Patriots Flag Football: Greg's Fifth Pick

It seems that the last few rounds, Alec and I have been working off very similar draft boards. In the second round, Alec chose Devin McCourty, the next player on my board. In the third round, I selected Matthew Slater, who was on Alec's short board. He then turned around, and selected Rob Gronkowski, who was my next intended pick. I then selected Pat Chung, who Alec intended to pick. Now, Alec has selected Kyle Arrington, who was on my short board of players.

Still, it's funny to see how different our teams have turned out to this point. I'm still very confident in my team building approach to this draft, as Alec continues to pick up big name players, with size and flashy stats. Nonetheless, I really like his pick of Arrington though, as I feel he can cover one of my two slot guys (Edelman and Welker) much better than McCourty.

When making his last pick, Alec also described how the last two rounds of this flag football draft wasn't about finding the diamond in the rough. I beg to differ. I'm going with a player who is a relative unknown, but could end up playing huge dividends.

In flag football, athletes, rather than purely skilled football players, can sometimes stand out. So with my next pick, I'm going with a pure athlete who has tremendous size but little football experience. I'm selecting Patriots rookie safety Nate Ebner.

On offense, I expect Nate Ebner to hold his own. As a rugby player, Ebner is experienced with the ball in his hands, and likely has decent enough hands to catch the ball. Considering his elite 20 yard shuttle (4.04) and 3-cone drill (6.59) times, I also think he should be a good route runner, who is agile after the catch. He could also be used creatively on sweeps and pitches.

Defensively, Ebner is going to be a real dark horse for my team. He has a 39 inch vertical, and at 6-foot and 202 lbs, he has terrific size. With his elite athleticism, he should be able to dart around the field and track down any ball carrier, and can also be used on blitzes. His amazing vertical jump could also make him an intriguing option to match up against one of Alec's bigger targets such as Rob Gronkowski. While his inexperience could lead to a mistake or two, this hypothetical game is going to have a lot of scoring and few defensive stops. Whoever makes a big play or two on defense could end up winning the game. The selection of Ebner could be considered a shot in the dark, but I definitely think his size and athleticism are intriguing, and I wouldn't be surprised if he created a turnover if this hypothetical game were to be played.

At this point, I'm really excited where my team is headed. I've drafted players that will each play their respective roles on offense, and can also hold up respectably on defense. And now, with my last two picks, I've brought in defenders who can play at just about any spot on the field.