PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Walter Football: 2012 Mock Draft… why not?

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Walter Football: 2012 Mock Draft… why not?

It’s not too early for a mock draft yet is it? Patriots picking 29th and 31st, which means the Saints were good, the Patriots were better but the Packers win back to back Super Bowls.

New England Patriots: Tydreke Powell, DE/DT, North Carolina
I’m tired of these Patriot selections because Bill Belichick either trades them or makes picks out of left field.

One of these days, Belichick will draft a five-technique. He has to, right?

New England Patriots: Ryan Broyles, WR/PR, Oklahoma
If the Patriots can draft two running backs in the first three rounds, they can certainly add a receiver to complement Wes Welker, Deion Branch and the two tight ends.

ProFootballWeekly: Nawrocki gives Patriots an A

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ProFootballWeekly: Nawrocki gives Patriots an A

New England Patriots
The king of manipulating the draft, Bill Belichick, once again worked his magic with the help of personnel boss Nick Caserio, stockpiling a boatload of future draft picks while recognizing value throughout. With the pick acquired from Oakland in exchange for Richard Seymour, the Patriots nabbed their left tackle of the future in Nate Solder, who should benefit highly from the tutelage of OL coach Dante Scarnecchia. They dealt their 28th overall pick to the Saints for an additional first-round pick next year and a second this year, used to add change-of-pace RB Shane Vereen late in the second round. Rather than dealing down from the top of the second, they added press CB Ras-I Dowling, whose graded out like an early-round talent last season before injuries derailed his season. Belichick acquired third- and fifth-round in a deal down with Houston, adding inside banging RB Stevan Ridley and OL Marcus Cannon, who has starter potential in 2012 once he recovers from recently-diagnosed cancer. With the pick secured from Minnesota for Randy Moss, Belichick nabbed troubled, heavy-footed QB Ryan Mallett, who perfectly fits the Patriots’ offense and should benefit from a veteran locker room. The Patriots sent their third- and fourth-round picks to Oakland in exchange for a seventh-rounder (CB Malcolm Williams) and a second-rounder in 2012. TE Lee Smith could contend for a job as an in-line blocker and LB Markell Carter has developmental potential. To keep alive a string of trades with the Eagles that started when he arrived in New England, Belichick swapped one spot in the sixth round with the Eagles. They also previously shipped off Laurence Maroney for a two-round exchange of picks, acquired Deion Branch for a fourth-round pick and landed Quinn Ojinnaka from Atlanta in exchange for a seventh-round pick. The Patriots were as active dealing as any team in the draft and recognized value extremely well throughout, taking worthwhile chances on Mallett and Cannon, upgrading an aging backfield and coming away locked and loaded for next year’s draft. Knowing when to unload disgruntled veterans affecting chemistry in the locker room and which veterans can still function in his system remains a great strength that reflects in the Patriots’ drafts. Belichick can be justified taking some calculated risks, as he did, and landed some niche talent to supplement his roster.
Grade: A

Some positive Tuesday Patriots linkage

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Here’s a collection of Patriots linkage to get you feeling good about the Patriots today, not that you should need this linkage, but every little bit helps right?

First we begin with the somewhat expected news that Tom Brady should be fully ready to go at the start of training camp, whenever that might be.

Wes Bunting gives the Pats a B- for their draft saying:

I like what the Patriots did in the draft more so toward the mid/late round range as opposed to their first two picks. TE Lee Smith will be their in-line blocking tight end from day one, OL Marcus Cannon could be a steal once he’s healthy and I love RB Shane Vereen in that offense. QB Ryan Mallett is a boom or bust guy in the 3rd, as are their first two picks in my mind, OT Nate Solder and CB Ras-I Dowling.

I feel pretty good about taking a boom or bust chance on a guy when they have the character and work ethic that Solder and Dowling have.

Ryan Mallett said he’s a lot like Tom Brady.

“I think it’s a perfect fit after watching film with the coaches when I was there. And me and Tom are kind of the same,” Mallett said per the Providence Journal. “We’re not fleet of foot, obviously. We don’t run fast. We pick defenses apart and we know what’s going to happen before the snap or we react post snap and that’s why I think I’m like him a lot.”

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe plays devils advocate and says we shouldn’t “pass” rush to judgement on the Pats draft haul. Yeah Chad, that’s an understatement.

Speaking of abbreviated careers, the most immediately gratifying draft for me was the Lawrence Maroney-Chad Jackson-David Thomas trio in 2006. Now that was a flashy draft with name recognition. Finally, Tom Brady had some weapons! Turns out they were weapons of self-destruction. Five years later, Thomas is a contributor in New Orleans, but Jackson and Maroney will be lucky to take their talents to the UFL.

Belichick’s worst draft was arguably the one most of us liked the best. That’s pretty telling, I’d say, and hopefully reason enough to keep the howling to a minimum next year when he ruins everyone’s mock draft yet again. Hopefully we will learn, one of these Aprils. Because this won’t be the last time he drafts another class of promising players we’ve barely heard of over a player or three whose name recognition and position are enough to foolishly convince us he’s just the elixir the Patriots need.

Bucky Brooks of NFL.com has the Patriots as the rich getting richer.

Bill Belichick is masterful at manipulating the draft to address needs, while also adding picks for the future. This year, he continued to follow that strategy as he moved up and down to land three first-round talents: Nate Solder, Ryan Mallett and Marcus Cannon. The Mallett pick, in particular, could pay off handsomely down the road considering his potential as a pure pocket passer. Cornerback Ras-I Dowling is another intriguing prospect with the skills to outplay his draft status. After producing another stellar draft class, it appears that the rich continue to get richer in New England.

