Perceived BB draft reaches prior to this year

[hambone1818]

I love reading about people's perceptions on what constitutes a 'reach' in the NFL draft. Just because a player was a bust doesn't make him a reach. Just because you didn't like a player, or thought someone else may have been a better selection, doesn't make him a reach.

There are legitimate 'reaches' - in the sense that most drafting sites had particular players going significantly lower than where the Patriots drafted them. But even then, didn't we read stories about multiple teams having Wilson as their next available safety with a 2nd round grade? I think people give Kiper and McShay and the scouting services too much credit...they do a phenomenal job with what they have, but NFL teams have more money and more data and more scouts dedicated to their draft boards, so a 'reach' like Wilson or Harmon may not be a 'reach', and seeing the names in this thread I think BB and the Pats actually have a decent track record on these 'reach' picks.

 

[mgteich]

Brace, the slowest player in the entire draft class was rated a 4th rounder, as I recall. HOWEVER, his he performed his role. He was Wilfork insurance.

Where was he rated?

 

[RayClay]

Brace, the slowest player in the entire draft class was rated a 4th rounder, as I recall. HOWEVER, his he performed his role. He was Wilfork insurance.

He was a disappointment, but this site had him projected at in the second.

Ron Brace | Boston College, DT : 2009 NFL Draft Scout Player Profile

I think people here just had him at another position.

 

[tonyto3690]

Ridley Mankins Seymour branch bruschi cradle vereen vollmer are the positive ones that come
To mind.

Maybe crable, Wilson, dowling a little, I can't honestly remember any bad ones further back


Maroney and merriweather were NOT reaches. They were busts not reaches.

That's a whole lot of really really really good positives.

 

[Brady2Moss]

No. People like you think that everyone is a reach and that Belichick just stinks. It's too bad that you're wrong and have been proven to be so.

Nope people like you ignore his track record in rounds 2-4 and then say Chung was a multi-year starter to continue living in a delusion-filled dream.

How is Chung that multi-year starter doing? Also how are those lombardis we "would" have won if Gronk was healthy. Because that totally counts. How is that playoff team Belichick led without Tom Brady in 2008. I mean any other year we "would" have made the playoffs, proving that BB does not need TB.

 

[Synovia]

Don't bother people do not want to acknowledge that when you reach usually the guys aren't very good. Belichick has hit on some he's missed on tons of others.

Most draft picks outside the first round are misses. For every team.


Wilfork, Mankins, Mayo, Seymour, etc, were all considered reaches at the time.


People need to remember, there are only 6 teams in the NFL that have their own scouting organizations. NE is one of them.


Almost 2/3 of the teams use the same group of scouts, so of course there''s going to be concensus between them.


Its funny though, because those 6 teams are always taking strange picks, and yet are perennially succesfull.

 

[Synovia]

Ridley Mankins Seymour branch bruschi cradle vereen vollmer are the positive ones that come
To mind.

Maybe crable, Wilson, dowling a little, I can't honestly remember any bad ones further back


Maroney and merriweather were NOT reaches. They were busts not reaches.

That's a whole lot of really really really good positives.

A late 1st rounder being a 3 year starter is not a bust. Pro-bowler shouldn't be the expectation here.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I'd say Ridley is a reach that has worked out just fine.

I recall one of our perpetual "Homer critics" absolutely foaming at the mouth, at the "wasted pick" of Steven Ridley...

 

[Stilla]

Most players are reaches.
Many draft boards rank the draft itself in terms of strength in relation to other drafts.
A 1st round WR this year is not relative to a first round WR from last year.
But in hind sight people attempt to conjointly place some sort of ranking upon those players.

Let them play.
Just because Brandon marshal wasn't worth that much to Miami doesn't mean the bears didn't get their moneys worth.

Any player selected is going into a new system. In the end they are all expected to fail in some aspect.