We've Traded For TE James O'Shaughnessy From KC

[maineman209]

Complete waste. Another "special teams" player? How many do they need? Had negative receiving yards last year, wtf.

The Pats needed competition for the #3TE spot anyway. Instead of using the #183 on an inexperienced rookie who might not make the roster, they used it on a guy with two years NFL experience and proven ability on ST with a snap count and tackle rate roughly equivalent to what Mingo had in 2016.

I'm not seeing a problem here.

 

[maineman209]

I'm praying that's corrrct because this is very strange. Like, I figured this was a draft to get a Gronk replacement. Who knows though, maybe this is BB ahead of the TE curve.

There is more going on with this I think.

Lot of TEs in this draft being promoted as "Gronk equivalents". Doesn't mean that they actually are. Also, pretty difficult for me to believe that they would have gotten a Gronk replacement with the #183

Anyway, the Pats have a Gronk. What they need for this year's SB run is a solid 3rd TE.

Before this trade, they had three JAGs competing for that spot. This guy may turn out to be another JAG, but then so might a rookie taken that late in the draft. At least this guy has a couple years' experience on an NFL roster and his a proven special teamer.

I don't believe that there's any more to it than that.

 

[kennyb]

You really have no concept of team building. 3rd string players who can excel on special teams and have a high ceiling athletically are exactly what you are looking for when filling out a roster. What you deem a waste is exactly what Belichick sees as essential to creating depth to fill out your team. Beyond that your knee jerk negativity is really tiresome.

You are tiresome. Team building, is that like when you draft a guy in the 4th round with great potential to play? Yeah, thought so. And have him for 4 cheap years? They traded a valuable 4th for a st guy when they already have about 5 special team only players. Useless move.
And ironically he was a 5th round pick.

They have real needs, another special teamer isn't one of them.

 

[Danger Zone]

You are tiresome. Team building, is that like when you draft a guy in the 4th round with great potential to play? Yeah, thought so. And have him for 4 cheap years? They traded a valuable 4th for a st guy when they already have about 5 special team only players. Useless move.
And ironically he was a 5th round pick.

They have real needs, another special teamer isn't one of them.

Who knew that running a 1.5 billion dollar professional NFL team could be so easy with no room for flexibility or diversion from the way you think it should be done?

I'm curious. What ST role does Belichick have in mind for this kid? Why is this position, whatever it is, so unnecessary to fill, have or get insurance for again? How many players do we have on STs? How many is "too many" again?

I admire you for being so precognizant in such a micro-specific, roster building way on what Belichick has in plan for him and for the team in the next couple of years and why its so damned unnecessary and wrongheaded of him to make this trade right now.

 

[Huckleberry1]

You are tiresome. Team building, is that like when you draft a guy in the 4th round with great potential to play? Yeah, thought so. And have him for 4 cheap years? They traded a valuable 4th for a st guy when they already have about 5 special team only players. Useless move.
And ironically he was a 5th round pick.

They have real needs, another special teamer isn't one of them.

Team building is getting guys to fill out all of the various roles you need to have depth and the ability to be active and a participant in the active roster. You are one of those who look only at Kipets top picks and rail against anyone that doesn't fit that bill.

 

[TinhWoodhead]

He better not have curly hair.

he's irish so...

 

[Rdforty2]

I'm not upset at the trade, although I'm with the guys that wanted to go with Butt in the 4th.

There must be something with his medicals.

In terms of being hopeful with O'Shaunessy, he'll be going into his third year. Tight ends take awhile to develop, especially coming from a small school. He's got talent and he's been developed for 2 years in a good program. There is real upside as an offensive contributor imo.

 

[rookBoston]

Sounds like this guy won't be competing with Gronk or Allen for snaps. He's coming in to challenge guys like Bolden, Richards, Freeney and the handful of others who earn their paycheck mostly on ST. If he had that many tackles on ST last year for KC, he's likely a pretty elite ST player. He could easily take Mingo's role.

And here's yet another example of BB preferring to use his 2017 draft capital on pro players, rather than college players. I'll bet his list of draftable players this year is very short. He's got his staff combing other teams' rosters for undervalued players just like this.

I'll bet BB trades some of his late 2017 draft picks into 2018, if he can.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I'm not upset at the trade, although I'm with the guys that wanted to go with Butt in the 4th.

There must be something with his medicals.

In terms of being hopeful with O'Shaunessy, he'll be going into his third year. Tight ends take awhile to develop, especially coming from a small school. He's got talent and he's been developed for 2 years in a good program. There is real upside as an offensive contributor imo.

And the Patriots pro scouting is better than any team in football. The list of significant contributors they have acquired with their picks is exceptional. They have absolutely maximized their picks this offseason, and they are now in better shape for the season than any team in football, a fact the knee jerk dipsh.t critics of Belichick consistently ignore. The fact that the Patriots stay at the top of the league every season despite the worst drafting position in football is completely lost on them as they pretend the Patriots are really the Jaguars or Jets, whose drafts they worship.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

You are tiresome. Team building, is that like when you draft a guy in the 4th round with great potential to play? Yeah, thought so. And have him for 4 cheap years? They traded a valuable 4th for a st guy when they already have about 5 special team only players. Useless move.
And ironically he was a 5th round pick.

