Just how in the hell do they do this? They are in such a good spot that it is ridiculous! They could draft an entire side ( a whole O or a whole D) if they wanted to! I see them making some deals on draft day for sure. Like shit man....bundle a couple picks and send them to the Lions or something and get a high 2nd rounder....or make a deal with a lower-picking team in rounder one and pick up another first rounder.... It seems like they do this shit every year....freakin frustrating!! Must be nice man...12 picks....geez...
They work the system well. Maybe someday we will have a matchup of a good GM and good HC so that our players aren't half turds and the other half overpaid journeymen. Until then, be jealous.
I'd be more worried about them using those draft picks in a trade for a player. The Patriots haven't exactly drafted well since 2005 (Jerrod Mayo excepted), but they've been able to pick up some key acquisitions by trading away their abundance of picks.
they trade out every year...there is no mystery they once again will not draft 12 players... they rarely move up and often move down if not completely out of the draft... and when you trade down or completely out of the draft you get paid with lots of future picks to do it....if they could trade the comp picks they would
Yeah, the Pats have really sucked since 05 drafting... 08 1- Mayo 2- Wheatley 3- Crable 3- O'Connell 4- Wilhite - All with good potential 07 1- Merriweather (probable starter at safety this year) traded 2nd and 7th for Welker traded 4th for Moss 06 1- Maroney (open book so far on this one) 3- David Thomas 4- Gostkowski 5- Ryan O'Callahan 05 1- Mankins 3- Hobbs 3- Kazcur 4- James Sanders 7- Matt Cassell I think most teams would be satistfied with this percentage of players who make the team and contribute.
I think most teams would love this. O'Callahan and Kaczur are not outstanding but are above average.....I don't think Maroney will be a star...but all the guys above contribute and that's pretty damn good when you're essentially picking unproven guys
I think Maroney sucks. I'll take Sammy Morris, Fred Taylor (yet to be seen), Kevin Faulk, and Lamont Jordan (now gone) instead. This draft will be interesting to see just how much of the braintrust was Pioli.
Mayo is the only one that really sticks out. Kinda garbo. There is some decent talent there, but nothing awe inspiring.
Again, look at '05 vs. the other draft years. There's a reason why I said "SINCE 05", and not INCLUDING 05. Given their drafts in the years leading up to and including 05, how can you possibly not acknowledge the past 3 years as relative failures on draft day? You're going to tell me that any one of those classes matches up with 2005, let alone other years prior? The closest is 06 with Gostkowski and O'Callaghan (Maroney and Thomas are garbage), and you're having to stretch out for a kicker to make that work. They had two solid picks out of TEN. Of course, we couldn't post all of their draft picks for each year, right? How about 2007? You only listed ONE draft pick out of NINE they used. That doesn't count the trades. Nice percentage there. They didn't draft Moss and Welker, they traded for them. Hence why I said they haven't DRAFTED well. I don't care what they did with their other picks. I was speaking solely of those used to select a player. In fact, thanks for using Moss and Welker to prove my point about the Pats being more of a threat these days to use mid-round picks to trade for players. Potential doesn't mean shit until it's proven.
Second best record for number of wins over 2 seasons (27) and last season without their Pro Bowl QB means they must be doing something right. Not every draft pick can be a Mayo or Seymour. Even Ty Warren took a couple of years to develop. Guyton was a UDFA that played a role at LB last year and could be a sleeper. Crable,Wheatley,Ruud,Redd were all on IR last year as rookies. No way BB drafts another 12 rookies. Definitely look for trade outs into next year and bundling of picks to move up in rounds to get a specific player. That's how they continue to be in good shape on draft day, year after year. No trade ups into top tier for high $$$$ busts.
The Patriots never like to move up, they prefer to move down. They are smart enough to realize that nobody in the top 10 deserve the money they get and besides that they are too cheap to give it anyway.
Considering the Pats pick late most year )other than Mayo), you think that 8 starters from the 3rd round down in the last 4 years is garbo? How many Jet 3rd round and below since 05 are starters?
