PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

Three Patriots Undrafted Rookies Most Likely To Make It

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It’s an annual right of passage. Some rookie who managed to slip through all seven rounds of the draft without a team selecting him manages to make a stacked, Super Bowl-contending Patriots team and find a way to contribute against the odds.

It’s a testament to New England truly being a level playing field once players arrive. Play better than someone who the team spent a draft pick on? You’re on the team, regardless of how it makes Bill Belichick’s “draft grade” look to the pundits. That’s why undrafted players are excited to come to Foxborough every summer, because one or two of them is almost certainly going to make the team.

Here’s a quick look back at the last nine years of UDFAs that have made the roster, and which three I think are most likely to continue the trend in 2017.

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Blount Signs With Eagles

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After much uproar about the Patriots using the seldom-used May 9th tag on LeGarrette Blount, the bruising running back signed with the Eagles today on a deal that could be worth up to $2.6 million. I felt earlier this offseason that it was time to move on from Blount. Nothing personal against the player, I just felt the Patriots got all that they were going to get out of him and it was better to turn the page to some younger backs to fill his early down/goal line role.

It was fun while it lasted. Blount had some of the most fun runs in Patriots’ history and broke the single-season rushing touchdown record in 2016. He’d bowl over players, he’d leap over them and more often than not, he’d carry would-be tacklers multiple yards before going down. His touchdown celebrations with the Patriots musket militia were some of my favorite moments.

But Blount also was completely invisible in some of the biggest games of the last few seasons. We can still appreciate a player despite some of his shortcomings, so let’s take a look back at some of his best and worst games as a Patriot.

Legarrette blount

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Pick Your Patriots Poison – Offense Edition

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Mike Reiss did a good job of laying out the projected starting players today, but I wanted to take it a step further and really dive into how diverse and deadly the Patriots’ offense can be this year.

If you thought they could play any kind of game last year, well this year it looks even easier to dictate matchups and attack weaknesses. They should also be able to mitigate injury risk, meaning on any given Sunday any given Patriots weapon could go off. Bad for fantasy football, but good for real football (which is all I really care about anyway tbh)

Let’s lay out just a few of the personnel packages they could roll out and they kind of issues they could cause for a defense.

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Tom Brady

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For the second year in a row a New England Patriot will appear on the cover of Madden, after Rob Gronkowski’s appearance last season which lived up to the “curse” of ending the appearing player’s season early. So it’s no surprise that most of us got dry heaves when it was announced that Tom Brady would be featured this year.

Brady responded with a Facebook video that seemed to tempt fate, making things even worse.

The implications of the Madden Curse are a little overrated. Eight-and-a-half times the cover boy had the kind of season the folks at EA expected, including four All Pros and four Pro Bowls, and eight-and-a-half other times their seasons were bad or resulted in injury. That’s right, 50-50 right on the nose, which in reality is just about every NFL’s players chances of having a bad or injury-marred year.

Still, it’s just another thing for Patriots fans to worry about when in reality, they shouldn’t have all the much to worry about. Or should they?

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Pats Posits: New Numbers, Butler to Slot? Lewis and more…

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Things might start to get a little slow here on the blog in the next few weeks due to my impending move back to Boston, especially in the first two weeks of June. Between packing up my entire house to be shipped across the country and this quiet portion of the NFL offseason, I just can’t bring myself to concoct fluff pieces just in the name of posting new content.

You know, random nebulous rankings, or barely-Patriots-related off field stuff like “Guess what Tom Brady posted on Instagram? (Don’t just go to his Instagram, read my post with his Instagram post embedded in it for maximum insight!)” or the like.

As I always say, this is a football blog and there’s not a whole lot of real football stuff going on so I’m not going to force it. I will drop my third annual season preview book with blurbs about all 90 Patriots training camp players, depth charts, statistical analysis and game-by-game breakdown plus plenty more by June 1st, when I’m due to hit the road and drive across this wonderful country, including a stop at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Until then here’s some Pats Posits on things I’ve been kicking around.

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2017 Patriots Rookie Eyeball Test

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The rookie eyeball test is one of the oldest continuing columns here at PatsProp, and probably the one I enjoy writing the most every year. It signifies that the crapshoot known as draft prep is over and that the Patriots have their collection of rookies and now it’s time to superficially judge them by their number and helmet choices.

Unfortunately the only place to get these pics is at Patriots.com and being the upstanding blogger that I am, I’ll link to the pictures we’re talking about instead of posting them so as to not disturb the mothership.

The Patriots had a small draft class but with some notable undrafted rookie signees there’s still quite a bit to digest here.

Let’s get after it with the five most interesting!

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Help, This Patriots Draft Makes Too Much Sense!

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I’ve spent the last couple days diving in on all the rookies the Patriots drafted and signed and what I keep coming back to is that I’m shocked that none of it is shocking to me. The more I read about these players, the more it seems to me like the team was laser focused on their specific needs and filled those needs accordingly.

Gone were the pointless picks at positions of excellent depth, players like Tavon Wilson or Jordan Richards who were seemingly overdrafted for no good reason. Duron Harmon was the only one of those guys who really worked out.

But this year even the draft pundits agreed, all the Pats’ picks made sense. They needed some young talent in their defensive front seven and they got two talented players who have different styles but both fit. They needed some tackle depth with Nate Solder entering the last year of his deal and the swing spot open for the taking and they drafted two athletic tackles and signed two more rookie free agents.

The undrafted rookies that really make the most sense were in the secondary.

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