I *hated* last years draft......

[MrNathanDrake]

I had a bad feeling about it at the time, and 1 season later I still have a bad feeling about it.



1a) Nate Solder - good pick. It would've looked silly if Light and Vollmer were healthy all year, but I guess BB knew something about Vollmer's health that we didnt.


1b) Traded to New Orleans. WHY? We sure could've used a big 34DE/43DT like Cameran Heyward or Muhammad Wilkerson that were available in this spot. 1 year later and a 34 DE like the two mentioned above is still a big need for the future. With Mike Wright, Shaun Ellis, G.Warren all likely to retire... it would be more comforting going into next year with a DE that has a year of experience rather than looking for another rookie in this years draft. This year by the way is lacking in 34 DEs. This is the 2nd year which we've started playoff games with Love and Deaderick. Yes both of them are serviceable, but both could also be upgraded. Wilfork was doubled in the SB, and nobody else on our DLine could make a play. BB traded this pick into the future, when we needed it for this past season.


2a) Glass-I Dowling - the next Terrence Wheatley. Horrible pick IMO, he will never stay healthy. The knock on Dowling was his injury history... SURPRISE SURPRISE.... He plays one game and then he's IR'd for the year due to injury. Jabal Sheard and Brooks Reed were taken soon after this spot. We sure could've used their help rushing the passer this year and for the future.

Our pass rush would be looking good for the next few years if we had picked a DE and OLB in the two spots above.


2b and 3b) Shane Vereen and Steven Ridley - One didnts see the field at all, and the other barely played. You'd think after drafting 2 RB's this high that we would've atleast run the ball more this year. I thought we picked these guys to save Bradys arm, but he still ended up throwing 40+ times in games we were winning by a wide margin. Seems like a couple of wasted picks when we already have BJGE and Woodhead.

Yes I like Ridleys explosiveness and Vereen could be Faulks eventual replacement, but RB's are a dime a dozen and it wasn't a pressing need with BJGE and Woodhead already on the roster. If BB didn't see either of them contributing much this year, he couldve waited to draft RBs.



3a) Ryan Mallet - didnt see the field at all. Looks like the 3rd string QB at this point as Hoyer is supposedly decent. I wasnt a Mallet fan in College and thought his attitude was very Jay Cutler-ish. Might not get a snap for another 4 years if Brady can stay healthy.


OVERALL: That's 6 picks in the first 3 rounds of the draft. Only 1 of those 6 had major contributions to our team this year.


Furthermore, if BB knew there was a good chance he was going to cut Meriweather and James Sanders, he should have looked at a Safety in this draft.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

The Giants pass rush was mostly put together with late picks.

Mathius Kiwanuka was a late 1st rounder. Osi Umenyora was a 2nd rounder. Justin Tuck was a 3rd rounder.

Ninkovich is decent but I doubt any opposing QBs are losing sleep when they think about playing against him. Same with Kyle Love and Brandon Deaderick. They were all late round picks or undrafted.

 

[randomk1]

I sort of agree...i really expected us to reload our defense in last years draft after the issues we had in 2010.

Solder was one of the top rookies last season imo so that has really lessened the blow.

 

[ausbacker]

Tell me MrNathanDrake, which successful NFL franchise have you been in charge of as GM building a team with the benefit of hindsight?

 

[TriplecHamp]

posting in another piss poor nathan drake thread.





Although I agree that the draft class as a whole contributed next to nothing outside of Solder. I can see it becoming a great one if we let Vereen/Ridley pound it next season, Marcus Cannon takes over at guard and Ras-I comes in, stays healthy and plays to his potential which is that of a top 20 pick. Way to judge a draft class after 1 season

 

[aurakilla]

well 2 drafts ago was pretty freaking good


Mccourty, AH, and GRONK

 

[Sciz]

You know what's absolutely hilarious? How you would've rather had this draft:

#17 Cameron Jordan

#28 Ingram

#33 Ijalana

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/13/751522-what-could-have-been.html

 

[patsfan-1982]

if Carter and Dowling dont get put on IR they have two 10+ sack pass rushers comeing off the edge and a big nickle back who can cover, im not saying it was a perfact Draft im not sure why they would pass on Mark Ingram and then take two RB's one who cant get on the field and the other got put in the dog house,


BOTTOM LINE they were in the SB and have a pretty young team and in todays NFL Brady could play 4 more years as a fan i have to be happy about that the state of the patriots is pretty good lets see how the off season goes

 

[MrNathanDrake]

You know what's absolutely hilarious? How you would've rather had this draft:

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/13/751522-what-could-have-been.html

I stand by that. Ingram would've eliminated the need to use a 2nd and 3rd on RBs.