The Pats only had 1 1st round pick and 1 4th round pick (Kareem Brown) in 2007 because they got Welker and Moss! The rest of their picks were 5th round on. That's not a bad draft! The team was so stacked that those low picks had virtually no chance to make the team anyway! 06 looks ok and we have no idea if 08 was good or not yet, but the players are still on the team,so their is potential. Your statement that the Pats haven't drafted well is YOUR opinion, but it has little fact to back it up.
I agree with this. 2006 is really the year the Patriots really haven't done anything in the Draft. Gostkowski is the only real special player they had in the Draft that year. Kool-Aid is always hurt and hasn't lived up to his 1st round hype. David Thomas is nothing special period and O'Callahan didn't even contribute at all last year. 2007 wasn't any better. Meriweather was questionable at best coming into last season but started stepping up in his game. Chad Jackson sucked donkey balls and that pretty much was that draft. 2008's shining light was Mayo. Aside from that, all those other players were hurt so they won't really come around until 2011 since next year will be their technical rookie year. I don't know how comfortable Beli is with Wheatley and Wilhite but he went out and got 2 CB's to help out that secondary. All in all, the jury is still out on last year's draft and the two years before that didn't impress. Add to that Pioli's departure and I'm not really worried.
THe Patriots work the draft beautifully, they pick up solid starters in the middle rounds, and seem every year to trade back a pick to get a better pick the next year, and those picks have netted them their impact guys, Wilfork was picked with the selection they got from BAl so Baltimore could pick kyle Boller the year before, and Mayo came from the pick they traded SF so SF could take Joe Staley. As to poor drafting since 2005, 2006 was probably a poor year, as MAroney can't stay healthy and JAckson sucked. but they got some late round steals in Gostkowski, O Callaghan etc. 2007 they got Merriweather in the 1st, and noone else, but they didn't have any other day 1 picks, and a team as good as the pats were isn't going to have roster spots for late rounders. 2008- The got mayo in the first, wheatley at the end of the 2nd, crable and Oconnel in the 3rd, Wilhite in the 4th, Slater in the 5th , Bo Ruud in the 6th plus picked up the chargers 2009 2nd. Mayo is a stud, and they apparently like O'Connel as their backup QB, and all of their picks are on the roster for 2009. Add in the #47 overall this year and that looks like an awful good draft. Edit- the above argument about 1 good out of 9 or 2 out of 10 is ridiculous, you don't expect an impact player in the first 3 years out of anyone below the 3rd round, the vast majority of 5th 6th and 7th rounders never end up playing a meaningful number of snaps, 2006 was a poor draft for the pats, but to knock 2007 because a bunch of guys at the bottom of the 6th and 7th rounds didn't make the team is pretty weak logic. As to 2008, tough to grade a draft after 1 year, especially when half the picks ended up stashed on the injured list
Several in the thread have felt the pats have drafted well, but what is your opinion of the Jets drafts since 2005. 2008: 1 - Gholston 1- Keller 4 - Lowery 5 - Ainge 6 - Henery 7 - Garner 2007: 1 - Revis 2 - Harris 6 - Bender 7 - Stuckey 2006: 1 - Brick 1 - Mangold 2 - Clemens 3 - Schlegel 3 - Eric Smith 4 - Brad Smith 4 - Washington 5 - Pociask 6 - Coleman 7 - Adams All in all a List that should seem similar to the list of contributors the past have drafted over the last three seasons, if not better. If you want to add traded picks in like CJLang did for the pats, we gave up a 3rd and 5th rounder for Jenkins, our best defensive lineman. Trading down in the second round to pick up Thomas Jones. I think Tanny is doing a good job at assembling talent so far and hope that trend continues. Things are not as bleak as many would have you belive in our FO.
Thank you for proving my original point by continuing to go back to 2007. Their best "draft" in the past 3 years was the one in which they didn't take a single great player. They traded their picks away for players who contributed in a huge way to their success in 2007. Mayo is the ONLY player in that time span who lives up to the draft success the Pats had from '01, 03-05 (Seymour, Light, Warren, Samuel, Mankins, Kaczur, Cassell...hell, I'll even give you Wilson, Hobbs, and Banta-Cain). Gostkowski's the only other player I'd give two shits about, and he's a fucking kicker. Just in case you didn't read carefully the first time:
