Top 10 Belichick-Era Patriots Busts: #10 Tyrone McKenzie

by Greg Knopping on Apr 4, 2011 11:48 PM EDT in Opinion/Analysis

Tyrone McKenzie never stepped on the field in the regular season for the Patriots.

[Editor's Note: For the next four weeks, Bud Light will be sponsoring the NFL blogs here at SB Nation. Each day, we'll count down the top 10 Bill Belichick era Patriots "busts" and "booms" in the NFL draft. We'll do one at a time, so today we'll do the number ten "bust," then tomorrow, the number ten "boom." -Greg

Patriots Top 10 Busts

Name: Tyrone McKenzie

College: South Florida

Drafted: 3rd round, 97th overall, 2009

Position: ILB

Years with Team: 1+

Where is he now? Reserve linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Comments: In some ways, it's not really fair to label Tyrone McKenzie as a bust for the Patriots. After all, he was a pretty highly touted prospect coming out of South Florida, before tearing his ACL and missing his entire rookie season. He is a very mature and tough individual, and a very dedicated worker. Unfortunately for McKenzie, after the team drafted Brandon Spikes and a so-so preseason and training camp (with an inability to contribute effectively on special teams), he was let go by the team after just over a year with the team. While McKenzie's inability to contribute to the Patriots may have been due to poor luck than skill-level, when you're a third round pick and never step foot on the field, you tend to be considered a bust.

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Comments

he was a compensatory selection

Belichick couldn’t trade it lol

by pats4life on Apr 4, 2011 11:52 PM EDT reply actions

Dane Fletcher is the guy who really lost him the roster spot

I hope mckenzie finds success somewhere else. Good player with a nice story.

by beantownboy171 on Apr 5, 2011 12:29 AM EDT reply actions

Correctly predict the first 32 picks? wtf? use a computer… surely there can’t be more than a few hundred thousand LIKELY permutations…

by quadruple option on Apr 5, 2011 1:12 AM EDT reply actions

When even the "experts" only get 10 players slotted correctly,

Good luck!

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by insertscreenname on Apr 5, 2011 1:31 AM EDT up reply actions

I bet you could take every mock from every draft expert last year

And not a single one of them had Tyson Alualu to the Jaguars at 10. Kinda hard to predict a whole draft, put I guess when they put 10M on it… They’ve probably done the research and know it’s a pretty safe bet. It’d be funny if the draft played out extremely predictable, no one traded in the first round, and they had to pay out to dozens of people.

by 108 on Apr 5, 2011 1:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Nothing to do with experts.. you’d select say 60 odd first rounders hen assign probabilities etc. there’d be hundreds of thousands of permutations if not more but surely someone smart could develop an algorithm and have it enter the conest

by quadruple option on Apr 5, 2011 6:00 AM EDT up reply actions

It would need to be done on the Thursday.

Too much uncertainty before then. Look at Bowers and Newton for proof.

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by insertscreenname on Apr 5, 2011 6:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Sure, but...

…how do you effectively model crazy like Al Davis? Do you just assign massive weight to any guy who runs a 4.2 and has multiple felony convictions?

by RSNexile on Apr 5, 2011 7:20 AM EDT up reply actions

what makes it impossible

is the possibility of trades

by beantownboy171 on Apr 6, 2011 12:19 AM EDT up reply actions

I think I know who the #1 "boom" is going to be!

Adrian Klemm!

by nbradley07 on Apr 5, 2011 8:39 AM EDT reply actions

Tony Eason

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by insertscreenname on Apr 5, 2011 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/651117-nfl-draft-10-biggest-draft-busts-in-new-england-patriots-history/page/1

And people wonder why Pete Carroll isn’t given any of the credit for New England’s success. Just about all of the productive talent on the Patriots’ three Super Bowl squads came from either Bill Parcells or Bill Belichick.

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by insertscreenname on Apr 5, 2011 9:42 AM EDT reply actions

Who wrote that?

BP?

Non Sibi Sed Patriae ;I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life.
Cameron Heyward- Future 3-4 RDE for the New England Patriots.

by NinjaZX6R on Apr 5, 2011 9:51 AM EDT up reply actions

It's on the Katzenmoyer slide.

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by insertscreenname on Apr 5, 2011 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Would have been a stud if he didn't have that neck injury.

Non Sibi Sed Patriae ;I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life.
Cameron Heyward- Future 3-4 RDE for the New England Patriots.

by NinjaZX6R on Apr 5, 2011 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Without even reading the article...

Chris Canty, Tebucky Jones, Andy Katzenmoyer (injuries), Robert Edwards (injury) – all Carroll draft busts.

Belichick draft busts? Definitely Bethel Johnson and Chad Jackson. Maybe Maroney and Graham, but hardly comparable to the Carroll picks.

by nbradley07 on Apr 5, 2011 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Terrence Wheatley!

Second round pick, two passes defensed in two and a half years on the team.

I guess it’d be poor taste to name Marquise Hill a bust, but he was underwhelming as well considering his draft position.

"You wanna know which ring is my favorite? The next one." --Tom Brady

by Treima on Apr 5, 2011 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions

I always forget about the Wheatley.

But yes, he’s up there. Still, Belichick’s draft busts don’t even come close to the level of epic fail that Carroll achieved. Damien Woody was the only first rounder who had any significant impact in the NFL. And Carroll won’t find any redemption in rounds 2-7, either. Brandon Mitchell? Sedrick Shaw? Tony Simmons? Rod Rutledge? Tony George? J’Juan Cherry?

So Damien Woody and Kevin Faulk were Carroll’s only two good draft choices over the course of three drafts in which he had a total of FIVE first round picks (1 in 97, 2 each in 98 and 99) and FIVE second round picks. Ouch.

by nbradley07 on Apr 5, 2011 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions