2007 NFL Draft: Was it the New England Patriots' fault?

by Richard Hill on May 12, 2010 7:30 PM EDT in Opinion/Analysis

Over at ESPNBoston, Mike Reiss went through a list of players available to the Patriots in the 2007 NFL draft, from their 4th round pick onwards.

Recently, the Patriots have been chided for doing a "poor" job in the draft, especially due to the complete non-draft of 2007 (where we still managed to get Brandon Meriweather, Wes Welker and Randy Moss). This blog post looks at the potential players the Patriots could have grabbed, after the 4th round.

The list is of players that have done well in the NFL. However, some players fit well with some teams that don't do well with others (ie: a small 4-3 ILB won't fit on the Patriots 3-4 defense). Also, the Patriots may have been full as certain positions as well.

Players that would have fit:

137. RB/FB LeRon McClain (Ravens, fourth round)
140. CB Brandon McDonald (Browns, fifth round)
142. WR Steve Breaston (Cardinals, fifth round)
153. TE Kevin Boss (Giants, fifth round)
162. TE Brent Celek (Eagles, fifth round)
168. CB Corey Graham (Bears, fifth round)
170. CB William Gay (Steelers, fifth round)
172. WR Legedu Naane (Chargers, fifth round)
204. DE Jacob Ford (Titans, sixth round) (as an OLB)
218. LB Zac Diles (Texans, seventh round)
224. S Michael Johnson (Giants, seventh round)
225. P Brandon Fields (Dolphins, seventh round)
240. LB Brandon Siler (Chargers, seventh round)
244. RB/FB Jason Snelling (Falcons, seventh round)
250. RB Ahmad Bradshaw (Giants, seventh round)

I eliminated some of the smaller linebackers, as well as the fullbacks who wouldn't really fit in our committee as a pure fullback.

Looking at the Patriots roster, they had Ben Watson, recently signed Kyle Brady and freshly drafted David Thomas. There was no real need to draft another tight end, when they had two young players already on the roster.

At wide receiver, they had Randy Moss, Wes Welker, 2006's #1 (hah) Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, Donte Stallworth and Kelley Washington. No real space for additional WRs.

After the 2006 season, Laurence Maroney was being looked at to be the new #1 RB after splitting carries with Corey Dillon. With newly signed Sammy Morris and old timer Kevin Faulk, it didn't seem as if the Patriots were looking to become a committee at this point in time (although, in retrospect, the Patriots could have utilized additional running backs).

Eliminating the players that I think the Patriots wouldn't be interested in, the following players are left over:

140. CB Brandon McDonald (Browns, fifth round)
168. CB Corey Graham (Bears, fifth round)
170. CB William Gay (Steelers, fifth round)
204. DE Jacob Ford (Titans, sixth round) (as an OLB)
218. LB Zac Diles (Texans, seventh round)
224. S Michael Johnson (Giants, seventh round)
225. P Brandon Fields (Dolphins, seventh round)
240. LB Brandon Siler (Chargers, seventh round)

That's 8 players that could POSSIBLY fit on the roster- and that's a major maybe.

So am I just trying to make the Patriots look good (a large possibility), or did the Patriots do a great job of skipping an extremely weak draft? Or should the Patriots have been able to grab these remaining players with their draft picks?

Poll

How did the Patriots draft in 2007?

They should have done better.

97 votes

They did as well as could have been expected.

182 votes

They exceeded expectations.

71 votes

350 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

You keep your hands off my Brandon Fields.

If it makes you feel any better, Miami has only the aforementioned Fields and a disappointing back-up in Paul Soliai left on the current roster from the 2007 draft.

"To borrow a simile from the football field, we believe that men must play fair, but that there must be no shirking, and that the success can only come to the player who hits the line hard." — Theodore Roosevelt

by Chad Henne is Your New Bicycle on May 12, 2010 7:42 PM EDT reply actions

Ted Ginn and John Beck didn't exactly work out too well for the Phins, did they?

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on May 12, 2010 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Are you kidding?

Ted Ginn was the best 1st round for 5th round draft pick trade in the modern era!

:-p

by Chad Henne is Your New Bicycle on May 12, 2010 9:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Santonio Holmes would argue with you about that!

by Richard Hill on May 12, 2010 9:51 PM EDT up reply actions

I suppose a four game suspension for substance abuse is a pretty good trump card.

by Chad Henne is Your New Bicycle on May 12, 2010 11:20 PM EDT up reply actions

boss....should have taken him

plus he had a big reception on black sunday

Non Sibi Sed Patriae.
I love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life

GO TEAM USA & then Brazil (World Cup 2010)

by NinjaZX6R on May 12, 2010 9:51 PM EDT reply actions

The only one I would really wish they'd taken was LeRon McClain

The TEs Boss and Celek would’ve been nice, but the Pats already had a full house at TE at that point – Kyle Brady was a stud blocker who Hoodie loved (he wanted to draft him 10th overall at Cleveland in 1995), Watson was coming off his best season in 2006 (49 receptions, 643 yards), and David Thomas was still a young, promising ex-3rd round TE that needed reps. In other words, any drafted TE would be a clear 4th on the depth chart.

