top 3 rounds over the last 5 years..

2006

1.21    RB     Laurence Maroney                 Minnesota

2.04    WR    Chad Jackson                        Florida

3.22    TE     David Thomas                       Texas 

2007

1.24    DB    Brandon Meriweather             Miami

2008

1.10    LB     Jerod Mayo                           Tennessee

2.31    DB    Terrence Wheatley                 Colorado

3.15    LB     Shawn Crable                        Michigan

3.31    QB    Kevin O'Connell                     San Diego State

2009

2.02    DB    Patrick Chung                        Oregon

2.08    DL     Ron Brace                             Boston College

2.09    DB    Darius Butler                         Connecticut

2.26    OL     Sebastian Vollmer                  Houston

3.19    WR    Brandon Tate                        North Carolina

3.33    LB     Tyrone McKenzie                   South Florida 

2010

1.27    DB    Devin McCourty                     Rutgers

2.10    TE     Rob Gronkowski                    Arizona

2.21    LB     Jermaine Cunningham            Florida

2.30    LB     Brandon Spikes                     Florida

3.26    WR    Taylor Price                           Ohio

2011

1.17    OL     Nate Solder                           Colorado

2.01    DB    Ras-I Dowling                        Virginia

2.24    RB     Shane Vereen                       California

3.09    RB     Stevan Ridley                        Louisiana State

In Response to What do you guys think about our draft picks?:

2006 was bad
2007 Meriweather and they traded for Moss and Welker.  Meri is mediocre. Welker have been putting together the kind of play that will have him in the HOF discussion one day if he continues.  I'll take 1 great guy over 6 benchwarmers every draft. 
2008-Mayo - this guy is one of the best LB'ers in the NFL and a leader.  Not a great class put they did get Guyton and Green Ellis here.
2009- OK, Chung and Vollmer are good starters, may be great one day.  The rest haven't shown much. 
2010-Don't need to wait 3 years on this one.  McCourty and Gronk are top players at their positions already.  Hernandez, and Spikes had strong rookie years.  The rest are promising.
2011- Have to see, too early.

Three outstanding players out of 24 is pretty average drafting. A very few more show some good promise. More than an entire defense's worth of 12 players were chosen of that 24, and look what we are saddled with for a D at this point. One would think a genius could do better than that.

If everyone looks throughout all teams during those years, they would find that those draft classes were weak overall.  I have looked back at those, and all things considering, the Pats picks were not so bad.  There are some Pats picks (for those bad drafting years) playing for other teams, some starting like O'C (RT) in KC.

2006-2009 SUC Ked! 2010 and 2011 Look to be Homeruns!

in 2007 you have to add in welker because he was acquired through trading our draft picks

Hard to tell without comparing to what all the other teams in the league did (and I don't have the time or patience to look all that up).  Also need to take into consideration where the Pats were drafting.  There's a big difference between the top half and the bottom half of each round. You'd expect the Pats to do worse than a lot of other teams because of our lower position in each round.  

    When one really looks at recent Patriots' drafts, it's impossible to deny that the draft class of 2010 was special, and one of Bellichick's very best. How good?

    Let's start with the Pats 1st-round pick, Devin McCourty. This kid was a "Pro-bowl" player last year as a rookie, and will be a lockdown-shutdown, #1 cornerback for years to come. He's the kind of player who can night-in-night-out, match-up with the opposing teams best, most talented receiver and take him out of the game.
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    When one thinks of the prototypical Tight-End, it's hard not to think of a guy like Rob Gronkowski. The Pats' 2nd-round pick is an absolue beast. His 10 TD's last year were the second most for a rookie TE in the history of the NFL. He looks like a mainstay and a Pro-Bowl type player for years to come. Furthermore, the Pats also drafted Aaron Henandez who looks like an absolute steal in the 4th-round. This kid looks like a young Tony Gonzales/Dallas Clark-type TE.
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    Also, let's not forget Brandon Spikes was a starting LB in his rookie year, and looks like he'll have a very productive NFL career.

Then there's guys with great skills/potential in WR - Taylor Price and OLB -Jermaine Cunningham.

And let's not forget, the Pats also have a pretty good punter by the name of Zoltan Mesko from their 2010 Draft Class.

If the Pats go on to win a Superbowl in the near future many of these young players will be major contributors, and Pats fans will look back at the 2010 Draft Class as a big reason why.

And a 2nd round draft pick in 2011 became a 1st round pick in 2012

2006 was A++

I suppose it's not worth pointing out to those who want to rip BB's drafting ability with impunity that the Pats pretty much pick in the bottom third of the first round every year, so they're basically choosing from the second best player at this position, or the fourth and fifth best at that position by the time their pick comes along.

