PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Patriots Draft OT Antonio Garcia

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The Patriots traded back up into the third round on Friday to select offensive tackle Antonio Garcia from Troy.

Garcia was someone I had on my Top-50 Patriots board and it would appear he’ll be groomed in 2017 to (potentially) take over for Nate Solder in 2018. The team made a similar move with Solder and Matt Light in 2011, but even then Solder was thrust into action early in replacement of Sebastian Vollmer and was solid.

Two words that come up in every Garcia scouting report? Athletic and nasty. That’s perfect Patriots pudding for an offensive linemen. The infusion of depth now that Vollmer has retired was much-needed and now it would appear that losing Solder to injury won’t necessary be the death sentence it was in 2015.

What’s most impressive about Garcia is how he played against the big schools, shutting down NFL-calibre pass rushers from Clemson (2016), Ohio State (2016), NC State (2015) and Wisconsin (2015).

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Patriots Draft DE Derek Rivers

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After a never-ending wait, the Patriots finally made their first selection of the 2017 NFL Draft taking Derek Rivers, a DE/OLB out of Youngstown State 83rd overall.

This fills what I considered their biggest need of draft — replacing Jamie Collins. Rivers isn’t quite the combine freak Collins was, but he’s not far behind. He played mostly as a hand-down left defensive end in college, but has the athleticism that he should be able to play in space a bit for the Pats.

And oh yeah, he’s a PASS RUSHER and who doesn’t love those? The front seven needed a bit of an athletic boost and that’s just what they’re getting from Rivers after some time to develop.

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PatsPropaganda 2017 Mock Draft

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The NFL draft is finally upon us! Though the Patriots don’t currently have a first or second round pick, history tells us that won’t stop them from finding players who can not only make the team, but contribute.

My big board features a list of 50 players that I feel are the best fits for the Patriots. While I don’t believe the Patriots put as much consideration into needs as we might think, the fact remains that there are only so many roster spots up for grabs, so here in my one and only mock draft I do factor in what I see as needs.

Generally, this is how I see those needs:

  1. Linebacker – The team didn’t fill the hole Jamie Collins left through free agency. While Dont’a Hightower can play three downs, Kyle Van Noy was used as a third down coverage specialist and occasional blitzer, while rookie Elandon Roberts carved out an early down run stopping role. Shea McClellin has versatility but was average-at-best in his first season. Jonathan Freeny got an extension last season, but was outplayed by Roberts in his absence. Finding someone in the mold of Hightower/Collins is important, especially given Hightower’s injury history.
  2. Edge – I do like the current three-man rotation of Ninkovich, Flowers and Ealy, but only Flowers is under contract past 2017 so developing another edge player is important this season. Geneo Grissom could get a look in this role as well.
  3. Slot Corner – The top trio of Malcolm Butler, Stephon Gilmore and Eric Rowe are better suited outside, while Justin Coleman and Cyrus Jones will compete in the slot. The Pats always draft defensive backs regardless of level of need and adding another slot guy/special teamer should be in the cards.
  4. 3rd TE – The top duo of Gronk and Allen are very solid, but we’re all aware of Gronk’s injury history. Adding another big tight end to the pipeline is important.
  5. Safety – Jordan Richards seemed to regress last season, and while the top trio of safeties are very good, finding a backup strong safety who could potentially step into a box/slot role if Chung should get hurt would be good insurance.

Yes, signs are pointing to a defense-heavy draft which gets me incredibly excited and leads me to believe it will be far more offense-focused than we think (Belichick always seems to zag when we think he’ll zig).

This week is really the highlight of the offseason and it comes at about the halfway point. The 2017 Patriots will be in even clearer focus by this time next week. It should be thrilling and surprising to watch it all unfold.

Here’s my one and only mock draft of the season!

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Patriots Add Gillislee, New-Look Backfield Complete?

