Which are you more excited about ... The Draft or FA?

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

An offseason question......

Which do you look more forward to as late February arrives...

The look into the Draft or the start of FA?

 

[VrabelJr]

Definitely the draft. I don't foresee us doing anything flashy in FA.

 

[Onedaful]

Call me crazy but for some reason I'm more curious to see what we are going to do with FA this year.

 

[#56300ex]

I'm looking forward to free agency. I don't follow college football very closely so when the draft comes around I'm not too familiar with a majority of prospects.

 

[Criptonite]

I don't like this year's draft, so I'm hoping this is one of those rare years we make a big free agency splash.

 

[LetsGoPats36]

My enthusiasm for the draft has been squelched over the last decade.

1. From a Pats perspective, it's usually a big tease. We never cash in on all of our picks, especially the early ones. Even drafts that are great feel like they could be better.

2. I drove to NYC in 2006 for draft weekend, camped out for tickets and had a blast... until we picked. Got Laurence Maroney, hands down my least favorite player projected to go in the first couple rounds, over Manny Lawson and DeAngelo Williams, two guys I loved.

Irrational as my feelings may have been, the Maroney pick and cutting Lawyer Milloy are the only two times I can truly say I hated BB for a few moments. And then we trade up for Chad Jackson with GB and they end up with Greg Jennings... Just brilliant.

3. Patriots second round = Bermuda Triangle

4. The amount of draft coverage out now makes me want to puke. You get jackasses that don't even watch college football and just head to some draft website, check out rankings and immediately think they're experts. AKA, your mock draft that you spent no time articulating in the fall and just put together after 45 mins of research and 1-2 hours of writing sucks. Get lost.

5. Habitually missing on WRs, RBs, OLBs, CBs, DEs and Safties is enough to make me go bald. Evaluating TEs, OLs, DTs is clearly BB and Co's forte. But I'm tried of seeing the same kind of misses year in and year out.


Regardless, I'll be parked in front of the TV with my laptop in tow watching just about every second of coverage. I'm a junkie...

 

[resdubwhite]

got to be the draft.

Waiting to see what BB does is great. Who expected Solder last year. Or Mccourty at 27 the year before.

Great entertainment

 

[mgteich]

For me, it is always free agency. Drafts are primarily for the future. It is in free agency that we meet 2012 needs.

Of course, there are two major parts of free agency: re-signing our own and signing players from other teams. It may not be exciting for some, but the reality is that 2012 patriots will be much more affected by re-signings and free agency than the draft.

Consider the WR situation. We could come into the draft with almost no need other than to sign our wide receiver for the future. We could have already extended Welker and signed our #2 and #3 wide receivers. On the other hand, we could have Welker franchised, and some mid-level side receiver hope. In this case our need would be great.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

got to be the draft.

Waiting to see what BB does is great. Who expected Solder last year. Or Mccourty at 27 the year before.

Great entertainment

I think its a tough question because right now there is talk about getting Brady a guy like Brandon Lloyd or even getting Moss back to throw to,but also in our minds is the excitement of drafting a super pass rush stud at OLB or a safety to solidify the secondary.

I sat back before posting this question and honestly could not make up my mind which excites me more and I wanted to see what my fellow fans thought...I did lean towards FA especially this year because even after the top stars like Williams are gone and signed,there will still be some very talented players to sign from the '2nd and 3rd tiers' of the FA pool

This is a very deep FA and a fun one to watch who goes where...hopefully we grab a couple early.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Free Agency

Generally speaking for a team that is already competitive, there will be more new players that will have an impact on the following season that are added during free agency than there are from the draft. That tends to be the case even if you don't include existing players that were on the roster who have a contract that expires March 13.

To me the draft is a much bigger deal for fans of teams that finished with a losing season, and/or have a top ten pick. While there is an outlier of those that are genuinely knowledgeable about the top 300 prospects, most NFL fans will know very little about the players drafted, and will probably only recognize the names of three or four players chosen. In most cases their reaction is more about the position the team used its pick on; seldom is that reaction based on an honest, original analysis of said player.

It stands to reason that most NFL fans are more familiar with NFL players; therefore there should be more excitement about free agency - despite all the hype that the two four letter networks bombard us with in the eight weeks leading up to the event.

 

[patsfan-1982]

i am more more excited about FA i dont see this year as a deep Draft i dont think they will get to much help from the Rookies this year

 

[mgteich]

It was great to see Solder and his contributions.

Much more exciting to me was the acquisition of Carter, Anderson, Waters and Ellis. Obviously there were others that didn't add much.

got to be the draft.

Waiting to see what BB does is great. Who expected Solder last year. Or Mccourty at 27 the year before.

Great entertainment

 

[JoeShmoe]

Free agency

We can go after a top WR and S which are immediate needs

The draft. We will trade down and 2 of those first 4 picks will be traded into 2013, bank on it

 

[Leemo]

Both. I mean everything what happens in free agency directly impacts our needs for the draft. Hopefully we re-sign our needed guys including BJGE, get a decent WR and an experienced defensive back. Or we can dream about mario williams. Then when the draft comes just hammer the defensive side and a WR at some point in the first 3 rounds.

 

[patsfan13]

I like both equally. excuse to talk Pats football, see what BB is thinking, and both essential to the roster building process. What could be better.

Anderson, Waters and Carter weren't 'big' FA signings but they helped get us to the SB. I don't expect big contributions from rookies in their first year. When it happens it is a pleasant surprise.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

FA for me :rocker:

 

[strngplyr]

Free Agency starts much sooner and for as little as we usually do there, we do even less in the draft. Until the season starts, just about everyone will be upset with the Draft in one way or another, Free Agency at least gives us proven players for the most part, even if they aren't flashy, plus, this team has some bigger glaring needs than recent teams, last time I had this feeling was after 2006 and those moves worked out pretty nicely.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

This year, I am definitely focused on Free Agency. Wondering whether the Pats are going to "load up" for a run with Brady still in his prime or take their more familiar, long term approach.

 

[drew4008]

The hoopla of the draft (and everything leading up to it) is definitely more engaging as a fan. But as far as what I'm actually more excited for to make our team better? Definitely free agency. Because you have a shot to get a legitimate talent who can contribute right away.

 

[TB146]

Free agency. Partly because it happens first. Once FA has died down, I'll be more excited about the draft and finding out whose First Rounder we're getting next year.

If FA is for immediate needs and the draft is for the future, then what's trading into next year's draft for? The future future? I'm not knocking it since it always gives us options, but it would be nice to finally cash in on all of those "football futures". Now that rookie contracts have been restricted to more reasonable terms, and since the Pats seem to be pretty well under the cap we might just see some big moves in free agency AND the draft.

P.S. I am an eternal optimist.