2024 - Post Draft

[jofos]

2 hours ago, Soko said:

Success isn’t linear in the league. I’m not saying that NE will re-build in a year, I’m saying that throughout NFL history there have been bad/worse teams that have re-built in a year, when no one saw it coming. If history has shown that it was impossible, that’d be one thing. You only need a few examples to show that it’s possible. 

I don’t think there are any teams that can’t possibly have things fall their way to be a decent team the following year. Whether that happens or not hinges on a ton of things, both in and out of the team’s control. Obviously a slow grow is more likely than a quick spring forward, ala Houston. But the idea that no matter who is signed, no matter how these players progress, no matter how good the coaching staff may end up being, no matter how lucky the team gets - that they’re 3-4 years from being good? It just hasn’t been proven to be an impossibility. 

Again, I’m not even talking Pats, not really. Just philosophically, the NFL is so volatile and we’ve seen it happen frequently enough where I’m not calling it impossible. If this was baseball or basketball, I’d say different. 

EDIT: I’ll add that I’m talking about being a relevant team, that maybe either gets close to the playoffs or makes it and wins a game or so. Not a team being a legit SB contender, or getting to the chip.

I completely agree that the turn around can be much short than it used to be, but this year was a tougher year for the Patriots because of the salary cap increase. The Patriots had been resetting their cap in order to make a jump. But the salary cap increased allowed teams that would not have had cap space to resign players so there were less free agents available and teams that would have had a small amount of cap space to go after players they would have otherwise not been able to sign as many FA.  For example the Titans may not have been able to offer Ridley...

[Soko]

4 minutes ago, jofos said:

I completely agree that the turn around can be much short than it used to be, but this year was a tougher year for the Patriots because of the salary cap increase. The Patriots had been resetting their cap in order to make a jump. But the salary cap increased allowed teams that would not have had cap space to resign players so there were less free agents available and teams that would have had a small amount of cap space to go after players they would have otherwise not been able to sign as many FA.  For example the Titans may not have been able to offer Ridley...

That’s true, hard to predict that. Maye becoming a good QB and the team winning some games would go a long way towards making this an attractive destination next season (where the team will again have a boat load of cap space). 

Side note, but with the benefit of hindsight, I’m okay with missing out on Ridley. I’m more excited for the youth movement at WR than I would’ve been bringing in Ridley. The only thing that Ridley’s pursuit probably hampered is a potential pursuit on a tackle, though I’m not sure that a Tyron Smith would come here in a re-building year. It may have meant no Polk and yes to a Paul or Kingsley? But meh, I’m cool with how things shook out overall.

[Dr A W Niloc]

Not a big fan of this haul but Drake Maye could be a game changer in a year or two.

Pix PFFR DraftBz 40Yd  New England Pats  College   Team Pstn Dif  Tall Lbs
 C+      Rk-Rtng
3rd 94.7  3-91.6 4.60  Drake Maye        NCarolina N.E.  QB3 -18  6'4" 230
37. 75.0 12-85.6 4.48  Ja’Lynn Polk      Washngtn  N.E. WR10 -20  6'2" 204
68. 68.8 28-82.2 5.15  Caedan Wallace    Penn St   N.E. OT15 -40  6'5" 314
103 65.7  9-80.0 5.30  Layden Robinson   Texas     N.E.  OG4  +6  6'4" 315
110 82.9 17-84.2 4.54  Javon Baker       UCF       N.E. WR18 +12  6'1" 202
180 79.1 34-77.7 4.46  Marcellas Dial    SCarolina N.E. CB27 +51  6'0" 195
193 77.6 13-80.1 4.78  Joe Milton III    Tennessee N.E.  QB9 -13  6'5" 244
231 73.4 11-81.5 4.54  Jaheim Bell       FloridaSt N.E. TE11 -59  6'3" 239

The team's talent level will be in the bottom eight.  On the bright side, this is "the good kind of bad":   three or four gaping holes that can be filled with well targeted average players from rounds two to five.  The strategy is simple enough;  the Pats just need to do the opposite of what they've done this year and so many years past (i.e. Strangest Player Available).

In the meantime, the O-Line is fine and the positional ease of schedule will encourage the ground game.  Maye should have a relatively gentle introduction, as rookie intros go.

[m haynes]

8 hours ago, Soko said:

, I’m okay with missing out on Ridley. I’m more excited for the youth movement at WR than I would’ve been bringing in Ridley.

I'm with you here.  I see FA as miss not hit. I always like using FA as fill in the weak spots with players, not just one super star. Hopefully they turn out to be so much more such as Vrabel and Judon, Nickovich. Note here I thought Judon was a good player but not the player he turned out to be ... star

9 hours ago, Soko said:

Paul or Kingsley?

Your right with missing out but I don't see how they could fill all the holes without giving away picks and possibly future major assets. EX Panthers.  I thought they made the right move passing on the LTs at 34.  I wasn't a fan of any of them especially Paul. IMO Kingley a OG.

I'm a big fan of Conkey however I liked Polk just as well. He's is IMO a pro EX Branch. When they drafted DB I was like, what !!!! The Bucky's sure missed on him. Recall, I think he was ranked 21th a WR !!!!

