So how do you grade this year’s draft?

[Toofy]

Only question I have is are there any other reaches by other teams in first and second round outside of what we did.

Strange is 3rd round and Thornton is 3rd /4th round. Probably could have traded down to 40 , taken strange with 40 and got an extra 90 pick( 29 = 40 + 90) to trade up to 70s and 50s and take Travis Jones/ nakobe dean ( 54 + 158 + 90 = 70 + 50 ) in addition to what we have in Thornton . That would have made the draft much more better .

I just think we missed out in getting value for that . Again I could be made to eat crow if strange performs like a pro bowler , but really doubt any other team had a grade in late 30s on him . We just seemed to overthink similar to how we traded up to get asiasi and Keene or for that matter joejuan.

I think you do reaches on 3rd and 4th rounds not in 1st and 2nd.

 

[Zuma]

I did the wacky A+++++ earlier but I am very very happy with our offense....every position. On the other hand I have real problems with our run D...we didn't really address it in the draft and I thought DT/NT would have been our 1st or even possibly 2nd pick. I do think we are signing Flowers and a contract has been agreed upon...but there are concerns about run D. 34 year old Hicks won't get it done.

 

[VJCPatriot]

No, they don't give a a **** what the 'league consensus' is because 75-90 percent of the people working in the NFL are straight out idiots. 'League consensus doesn't know crap about what the Pats want or need in a player or how they plan to use the players they do draft.

Well that's the main part of the draft that people don't seem to get here. The consensus value. It goes all the way back to the fundamental nature of the draft.

The draft for lack of better way to put it is like an open house auction for NFL talent. It's a once per year event where NFL teams bid with draft picks that have values. And they can trade with one another and split those values, all in the hunt for one thing NFL talent.

Here is one of the trade value charts, we'll refer to for reference.

2026 NFL Trade Value Chart | Drafttek

So according to this chart the Patriots start the day with this much value in the first 3 rounds - pick 21 800 pts, pick 54 - 360 pts, pick 85 - 165 points, etc.

These draft picks are the CURRENCY that each team uses to bid and acquire NFL prospects onto their teams.

Now one of BB's better traits as a GM is his ability to move up and down in the draft usually acquiring more pick currency in the process.

For example in this year's draft, BB moved down from pick 21 worth 800 points and acquired pick 29 640 pts, pick 94 124 points, and pick 121 - 52 points for a total of 816 points. So BB gained 16 points of value by trading back in the 1st round. He 'won' the trade by acquiring more pick currency than he started with.

Now here comes the vital part, when you play the draft game, you are betting your currency that player X will last until the currency you are willing to spend/bid on him.

In this year's draft, BB felt that Strange would not last until the 640 point mark aka pick #29. So he put in his bid and spent his pick currency for Strange at that point in the draft. But what happens if he is aware that the draft odds calculator gives a 93% chance that Strange lasts until pick 54 which is only worth 360 points and because of the league consensus on Strange's value around round 3 he knows Strange also likely won't go until then? The top pick of Round 3 is worth 265 points.

Well then BB can generate more value by waiting or splitting his value. By spending his pick currency to draft other players that the team needs before bidding on Strange.

So just for this example, let's say the Patriots have a good feel for the consensus that Strange won't be taken until round 3 at earliest [265 points] and similarly Travis Jones a DT who fills a need also won't be taken until round 3 at earliest [265 points], BB can split his draft capital of 640 points for pick #29 into two by moving down and then draft BOTH Strange and Travis Jones.

And that's the value of knowing the consensus, you don't use it to pick your own players, you use it to know when you can snatch value and pick your own players AHEAD of other teams, but not OVERPAY so that you can maximize your draft currency to add the most talented players possible to your team.

In other words when you REACH on a player in a draft, it's not just at the expense of the player that you took, but the pick currency you LOST that you could have spent on another player in addition to him if you had waited.

 

[Toofy]

Well that's the main part of the draft that people don't seem to get here. The consensus value. It goes all the way back to the fundamental nature of the draft.

The draft for lack of better way to put it is like an open house auction for NFL talent. It's a once per year event where NFL teams bid with draft picks that have values. And they can trade with one another and split those values, all in the hunt for one thing NFL talent.

Here is one of the trade value charts, we'll refer to for reference.

2026 NFL Trade Value Chart | Drafttek

So according to this chart the Patriots start the day with this much value in the first 3 rounds - pick 21 800 pts, pick 54 - 360 pts, pick 85 - 165 points, etc.

These draft picks are the CURRENCY that each team uses to bid and acquire NFL prospects onto their teams.

