PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

Pre-Combine New England Patriots Draft Posits

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Welcome to the start of my sixth draft season here at PatsPropaganda! For those of you who are new to the site I don’t pay much attention at all to college football or the draft until the Patriots season ends. Back in 2011, I started a yearly challenge with myself to pick 50 prospects I liked for the Patriots with the hopes of getting as many picks as I could. You can see the last five Top-50 Patriots-only big boards here. I also try to only do one mock draft a week or two before the actual draft in an effort to have some accountability with my picks.

Here’s how I’ve done, still trying to break 50% on the big board:

new england patriots draft record

The process has begun yet again, but with the Pats not having a first round pick, and no selection until the end of the second round, this is going to be the hardest year yet because most of the top guys at each position are going to be gone. Still, with compensatory draft picks, the Pats will likely have these selections, more than enough to fill some holes and do some damage:

  • 2nd Rounder
  • 3rd Rounder
  • 3rd Rounder (compensatory)
  • 4th Rounder
  • 5th Rounder (compensatory)
  • 6th Rounder (from Houston in Keshawn Martin trade)
  • 6th Rounder (compensatory)
  • 7th Rounder
  • 7th Rounder (compensatory)
  • 7th Rounder (from Houston in Ryan Mallett trade)

Having dipped my toe into this year’s draft class, here are some quick hit thoughts. It’s a long process but matching up the Pats needs with the kind of players available gives you a sense of where they might be able to operate.

  • I don’t think Edge or Interior DL are huge needs but those just might be the two deepest areas of Pats’ fits. He’ll be long gone by the time the Pats pick, but Alabama DT A’Shawn Robinson might be the perfect Pats DT fit. There are quite a few undersized DTs that could fit as well. With the rotation the Pats like to run, the more diverse group of players they have the better.
  • Another player who will be long gone but would be a good standup linebacker in the Pats system is Jordan Jenkins from Georgia. A low-round option could be Theiren Cockran from Minnesota who has all the intangibles.
  • The two running backs from Arkansas are intriguing with Alex Collins getting the slight nod. I think the Pats need an early down grinder who can pick up tough yards and soften a defense. Hopefully other teams continue to devalue running backs and the Pats could have a shot at one of the better guys. Devon Johnson out of Marshall could be a mid-round fit.
  • The area I’ve really been focusing on is tackle and my early thought is that things could line up well in the late second round to get an athletic swing tackle. Taylor Decker from Ohio State has a lot of Sebastian Vollmer in him, he’s an early favorite. But there are others who will be in that range that could be a good Pats fit like Jason Spriggs from Indiana.
  • I don’t have wide receiver being as big of a need as many Pats’ pundits, but Sterling Shepard from Oklahoma is pretty much a perfect fit for the Pats system. He’s not that deep burner many want, but he can get open instantly and has the smarts to likely pick up the Pats system. Too bad he’ll likely be long gone too.
  • The tight end class is terrible and it makes me think if the Pats do cut Scott Chandler they have to address replacing him via free agency. Also, AJ Derby’s development after spending his rookie year on IR will be something to monitor though I think it might be a bit much to expect him to take the #2 TE spot, he seems more in the H-back mold.
  • Middle linebacker is a need but I am wondering what kind of player they need. Really I think Brandon Spikes is somewhat the model —  a two down fierce run stopper. Too bad Spikes is such a meatball or he might still be with the team in that role. Most of the MLBs coming out in the draft don’t quite have the size you’d like. Blake Martinez of Stanford and Joshua Perry of Ohio State are two that check some of the boxes.
  • Cornerback is another position I don’t see a huge draft need for but one they’ll probably take a player at regardless. DJ White of Georgia Tech seems like a good Pats fit, but he’s one of those tough, undersized guys that would likely be limited to the slot.

I’ll drop the initial big board in a couple weeks as free agency starts to play out and needs are met or exacerbated. There’s plenty of film to watch until then.

Jerod Mayo Career Highlights

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New Jerod Mayo highlight video up from Mike Vaz. Mayo’s speed really was something else, didn’t always ensure he made the play but he was always around the ball. If I had to pick the best play of his career it would have to be the game-sealing interception against the Redskins in 2011 that’s at the 3:14 mark.

WEEI.com/It Is What It Is » Mel Kiper Jr.: Patriots’ biggest need is WR, could target Braxton Miller

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When it comes to the Patriots and their potential needs this offseason, there are a few positions that come to mind: offensive line, wide receiver, tight end.

Source: It Is What It Is » Mel Kiper Jr.: Patriots’ biggest need is WR, could target Braxton Miller

Wide receiver, such a fickle position for the Patriots and one that should scare us all in the draft. The fact is, with no pick before 59th overall what do needs really matter? Yes, the Pats could, and likely will, trade up in the second round, but it’s going to cost draft capital, and does anyone feel confident that they’re going to get a “step-in-and-play” receiver in the mid-second round? Is there any player at that spot that would legitimately be better than a healthy Brandon LaFell or Danny Amendola? I don’t see it, and when push comes to shove, I’m all about the trenches.

So my biggest need, and it’s a need that will sizable in 2017, is an athletic tackle. The draft is about developing players for down the road. Sure, some guys will step in and play a significant role, but outside of running back I struggle to see a starting spot that can and will make an immediate impact via the draft. Even if they dump Cannon, Vollmer’s contract is up after this year as well. The development for the next right tackle is a critical element for this team, one far more important than continuing the search for that big speedy receiver who has the rare football IQ to pick up the Pats system immediately.

Of course there could always be shocking releases this spring but those holes, for better or worse, will be filled via free agency. The Pats will go into the draft without any glaring needs to field a competitive team. Some players in some spots might not be ideal or proven, but they’ll at least have a placeholder who’d be serviceable atop each spot on the depth chart.

When we look at long term needs, there’s no question receiver is up there, but the Pats have built enough depth that they can let the board come to them and not have to trade up and take Braxton Miller with hopes that he’s going to step in and immediately take the offense to another level.

Roger Goodell should give back NFL draft picks to Patriots | The MMQB with Peter King

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Shaky evidence, shady science and total disinterest in learning the truth are grounds for Roger Goodell to admit he erred by docking New England draft picks for Deflategate. Plus Mayock’s combine preview and more

Source: Roger Goodell should give back NFL draft picks to Patriots | The MMQB with Peter King

I can’t believe we have to keep talking about Deflategate, but here we finally have Peter King coming around to say the Pats should get their lost draft picks back. Mostly this feels like too little too late because let’s face it, the Pats are NEVER getting those picks back. Just wait until next week’s court arguments to see how firmly entrenched the NFL continues to be on their side. Each time we’ve heard from the NFL lawyers they keep making it sound like Brady did worse and worse. The Wells Report said he was generally aware. Cut to the NFL’s appeal and now Brady was at the center of an organized deflation ring. Yes, it’s a giant leap, made solely because the NFL wants to win their case. Not because they have any conclusive proof. They want to win, even at the expense of a slice of Tom Brady’s legacy.

The best we can hope for at this point is that Judge Berman’s ruling gets upheld, the NFL quietly swallows their medicine and we can bury deflategate once and for all, or at least until both the 2016 and 2017 draft when the Pats have vacated draft picks. Yeah I know, it’s bullshit. And that lost first rounder will have a tangible effect on the Patriots for the next five years.

The only small silver lining I can take from Peter King coming out with this take is that he essentially represents the casual mainstream fans. When the NFL was whipping everyone into a frenzy over Deflategate, Peter King was right there with them every step of the way. But now we at least have hope that the non-partisans can see through the NFL’s web of deception. That there are fans of other teams realizing that the Patriots got steamrolled and it could just as easily happen to them. Perhaps most disturbing is the lengths the NFL has gone to not for the facts, not for truth, but to prove their side even if it means planting false information in the press or at the very least letting it linger there for months without a correction.

