My point is there is no correlation between PFF grades and NFL success. Cooper is a good NFL receiver, nothing more.

 

[p8ryts]

Might as well put this here. I'm giving Bill 2 years before I make a solid judgment. I'm going to wait this year, next offseason, next draft and then make a judgment about where we're heading.
It's frustrating and not what we're used to at the society. We want to know right now. We want to compete for every Lombardi Trophy. That's just not the way things work, anymore.
The good news is the NFL is set up, financially, to be a two to three-year League. So while where cash strapped this year we're also coming off a 20 year Super Bowl run. Next year we're going to have a hundred plus million, a ton of draft picks and a much better outlook on the roster.

Good of you to give Bill 2 years!

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I might disagree with that 0% success for 6th round QBs... I recall a former Patriots QB.........

 

[p8ryts]

Prepare for the draft awards by sports scribes today and their subjective grades, as these writers pontificate about which team "won" and which team "lost" in the draft... of course the Boston cadre will whine about what have been if the Pats drafted player X or how come they did not pick player Y.

Then there will be the prolific whine of Sports Talk Radio to add to the confusion, and many fans will become experts after listening to Bertram, Felger et al.. and those fans will ascend to a soapbox believing they are experts on assessing the draft and spread the info they heard.

All the while keeping in mind for many oi f these teams that this is their AFC/NFC championship or Superbowl.. the "winners" will revel in the streets over the draft.. meanwhile in the bowels of Gillette, or Nantucket, nefarious plans are being made in preparation for the upcoming NFL season..

Funny aside my bro in law, forever Vikings Fan, last night denounced his forever fandom as they passed on two WR's from the University of Minnesota .. he and my sister are now "Tompa Bay" fans as they believe that the Brady led team will bring them the glory they yearn for....

Plenty of whining among the unfaithful on this site. Present company excepted.

 

[zipster9]

Rate this draft to be a C+.

No QB or WR.

 

[Uptown]

Rate this draft to be a C+.

No QB or WR.

FA, vet cuts, trades..

 

[zipster9]

FA, vet cuts, trades..

Well, it's not like they have tons of cap space. That is the problem.

There is no WR speed on this Patriots team. Nobody can get vertical.

Read that Ravens were afraid Patriots move up to select, devin duvernay in front of them.
Patriots got Asisi instead. And Ravens picked duvernay.

This kid is a speedster, durable and good hands.

I would believe Asisi would be available later on.

 

[Uptown]

Well, it's not like they have tons of cap space. That is the problem.

There is no WR speed on this Patriots team. Nobody can get vertical.

Read that Ravens were afraid Patriots move up to select, devin duvernay in front of them.
Patriots got Asisi instead. And Ravens picked duvernay.

This kid is a speedster, durable and good hands.

I would believe Asisi would be available later on.

Cap space can easily be created with a few restructures, cuts, trades etc...

WR Damiere Byrd: 4.28 pro day 40 (find somebody faster). 4.4 @ NFL combine.
Also, like I previously mentioned...FA, vet cuts, trades etc..

I like Duvernay, but who cares what BAL did?

TE Asiasi will be a beast.

 

[Ring 6]

Moss was undervalued imo. Keene went right where he was supposed to go.

I read that moss had a broken foot and not being able to examine it scared teams off.

 

[BelizePats]

Good of you to give Bill 2 years!

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.

 

[Bill Lee]

every year half the fanbase goes beserk after the draft...this is just the START of construction on the 2020 Patriots roster. If it's too much pain for you to endure anymore, follow another team that suits YOUR immediate needs. The Ravens come to mind immediately...

Agree, though I think DEN fits the bill pretty well. Has a "name" GM, picked a "name" QB Drew Lock, got those speedy WRs and ain't gonna win shyte but hey look at all that talent. If I were being sarcastic I'd say CHI but in fact they also fit the bill.

New England fans might want to hear what their GOAT coach and GM says about wide receivers:

There’s a lot of different ways and time to build your team, and the draft is one of them. But as I mentioned whether it’s Sanu or a free-agent signing like (Damiere) Byrd or whatever the case might be, there are multiple ways to build your roster, and this is one of them

https://nesn.com/2020/04/bill-belichick-touts-patriots-receivers-after-passing-on-loaded-draft-class

I've lived through a lot of swing-and-miss WR drafts as a Pats fan. Maybe we should chill and let the guy who won 6 super bowls do his job based on what he's learned over the decades. I think he's trying to tell us it's hard to predict how WRs do against NFL competition, and we can all think of lots of "name" WRs who ended up being busts in the NFL.

If you want to know how BB builds a team, read the notes in this tweet:



He builds the team from the inside out. He wants a strong inside passing game to open up the run. Once he has that, then he can go WR either via draft or trade (remember Cooks? remember Moss?). For now he'll be bringing in a few cheap vet WRs and having a bunch of development players till he knows what he has with regard to the QB, RB, OL and TEs.

If you read what he wrote about WRs, he doesn't value speed very highly so all the jibes about slow WRs just show people don't understand how BB builds teams. He does value quickness/acceleration to get off the line of scrimmage but beyond that there's other traits he's looking for. He literally says leap and timing matter more than speed, and he values disciplined route running very highly. He wants upper body strength to make contested catches and to break away after the catch, and is willing to sacrifice speed for that. If you read his notes you can see why he took Harry, or at least the Harry we think he can become.

It really makes no sense to keep whining about the way BB builds his teams. He's using the same formula he developed decades ago, and he's not going to change much if at all. It makes more sense for the whiners to go find another team instead of sticking around here and spreading their misery like an ape flinging feces.

For the rest of us, the next two or three seasons may be as interesting as the start of the BB era. We'll get to see if his team building philosophy still works, we'll get to see if his faith in Stidham is justified, or what he'll do if it isn't.

 

[Bill Lee]

I would believe Asisi would be available later on.

If you read the notes I just posted, you'll see that BB wants to build the core offense first, WRs can be added later.

There is no WR speed on this Patriots team. Nobody can get vertical.

He values quickness and strength over speed. He values horizontal over vertical. Use a powerful OL, good RBs and TEs and slot receivers to open the middle, then nibble at the outside. It doesn't have to be 40+ yard shots. If things are working you'll get plenty of 10-20 yard shots.

We're not going to be good this year due to the hangover from the last four years of SBs and playoff appearances. Now we're rebuilding the core and dumping vet contracts, later if things go well we can add more WRs. If it doesn't go well he'll keep trying till the core offense is strong. It's just how he does things.

People keep trying to evaluate BB without understanding what he's trying to do. TV types love fast WRs and changing the game in one play. BB values talented DBs to limit if not shut down those WRs and grinding out win after win. A 13-3 Super Bowl is a disaster to a TV type. A 13-3 Super Bowl is a masterpiece to a true football fan.