Patriots biggest draft blunder in the last 5 years?

[Brady6]

Dowling had an injury history longer than my arm, Gronk hadn't been nearly as damaged.

Dowling actually had 1 injury of note in college as did Gronkowski. Dowling was slated as a late first –second round draft pick, we took him where he was set to go and I would bet a hefty sum that had we selected Williams or another player the Bills would have taken Dowling at #34, unfortunately it was a bad draft pick that didn’t work out, nobody is to blame any player can go out on any given Sunday and suffer a career altering or ending injury.

 

[Brady6]

So true. Tavon Wilson was bad but at least he got a few INT's and actually saw the field.

I think it’s hysterical that everyone picks Tavon Wilson – Wilson has 43 career tackles/ Wilson also has 43 more tackles in his career than Jake Bequette.

I get it guys you forgot he was on the team but Jake Bequette is on this squad and is yet to register a single stat in nearly 2 seasons, so when you’re dogging Wilson remember he had 41 tackles, 4 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries and 6 pass defends last season, and Jake Bequette had 0 across the board.

 

[patsinthesnow]

So, that's Aaron Williams, who the Bills had no faith in and ended up picking another cornerback in the first round the year after to replace him with, and who is now playing Safety, and a player that every one of the 32 teams passed over at least four times, who would have gone in the top 10 had they realised how good he would be.

Also, why haven't you mentioned Marcus Gilchrist, Brandon Harris, Chris 'toasted in the SB' Culliver, DeMarcus Van Dyke, Johnny Patrick, Shareece Wright, Curtis Marsh, Curtis Brown, Brandon Hogan, Da'Norris Searcy, Chimdi Chekwa, Jalil Brown, Rashad Carmichael, Cortez Allen, Davon House, Buster Skrine, Brandon Burton, Josh Thomas or Rod Isaac?

That's the list of CB's taken between Williams and Sherman. That's a whole lot of sucktitude too. But hey, EVERYONE drafts better than the Pats, right?

Dang, CBs are so hard to draft. All the first round CBs this year have looked mediocre to horrid. (Milliner, Hayden, Trufant, etc)

How about us landing arguably the best CB in the 2012 draft and a 1st rounder in a redraft in Alfonzo Dennard? I bet the Cowboys wish they took him 5th overall instead of Claiborne.

 

[captain stone]

And your reaction to the Harmon pick?

My reaction was bad, no doubt, though not on the level of my reaction to the Wilson pick.

If Bill liked Harmon so much, then he might have been able to package his 3 (at the time)
7th-rounders for a 6th-rounder, where Harmon would likely have still been available.

Bill's gotta do a better job of hiding his affinity for off-the-radar guys like Slater, Wilson,
Ebner & Harmon, and not go all-in drafting them way earlier than their talent warrants.
That's just not good Draft Poker gamesmanship.

 

[TonyTucker]

Haha, I always forget about Bequette. He's in a class all by himself.

 

[hwc]

The Aaron Hernandez debacle is long from over with multiple murder trials in our future. He is, without a doubt, the worst pick ever.

We don't know how the 2013 season will play out, but as of this moment, I have huge admiration for the coaches and the players - especially Gronk - for moving on and playing so well after the mayhem created by Hernandez. His behavior would destroy many teams in the NFL. Our guys deserve a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for what they have done after all that they have been through.

Completely agree on both points. Obviously, in hindsight, Hernandez has to be the worst draft pick in the history of the NFL. Nothing says "bust" quite like "serial killer"...

Also agree that it is remarkable how well Belichick has held this team together. That off-season shocker would have blown apart most NFL franchises. And, it's not over yet. The cap damage is serious and lasting. But, as Belichick would say, "it is what it is".

 

[manxman2601]

Dang, CBs are so hard to draft. All the first round CBs this year have looked mediocre to horrid. (Milliner, Hayden, Trufant, etc)

How about us landing arguably the best CB in the 2012 draft and a 1st rounder in a redraft in Alfonzo Dennard? I bet the Cowboys wish they took him 5th overall instead of Claiborne.

I wonder if Claiborne would do better in our system. I don't know what his troubles are in Dallas but I wonder if he could be had for a mid-rounder and turned around. Guy has the man cover skills and decent size/athleticism combination.

 

[supafly]

I wonder if Claiborne would do better in our system. I don't know what his troubles are in Dallas but I wonder if he could be had for a mid-rounder and turned around. Guy has the man cover skills and decent size/athleticism combination.

Since my wife is an avid Cboys fan and supports my Patriots like a trooper, I do my best to show the same respect for her. That means being stuck watching DAL many times throughout the year (I subscribe to the Sunday Ticket package for us, as we both have dedication to out of market teams).

It seems to me that Claiborne lacks something...but I just can't put my finger on it. I don't know if it's simply intelligence, or whether it's drive/motivation, hard work, or what? Either way you look at it, he has been a pretty big underachiever for them in many ways. Unreliable, oft-injured, and just consistently inconsistent (if that makes any sense).