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The Bills declined to match the Patriots’ two-year, $6.4 offer they signed running back Mike Gillislee on Monday, officially making Gillislee the newest Patriot and likely putting an end to LeGarrette Blount‘s time in New England.

Along with free agent signee Rex Burkhead, the Patriots have now added two running backs who should both contribute, along with James White and Dion Lewis. The entire spectrum of possibilities is now covered in the backfield, giving the Patriots multiple options to attack defenses with. There’s the pure pass catching threat that is White (though they’re no longer afraid to hand it off to him in short yardage situations as we saw multiple times in the Super Bowl), the elusive Lewis who will now be a full year removed from ACL surgery, the balanced run/pass ability of Burkhead (along with his four-down contributions) and the pure downhill running of Gillislee.

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Pats Posits: Draft Week is Here!

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Maybe it’s just me, but this draft season feels even more anticlimactic than last year’s. I guess that shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, since at least the Pats had a second-round pick last year and now they’re not scheduled to pick until the third round.

But of course if you know the Patriots, you know things could change quickly and there’s some intriguing assets they could decide to move. Before you know it the Pats could be picking somewhere in the first round.

The signs right now seem to be pointing toward the team hanging on to both Malcolm Butler and Jimmy Garoppolo. But again, this is peak disinformation time in the NFL. There are just as many false rumors started to influence the draft as there are real ones.

Let’s take a deep dive into some of the Pats issues as we countdown to Thursday night. It might be a bit less fun if the Pats don’t pick until the third round, but one thing that’s for sure is that a week from now they’ll have added a bunch of new talent, both drafted and undrafted, that will help the 2017 squad.

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Patriots 2017 Schedule Analysis

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The Patriots’ 2017 season has been revealed/leaked early in all its glory, setting up the campaign that stands between them and winning three of four Super Bowls, twice.

The Pats will play their usual slate of divisional games, while facing the NFC South and AFC West, while also matching up with the first-place teams from the AFC North and the AFC South. I know there’s always plenty of huffing and puffing about how easy the Patriots schedule can be, but it’s all set up on a rotating basis and really engineered to give the best teams the hardest competition.

The 2017 slate has a light start and a light finish, but there’s a tough road stretch in the middle, all against AFC contenders.

First things that jump out:

— Patriots have five national TV games, including the Thursday kickoff opener, their Thursday Night Football game in early October, Sunday Night Football matchups against the Falcons and Broncos, and a Monday Night Football one against the Dolphins.

— They have five-out-of-six on the road in late November/early December — at Denver, at Oakland, vs. Miami, at Buffalo, at Miami (MNF), then at Pittsburgh. That stretch will be the defining one of the regular season, especially the game in Pittsburgh. They ease in and out of the season, but those six games are the heart of the schedule against their toughest opponents in the conference.

— Three of the first five opponents are in the NFC. That will really allow them some flexibility at the start of the season. A loss in one of those wouldn’t hurt that much in the standings. Flip side is that it’s all AFC opponents from Week 7 on, making the stretch run even more vital. Still, closing with home games against the Bills and Jets isn’t exactly daunting.

— Their first AFC East game doesn’t come until Week 6, which seems incredibly late. Five of the last six are in the division. The NFL seems like they want to keep the door open on the division title as long as possible here.

— The Bye Week comes in Week 9 which is ideal, right in the middle of the season.

— There are 10 games that start at 1pm.

Let’s dive into the game-by-game analysis!

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Patriots Extend James White Thru 2020

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James White‘s very excellent 2017 continued on Tuesday night as Adam Schefter reported that White had inked a three year extension with the Patriots, a deal that will keep him on the team through 2020.


I’m still pretty flabbergasted by White’s progress over his first three seasons. Couldn’t get on the field as a rookie, was a passing-down only back in 2015 who had just five receptions on 16 targets in the AFC Championship loss and then, in year three, he just keeps getting better all year long until he caps it all off by doing just what we thought he never could do — plow his way into the endzone through multiple tacklers to win the Super Bowl in overtime.

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