Now one of BB's better traits as a GM is his ability to move up and down in the draft usually acquiring more pick currency in the process.

For example in this year's draft, BB moved down from pick 21 worth 800 points and acquired pick 29 640 pts, pick 94 124 points, and pick 121 - 52 points for a total of 816 points. So BB gained 16 points of value by trading back in the 1st round. He 'won' the trade by acquiring more pick currency than he started with.

Now here comes the vital part, when you play the draft game, you are betting your currency that player X will last until the currency you are willing to spend/bid on him.

In this year's draft, BB felt that Strange would not last until the 640 point mark aka pick #29. So he put in his bid and spent his pick currency for Strange at that point in the draft. But what happens if he is aware that the draft odds calculator gives a 93% chance that Strange lasts until pick 54 which is only worth 360 points and because of the league consensus on Strange's value around round 3 he knows Strange also likely won't go until then? The top pick of Round 3 is worth 265 points.

Well then BB can generate more value by waiting or splitting his value. By spending his pick currency to draft other players that the team needs before bidding on Strange.

So just for this example, let's say the Patriots have a good feel for the consensus that Strange won't be taken until round 3 at earliest [265 points] and similarly Travis Jones a DT who fills a need also won't be taken until round 3 at earliest [265 points], BB can split his draft capital of 640 points for pick #29 into two by moving down and then draft BOTH Strange and Travis Jones.

And that's the value of knowing the consensus, you don't use it to pick your own players, you use it to know when you can snatch value and pick your own players AHEAD of other teams, but not OVERPAY so that you can maximize your draft currency to add the most talented players possible to your team.

Exactly my point as well. I just made the same point earlier. We could have Travis Jones and Cole strange by just trading down and getting both.

 

[yukon cornelius]

Oh you know... just the coach of the defending Super Bowl Champion LA Rams. But surely he doesn't know a lick about football. Cos it's Belichick, how could he possibly be wrong?

BTW Sean McVay later apologized for laughing at BB's reach on Cole Strange, but I don't think he needed to. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. The Rams just had a far lower valuation of Cole Strange than the Patriots did.

Article:

'Don't Mess With Bill': Rams Coach Sean McVay Calls Belichick, Apologizes for 'Strange' Laugh at Patriots

It's not nice to make fun of Bill Belichick. And it's usually not smart, either.

www.si.com

Actually they had a high grade on him….they thought they were alone in that regard and were going to be able to sneak him through

 

[Nunchucks]

I would not count on Flowers, even if he did sign with the patriots, he has been hurt and ineffective for a few years in a row.

 

[upstater1]

Exactly my point as well. I just made the same point earlier. We could have Travis Jones and Cole strange by just trading down and getting both.

They had plenty of opportunity to get Jones. Jones dropped into the mid to late 3rd round. If they wanted him, it would've been easy as pie. They had a ton of ammunition. Heck, trade the 3rd and the Harris pick, you've got Jones! Obviously, they didn't want him.

 

[Zuma]

I would not count on Flowers, even if he did sign with the patriots, he has been hurt and ineffective for a few years in a row.

Ineffective in ""Detroit"" and everyone gets injuries. You have valid points but I see this as similar to Collins coming back the 1st time. He will still only be 29 yrs old.

 

[Schmo]

I grade it an F..... as in, "What the F do I know?"

 

[50-yard-line]

A lot of the same people (including me) who say “wait and see” would have given last year’s draft an A before it ended.

I’ve thought about this a lot in terms of simple human nature. There really aren’t many people here like BCG, who watch college all year and put in weeks of work on the draft. For the rest of us, it’s highlight reels, maybe a couple of games, and the opinions of others.

And here’s the kicker: every time you do a mock draft, you’re locking into a pattern that is nothing more than a wild prediction as if it’s fact. For me, it means “I know,” but really I don’t.

So if I’m getting Cole in the 3rd repeatedly, I think that’s where he belongs. But that’s not reality.

Same with getting familiar with names. Makes you want them more.

The exercise becomes a pattern - many will even use the draft boards, when there’s a choice, that best fits the most pleasing pattern.

I give the draft a ?

If I had to throw out a grade, it would be a D.

Of course they could have had Strange in the 3rd! I did almost every time!

Thornton??? Who??? Sky Moore was there! I know that name! (I haven’t seen either play, other than selected tapes.)

They could have had Dax Hill! Again, a name I know. He’s McCourty’s replacement! (In someone else’s opinion), as I really have no idea.

Last year, I knew and had mocked many of their picks - A+!