What I was hoping for was the above WR and another WR in the 3/4 rounds. We pick the player that I was hoping for Baker. I'm excited with the two. We have guys that can play. I believe in the group more than the individual when it come WR when your building. You can get the top dog later if you need to. I was not a fan of taking star  (MHJ) WR high in the draft when a team has other holes to fill.  EX Wilson with the Jets. Great he has numbers but the team was still crap.

 

SIDE NOtE   MY t key is not working.  I stink at writing this is a ***** need a new lap top  AS you can see with this post.

[Hunter2_1]

Wth are we doing with this 'defacto' GM post? Is Wolf the GM or not? We've already been turned down once.

Is this not embarrassing?

Edited May 8 by Hunter2_1

[PatriotsWin!]

Thought it was still Wolfe. These other interviews they’ve had are only to satisfy the Rooney Rule… at least that is what I’ve been assuming…

[Hunter2_1]

9 hours ago, PatriotsWin! said:

Thought it was still Wolfe. These other interviews they’ve had are only to satisfy the Rooney Rule… at least that is what I’ve been assuming…

Oh right. 

What a circus

[Soko]

On 5/8/2024 at 8:57 AM, Hunter2_1 said:

Wth are we doing with this 'defacto' GM post? Is Wolf the GM or not? We've already been turned down once.

Is this not embarrassing?

Tbf, it’s late for a GM search. Any decently promising candidate wouldn’t want the job post-draft, post-free agency. 

I think anything other than promoting Wolf would be a massive mistake at this point. 

[Soko]

As expected, rightfully so. Other minicamp notes:

- Fundamentals early for Maye. Practicing his footwork. All the coaches have their hands on him (AVP, TC, McAdoo).

- Hopefully AVP and Peters bring over more than just the sled, and carry over some Callahan magic.

- Wallace took his only reps at LT, no surprise there.

- Fellow rookie Layden Robinson also switched over from RG to LG. Could mean nothing, coaches may just want to see what he looks like over there as depth for both sides. Or, if we can read into things possibly too much, could mean they hope he sticks at LG to take Strange’s spot (over Sow’s on the right). 

[Hunter2_1]

So going out to hire a new de facto GM was just paying lip service?

[Hunter2_1]

14 hours ago, Soko said:

As expected, rightfully so. Other minicamp notes:

- Fundamentals early for Maye. Practicing his footwork. All the coaches have their hands on him (AVP, TC, McAdoo).

- Hopefully AVP and Peters bring over more than just the sled, and carry over some Callahan magic.

- Wallace took his only reps at LT, no surprise there.

- Fellow rookie Layden Robinson also switched over from RG to LG. Could mean nothing, coaches may just want to see what he looks like over there as depth for both sides. Or, if we can read into things possibly too much, could mean they hope he sticks at LG to take Strange’s spot (over Sow’s on the right). 

What I’d give for some Callahan magic on our line. 
 

If the line is competent, I really do feel like this offense can make stuff happen. It was excruciating last season. For a number of reasons. A big chunk was the pass pro - Ved Lowe was dead last in pass protection grade, and the interior weren’t too far behind. 
 

Get this to just average, and we’ll make stuff happen 

[Soko]

May not be in the cards with this crop, but one of the handful of things I hope Wolf/Mayo keep going is having an UDFA make the team every year. Can’t really speak to this group all that much, but I think it helps the recruiting.

[Soko]

On 5/12/2024 at 5:22 AM, Hunter2_1 said:

What I’d give for some Callahan magic on our line. 
 

If the line is competent, I really do feel like this offense can make stuff happen. It was excruciating last season. For a number of reasons. A big chunk was the pass pro - Ved Lowe was dead last in pass protection grade, and the interior weren’t too far behind. 
 

Get this to just average, and we’ll make stuff happen 

Well, that’s the main issue right there…inconsistency and bad play. 

Trent Brown was the king of inconsistency from an effort/availability standpoint, but he actually played well when he was on the field last year. Strange was in and out of the lineup (again), and not especially good when he was on the field anyway. Mafi was a wreck in there. Sow was actually decent at guard, when he finally got the time there. Big Mike was hurt throughout camp and was in and out of the lineup at RG (remember he wasn’t finishing games, due to “being out of football shape”?) but he eventually settled in at RT. Andrews was the only fixture.

Unfortunately, I don’t really expect Strange to be healthy at this point. Or all that good. If he plays 14 games and is just “okay”, I think that’s a win - which shows how disappointing his tenure has been. It’s why Robinson (or a stab at a guard) was a bigger need than I think many people realized. 

Ultimately you’re right, if the line stays healthy(is) and LT isn’t a black hole, whether it’s Wallace or Chuks, I think it’s an NFL offensive line. Otherwise, we have to hope Andrews, Mafi, Robinson, or Wallace really step up to the plate (this is also my obligatory go sign Charles Leno mention). 

That said, I thought the same thing last year…and things bottomed out. I think a new OC and coaching staff along the offensive line will go a long ways in that regard. 

[Soko]

Good news. Team captain’s under contract through 2025! With Andrews mulling retirement this offseason, I have to assume (hope?) that a one year extension means he’s looking to stick around past this upcoming season. At least for now. Andrews had a rougher season than we’ve been accustomed to seeing, but as I’ve said before, it was a game of musical chairs last year and had the most inexperience taking snaps since maybe the Shaq Mason/Tre Jackson/Bryan Stork days.

[Nex_Gen]

1 hour ago, Soko said:

Tre Jackson

There's a name I completely forget about..