Additionally, the draft changed greatly a couple of years ago with the new 1st round rookie salary stuff. Before, teams were paying huge premiums to sign their first round draft picks. This greatly increased the risk of drafting these high first round players. Not only did you risk making a bad pick, you also risked salary cap hell for doing it. Now with the new structure in place, the huge financial penalty is removed, thus making those first rounders much more valuable. I always figured BB was one of the first coaches to get that, and see the huge benefits of trading down. Since that change, the Patriots drafting down and out of the first round has greatly diminished.
SITE MENU