OT: Charles Woodson almost a Patriot in the 98 draft?

[Joey007]

Interesting nugget I found while watching a 98 draft rerun on YouTube.

Go to the 32:00 mark. Sounds like Kraft and co. were highly considering in trading up to the 4 spot with the Raiders for Woodson.

Could you have imagined Woodson AND Law as a CB duo, with Lawyer at safety? Mercy.

 

[signbabybrady]

For context we took Robert Edwards and Tebucky Jones instead of the trade.

Imagine Law and Woodson together.

But then we'd never get Salty Woodson over tuck play.

 

[jboston19]

Ah, good, another “what-if” to ponder from my youth. Ah, well, at least this regret of not doing isn’t mine this time.

 

[borisman]

I’m still sore about the’83 draft and you want to spring this on me?!
Edit: this Bruins game is crazy!!!! 1-1 right now

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Too bad for woodson

 

[Grogan14]

Pats had 2 1sts and 2 2nd rounders that year... the 2 2nd rounders were Tod Rutledge and Tony Simmons.
They literally could have traded both firsts and both 2nd rounders to move up to 4 for Woodson and it would have been a great trade.

Also the pick before Tebucky Jones was none other than Randy Moss.

 

[signbabybrady]

Pats had 2 1sts and 2 2nd rounders that year... the 2 2nd rounders were Tod Rutledge and Tony Simmons.
They literally could have traded both firsts and both 2nd rounders to move up to 4 for Woodson and it would have been a great trade.

Also the pick before Tebucky Jones was none other than Randy Moss.

Does Charles wind up on that same beach though?

 

[jmt57]

I’m still sore about the’83 draft and you want to spring this on me?!
Edit: this Bruins game is crazy!!!! 1-1 right now

or

Yeah, what if.



Now fast forward two years to the 1985 draft.

Patriots owned the #16 draft slot. In '84 Ron Meyer was fired, replaced by Raymond Berry, and Eason had taken over the starting QB duties from Steve Grogan after a 4-pick week 2 performance at Miami and an 0-4, 1-pick, 3-sack start the following week against Seattle.

What should the Pats do with that first round selection?

New England trades down with the 49ers, sending their fisrt (1.16) and third (3.75) to San Francisco for the last picks of the first (1.28), second (2.56) and third (3.84) rounds.

First of all, that's not very good trade value at all, in exchange for moving twelve spots in the first round.

Secondly, the Pats used their picks on three guys who would combine for a total of just twelve starts in a Patriots uniform. The top pick was used on a center of all positions - and he couldn't crack the starting lineup, so he became a long snapper (Trevor Matich).

The other two picks were used on DE Ben Thomas (shipped out after a year and a half) and CB Audray McMillian (waived at the end of training camp.

But the real kicker was who the 49ers drafted with the Patriots #16 pick:

 

[Triumph]

Could not afford them both.

 

[Force Zero Boomer]

Pats had 2 1sts and 2 2nd rounders that year... the 2 2nd rounders were Tod Rutledge and Tony Simmons.
They literally could have traded both firsts and both 2nd rounders to move up to 4 for Woodson and it would have been a great trade.

Also the pick before Tebucky Jones was none other than Randy Moss.

I wonder if there have been a lot of high 1st round players like that, meaning, if someone had just bet the farm with a handful of picks, the player gained far outweighed the combined value of those picks given. I can't think of any at the moment, but my point is that if you've got a "generational talent" you want at pick 1-5 but you're thinking the cost is too high, maybe it's not.

 

[Force Zero Boomer]

Does Charles wind up on that same beach though?

TOO SOON

 

[signbabybrady]

Could not afford them both.

You wouldn't have had to Give Woodson his second contract for several years but yes they would have overlapped at some point. And with Drew's contract and given how the Milloy stuff went down this certainly would have been difficult. Possibly could have meant no Rodney and still cutting Milloy or who knows what.

On the flip side if you managed to make it work you'd have the perfect replacement for Ty when we did let him go.

But I'm good with how those years played out lol so that makes this more of just a fun/interesting thought than anything regretful.

 

[signbabybrady]

TOO SOON

Haha the kid in me still wonders what if but just like my previous post nothing to regret about what followed.

 

[Joey007]

Pats had 2 1sts and 2 2nd rounders that year... the 2 2nd rounders were Tod Rutledge and Tony Simmons.
They literally could have traded both firsts and both 2nd rounders to move up to 4 for Woodson and it would have been a great trade.

Also the pick before Tebucky Jones was none other than Randy Moss.

F'in Grier.

 

[ahmed]

Looking at Woodson in street clothes, you would never think he was as great as he was. So nice and unassuming.

I can't think of another great defensive player that gives off the same harmless good guy vibe ever - at least nobody anywhere as hood as Woodson was.

 

[Joey007]

Could not afford them both.

With these hypotheticals, you really end up diving deep into a ripple effect of scenarios.

We draft Woodson, do we ever bring in an Otis Smith? Maybe some other vets brought in early in BB's run like Pleasant, Hamilton, Rodney, wind up not getting signed. Maybe that overall loss doesn't equal a net benefit to the entire defense.

Either way, the team likely either moves off of one of Woodson/Law, or it comes at the price of not bringing in other pieces of a Super Bowl defense.