Hannable: Pats poor drafting at S is costing $20m+ in cap space

[sportnik]

No doubt, the 16 & 17 drafts were subpar, but it looks like the 18 draft may produce 4 starting caliber players (Wynn, Micheal, Bentley & JC Jackson). If they can find 3 starters this year, they'll be well positioned moving forward - assuming, of course, they can find a QB.

The idea that teams hit on most of there draft picks is a joke. If a franchise can find 3 starters per year between the draft & UFA and do this for 2 or 3 years in a row, they'll most likely be in playoff contention. Go back & look at any team's draft record, it's much harder than people think it is. It's very rare for a team to find a Mason & Flowers in the 4th round like the Pats did in 15. It's drafts like that win Superbowls...

 

[everlong]

Other than QB the Patriots strongest part of the roster is the defensive backs and until the OL got healthy it wasn't even close. McCourty, Chung and Harmon have all been outstanding. If people want to call out their drafting because Jordan Richards and Cyrus Jones were busts sure no doubt but that's cherry picking it to make your case. Thuney, Wise, Brown, Flowers, Brisette, Mason, Mitchell and others were all hits. And yes I include Mitchell. It's a shame about the kid's knees but they don't win that title without him or complete the comeback vs Atlanta.

 

[RobertWeathers]

No doubt, the 16 & 17 drafts were subpar, .

If we go by the Ron Wolf model, each team should land 2 starters and 2 reserve players every draft.

2016- Thuney is a starter and upper-tier RG who is going to make a ton of money in FA. Roberts has started 33 of 44 games and made marked improvement last year. Mitchell helped win them a SB. Brisset got them Dorsett who helped them get to two SBs winning one. Karras has started 5 games and active 45 more.

2017- 4 picks but 5 if you count Cooks was their #1 which turned into Wynn. Wise has been active 32 and was a starter for 8 of them and Rivers is TBD. If he has a good year as a reserve he was a good pick.

We need to be kinder to the 2016 and 2017 draft classes.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

The Patriot coaching staff and brain trust is not perfect however they ARE wicked good.

 

[borg]

I get the amusement of the writer's poorly framed argument that the Pats are cap constricted.......but they are.

I get the amusement of the writer's obtuse classification of the Pats' safety grouping as "poor drafting"........but unlike many of the team's personnel groupings....there is no pipeline of new blood capable of providing the team cost effective snaps...hence the need to dole out substantial contracts.

Reality:
The team has had significant draft failures at the S position.
McCourty had major leverage over the team because of such failures
BB the economist typically has a Plan B and a Plan C in place to avoid leverage imbalance negotiations.
Draft failures at S have elevated the cost of the grouping

The writer does ignore the high value BB has for select positions....S, #1 CB.
The writer does ignore the supply/demand constraints league wide at a critical position.
The writer fails to mention the ginormous contracts being issued to any elite FA safety who escapes his former team

Bottom line:
BB can't be happy with the out of balance expenditure for this grouping but no doubt has to be thrilled with the on field results.

BB is not perfect.
He only gets to the SB 50% of the time

A more thought provoking article would be: Similarities between the post 2004 offseason and this offseason.
So many similarities:
Extended period of success
Coaching churn
Aging roster
Financial limitations
Look to the draft?
A reset year with upside?

 

[Steve102]

If we go by the Ron Wolf model, each team should land 2 starters and 2 reserve players every draft.

2016- Thuney is a starter and upper-tier RG who is going to make a ton of money in FA. Roberts started 33 of 44 games and made marked improvement last year. Mitchell helped win them a SB. Brisset got them Dorsett who helped them get to two SBs winning one. Karras has started 5 games and active 45 more.

2017- 4 picks but 5 if you count Cooks was their #1 which turned into Wynn. Wise was s starter and Rivers is TBD. If he has a good year as a reserve he was a good pick.

We need to be kinder to the 2016 and 2017 draft classes.

