The Bill Belichick Era- A look at his past 11 draft classes and their success rate.

In some NFL circles, Bill Belichick has been regarded as one of the best in the business in selecting players in the NFL Draft. His ability to trade down draft picks for future draft selections, much to the annoyance and groans from Patriots fans, is remarkable and uncanny especially in recent memory.

Pats4life explains in his fanpost how Bill used his draft picks to his advantage. 

The second trade was with the Oakland Raiders. It is often overlooked because the Patriots had traded with the Raiders to acquire Randy Moss, which looking back was highway robbery given that the Patriots only gave up a fourth round pick. But, the other trade done with the Raiders that day may be the trade that is responsible for the current structure of the Patriots. The Patriots sent the 91st overall pick to the Raiders for the 211th in that draft and the 69th overall in the 2008 draft. The 69th selection in 2008 was traded to the San Diego Chargers for the 160th in that draft and the 47th in 2009.

Those trades take us back to 2009. The Patriots entered stacked at the top of the draft with their first round pick (23rd) and three second round picks: Chiefs (34th), Chargers (47th), and their own (58th). It was on this day that Bill Belichick, and the Patriots, started to implement the 3 year plan.

Comedic Sans also explains further 

The Pats started off Day Two with three second round selections.

They had the 44th, which they had originally gained from Jacksonville (along with the pick that turned into Julian Edelman) in exchange for a 2009 third rounder (73rd overall).

The Pats also had the 47th, which they received from Tennessee in exchange for a 2009 third rounder (89th overall).

47th overall: The Pats traded back (surprise!) to Arizona, to get Arizona's 58th overall and a third-rounder (89th overall).

58th overall: The pick from Arizona (plus a third, in exchange for the 47th); again, traded back (repetitive, right?). This netted the Pats the 62nd overall from Houston, as well as a 5th round pick (150th overall-Mesko).

62nd overall: The end result of the trade that also netted that 5th round pick; on the board still was ILB Brandon Spikes.

89th overall: the pick Pats nabbed when they raded their second for Arizona's second; a freebie of sorts. Carolina, desperate for QBs, traded a 2011 second-round selection to the Pats in order to get this slot - absolutely fantastic value for the Pats. This could well be the best deal of the lot, and it originally hinged from such an innocuous trade as moving down the second round a little - they pick up a 2011 second-round pick because they moved down 11 spots in the 2010 second round. Highway robbery? I think so. Dance your victory dance, Mr Belichick.

90th overall: The Pats got this pick from Dallas by moving down three spots in the first round - 24th to 27th. Where Dallas used the 24th to take Dez Bryant, the Pats used the third round pick they gained to select WRTaylor Price.

In this article, there will be two types of grades given to draftees, a hit or a miss depending on the round they were selected.

For example, any player selected in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd round hasto be starter or started a few games, in order to be considered a hit. 

Players selected in the 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th rounds have to be a role players.

** Disclaimer- The hit or miss grades for players from the 2009 and 2010 classes can change. Please feel free to discuss these results in the comments.

2000 class Note-We lost our 1st round selection as a compensation for the whole "I resign as HC of the NYJ" fisaco. 

Hit-

Tom Brady, JR Redmond, Greg Robinson- Randall, Antwan Harris and Patrick Pass. 

Miss-Klemm, Stachelski, Marriott, Nugent, and Tisdale

2001 class 

Hit- Richard Seymour, Matt Light and Kenyatta Jones. 

Miss- Williams, Holloway, Akbar, Love, Myers, Pochman,and Turner.  

2002 Class

Hit-Daniel Graham, Dieon Branch, Jarvis Green, and David Givens.

Miss- Davey and Womack.

2003 Class 

Hit- Ty Warren, Eugene Wilson,  Dan Klecko, Asante Samuel, Dan Koppen, and TBC.

Miss-Johnson, Kingsbury, Nead, and Kelley.

2004 class 

Hit-Vince Wilfork, and Ben Watson.

Miss-Hill, Scott, Reid, Cobbs, Sam, and Morton. 

2005 Class

Hit- Logan Mankins, Ellis Hobbs, Nick Kazcur, James Sanders and Matt Cassel.

Miss- Claridge and Stokes.

2006 Class

Hit-Laurence Maroney, David Thomas, Stephen Gostkowski, Ryan O'Callaghan, and Le Kevin Smith.