Steve Breaston would’ve been nice as a future prospect, but I couldn’t guarantee he’d crack the lineup – ex-3rd round draft pick Kelley Washington couldn’t even crack the starting lineup as a WR and was relegated to special teams, and 2006 #1 WR Reche Caldwell was cut before the 2007 season. In other words, that WR corps was almost impossible to crack that year.

McClain would’ve been an option at RB that season, as the Pats only carried 4 RBs into the season – Laurence Maroney, 3rd down back Kevin Faulk, FB Heath Evans, and HB/FB Sammy Morris. At the very least, McClain could’ve been another FB/HB, and could even have been a genuine #2 HB in a Maroney/McClain 1-2. And maaaaaan, a Maroney/McClain 1-2 sounds like fun.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.

by Comedic.Sans on May 13, 2010 5:58 AM EDT reply actions

Drafts are always crapshoots

No matter how much scouting and preparation and projecting and interviewing you do, it always comes down to things that either can’t be measured (attitude, work ethic, desire) or can’t be predicted (injuries). Looking back, I’m surprised Kareem Brown didn’t turn out to be more of a player, especially given that late round draft picks like Myron Pryor and Daryl Richard have shown promise. But overall, I think the Patriots probably did about as well as they could have done.

This is what makes Bill Belichick the best: He's playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

by ProfessorTodd on May 13, 2010 9:16 AM EDT reply actions

Terrible draft

The Pats’ drafting was dreadful that year. If Meriweather hadn’t worked out, it would have been a complete bust. The defensive troubles of the last couple of years are because the Pats utterly neglected the defense in 2006 and 2007. Everyone could see the developing problem in the linebacking; the Pats knew they were coming up on a moment when they would have to pay their defensive backs or let them go. We didn’t know they’d refuse to pay Asante Samuel or even Randall Gay, Eugene Wilson and Ellis Hobbs, but they did, and they didn’t draft against that day. Instead, they let the linebacking age and the defensive backs go without getting replacements ready.

Instead, they did absolutely nothing on the defensive backfield until 2008, and patched the linebacking with more veterans (Junior Seau and Adalius Thomas). The veterans did all right through 2008 in the linebacking, but age and injuries brought that to a crashing end. The end was coming for Seau, Mike Vrabel and Tedy Bruschi, and they were using Adalius Thomas in a way different from the way he had been used in Baltimore. Adding another patch with Derrick Burgess didn’t get it done.

In 2008, instead of getting a sound defensive back, they gambled on Terrence Wheatley, who was quick enough but 1. was small; and 2. was brittle, with a history of injuries. Well, surprise, surprise! He got hurt after starting just one game and has never regained a starting spot.

In 2008, the bill came due and not even the return of Tom Brady could pay it. The team’s late-game collapses and defensive melt-downs took it out of the top rank of teams. Iif 2008 was a moral triumph (11-5 without Brady), 2009 was an embarrassment, with horrible losses against New Orleans and Baltimore and embarrassing last-minute collapses against Indianapolis and Houston.

The 2009 draft was a little better, and the current draft looks good. We’ll see what 2010 brings.

by Kenchely on May 13, 2010 11:21 AM EDT reply actions

Think there's any relation

to the positive reactions (so far) of the 2009 and 2010 drafts coinciding with the departure of Scott Pioli?

Keep the faith!

by Marima on May 13, 2010 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

2007 draft?

Wasn’t this the year we went undefeated in the regular season? The draft didn’t matter much that year, and we got Moss, Welker, and Mayweather…Sounds like a good year to me!

by westcoastBBfan on May 14, 2010 8:57 PM EDT reply actions

Unfortunately, you could tell 08 would NOT be anywhere close to 07 the second Pollard ended Tom Brady's season.

Cassel OVERACHIEVED. He was not expected to succeed; he did. He wasn’t supposed to start; he did. He wasn’t supposed to be half the QB the Patriots thought they would have the rest of the year and he was a little more.

Maybe we seriously underestimated our 2nd string QB, but it worked out well. Somehow, Bill duped the 49ers into trading 1st round picks, which worked out better than anyone could imagine.

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on May 15, 2010 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions