VJCPatriot
Pro Bowl Player
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- Apr 28, 2006
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I know it's way early for draft grades but there is no denying that the youngsters taken from the 2009/2010 draft are making an impact in this season's edition of the 2010 Pats. Lets review the hits, misses, and incomplete grades.
2009 Draft Class:
Round 2A S Patrick Chung - Has really stepped up his game this season and is a leader on the defense. Physical player, supports the run game well. He's a keeper. Great pick. I remember the debate on whether to take Delmas or not, I was in favor of Chung because he was a true SS. Looks like the Pats picked wisely. A.
Round 2B DT/DE Ron Brace - Initially declared widely as a bust by most knee-jerk reactionists after a forgettable rookie campaign, Brace has figured more and more into the Pats DL rotations and appears to be a solid guy who has helped make up for the loss of Ty Warren to injury. B.
Round 2C CB Darius Butler - Showed flashes of promises his rookie year. Struggling in his second season. Grade - Incomplete.
Round 2D T Sebastian Vollmer - Showed what a beast he could be his rookie season before tapering off a bit. Having a solid second season and shaping up to be the Pats future LT or RT for a long to come. A.
Round 3 WR Brandon Tate - Rookie campaign was nonexistent due to injury. Second year has shown brilliance in the kick return game at times but has not shown much at the WR position outside of one great hookup with Brady on a broken play. Needs to improve more in the passing game, particularly since we took him over Mike Wallace. C+.
Round 3 LB Tyrone McKenzie - never got it going after initial injury in TC. He's washed out of the league now. D.
Round 4-6 Orhnberger, Bussey, Ingram - Washed out. Ingram had promise his rookie season but suffered intolerable regressions in year 2. D.
6th rounder DT Myron Pryor is still with the team though and getting rotation minutes. That says something. C+.
Round 7 WR Julian Edelman. Showed promise his rookie season filling in for Welker. Hasn't had much chance to show anything now that Welker is back. By all accounts teammates like him though. Nice but how about showing that on gameday? Grade - Incomplete.
2010 Draft Class:
Round 1. CB Devin McCourty. Widely vilified pick on draft day. A kid who I believed had all the tools to be a starting corner and has the same size as Ty Law. Too much was made of his ST abilities. I think fans were thinking this was Ted Ginn redux when that is far from the case. Filled in immediately the starting vacancy left by Bodden's unexpected season ending injury and having one of the finest rookie seasons by a CB in Pats history. Brilliant seeing eye pick by BB. Without McCourty our secondary is sunk this season. As usual BB even squeezed extra pick value by trading down to draft DMac. Have I mentioned that he looks way better than Kyle Wilson? A+.
Round 2A. TE Rob Gronkowski. A solid all around tight end with great size, blocking, athleticism, and hands. Has the potential to be nearly as good as Coates receiving and nearly as good as Graham blocking. Really an ideal combo TE pick. A.
Round 2B. OLB Jermaine Cunningham. He has continued to improve his game and had a game altering pressure on Peyton Manning that forced an interception to seal the game. Still he needs to show me more before I make up my mind about him. At least he is not being highlighted for 'bad plays' which is a good thing. Grade - Incomplete.
Round 2C. ILB Brandon Spikes. Spikes has brought an attitude and a big stick to the interior of the Pats D, allowing Mayo to freelance and make more plays. He also brings leadership to the D and calls plays. This helps the Pats to one of the better young ILB tandems in the entire NFL and has made them a better tackling team up the middle. B+.
Round 3. WR Taylor Price. Really hasn't shown anything. Can't even get on the field since he's been inactive. Grade - Incomplete.
Round 4. TE Aaron Hernandez. He was really a steal in the 4th round and creates mismatches wherever you line him up. Seems good for at least one big play per game. Him and Gronkowski make for the best young TE duo in the NFL right now. Needs to improve in the blocking game. B+.
Round 5. P Zoltan Mesko. A huge upgrade over Hanson who I'd liked to have seen gone years ago. Booming leg strength, has shown the ability to snare errant snaps and make a punt where there otherwise would have been a block. Doing just about as much as you can expect from a rookie punter. Really like this pick for our field position game but he's still a punter and has room to improve. B+.
Round 6-7. Are any of these guys with us except for Brandon Deaderick? Well there you go. D.
So if you count it up what have we got out of the last two drafts?
On offense:
Vollmer A, Gronk A, Hernandez B+, Tate C+, Edelman and Price Incomplete.
On defense:
McCourty A+, Chung A, Spikes B+, Brace B, Pryor C+, Cunningham and Butler Incomplete.
On ST:
Zoltan Mesko B+.
That's 8 solid to excellent young players added to this Pats team over the past 2 years with a few more still waiting or on the way to proving themselves. I'd say that's a pretty good haul. The 2009/2010 drafts are bearing fruit and have a direct correlation to the Pats high level of success this season. Kudos to BB and the Pats scouting staff. We might have lost Pioli but it doesn't look like BB has lost his touch.