I also posted this:

package 17 with some late round picks to move up to

#15 Ryan Kerrigan

#28 Muhammad Wilkerson / Cameron Heyward

#33 Ryan Williams

and by the way, Ryan Kerrigan has turned out to be very good in Washington. Wilkerson and Heyward both look promising and will most likely play better in their 2nd years than any late-1st round rookie will this year.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

if Carter and Dowling dont get put on IR they have two 10+ sack pass rushers comeing off the edge and a big nickle back who can cover, im not saying it was a perfact Draft im not sure why they would pass on Mark Ingram and then take two RB's one who cant get on the field and the other got put in the dog house,


BOTTOM LINE they were in the SB and have a pretty young team and in todays NFL Brady could play 4 more years as a fan i have to be happy about that the state of the patriots is pretty good lets see how the off season goes

We were VERY LUCKY that Anderson and Carter both had great seasons.

They could have just as easily have turned out like Derrick Burgess did in New England.


Theyre both Free Agents and were on 1 year contracts so neither was a long term solution. Especially at their ages. And when Carter got injured, you saw we had very little depth at DE/OLB..... Ninkovich and Anderson were our only 2 rushers and they obviously got tired by the end of the game as Manning passed all over us.

It would be nice to have some depth and someone to rotate in to keep everyone fresh.

 

[Sciz]

I stand by that. Ingram would've eliminated the need to use a 2nd and 3rd on RBs.

The Pats used a 3rd on Ridley and got the better player out of those two. Ingram is garbage. Ijalana couldn't win a starting job on a bad offensive line and then got hurt. Well, using your logic, he'll never be healthy for a whole season ever again! What a waste of a pick! Jordan might just have been the worst pick of the bunch, though. 16 games, 15 starts, and a whole 1 sack. What an embarrassment of a pass rusher.

Good job on Kerrigan. In 6 picks in the top 33 overall picks, your best pick is a guy who would've been 3rd on the team in sacks. Good job. Your drafting skills are officially a joke.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Good job on Kerrigan. In 6 picks in the top 33 overall picks, your best pick is a guy who would've been 3rd on the team in sacks. Good job. Your drafting skills are officially a joke.

Kerrigan was a rookie.

The point is, he showed a lot of promise and will continue to improve. He had 4 Forced Fumbles(the same as Carter and Anderson COMBINED), an Interception, and a Touchdown on defense.

Do you know how long is took Jerod Mayo to get 1 INT?


Kerrigan also had 30+ more tackles than Mark Anderson and 10 more tackles than Andre Carter.


Teams also don't throw against Washington as much as they throw against New England, so Kerrigan couldnt pin his ears back and simply rush the passer like Carter and Anderson did.

 

[aurakilla]

Kerrigan mighta made it a different game on sunday bc the OLB opposite Nink was Tracy white..........


but w/e knowing that Volmer was hurt and lights getting old you cant argue with taking soldier.

 

[Sciz]

Kerrigan mighta made it a different game on sunday bc the OLB opposite Nink was Tracy white..........


but w/e knowing that Volmer was hurt and lights getting old you cant argue with taking soldier.

White was playing the subpackage LB role in place of Fletcher. I believe Anderson and Deaderick were splitting at RE snaps opposite Ninkovich at LOLB.

 

[aurakilla]

White was playing the subpackage LB role in place of Fletcher. I believe Anderson and Deaderick were splitting at RE snaps opposite Ninkovich at LOLB.

wellllll I retract my statement based on the grounds idk what I`m talking about :bricks:

 

[Dufflebagz]

Wilkerson and Heyward both look promising and will most likely play better in their 2nd years than any late-1st round rookie will this year.

How come you say that about Wilkerson and Heyward, but don't give that chance to Dowling, Ridley, or Vereen?