Digging on Patriots OLB Markell Carter

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Like everyone else I had no idea who Markell Carter was when the Patriots drafted him, leading me to scour the internets to find out more about him. One of the best places to look is often team messageboards and here are some nuggets that I found below. These are just fan comments but I think they give some insight from people who followed Carter just like we’ll be following him.

Carter is explosive toward the ball and if the RB or QB runs to the edge, he’s there to lay down the punishment. He has a high ability to hold onto a ball carrier. I can’t remember very many leaving his grasp..if any at all. He’s a team leader also. Point of Attack is huge in his game. Killer speed. Very agressive but plays extremely smart. His field intelligence has allowed him to remain healthy. I’ve watched him survey the field looking at schemes before the ball is snapped and blow up a runner who thought his path was easy.

Markell looked like he always had the frame to get bigger but never did – or at least as much as I would expect. He moves well and was always around the quarterback, often one step away from getting to him. If you could find film from the McNeese game he certainly seemed to be asserting himself even more in his farewell game.

his stats last fall may not have been what some people predicted but he drew doubles and sometimes triple teams and most teams went the opposite way….some team could pick up a good talent in a low round draft and be pleasantly surprised……

PatsPropaganda’s Patriots Draft Research Self Evaluation

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This was our most extensive year researching and discussing the draft, and like all good teams/bloggers you must be critical with your self-evaluation if you want to improve.

This is the sixth draft that I obsessed over from a Patriots perspective. Prior to that I just looked at the list of draftees and tried to make sense of it. But the five previous drafts have definitely been an education, so I was hoping that this year I could get 75% of the Patriots picks on my Patriots-only Big Board.

This will be a review of how I did, and why I missed who I did. This will include reflections on my Patriots-only Big Board and Patriots-only Mock Draft.

17. Nate Solder

Patriots-only Big Board Rank: 12

Solder was definitely one of my favorite Patriots prospects. I mentioned him in every non-PatsProp article I wrote for other sites, and I had him as 33rd overall pick in my Pats-only mock. Had him a little lower than he actually went, but otherwise I nailed this one. Solder stood out to me as a Vollmer clone, and I thought the Patriots could allow him a year to develop. He has great size and athleticism and that is always tempting for BB given what the Pats ask their OL to do.

33. Ras-I Dowling

Patriots-Only Big Board Rank: 28

I also nailed Ras-I in my Patriots-only mock, albeit having him in the 74th overall slot. He seemed to me the classic guy who falls because of injury ala Brandon Tate, thus setting him up to be an excellent value pick. Dowling fit the exact need I’ve talked about most of the spring… a rookie DB who can play some sub packages in year one, but eventually projects to Free Safety where he could replace Brandon Meriweather and/or James Sanders since both of their contracts are up after 2011. Going two for two, though much higher than I predicted, was a pretty solid start out of the gates.

56. Shane Vereen

Patriots-Only Big Board Rank: 36

I thought the Patriots would definitely tap a running back in the second or third round, however I chose Johnny White at 92 instead of Vereen who was ranked 5 spots higher on the big board. I went with White because he was a similar situation to Dowling in that he battled injuries this past season, thus dropping his ranking. 3 for 3 on the big board, 2 for 3 on the Pats-only mock.

73. Stevan Ridley

Patriots-Only Big Board Rank: 53

Nobody saw back to back running backs here, but Ridley was definitely a guy on our radar that we saw as a fit. Tough to nail this pick in the mock but it would’ve been a disappointing miss if he had not been on the big board.

74. Ryan Mallett

Patriots-Only Big Board Rank: UNRANKED

We didn’t have any quarterbacks on our big board, not because we didn’t like any of them, because we just figured it’d be a shocker if they took one. Would we have had Mallett on there even if we included QBs? Probably not. So our first miss.

138. Marcus Cannon

Patriots-Only Big Board Ranking: UNRANKED

I wrote off Cannon early in the process for reasons I’m still not entirely sure of, but there’s a nice little X next to him in my PFW draft guide. But looking back now his unique frame and set of abilities should have pinged my Patriots radar more than it did. I consider Cannon my biggest miss of the draft.

159. Lee Smith

Patriots-Only Big Board Ranking: UNRANKED

I’m frustrated that I missed Smith because I included another Tight End Luke Stocker for the same reasons that made Smith appealing. I put him on based on this: has the frame, tenacity and strength to develop into a powerful run blocker. Stocker is a blue collar-type player. Sounds just like Smith’s description, huh?

194: Markell Carter & 219: Malcolm Williams

Patriots-Only Big Board Ranking: UNRANKED ON BOTH (OBVIOUSLY)

I’m putting the last two picks together, because clearly they were outside of the box for everyone. I mean if Williams himself didn’t even think he’d get drafted how would I have any clue he’d get drafted. Neither are listed or ranked in any of the places I did all my research. So it’s a pass in that I’m not frustrated that I missed them, but nonetheless, I missed them.

Final Stats

Patriots-Only Mock: 2 of 9 draftees

Patriots-Only Big Board: 4 of 9 draftees ranked

Positions Drafted: 5 of 9 correctly projected (missed TE, QB, 2nd DB, 2nd RB)

The numbers don’t jump off the page exactly, and I believe that Cannon, Smith and even Mallett should’ve potentially be hits for me. It really should’ve been 6 out of 9. Nailing Solder and Dowling in the Patriots-only mock was surprising to even myself, and is definitely something to build on.

Each year I feel like I learn a little more and that was taken to a new level this year. Watch out in 2012!