It's probably a better idea to not compare them to the rest of the NFL's draft record over those years, but to compare them to the teams who've consistently selected in the bottom third of most rounds over those years--teams like Pittsburgh, the Colts, the Eagles and maybe the Packers, since those teams usually are in the post-season hunt every year.

The one year in the last 10 that BB has had a Top 10 pick he hit it out of the park (Mayo).

It's not easy to hit homers when the NFL has set up the system to make it harder for the good teams to keep drafting well year in, year out.

Yes, he's had a lot of bad misses in the 2nd round over the last few years, especially with DBs, but what team hasn't?

Aside from Maroney, Meriweather and Ben Watson (all low first rounders), his first rounders have by and large been good selections since he's been with the Patriots.

The '06 draft was a bad one overall for the whole league, so he deserves a pass on that one. It's easy to dismiss the 2007 draft as a bad one if you don't include the draft picks that were traded for Moss and Welker, which you simply can't do if you're being honest about this exercise.

In 2008 he got Mayo, Slater (good special teams play is an underrated facet of the game in this fantasy-centric era), and BJGE as an undrafted FA (plus Guyton, who's not bad).

In 2009 you've got Chung and Vollmer, and Pryor was a terrific pick for that late in the draft. Also, they got Hoyer as a UFA. Not a bad draft overall, although with Brace and Butler both on the bubble, it could get downgraded. Losing McKenzie to that knee injury in mini-camp was big; they had big plans for him and he obviously was never able to recover from that. Tate may be looked at as a "bust," but he was also an injury roll of the dice since he'd wrecked his knee during his senior year at UNC.

2010 was the industry's best draft, hands down, and it will only get better if Taylor Price comes on strong this year.

We'll see about 2011. Too many of those guys have been out with injuries to really judge, but so far Solder looks like a player, and so does Ridley.

That 2009 draft was incredible

This year's draft class is way incomplete.  I think Ridley can contribute in big ways, though.  He definitely looks thinner than he did on college film, and better in open space and as a pass catcher.  I'm also excited about Vereen's versatility.  I'm sick of watching the Pats substitute in order to have between the tackles running, pass catching, speed, and blitz pickup.

Ryan Mallett could be a HUGE steal, and to think everybody bashed him because he got caught DRINKING IN COLLEGE (who'd have thought?)

I think Solder is a big deal, too.  Vollmer and Solder will make very nice bookends

Last years draft was incredible, two probowl tight ends(gronk/hernadez), a probowl potential defensive rookie of the year(mccourty)

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In Response to Re: What do you guys think about our draft picks?:


Sounds like your being a bit negative Babe.  I don't believe there is an actual matrix that measures % of draft hits and misses.  If there is your not posting or referencing it.  Seem your biasing the above on your own prejudice, when in fact BB could very well have the best draft hit %. 

We just don't have the info to properly quantify BB level of draft genius.  So taking a shot at him with nothing to back it up is a bit petty.

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In Response to Re: What do you guys think about our draft picks?:


Yes, there is missing data.  No one can do an effective analysis on partial data that one individual is contriving to obviously support some claim.  The team trades picks for players well.  The team drafts well in the fourth and fifth rounds.  Besides, in isolation from the rest of the draft, it's hard to compare them to other teams.  For example, where are the draft choices for other teams over the same time period.

I think the Patriots do a great job making choices with their draft picks, and I don't blame them because the players don't always work out.  For example, Chad Jackson was a phenomenal talent.  It makes complete sense that a smart team who wants a receiver would draft him.  I don't take it as a flaw in the decision making that it didn't work out.  The draft is a gamble.

When did Pioli leave?  Was it just prior to when the picks from the first three rounds start looking good again?

Yeah, Pioli was there from 2001 to 2008.

Good thread, by the way.  Fun topic.

It was way to extreme to take away a first round draft pick for video taping a public event from more than the fifteen (or whatever) angles already taping it.  Gathering footage that is readliy available to anyone in the stands with a pair of binoculars.  Add that to the 2009 draft!

In Response to Re: What do you guys think about our draft picks?:


And the question that "Red Light" was never asked by the fawning, anti-BB media was this: Why take away a first rounder if they MAKE the playoffs, but take away a 2nd and 3rd if they DON'T make the playoffs?

Wouldn't taking away a first rounder from a non-playoff team (pick #21 or better) be more of a punishment than taking away a pick between spots 28-32 in the first round from a playoff team?

The entire thing was a joke, and "Red Light's" severe overpunishment of the misdemeanor offense hurt BB's draft score from 2008, without question.

Should have been docked a 3rd or 4th rounder (Denver's penalty for cap cheating was a 3rd), and paid a small fine, at most.