 

[IllegalContact]

Barwin instead of brace
Reed instead of dowling

We are looking at another trophy

LOL at apologist Sciz

 

[IllegalContact]

The Pats used a 3rd on Ridley and got the better player out of those two. Ingram is garbage. Ijalana couldn't win a starting job on a bad offensive line and then got hurt. Well, using your logic, he'll never be healthy for a whole season ever again! What a waste of a pick! Jordan might just have been the worst pick of the bunch, though. 16 games, 15 starts, and a whole 1 sack. What an embarrassment of a pass rusher.

Good job on Kerrigan. In 6 picks in the top 33 overall picks, your best pick is a guy who would've been 3rd on the team in sacks. Good job. Your drafting skills are officially a joke.

The redskins drafted helu in the 4th and got a better back than ridley. The niners drafted hunter in the 4th and got a better back than Ridley.

I don't mind the 28 trade, but these dels ate not yielding additional talent......

 

[Lifer]

I am convinced anybody doing an in depth draft analysis now has Aspergers.

 

[ivanvamp]

I had a bad feeling about it at the time, and 1 season later I still have a bad feeling about it.



1a) Nate Solder - good pick. It would've looked silly if Light and Vollmer were healthy all year, but I guess BB knew something about Vollmer's health that we didnt.


1b) Traded to New Orleans. WHY? We sure could've used a big 34DE/43DT like Cameran Heyward or Muhammad Wilkerson that were available in this spot. 1 year later and a 34 DE like the two mentioned above is still a big need for the future. With Mike Wright, Shaun Ellis, G.Warren all likely to retire... it would be more comforting going into next year with a DE that has a year of experience rather than looking for another rookie in this years draft. This year by the way is lacking in 34 DEs. This is the 2nd year which we've started playoff games with Love and Deaderick. Yes both of them are serviceable, but both could also be upgraded. Wilfork was doubled in the SB, and nobody else on our DLine could make a play. BB traded this pick into the future, when we needed it for this past season.

Solder is a stud and will be a great tackle for many years. Really good pick.

I, too, would love to have had a really good pass-rushing DE in last year's draft. As it was, the Pats solved that problem by adding not one, but *two* 10-sack players in Carter and Anderson, the latter of whom had 1.5 sacks in the Super Bowl.

Love, btw, is just going to get better. He's going to become a really good interior DLineman, I believe. He's improved so much already.

2a) Glass-I Dowling - the next Terrence Wheatley. Horrible pick IMO, he will never stay healthy. The knock on Dowling was his injury history... SURPRISE SURPRISE.... He plays one game and then he's IR'd for the year due to injury. Jabal Sheard and Brooks Reed were taken soon after this spot. We sure could've used their help rushing the passer this year and for the future.

Our pass rush would be looking good for the next few years if we had picked a DE and OLB in the two spots above.

Only if we had taken the right guys at those two spots. If we picked the wrong guys, then.....oops. And obviously BB didn't think he had the right guy there.

2b and 3b) Shane Vereen and Steven Ridley - One didnts see the field at all, and the other barely played. You'd think after drafting 2 RB's this high that we would've atleast run the ball more this year. I thought we picked these guys to save Bradys arm, but he still ended up throwing 40+ times in games we were winning by a wide margin. Seems like a couple of wasted picks when we already have BJGE and Woodhead.

Yes I like Ridleys explosiveness and Vereen could be Faulks eventual replacement, but RB's are a dime a dozen and it wasn't a pressing need with BJGE and Woodhead already on the roster. If BB didn't see either of them contributing much this year, he couldve waited to draft RBs.

I loved the RB selections and think next year the Pats will have a dynamic running game. The OL continues to improve and I think Ridley and Vereen will be superb.

3a) Ryan Mallet - didnt see the field at all. Looks like the 3rd string QB at this point as Hoyer is supposedly decent. I wasnt a Mallet fan in College and thought his attitude was very Jay Cutler-ish. Might not get a snap for another 4 years if Brady can stay healthy.

And that's ok with me. Rodgers waited 4 years. Steve Young waited a long time. Not saying Mallet is either Rodgers or Young, but as a 3rd round pick, there's no problem holding on to him and grooming him for a few years. He'll be, what, 26-27 or so when he takes the reins?