Miss- Chad Jackson, Garrett Mills, Jermey Mincy, Dan Stevenson, and Willie Andrews.

2007 class

Round
Overall
Player
Position
College
1
24
Brandon Meriweather
Safety
Miami (FL)
4
127
Kareem Brown
Defensive end
Miami (FL)
5
171
Clint Oldenburg
Offensive tackle
Colorado State
6
180
Justin Rogers
Linebacker
SMU
6
202
Mike Richardson
Cornerback
Notre Dame
6
208
Justise Hairston
Running back
Central Connecticut State
6
209
Corey Hilliard
Offensive guard
Oklahoma State
7
211
Oscar Lua
Linebacker
USC
7
247
Mike Elgin
Center
Iowa

Hit - Brandon Meriweather.

Miss-Rest of the 07 class. 

2008 Draft 

Hit- Mayo, Wilhite, and Slater.

Miss- Whealtey, Crable, O'Connell, and Bo Ruud. 

2009 Class

Hit- Chung, Brace, Butler, Vollmer, Tate, Pryor, and Edelman. 

Miss-McKenzie, Ohrnberger, Bussey, Ingram and Richard.

2010 Class

Hit-McCourty, Gronkowski, Cunningham, Spikes, Hernandez, Mesko, and Deaderick.

Miss- Price, Larsen, Welch, Weston and Robinson. 

Round success rate.

1st round-9/ 9. 100 %

Richard Seymour, Daniel Graham, Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, Ben Watson, Lo-Mo, Brandon Meriweather, Jerod Mayo and Devin McCourty.

To hit 100 % with first round picks over 11 years is pretty remarkable regardless of what a certain Patriot commenter says about Bill. Some may argue about Laurence Maroney being a bust but he was a 4 year starter with the Patriots. 3 of the 9 selections are multiple Pro Bowlers and  3 of the 9 have a Pro Bowl to their names.

2nd round-10/15- 66.67%

Wine taste better with age or at least that’s what the common belief is. It is true with Bill’s draft selections.

His 1st 2nd round selection in 2000 was a bust. As was Bethel Johnson (2003), Marquis Hill (2004), Chad Jackson (2006) and Terrance Whealtey (2008).  Matt Light (2001), Dieon Branch (2002) and Eugene Wilson (2003) were hits.

But if you take a look at the 2009 and 2010 classes, it looks like Belichick struck gold. Pat Chung is a legit starter at SS; Sebastian Vollmer is a franchise swing Tackle. Ron Brace played better this year than in his rookie season and looks like a possible replacement for Ty Warren in the next year or two. Butler had a decent rookie year and then a season to forget in his sophomore year. He will definitely have to fight for nickel spot, and I expect him to win it.

Don’t  have to say anything much about the 2010 2nd round selections. All 3 of them were valuable contributers to the 2010 Patriots season.

3rd round- 5/11.  45%

Note I have included Price as a miss solely because he only played in one game in his rookie season.

Nick Kazcur, Ellis Hobbs, Brandon Tate, David Thomas and JR Redmen were the successful selections.

4th round- 8/16 50%

Hits-Jarvis Green, James Sanders, Stephen Gostkowski, Aaron Hernandez, Dan Kelko (to some extent), Asante Samuel (multiple pro bowls), Jonathan Wilhite and Greg Robinson-Randall.

5th round- 4/11 36%

Hits-Dan Koppen (Pro Bowler), Matthew Slatter, Ryan O'Callaghan, and Zoltan Mesko.

6th round- 4/15  26%

Hits- Tom Brady, Attwan Harris, LeKevin Smith and M Pryor.

7th round 6/21 28.5%

Hits-Patrick Pass, David Givens, TBC, Julian Edelman, Brandon Deadrick and Matt Cassel.

Ideally, teams expect first and second round draftees to start from day one. 3rd and 4th round picks are expected to contribute via special teams and backup roles become starters down the road. In the 5th -7th rounds, teams try to find the diamond in the rough. 

I have said it before on Pats Pulpit that the 2009 and 2010 draft classes might be Bill Belichick's best classes ever. If Bill hits gold again with the 2011 draft selections (2 first round picks and 2 second round picks), this team is build for short and long-term success.

The Pittsburgh Steelers struck gold with their selections in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1974. They won four Super Bowls in 1975, 1976,1979 and in 1980 with those selections.

Let’s hope it happens again with the New England Patriots.

In Bill We Trust!

Hooah!