I would think that if he's struggling so badly in their system, he wouldn't be doing any better in ours. The pro football focus rankings that I recently saw had him stated as the 95th ranked CB out of approximately 110 or so. I'm not sure he'd be the guy that we'd want, although your drafting expertise is leagues above mine. I'm just telling you what I see watching their games.

 

[supafly]

I'm sure that someone else likely has brought it up earlier in the thread, but if I really had to choose I would say:

Ron Brace

I know that some better defensive minded posters may disagree with me here, but I just never felt that he was a good selection.

Understanding that hindsight is 20/20, why the hell did we release Barry Cofield again? Imagine having Cofield on the team still...

 

[jsull87]

Aaron Williams went with the next pick and Richard Sherman went 2 rounds later.

I don't really consider Williams a good corner as he has been in and out of starting for the bills and has now been moved to safety.

Sherman I will give you, I missed him on that cb list.

Sherman and Williams being the only 2 ok NFL talent still IMO proves my point of not a lot of DB talent after Ras-I.

But as is said he is definitely a miss here in 20-20 hind sight

 

[jsull87]

Dowling had an injury history longer than my arm, Gronk hadn't been nearly as damaged.

hadn't gronk just missed an entire season due to back surgery?

That to me is more of a red flag than missing games due to hip/hamstring e.t.c

Once again. I don't want to turn this into another pessamists vs optamists argument. I agree we missed on Ras-I. I was just pointing out that they were DB needy and IMO the only NFL talented DB left on the board was picked in the 4th round Richard Sherman.

RE Brady 6 and Williams, look maybe your point about equating his move to McCourty is buyable. Except he wasn't even starting at CB for the bills he was more of a slot guy 3rd/4th CB before that. Better than Ras-I? yep. Would we still cll him a bust with the 33rd draft pick? you can bet your house the people on this board would.

 

[jsull87]

I think it’s hysterical that everyone picks Tavon Wilson – Wilson has 43 career tackles/ Wilson also has 43 more tackles in his career than Jake Bequette.

I get it guys you forgot he was on the team but Jake Bequette is on this squad and is yet to register a single stat in nearly 2 seasons, so when you’re dogging Wilson remember he had 41 tackles, 4 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries and 6 pass defends last season, and Jake Bequette had 0 across the board.

Jake Bequette is a perfect example why I don't trust any draft day reactions.

Everyone was anti Wilson and pro bequette. He has yet to contribute at all as a patriot.

 

[rsd]

Hey guys, am I too late for the chicken little ***********?

Ok in all seriousness, there is no doubt patriots have missed on some draft picks (like all teams). How come no one though mentions any UFDA's that contribute? Patriots must have one of the better track records of finding hidden gems late or outside of the draft (just from this year alone they got K.T, Ryan Allen, Vellano, Kline; in 2012 it included Brandon Bolden and a couple of guys that contributed a little like Justin Francis). To me I think the part that most people keep missing is that BB is not beholden to someone's draft status; he's only going to put the best players out there regardless of how they got there. He doesn't let any fear of cutting a draft pick or care if it shows he made a "wrong" pick. To me very few GMs/Coaches can do this, and it obviously comes with the security of being 100% supported by ownership.

 

[fumbrunner]

I am not trying to argue your point because what you’re saying is true the high risk, high reward picks sometimes work out and sometimes they don’t, I just disagree that these 2 players fall into that category, I think they were both drafted where their talent and production justified at the time of the draft and Gronkowski was a great pick and Dowling was a bad pick with risk having nothing to do with it. Also every player carries some level of risk. If you wanted to look at a pick that was high risk, high reward you’d look at Da'Quan Bowers who teams were scared off from due to his knees, they Bucs took him at 51 and if he was the player that some projected as the #1 pick overall leading up to the draft that would have been a huge reward, other players would be Janoris Jenkins or Bruce Irvin, those are high risk high reward players. Theses picks (Gronk/Dowling) they were just the right pick at the right time and unfortunately the Dowling one didn’t pan out, I don’t think Bill overdrafted Dowling or underdrafted Gronkowski I think sometimes picks do what you expect and other times they don’t.

Injury history does come affect draft position, along with talent and production. Gronk may have been a first round pick if not for his back issues.

WalterFootball.com: 2010 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Rob Gronkowski

interestingly Ras-i's injury history isnt reported here:
WalterFootball.com: 2011 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Ras-I Dowling

Regardless, I agree with you in that they were drafted where they were supposed to go. It was a weak CB class that year and BB picked the best available.

 

[Brady6]

Regardless, I agree with you in that they were drafted where they were supposed to go. It was a weak CB class that year and BB picked the best available.

