We see what we expect to see

[patchick]

Yesterday afternoon I threw my back out, so I spent the evening in bed on painkillers. This morning I woke up and said "OMG, the draft!!!" So I clicked over to Wikipedia's 2012 draft page, scrolled right down to #27 and #31, and saw the picks had been traded away.

"Wouldn't you know it," I said. "They traded out of the first round altogether."

It wasn't until a cup of coffee later when I finally bothered to scroll up.

 

[dryheat44]

Yesterday afternoon I threw my back out, so I spent the evening in bed on painkillers. This morning I woke up and said "OMG, the draft!!!" So I clicked over to Wikipedia's 2012 draft page, scrolled right down to #27 and #31, and saw the picks had been traded away.

"Wouldn't you know it," I said. "They traded out of the first round altogether."

It wasn't until a cup of coffee later when I finally bothered to scroll up.

With the trade up to take Chandler Jones, I think we can officially put to bed the notion that Belichick doesn't....

 

[Hebeill]

Yesterday afternoon I threw my back out, so I spent the evening in bed on painkillers. This morning I woke up and said "OMG, the draft!!!" So I clicked over to Wikipedia's 2012 draft page, scrolled right down to #27 and #31, and saw the picks had been traded away.

"Wouldn't you know it," I said. "They traded out of the first round altogether."

It wasn't until a cup of coffee later when I finally bothered to scroll up.

I didn't watch the draft figuring BB always trades down to take a DB. Go figure

 

[patchick]

With the trade up to take Chandler Jones, I think we can officially put to bed the notion that Belichick doesn't....

Yep, we pretty much crossed off the last remaining "doesn'ts." Although I'd argue that there's still one great big "doesn't" left: Belichick does NOT put all of his draft ammo in one basket.

Remember him counseling Dimitroff against the huge Julio Jones deal? And there was no blockbuster move to #13 for Brockers, as several folks here had dreamed of.

These were strategic, modest trades that put BB in position to make the most of the the value of his picks. In fact, the Jones pick looks very much like Rook's old "value grouping" theory. (Target a group of players you rank closely, make modest trades up or down to secure a player in that group.) We'll never know whether they would have taken Ingram, McClellin or Jones, given their druthers.

 

[Seneschal2]

Although I'd argue that there's still one great big "doesn't" left: Belichick does NOT put all of his draft ammo in one basket

Correct. BB only gave up a 3rd and 4th for these two tradeups, which is in line with the most he's ever given up -- a 3rd and 7th for Graham way back when. I actually think he may have had reservations about parting w/ even one second-rounder this draft, which he kind of hinted at here:

As the players came of the board, we were able to execute some trades there and still hang on to our second-round picks, which, I thought if we moved up I wasn’t sure if we would be able to do that.