An Independent Patriots Blog
Really good read from Doug Kyed and I very much agree with him. And I don’t think the Pats are really that far off. After this season, they have developed some new guys on the defensive line and everyone will be a whole lot better with more of a rotation.
The biggest difference I see is in the secondaries, where the Seahawks have a collection of big corners and safeties with Earl Thomas being an elite back end defender. Put it this way, Dennard, Arrington and Gregory would not fit in Seattle.
I’ve been focused on the Patriots’ drafts since 2006 and I think I have a pretty good idea of the kind of guys they like.
Really, BB hasn’t missed one a first-round pick. You might throw Maroney or Meriweather as misses, but neither were complete busts. Maroney essentially sealed the 2007 AFCCG and the back end of the defense (outside of maybe the 09 Saints game) was okay with Meriweather back there from ‘08-’10. Regardless, every other first rounder has been elite.
I think “raw” is over-generalized. These are college kids, they are all raw to an extent. The big traits I look for when putting together my big board are football smarts, toughness, versatility and leadership.
This is not always perfect, in the right round they’ll take a guy if they like the value given his talent. These are football players. Alpha males with tempers who like to run into walls 16-plus times a year. They’re not all going to be choir boys. And if someone got busted smoking pot a time or two, it’s not a deal-breaker.
Here’s the thing… not even the NFL teams know exactly what they’re doing in the draft. The ONLY way to mitigate the risk is to take as many guys as you can, especially in the 2nd/3rd round.
I know everyone wants to take the “name” players in the first round, and sometimes, like 2012, there’s a place for that. But generally the safest way to attack it is to go into the draft with NO needs. You might not love a free agent that you filled a hole with, but you never want to be in the position of having to come out of the draft with a starter at a position. This also forces all rookies to compete.
That way they can draft who they like at whatever position. Between injuries, busts and mis-scouting you never know who will flame out, so all you can do is gather as many players as you can that you like, including via rookie free agency where the Pats have had a lot of success, and throw them into the competition of training camp and see who emerges.
Yeah it’s a good point, here’s the thing – tight ends cause a lot of problems for defenses. Look at the difference in the Broncos with Julius Thomas. I don’t think that in 2010 that Belichick went out to purposely try to build the Gronk-Hernando offense, it just kind of happened.
They are the original matchup nightmares and if you have one that can really run and catch, it forced the defense to choose who gets to cover them, which is never easy.
Now the Pats have no tight ends signed for this season outside of the recovering Gronk, so they have to make a few moves there. I would definitely not rule out taking one in the first round and as you said, someone who can make the whole offense better.
They had no seam threat without Gronk and that made life on everyone harder. Even if it’s just someone in the Daniel Graham mold, that’s fine. I don’t think they can specifically look at a Hernando-type that early, it has to be someone more traditional and if there’s a move tight end later, they can take a shot on one of those too.
And who knows, maybe Gronk comes back and puts a full season together. Then they’ll really be set. But if Gronk has another year of injuries it’s very likely this will be his last in New England, at least under his current contract.
Still very much up in the air. The key is whether or not he gets indicted on the second murder that took place in the summer of 2012. If that happens the Pats will be able to recoup his signing bonus.
As it is now, he’s expected to account for $7.5 million in cap space this season. Unsure on how the recovery of the signing bonus might affect that.
They certainly showed a lot of flashes early this season when they were at or close to full health. As the injuries piled up they slowly went into a statistical free fall, especially against the run.
My expectations will be high, especially if they bring back Talib. If they don’t bring him back my expectations will be a little lower until they prove their secondary can be good.
Say they lose Talib but bring in someone like Brent Grimes, I’d say the potential is there, but they’ll have to win me over.
With (Manning) it is every … single … thing. It’s cadence. It’s formations. It’s little adjustments he’ll have guys make in pass routes. A protection on an inside-the-20-yard-line play. The changes he’ll make on third down, or with play action. But it’s all within the context of their offense. And it’s not 50 different things. Maybe there’ll be five plays in a game that you’ll think, ‘I haven’t seen that before.’ Or: ‘I haven’t seen that in several weeks.’ But you know you’ve seen all the rest of it before, and somehow he’s still making it work.
Good read, Belichick’s respect for Manning is clear. No one knows the game better than Belichick and no one has a better appreciation of Peyton than he does.
Assuming the Broncos return most of their team from this year, even with or without Decker, you have to wonder what the Pats do this offseason, specifically with Peyton in mind. Interior pass rush and press corners are clearly what you need to have any chance.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/with-manning-it-is-every-single-thing-its/
