Grading the Draft: New England Patriots

Interesting stuff here, not sure how “insider” it really is because it seems like just about everyone calls themselves an “insider” these days. But dissension in the ranks is something we’ve heard rumblings about before, namely when BB overrode his scouts to pick Chad Jackson… Hopefully these picks turn out differently. But it’s probably not much of a stretch to think that the scouts had similar opinions to the scouts and drafnitks online who were thrown off by the Collins pick and especially the Harmon one. As always, BB will do what BB wants.

Collins is a much better fit on the outside of a 3-4 alignment versus the 4-3 scheme run by the Patriots. Our understanding is many of the Patriots scouts felt the same way and graded Collins as a last day pick. I’ve heard there was a lot of disagreement over this pick on Friday of the draft as many of the team’s scouts feel Collins is primarily a north defender and will need a lot of work playing in reverse. He possesses the physical talent but does Collins have the fire and aptitude to play in a more complexdefensive scheme?