Here is the thing about the Dowling selection it is the biggest blunder of the last 5 years but in the same way that you’re driving down the street hands at 10 and 2, seatbelt on, driving the speed limit and looking at the road with no distractions when all of a sudden a gust of wind blows a tree down in front of you and you hit it, the insurance company calls it a car accident and you’re responsible for you deductible. Obviously it is not your fault and there was no way to prevent against it other than not to drive your car that day but it still happen and the outcome is still the outcome. The selection of Dowling at 33 was actually an excellent choice; he was a 6’1 200 lb. cornerback who ran a 4.35 40 time and had very good college production, he missed some time in preseason as rookie but still did enough to be the starter on opening day and when he was out there in weeks 1 and 2 he was looking like a stud, then he suffered a hip injury and I am a firm believer that he was forever altered by that injury losing lateral and vertical movement that he will never be able to rebuild. The NFL consists of the greatest players in the NFL the slightest diminishment in your talent or ability is the difference between being a star and being a practice squad player and that’s what happened with Dowling in my opinion. I say this with confidence because not only was he released by us despite the need for quality secondary players and the large investment we had made in him but also because he is currently on the Jets practice squad and considered to be 100% healthy and he is unable to show enough for sexy to give him the bump to the 53 man roster despite the Jets being 24th in the NFL against the pass and the struggles of Dee Milliner.

 

[Brady6]

Jake Bequette is a perfect example why I don't trust any draft day reactions.

Everyone was anti Wilson and pro bequette. He has yet to contribute at all as a patriot.

Even more laughable than your Wilson/Bequette comparison is that there was wide speculation immediately after the draft that Bequette was going to be better than Chandler jones initially and that Bequette was a more NFL ready player.

 

[Rob0729]

I still don't get threads like this. Yes, the Pats have made some bad draft picks over the last five years, but have they been any worse than most other teams. You look at every teams' draft list over the last five years and most have some major disappointments or outright busts in the first two rounds.

I know this thread was started by a poster who can't get over drafting Cunningham over Carlos Dunlap. Which I don't get in the first place. Yes, Dunlap is much better than Cunningham ever was, but he is a good not great player. If you couldn't get over a draft pick, you should not get over missing on a stud not an above average players. Especially since if the Pats did draft Dunlap, they may not have drafted Chandler Jones who looks to be a stud in the waiting.

The draft is a crap shoot. We see as many busts in the top ten picks as we see in the bottom ten picks of the first round. The Pats do make a lot more picks that people scratch their heads when they make them than a lot of teams, but many of the teams who make the no brainers picks every draft miss just as much.

Just look at the Bengals. Every year they get an A the day after the draft and three years later these same drafts get an F. They have been much better in recent years, but they have had more misses than hits over the years doing the safe picks.

 

[Rob0729]

Jake Bequette is a perfect example why I don't trust any draft day reactions.

Everyone was anti Wilson and pro bequette. He has yet to contribute at all as a patriot.

You can look at a lot of the Pats' draft picks and see why draft day reactions are useless. Here are some I can think of off hand:

Ty Warren - The Pats overreacted because of a run on DT and with a guaranteed stud like Jimmy Kennedy was taken at 12, the Pats reached and traded up for Warren

Logan Mankins - The Pats reached to get a guard with 3rd round talent at the end of the first round

Deion Branch - A fourth round talent drafted in the second round

Chad Jackson - It is like the Pats got another first round pick in the second round

Devin McCourty - a special teamer who might turn into a good back up. Kyle Wilson will be a better player and he was still on the board.

Brandon Spikes - Too slow for the NFL. Bad fit for the Pats' system.

 

[stumeister]

You can look at a lot of the Pats' draft picks and see why draft day reactions are useless. Here are some I can think of off hand:

Ty Warren - The Pats overreacted because of a run on DT and with a guaranteed stud like Jimmy Kennedy was taken at 12, the Pats reached and traded up for Warren

Logan Mankins - The Pats reached to get a guard with 3rd round talent at the end of the first round

Deion Branch - A fourth round talent drafted in the second round

Chad Jackson - It is like the Pats got another first round pick in the second round

Devin McCourty - a special teamer who might turn into a good back up. Kyle Wilson will be a better player and he was still on the board.

Brandon Spikes - Too slow for the NFL. Bad fit for the Pats' system.

I understand what you are saying. Are you telling me that if the Patriots took an OL in the first round in any years draft and the draft god told you that the person drafted was going to have the career that Loagan Mankins has had you wouldn't make the pick in the first round?

 

[Ring 6]

I'm sure that someone else likely has brought it up earlier in the thread, but if I really had to choose I would say:

Ron Brace

I know that some better defensive minded posters may disagree with me here, but I just never felt that he was a good selection.

Understanding that hindsight is 20/20, why the hell did we release Barry Cofield again? Imagine having Cofield on the team still...

I don't really consider Brace a poor draft choice, but rather one that made sense but didn't work out.
There is simply no disputing that in the limited amount of time Brace saw the field he was a very effective player. We have no way of knowing what the issue is but Brace stands out to me as the single player in the BB era whose playing time least corresponded to how well he played when he did.
Based solely on what we saw when he was on the field in a game, he would have been a starter, and still be here.
There was something about this guy that got in the way. Who knows what it was, whether it was attitude, conditioning, psychological, medical, laziness, weight control, insubordination, or whatever it was, I don't expect anyone to be able to ferret that out in the draft process.