Just for the sake of argument, say the Pats trade their #28 pick to some team in the lower third of the league for that teams's 2nd and 3rd round picks. Would you be satisfied with the following list of players (which includes some compensation 4rth rounders)?
22. Dwayne Bowe WR L.S.U.
43. Anthony Spencer DE Purdue
65. Daymeion Hughes CB California
134. Desmond Bishop ILB California
135. Sabby Piscitelli S Oregon St.
164. Clark Harris TE Rutgers
191. Zak DeOssie ILB Brown
This guess is through round 4.
At risk of sounding like a broken record ...Spencer probably won't be available at #43 or Hughes at #65. I'm not sure Bowe is ideal for the Pats scheme. His best fit is probably the WCO where he can run slants and break tackles. IMO the Pats offense is fine and getting better. They averaged 33 points a game against top competition down the stretch. The problem gradually became the defense, specifically the pass rush and run defense, which began to fall apart after Seau went down. The LBer corps needs an infusion of speed, power, quickness. The secondary needs quality depth at safety. We can no longer go into a season expecting Bruschi, Harrison, Seau and even Vrabel to be playing come season's end and playoff time. Another concern is depth at cb, especially if Samuel is unreasonable in contract negotiations. Priotity needs:
1. OLB
2. CB (if resigning Samuel is an issue)
3. ILB
4. S
The reason OLB and Cb are higher is because of the scarcity of quality talent in lower rds at those positions.
I am at
#24 OLB Spencer, Purdue: replaces Banta Cain as 3rd OLB in rotation with Vrabel and Colvin
#28 CB Aaron Ross, Texas or CB AJ Davis, NC State (Davis may fit the Pats usual profile more than Ross: quicker, smaller, faster. Also, Ross may come off the board earlier due to his height and more famous college program): works out of nickel or dime with Mickens.
#60 ILB David Harris, Michigan: Backs up Bruschi/Seau/Fletcher*/Alexander
#91 SS Josh Gattis, Wake Forest: backs up Harrison/Sanders/Hawkins/Scott/Andrews
#123 DE Kareem Brown, Miami: Replaces Marquise Hill
#128 WR Chris Davis, FSU: works in behind Brown/Welker* as slot.
It seems strange that no SEC players are on my list... so maybe CBs David Irons, Jonathan Wade, and ILB Tony Taylor fit in somewhere.
As far as the Combine goes... I know some fans are waiting for the combine numbers to reach a conclusion on certain players...I am actually hoping the players I like have sub-par combines so that they drop, especially Spencer and Harris. I will be happy if they both run 4.8s. The only thing I would want to know are Medical issues and if the guys come off as dip$hits in personal interviews.