New England Patriots Thread Mod Warning Post #253

el Fenomeno

JC Jackson has signed his RFA tender so unless we trade him, he'll be back for 1 year at least.

eagle eye

Belichick on the 2020 QB draft class in advance of the draft, "an interesting group", "probably one that has some decent depth to it,"

2021 QB draft class, "A lot of it is by conference, but there are some other circumstances as well. It's an interesting class and group of guys. Some are very strong in some skills, and some seem very strong in other skills. It's definitely an interesting group."

ELM327

If he thinks it has "great depth" he's probably looking to trade down!

eagle eye

No that was 2020. I'm just putting up his comments to show how little he gives away. The media talking about us moving up to get our man are talking rubbish. Only one man knows if we are going to do anything like that and he's not telling anybody in advance of draft day.

Speckydodge

eagle eye wrote:

No that was 2020. I'm just putting up his comments to show how little he gives away. The media talking about us moving up to get our man are talking rubbish. Only one man knows if we are going to do anything like that and he's not telling anybody in advance of draft day.

It's just educated guesses. In fairness it makes sense to move up this year if we really like one of the guys that's not mac Jones, I think he might be gettable at 15.
They've nearly filled out the roster already through free agency and the glaring hole is qb, Cam isn't the answer.
Who knows maybe he likes Davis Mills or Mond in the second or third.

eagle eye

If we take a QB in the first you'll know how confident he is about him because if he's not very confident he'll draft another one in the third or fourth.

eagle eye

Well folks, I'm heading off to work shortly with a little more pep in my step. So delighted we got Mac Jones, really believe he'll be a really good one in the NFL.

BizzyC

eagle eye wrote: »

Well folks, I'm heading off to work shortly with a little more pep in my step. So delighted we got Mac Jones, really believe he'll be a really good one in the NFL.

I'm glad Mac dropped to 15, but I think Fields at 11 was a steal for the Bears.
Be interesting to see where we go with the next few rounds.

ELM327

Surprising pick. I was expecting us to trade up or down.
Was not expecting Jones to still be there as he was mooted top 5.

His film especially on in pocket agility and play action looks impressive, as well as his read progression. That looks a mcdaniels pick as it suits exactly what TB did well for years, but what Cam seems not able to do consistently.

Speckydodge

BizzyC wrote: »

I'm glad Mac dropped to 15, but I think Fields at 11 was a steal for the Bears.
Be interesting to see where we go with the next few rounds.

I have to think they never had any interest in Fields and played the media narrative all along, he was too easily gotten at 11 if they had really wanted him and they get Jones without giving up anything, such a Belichick move.
Personally I was all in on Fields but Jones makes a lot of sense too.
Elijah Moore is still there would love them to get him in the second round.

Mr. Guappa

I'm happy that we picked the QB. Don't know enough about college football to comment on the player, but when he fell to 15 we had to take a shot on him.

Tackle, corner, linebacker and maybe WR are the obvious positions to target tonight, but we've no glaring needs.

eagle eye

Mr. Guappa wrote:

Tackle, corner, linebacker and maybe WR are the obvious positions to target tonight, but we've no glaring needs.

Well I'd love if we picked up Tutu Atwell out of Louisville. He's a small guy with blazing speed, ran a 4.32 40.
Thing is he has incredible hands, a bit like Beckham.
I could see him being turned into a slot receiver in New England and he can line up on the outside with that speed. It's those hands though, I could see him becoming a Wes Welker type.
He's projected for the fourth round.

el Fenomeno

Seems we got some good value last night.

Barmore was ranked 11th overall on PFF's too 100, so it seems good to get him at 38.

Likewise, Perkins was ranked 43rd so to get him at 96 is pretty good.

Granted, that's just one board. Others had them lower, but for the most part we seem to have got them well below where most had them ranked.

eagle eye

Rhamondre Stevenson is potentially very interesting. If he works out he could be like LeGarrette Blount.

Mr. Guappa

Michigan LB Cameron McGrone at 177. Another pick soon too, unless we trade out.

Mr. Guappa

At 188 the pick is Missouri safety Joshuah Bledsoe.

Mr. Guappa

At 197 we take Colorado T William Sherman. One more pick left as it stands.

eagle eye

Very weird not signing any undrafted free agents. Currently we have 83 players on the roster.

Mr. Guappa

eagle eye wrote: »

Very weird not signing any undrafted free agents. Currently we have 83 players on the roster.

It's slightly odd alright. Could be that there's a few signed, just not yet announced.

We've picked up Isaiah Wynn's 5th year option. Wasn't sure if we would or not - 10 million guaranteed for that 5th year now - great value if he can stay on the field, but that's been the problem his first three years. Gives some certainty at OT anyway, with Trent Brown only signed for this season.

No announcement yet on Sony Michel, but I'd be shocked if we picked up his option.

BizzyC

Yeah, have to imagine that Harris and Stevenson will be the primary runners between the tackles now. Unless those guys fail to step up this year, this will be Michel's last in NE.

el Fenomeno

I missed this, but we might have a change to our home uniform this year. They had mannequins of each team's uniforms at the draft this year, and ours had new grey pants instead of the blue pants we had last year. This has been rumoured before, and I think it's a huge improvement. Hopefully it's true as the blue on blue doesn't look good to me.

https://twitter.com/David_Slivka/status/1388103160829562880?s=19

eagle eye

I'm just waiting for things to settle down and I'll buy my no. 10 jersey.

el Fenomeno

eagle eye wrote: »

I'm just waiting for things to settle down and I'll buy my no. 10 jersey.

I've already ordered my Mac Jones bobblehead.

