"Top 30 pick before the injury"

[Huckleberry1]

i guess my point is we should never say "top 10 pick" before such and such... because it changes so much during the course of the NCAA season and the Combine/ProDays... Look at Teddy Bridgewater too.

Bridgewater was a consensus Top 3 pick, and the #1 QB until his Pro Day. Then he slipped almost to the 2nd rd.

While I agree with you in that it really doesn't matter what Kiper et al thought of him prior to the injury it does matter how the Patriots rated him, and my guess would be that they had him as one of the best DL available in this class prior to getting injured and decided that he was worth taking despite it because he has talent they wouldn't have been able to get where they always pick at the end of every round had he not been injured. The Patriots track all prospects for years, they don't wait until they are going to be eligible, so they have had a good read on Easely for 3 or more years.