I'm kinda done clicking chit on EEI as well. Too many hot takes. Too much political crap with Tomase and Riemer. I still harbor a bit of a grudge for Tomase and his bogus story. Riemer is a tool, and his "little pissant" rant was uncalled for. I haven't got them on the "do not click" program that I have on ESPN, but I make sure I think about the fact that I will become a statistic for them to spout off at their next meeting. You know what I mean? "We had so many clicks on the Tomase story, so many clicks on the Hannable story."

 

[50-yard-line]

Harmon is in danger of getting cut. I think McCourty should be asked to take a pay cut. Chung is a bargain at $2 million.

Harmon played over 60% of the snaps last year, and played very well. When Chung went down in the SB, the D didn't miss a beat.

Cut him and you save 2.5M.

 

[DW Toys]

Patriots drafting had been subpar in recent years. This is fact not opinion. They have the highest amount of veteran contracts to make up for the poor drafting.

I agree Cousin. It's almost as if DW Toys in really Hannable..................

Another pure fact about BB Trades and FA signings. These were impact players for us who came in or spent time with the Pats within the last ten years:

Vrabel,Revis,Lewis,Ninkovich,Chung,Branch,Develin,Bodden,Waters,Carter,Anderson,Sheard,
Thomas, Guy, Hogan (you can fight me here but he had a nice SuperBowl for us...see Shane Vereen in Drafted section), Dorsett (hopefully he can flourish), Trent Brown, Van Noy, Gilmore, Jason McCourty, Josh Gordon (we hope) Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Dillon, Amendola, Talib, Browner, Blount. LaFell was o.k.

Impact players to the most within the lats ten years.

Think about Impact players we have Drafted in the last ten years:
Gronk, Solder (kind of), Edelman, MCourty (if we must but I don't call him elite), James White, Gostkowski, Hightower, Collins (he was pretty good for awhile), Vereen (see Hogan) Mason, you can say Butler and Flowers and even Chandler but they flew the coup. You might be premature to add Sony Michele. I know....they even called Merriweather a pro bowl guy one year.

OK .....where is the best success? Subpar would be a fair statement.

I see there were as many failures in the Draft as the misses in FA

DW Toys

 

[pctronics0072]

Harmon is in danger of getting cut. I think McCourty should be asked to take a pay cut. Chung is a bargain at $2 million.

Why re: harmon? I would think that he is one of the top, if not THE top backup safety in the league. I think in at least 75% of teams he is a full-time starter. I think his contract is a bargain, honestly.

Also, McCourty (D) last year played to the level of his contract, I would say. That is what the going rate of a great, but not elite/all-pro free safety is. The years before that, I do think he was a bit underpaid.

 

[Kdo5]

Or maybe spending on the secondary has helped win 3 SBs.

Yup. The secondary has been our strongest defensive unit for a while now. Especially good this past season.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Is Hannable’s article an oxymoron?

 

[Ivan]

The Pats have had issues drafting a number of positions. It isn't helpful that they often are forced to pick at the end of the first round of course.

It is a fact most teams that win the super bowl do so because they have underpaid talent on rookie deals. Look at the past 5 non-Patriot super bowl winners.

The vast majority had tons of talent on the cheap.

They don’t just “ pick at the end of the first round,” as is claimed over and over, they draft at the end of every round, every year. It’s a huge disadvantage yet they consistently overcome it.

 

[Ivan]

Patriots drafting had been subpar in recent years. This is fact not opinion. They have the highest amount of veteran contracts to make up for the poor drafting.

So, because their veterans are so good they suck at drafting. You can’t make the endless stupidity and negativity on this board up.

 

[holyredeemer]

If we go by the Ron Wolf model, each team should land 2 starters and 2 reserve players every draft.

2016- Thuney is a starter and upper-tier RG who is going to make a ton of money in FA. Roberts has started 33 of 44 games and made marked improvement last year. Mitchell helped win them a SB. Brisset got them Dorsett who helped them get to two SBs winning one. Karras has started 5 games and active 45 more.

