Summary of Selections
Rd 1, Pick 27 (27) | McCourty, Devin CB |
Rd 2, Pick 10 (42) | Gronkowski, Rob TE |
Rd 2, Pick 21 (53) | Cunningham, Jermaine DE |
Rd 2, Pick 30 (62) | Spikes, Brandon LB |
Rd 3, Pick 26 (90) | Price, Taylor WR |
Rd 4, Pick 15 (113) | Hernandez, Aaron TE |
Rd 5, Pick 19 (150) | Mesko, Zoltan P |
Rd 6, Pick 36 (205) | Larsen, Ted OL |
Rd 7, Pick 1 (208) | Welch, Thomas OL |
Rd 7, Pick 40 (247) | Deaderick, Brandon DE |
Rd 7, Pick 41 (248) | Weston, Kade DT |
Rd 7, Pick 43 (250) | Robinson, Zac QB |
Summary Grades
As a grader, it's not fair to rank 7th round picks equally to 1st round picks. Therefore, I've come up with a grading system. First round picks will be 7x more valuable than seventh round picks. Second round picks will be 6x more valuable than seventh round picks and etc, etc.
Final Overall Player Grade:
B+
The questionable pick-up of Cunningham in the second round really hurt the overall score. The Patriots managed to select players who should fit into the following categories:
Starters (4): McCourty, Gronkowski, Spikes, Mesko
Instant Contributors (3): Cunningham, Price, Hernandez
Project Players (3): Larsen, Welch, Robinson
On the Bubble Players (2): Deaderick, Weston
My thought is that maybe the Patriots could have sacrificed a little of the quantity of players drafted and perhaps increased the quality. The Patriots were extremely mobile with their non-compensatory picks and it worked them well. However, the Patriots could have moved upwards to grab some potential game changing players. That said, their first 7 picks should all see considerable amounts of time this upcoming season. However, we went into this draft needing to grab a stud pass rusher. I'm not sure if we found one.
Final Overall Draft Pick Grade:
A-
The Patriots got fantastic value for their picks. They grabbed a 2nd round talent in the 4th round. They transformed a 1st round pick into the player they wanted and the best punter in the draft. They grabbed, in my opinion, a top 3 cornerback, tight end (x2), punter and inside linebacker. Some of their late round selections seemed to be purely for training camp bodies instead of best players available, so I can't give a full A.
Additional Information
Oh, by the way, the Patriots managed to pick up a 2011 second round pick. WHAT?!
Combining the player grades, the overall draft pick grades and the above information, I come to my final draft grade.