We’ll always have opposing fans who throw Spygate and Deflategate in our faces. Whether or not those fans actually believe the Patriots last 15 years of success has been due to extensive and elaborate cheating plots, or it’s just an easy way to dismiss New England’s success and give Pats fans crap, will depend on how educated the fans actually are.

But Peter King speaks to and for a large number of low information football fans, and hopefully this piece does its own small part in putting Deflategate in the history books as nothing more than an overblown sham that the NFL was too invested in and too proud of to actually treat it as it should’ve been treated.

 

America’s Game: 2003 Patriots

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5acS3_ySd8

Little something to watch on this dead-of-the-offseason Saturday, the 2003 Patriots episode of America’s Game. I couldn’t quite believe what was happening before my eyes with the 2003 team. Yes, the 2001 Patriots had a magical ride, but that one Super Bowl didn’t erase all the feelings of inevitable doom I had acquired growing up as an 80’s/90’s Patriots fan.

The 2-2 start only reinforced that but then the Pats started winning and winning and they didn’t lose again until October of 2004. But they were never dominant. There was never a moment of believing the Patriots were unstoppable, they just were. After it was all said and done, the 2003 probably had the best defense of the Belichick era. Biggest thing was being healthy at the end.  The entire defense was just at their peak and everyone brought something to the party. Things started falling apart in 2004 with injuries and the inevitable decline of the defense. That’s when Brady and the offense took center stage.

But the 2003 team really embodied all the legends we’ve come to embrace about the Bill Belichick Patriots. And it was even the first season BB donned his infamous Reebok Hoodie.

ProJo/Daniels: Patriots show interest in re-signing Akiem Hicks

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Akiem Hicks is expected to generate plenty of attention when free agency starts next month. You can count the Patriots in as one of his suitors.

Source: Patriots show interest in re-signing Akiem Hicks

I’m all for giving it a shot with Hicks who really started to step up once Dominique Easley went down. General consensus seems to be that Hicks would get more money elsewhere but he’s young and talented and as anyone who knows me knows, I can never get enough front seven talent.

Re-signing Hicks might come at the expense of Alan Branch‘s contract option, but he’s younger and still ascending so I think that’s an okay trade. Plus, in my early draft research, I think there’s some really good fits at DT for the Pats.

Malcom Brown was great as a rookie and will be the unquestionable top tackle in 2016. Add in healthy Dominique Easley (fingers crossed as always), with Sealver Siliga (RFA who had a somewhat down year in 2015), vet Chris Jones who’s solid rotationally and I think it’s a pretty solid group. Either way I think you just have to have Branch or Hicks back, plus a mid-round-ish pick.

 

Logan Ryan Highlights and Look Back

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Yesterday I put up some Malcolm Butler highlights with some discussion about his 2015, today it’s his counterpart Logan Ryan‘s turn. Ryan had a great rookie year with five interceptions in 2013, but got knocked down the depth chart in 2014 with the arrival of Revis and Browner. Over those first two years and into the preseason of 2015 Ryan just couldn’t seem to find consistency.

There were plenty of people who were ready to cut him after watching him get torched in the 2015 preseason. At that point it looked like Tarrell Brown would start opposite Butler, but then Brown goes down and Ryan suddenly finds his consistency and becomes a solid starter on the outside when we were wondering if his ceiling was any higher than a backup slot receiver.

Now you look at it and Ryan has 11 interceptions in his first three years, including four last year. The Pats seemed to like him against the bigger receivers and it’s hard to argue he could’ve done a much better job against Demaryius Thomas facing him twice. Still it feels like many aren’t quite sold on Ryan. I’ve even seen some draft need boards listing cornerback near the top of the list.

I’m not sure if the Patriots can retain both Ryan and Butler past 2017. Certainly Butler should get a deal first to set the ground floor for Ryan. I’m also curious to see how Darrell Roberts fits into the equation this year after flashing some playmaking ability in 2015 camp as a rookie.

Ryan has cemented his place as a solid homegrown starter but one who could bolt for greener pastures in 2017.