2009 Draft Class:
Round 2A S Patrick Chung - Has really stepped up his game this season and is a leader on the defense. Physical player, supports the run game well. He's a keeper. Great pick. I remember the debate on whether to take Delmas or not, I was in favor of Chung because he was a true SS. Looks like the Pats picked wisely. A.
Round 2B DT/DE Ron Brace - Initially declared widely as a bust by most knee-jerk reactionists after a forgettable rookie campaign, Brace has figured more and more into the Pats DL rotations and appears to be a solid guy who has helped make up for the loss of Ty Warren to injury. B.
Round 2C CB Darius Butler - Showed flashes of promises his rookie year. Struggling in his second season. Grade - Incomplete.
Round 2D T Sebastian Vollmer - Showed what a beast he could be his rookie season before tapering off a bit. Having a solid second season and shaping up to be the Pats future LT or RT for a long to come. A.
Round 3 WR Brandon Tate - Rookie campaign was nonexistent due to injury. Second year has shown brilliance in the kick return game at times but has not shown much at the WR position outside of one great hookup with Brady on a broken play. Needs to improve more in the passing game, particularly since we took him over Mike Wallace. C+.
Round 3 LB Tyrone McKenzie - never got it going after initial injury in TC. He's washed out of the league now. D.
Round 4-6 Orhnberger, Bussey, Ingram - Washed out. Ingram had promise his rookie season but suffered intolerable regressions in year 2. D.
6th rounder DT Myron Pryor is still with the team though and getting rotation minutes. That says something. C+.
Round 7 WR Julian Edelman. Showed promise his rookie season filling in for Welker. Hasn't had much chance to show anything now that Welker is back. By all accounts teammates like him though. Nice but how about showing that on gameday? Grade - Incomplete.
2010 Draft Class:
Round 1. CB Devin McCourty. Widely vilified pick on draft day. A kid who I believed had all the tools to be a starting corner and has the same size as Ty Law. Too much was made of his ST abilities. I think fans were thinking this was Ted Ginn redux when that is far from the case. Filled in immediately the starting vacancy left by Bodden's unexpected season ending injury and having one of the finest rookie seasons by a CB in Pats history. Brilliant seeing eye pick by BB. Without McCourty our secondary is sunk this season. As usual BB even squeezed extra pick value by trading down to draft DMac. Have I mentioned that he looks way better than Kyle Wilson? A+.
Round 2A. TE Rob Gronkowski. A solid all around tight end with great size, blocking, athleticism, and hands. Has the potential to be nearly as good as Coates receiving and nearly as good as Graham blocking. Really an ideal combo TE pick. A.
Round 2B. OLB Jermaine Cunningham. He has continued to improve his game and had a game altering pressure on Peyton Manning that forced an interception to seal the game. Still he needs to show me more before I make up my mind about him. At least he is not being highlighted for 'bad plays' which is a good thing. Grade - Incomplete.
Round 2C. ILB Brandon Spikes. Spikes has brought an attitude and a big stick to the interior of the Pats D, allowing Mayo to freelance and make more plays. He also brings leadership to the D and calls plays. This helps the Pats to one of the better young ILB tandems in the entire NFL and has made them a better tackling team up the middle. B+.
Round 3. WR Taylor Price. Really hasn't shown anything. Can't even get on the field since he's been inactive. Grade - Incomplete.
Round 4. TE Aaron Hernandez. He was really a steal in the 4th round and creates mismatches wherever you line him up. Seems good for at least one big play per game. Him and Gronkowski make for the best young TE duo in the NFL right now. Needs to improve in the blocking game. B+.
Round 5. P Zoltan Mesko. A huge upgrade over Hanson who I'd liked to have seen gone years ago. Booming leg strength, has shown the ability to snare errant snaps and make a punt where there otherwise would have been a block. Doing just about as much as you can expect from a rookie punter. Really like this pick for our field position game but he's still a punter and has room to improve. B+.
Round 6-7. Are any of these guys with us except for Brandon Deaderick? Well there you go. D.
So if you count it up what have we got out of the last two drafts?
On offense:
Vollmer A, Gronk A, Hernandez B+, Tate C+, Edelman and Price Incomplete.
On defense:
McCourty A+, Chung A, Spikes B+, Brace B, Pryor C+, Cunningham and Butler Incomplete.
On ST:
Zoltan Mesko B+.
That's 8 solid to excellent young players added to this Pats team over the past 2 years with a few more still waiting or on the way to proving themselves. I'd say that's a pretty good haul. The 2009/2010 drafts are bearing fruit and have a direct correlation to the Pats high level of success this season. Kudos to BB and the Pats scouting staff. We might have lost Pioli but it doesn't look like BB has lost his touch.