They have real needs, another special teamer isn't one of them.

It's an unusual move, but it's informed by years of coaching acumen and some of the best minds in the NFL.

If you don't understand the decision, that's fine. But let's not pretend we know better.

 

[Deus Irae]

You are tiresome. Team building, is that like when you draft a guy in the 4th round with great potential to play? Yeah, thought so. And have him for 4 cheap years? They traded a valuable 4th for a st guy when they already have about 5 special team only players. Useless move.
And ironically he was a 5th round pick.

They have real needs, another special teamer isn't one of them.

They did not trade him for a 4th round pick. They got the TE for a pick swap (183 to 216)

 

[Huckleberry1]

What people like Kennyg don't understand is that players that are going to be at the back of their unit in playing time need to be able to contribute significantly on special teams to be active on game day. Ebner is one of the best examples of this, but there are many more, whereas guys like Micheal Floyd are essentially useless if they aren't starters, as they won't be dressed on game day unless there is a run of injuries on the unit that leaves them no choice. Belichick addressed this in one of his weekly radio discussions when talking about how the loss of Ebner required him to fill roles on every special teams unit. Putting a comprehensive team together is much different than just acquiring as much talent as possible because there are dozens of roles they have to be able to fill every week .

 

[dafoe2016]

And I was just starting to think Bill was over his obsession with TEs. Sigh. We still need a center and this is what we get.

 

[BTTA]

Of course he did. Mystery solved

To move back 30 picks in the middle of the draft in order to get a guy who is one of the best at this, and give him a chance to make the roster? No brainer.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Dunno about this. Butt is still out there and can be had under contract for 4 years. Younger and better but what the hell do I know.

What I do know is most TE who have been in the league this long (2015) and have been on a good team and have never been heard of? Yeah, not a good sign.

A few draft gurus have talked about how TEs sometimes need extra time. BB has touched on the position being a lot of work because of the need to learn blocking responsibilities as well as offensive route responsibilities.

O'Shaughnessy played around 10% of the offensive snaps for a team that relied heavily on Kelce. He probably did more blocking than route running. He hasn't really been given much opportunity.

We saw Jack Doyle recently emerge given more playing time in his second year. Julius Thomas is another guy who did nothing early on (1 catch in his first 2 seasons combined) who turned into a productive player. Ditto Vance McDonald (10 catches first 2 years, 30 and 24 in his next 2 years), Ryan Griffn (10-20 catches his first 3 years, 50 last year), Jordan Cameron (26 catches his first 2 seasons before an 80 catch breakout year 3), on and on and on.

Butt may end up the better player, we'll have to wait and see. But I disagree that a TE on a good team that hasn't emerged in 2 years isn't a good sign. It's not that uncommon.

 

[Huckleberry1]

They were just talking about learning curves on the NFLN and it made me wonder if this is behind the seeming change in Belichick's approach to the offseason and the draft. The new CBA had radically reduced the teaching time coaches have in the offseason and that is obviously going to limit the amount of work the prospects get before the season and extends their learning curve. Belichick may have moved to an approach of brininging in young veteran players who have already shown they can play in the league, so he's effectively trading the extra years a rookie gets for ready to play guys with defined NFL experience. He addressed almost all of their needs with young players with experience through free agency and trades, and thenfilled their remaining needs for depth at edge DL, pass rusher, and OT with the few picks he kept.Unlike pretty much every team in the league the Patriots aren't going to be counting upon rookie production for their improvement this year. It could be an anamoly or it could be the advent of a new approach for him , we will see?

 

[TommyD4207]

He addressed almost all of their needs with young players with experience through free agency and trades,

To this point, the oldest player they brought in via trade/free agency is Dwayne Allen at 27 (just turned in February). I think Cooks is only 23.

 

[Simpelton]

2 catches for -1 yds on 111 offensive plays.

Is he invisible?

Sounds like he was all but exclusively used as a blocker.

 

[RobertWeathers]

They were just talking about learning curves on the NFLN and it made me wonder if this is behind the seeming change in Belichick's approach to the offseason and the draft. The new CBA had radically reduced the teaching time coaches have in the offseason and that is obviously going to limit the amount of work the prospects get before the season and extends their learning curve. Belichick may have moved to an approach of brininging in young veteran players who have already shown they can play in the league, so he's effectively trading the extra years a rookie gets for ready to play guys with defined NFL experience. He addressed almost all of their needs with young players with experience through free agency and trades, and thenfilled their remaining needs for depth at edge DL, pass rusher, and OT with the few picks he kept.Unlike pretty much every team in the league the Patriots aren't going to be counting upon rookie production for their improvement this year. It could be an anamoly or it could be the advent of a new approach for him , we will see?

I think this is accurate.

 

[PScottman]

They have real needs, another special teamer isn't one of them.

Who would've thought Marqui and FCB recruited new members to the Rick Pitino Memorial Fellowship of the Miserable? Is it like open membership or is there a draft for that too?