2017- 4 picks but 5 if you count Cooks was their #1 which turned into Wynn. Wise has been active 32 and was a starter for 8 of them and Rivers is TBD. If he has a good year as a reserve he was a good pick.

We need to be kinder to the 2016 and 2017 draft classes.

All good points. Another thing a lot of folks miss, and if it has been mentioned, I missed it. It’s really, really hard some years for rookies to get a chance to develop and make this team. It’s hard to secure a back up role and ST’s spot when you are competing against one of the most well built rosters in the league. Some years I feel like Bill isn’t even interested in the draft and doesn’t want to participate.

 

[BradyFTW!]

If we go by the Ron Wolf model, each team should land 2 starters and 2 reserve players every draft.

2016- Thuney is a starter and upper-tier RG who is going to make a ton of money in FA. Roberts has started 33 of 44 games and made marked improvement last year. Mitchell helped win them a SB. Brisset got them Dorsett who helped them get to two SBs winning one. Karras has started 5 games and active 45 more.

2017- 4 picks but 5 if you count Cooks was their #1 which turned into Wynn. Wise has been active 32 and was a starter for 8 of them and Rivers is TBD. If he has a good year as a reserve he was a good pick.

We need to be kinder to the 2016 and 2017 draft classes.

Even this analysis implicitly acknowledges that the 2017 draft isn't looking very good. I assume you'll be counting Wynn as a 2018 pick, although if you choose to count him as 2017 then either way the jury's still out. Re: Rivers, if your career is TBD two years in then the chance of it amounting to anything is extremely small. So the overwhelmingly likely outcome is that the 2017 draft produced one rotational player and one one-year starter (Cooks).

Which is fine, you can have bad drafts as long as you don't have a streak of them. If the 2018 and 2019 drafts go well, the 2017 draft won't matter much. Especially since the 2017 first round pick directly led to the additional 2018 first rounder.

 

[holyredeemer]

Reality:The team has had significant draft failures at the S position.

Who are these significant draft failures?

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I'm kinda done clicking chit on EEI as well. Too many hot takes. Too much political crap with Tomase and Riemer. I still harbor a bit of a grudge for Tomase and his bogus story.

No true Pats fan should listen to, read, purchase, or subscribe to anything from anyone who is employing Tomase.

 

[PatsDeb]

Well, here goes nothing. I think, because we've been to the Super Bowl all of the last three years (each time versus a different opponent) and have won two of them, the Pats have the best all-around drafting strategy, coupled with the best all-around FA strategy in the entire league. It's so good, and so above everybody else's pay grade, that nobody, including the fans and the media, really understands it. It consistently produces Super Bowl contenders and winners, however, so the Pats should just keep doing what they are doing.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Who are these significant draft failures?

I'm guessing the answer will be Jordan Richards, but my response to that would be that drafting 3 good safeties and one bad safety is a track record that most teams would envy. Richards does suck, and the moment injuries made him a starter in Atlanta last season was when you could pretty much assume their season was effectively over.

But even Tavon Wilson, for all the **** he gets here, has been a three-year starter since leaving New England, and a capable one at that. He just took a little longer to develop and the Pats didn't want to pay him with the talent they already had on the roster. Which is fine, if that's the cost of building one of the best secondaries in the league that has been key to the recent SB wins then you happily pay it.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Impact players to the most within the lats ten years.

Think about Impact players we have Drafted in the last ten years:
Gronk, Solder (kind of), Edelman, MCourty (if we must but I don't call him elite), James White, Gostkowski, Hightower, Collins (he was pretty good for awhile), Vereen (see Hogan) Mason, you can say Butler and Flowers and even Chandler but they flew the coup. You might be premature to add Sony Michele. I know....they even called Merriweather a pro bowl guy one year.

OK .....where is the best success? Subpar would be a fair statement.

DW Toys

This is actually one of the most ridiculously cherry-picked list of players I've ever seen. Bad take that ignores much of our team's core. Yikes.