A few years ago, they picked a couple of guys from Rutgers and everyone here scoffed.

Ryan and Harmon were pretty damned good - still are.

So, not the draft I wanted. Jones/Booth/best IOL left would have been my picks.

Now I hope it’s revealed that they know better than I.

One last thing McVay should be ashamed of himself - however he felt, he insulted a player without cause.

Also, 104 was the Rams FIRST pick.

 

[Zuma]

“I If I had to throw out a grade, it would be a D.

 

[50-yard-line]

Cutting out the reasons was cheap, because those reasons show why my grade is irrelevant to the reality.

 

[Pats2000]

Here is what I would have done differently

1. pick Dax Hill at 29 as a CB, instead of Strange
2. pick Troy Andersen LB instead of Thornton
3. Marcus Jones pick was fine
4. Calvin Austen instead of Jack Jones
5. Pierre Strong good pick
6. Chris Oladokun instead of Zappe
7. Kevin Harris fine
8. Bo Melton or Dareka Young instead of Chasen Hines
9. stueberr OK


ridiculous picks- Thornton and Jack Jones and Zappe F--------
Marcius Jone B+
Pierre Strong A-
Kevin Harris B+

It's a good thing you've been hired by one of the 32 teams to help with their draft board then

 

[Sfpat]

No, they don't give a a **** what the 'league consensus' is because 75-90 percent of the people working in the NFL are straight out idiots. 'League consensus doesn't know crap about what the Pats want or need in a player or how they plan to use the players they do draft.

Can someone provide a link to the league concensus because I have never seen one. I've seen sportswriter and internet poster concensus but never a league wide one.

 

[Sfpat]

Actually they had a high grade on him….they thought they were alone in that regard and were going to be able to sneak him through

And also their first pick was 104. They were hoping other teams would follow the "concensus"

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I was there. The Pats were successful at times in every decade of their existence. If not for the Ben Dreith steal in 76 the Pats would have gone to a SB in every decade until the 2020's, which just started, and won their first almost a half century ago. The laughing stock angle is something that fans started to believe after hearing it so often. I'm waiting for @Actual Pats Fan to come out with his book to set the record straight on that.

They were, that is true, but they were laughingstocks at times too. Too often even success was a matter of squeeking into a first round or wild card and losing there. The mid-late 70s were a continuous story of underachievement - legit stacked teams that just couldn't put it all together. And yes, of course, there was the whole Dreith Vader thing... when he died last May, this was the headline:

God Strikes Down NFL Referee Ben Dreith, Whose Terrible Calls 44 Years Ago Haunted Generations of New Englanders

Local Boston media had their own agenda. Patriots=laughingstock. Mission Accomplished.

The fact that 20 or more other NFL franchises better fit the label is mentioned less than the possibility that Drew Bledsoe wasn't that good after all.

What should be my working title?

The New England Patriots And The False Laughingstock Narrative

A History Of Prejudice Against The New England Patriots

To Local Boston Media: It's Not My Fault You Suck

The New England Patriots' Opponents, The NFL And The Media Are All Full Of Sh*t

Corruption, Racketeering, Fraud & Villainy: The Cornerstones Of Roger Goodell And The National Football League

The New England Patriots Are The Real America's Team


Looks like I may have to publish multiple volumes. I better get to work.

I do two volumes in a given draft post. Call me.

 

[Sfpat]

Exactly my point as well. I just made the same point earlier. We could have Travis Jones and Cole strange by just trading down and getting both.

Cole would have been taken by Tampa at 33 as they needed a guard. BB knew the "league" concensus, could care less about the internet concensus.

 

[Toofy]

Cole would have been taken by Tampa at 33 as they needed a guard. BB knew the "league" concensus, could care less about the internet concensus.

Is that a planted rumor. I didn't see any reaches by any teams in first 2 rounds. Majority of it veered by script .

 

[venecol]

Cole would have been taken by Tampa at 33 as they needed a guard. BB knew the "league" concensus, could care less about the internet concensus.

Bowles said they only had 4 or 5 players on their Board at #27, and when they saw they could still land one of them they dropped back to #33 to take Logan Hall. They then used 1 of the 2 addt'l picks to move up 3 spots in the 2nd RD to pick their Guard (Goedeke). That was better value all around since they avoided the Rd #1 cap surcharge, yet got a good DL + G in the 2nd Rd. So, no TB wasn't picking Strange at #33.

 

[venecol]

Pats draft ranked #30, ahead of LA & MIA, both of which didn't have a pick until 3rd round (>100).