Pats and the Draft

[stirs]

Bottom line

 

The draft is a crap shoot for the most part, booms and busts are hard to predict.

 

But, it is better to have a dozen new guys to compete than 5 or 6.  Percentages are on your side.

[panthers55]

Lets also remember that even many of his free agent pickups over the years signed with NE because they wanted a ring and felt that during the 2000-2009, the Pats had a good chance every year to do so. So players targeted them and were often willing to give them huge financial discounts.  That is the way success breeds success.  They have not had as much luck doing that in the past 5 or 6 years.  That might change again after 2014. But the same thing could happen here if we go or win a superbowl.  Players want to play for a winner especially if they play for a perennial loser.  I look forward to see what happens when Brady retires which honestly he should do this year. He doesnt need the money and can retire on top.  But like most players I doubt he stop playing until he diminishes in ability or retires due to injury. 

[Semaj]

It was hilarious when it was reported the Pats called the Panthers war room during Gettleman's first draft, and Dave quickly turned them away.

Belichek testing the new GM to see if he had another teams GM that he could hose. The guy is smart. The guy is good. So is Gettleman , and now Bill knows that he can't get away with the same ish anymore when it comes to the Carolina Panthers. I love our GM. He is a smart and no non-sense general manager.

[AU-panther]

This idea of the pats being terrible at drafting is a bit of a overstatement by jealous fans making casual observations without any true statistically information to back it up.

 

Here is a comparison between the draft classes of the Seahawks (who are considered by many as being the best) and the Patriots (who according to some on here are the worst) of the last five years.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000462474/article/new-england-patriots-seattle-seahawks-built-through-nfl-draft

While I agree the Seahawks have done better I wouldn't say the Patriots have been as bad as some on here would have you believe.

Here is a roster breakdown of the two teams:

http://q.usatoday.com/2015/01/31/super-bowl-xlix-rosters-seattle-seahawks-new-england-patriots/

Patriots actually have more drafted players on their roster.

Also people forget that the Patriots consistently pick at the end of the rounds. Your chances of finding an elite player are much higher in the top 10.

Here is an article that assigned values to players based on their location in the draft. In a nutshell a number one pick overall that is an average starter counts against you more then a seventh rounder that is a quality back up.

http://q.usatoday.com/2014/05/07/nfl-draft-best-teams-seattle-seahawks-san-francisco-49ers-tennessee-titans-new-england-patriots/

While I agree that they seem to do well in free agency they are actually quite disciplined in their approach evident by the fact they consistently receive more compensatory picks then most teams.

Look at what they did with Blount. They had him on the team cheap 2 years ago. Let him leave for more money. Then resigned him again cheap. Most teams don't have that kind of discipline.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-england-patriots/legarrette-blount/

Between the ability to find cheap contributors in the draft, UDFAs, and cheap older players they are able to construct their payroll in a way to afford themselves the luxury of signing an occasional big name player.