AbusesToilets

el Fenomeno wrote: »

I missed this, but we might have a change to our home uniform this year. They had mannequins of each team's uniforms at the draft this year, and ours had new grey pants instead of the blue pants we had last year. This has been rumoured before, and I think it's a huge improvement. Hopefully it's true as the blue on blue doesn't look good to me.

https://twitter.com/David_Slivka/status/1388103160829562880?s=19

Red uniform when?

DJ_Eoghan

Burkhead gone to Texans. Maybe it's just me, but I feel he was a bit over-rated. Not sure if it was the committee backfield or being in the tub, but he never seemed to perform consistently.

el Fenomeno

Bit harsh. I would say Burkhead exceeded any expectations we would have had when we signed him. Admittedly, those expectations were low. Very versatile, and came up big against the Chiefs in the playoffs with a couple of TDs en route to SB LIII. I'll remember him fondly for that alone.

DJ_Eoghan

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he didn’t have his moments, but I just don’t feel he put it together often enough. I recall beat reporters always talking him up, just don’t recall him being that impactful ( to the point I’d even forgotten about the afc championship game). Guess it means more time for Taylor and Harris, which could be interesting if they have good hands.

AbusesToilets

Burkhead was the Amendola to White's Edelman for me. More talented player, but unlucky with injuries. He is a more effective runner than White is, capable of cutting through the middle and catching the ball.

I hope he has more success with this move than Lewis had in Tennessee.

eagle eye

Good interview with Cam.

https://youtu.be/2oYhvmyMW_8

Mr. Guappa

N'Keal Harry seems to be having a strong camp according to reports. It would be a big boost to our passing game if he could become a solid contributor.

Raekwon McMillan and Dalton Keene both done for the year with injuries. McMillan seemed to be impressing in camp and looked like a decent depth LB. Keene seems unlikely to justify the high pick at this stage.

DJ_Eoghan

Very disappointing about McMillan, from reports I felt he was going to be a strong part of the LB rotation, maybe even a 3-down starter. He also had the feel of classic Belichick reclamation project. Can't remember the stat for it, but think it's really tough for players to come back successfully from 2 torn ACLs. Keene might have caught a break going on IR, I don't think he makes the 53-man squad if it came to it.

eagle eye

Only two throws in to his NFL career and Mac Jones has me believing already.

eagle eye

Quinn Nordin looks like a really good kicker, I think he'll get the job.

Kristian Wilkerson looking really good with Mac Jones and JJ Taylor too.

In fact Michel and Harris have looked excellent too and James White.

Jones has looked great, no td but a lot of impressive play. He is accurate, gets the ball out fast, checks down really quickly. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't win the job. Cam looked poor on his couple of drives.

eagle eye

Add Rhamondre Stevenson to the list of impressive looking running backs. He was part of an impressive drive which he finished off with s goal line score and then broke one for 91 yards and a TD right at the end of the game.

Serious competition for places at RB.

Overall a nice night. On D I'd pick out Josh Uche and JC Jackson as the standouts.

ELM327

Very easy to look good in pre season but I'm also jumping on the Jones bandwagon. Certainly a better option than Cam. I'd have cut Cam months ago but hey ho

DJ_Eoghan

I'm not drawing any conclusions until I see him against a first string defence, presumably in pre-season game 3. Seems like both him and Cam struggled against the Eagles D in joint practice, although 4 out of 5 TEs were out so that was a factor. Key thing from this game for me is we appear to have got lucky on the Judon injury. Haven't seen anything that suggests he was held out of practice week, so that's good.

el Fenomeno

Another good game for Rhamondre Stevenson last night. Jones looked very comfortable again, and Cam was vastly improved compared to the WFT game.

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117779733#Comment_117779733

Cam also isn't running the ball which is presumably intentional in preseason but will make him a lot nastier come the regular season.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117779846#Comment_117779846

I'd imagine our OL is set up primarily for pass protection as our first round pick is a pocket passer. I don't expect to see much QB rushing at any stage during the preseason.

If Cam wins the job I'm sure they'll move that way.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117781292#Comment_117781292

Whether they have a rookie pocket passer or not, any coach that sets up their OL for running their QB in preseason should be shot out of a cannon.

The lack of designed runs, or at times even moving QBs outside of the pocket, is one of the many reasons why it is so hard to compare players from preseason game performance - some players get to show off the majority of their skillset while others are severely limited.

el Fenomeno

Cam was already on a short leash for me as starter at least for the first couple of weeks, but today's idiocy has me done with him.

No excuses this time. He's been vocal about covid derailing his season last year, and he still hasn't been vaccinated and now misses 5 days camp as a result of a "misunderstanding".

For someone fighting for his job, and potentially career, thats idiotic.

DJ_Eoghan

I don't know, I think either way this is on the club. If the club misinterpreted and misadvised him, then that's on the club, but seems like that isn't the case. If Cam misinterpreted and thus is the author of his own misfortune, I'd be asking why the club let their theoretical starting quarterback go to a medical appointment they approved without making sure that Cam was 100% aware of the consequences, particularly when they know he's unvaccinated and 2 weeks away from the start of the season. Of course, could be that they did all that and Cam made a stupid decision, but I find that highly unlikely too given how motivated he seems. The NFL is filled with tons of minute rules and details, particularly with Covid, I think it's incumbent on the club that players are not put in a position of having to know every single last one, particularly when trying to execute a playbook in camp.

Mr. Guappa

Adam Schefter reporting we have traded Sony Michel to the Rams for two conditional late round picks. Makes sense given our depth at RB:

Harris, White, Stevenson, Taylor, Bolden

Michel played well in the playoffs of his rookie season, but was a disappointment overall.

eagle eye

Yeah Michel didn't do great but wasn't bad either. I always felt there was more there.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117801312#Comment_117801312

He was an awful pick in the first round but they've done great work in getting what they have for him

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117805920#Comment_117805920

In hindsight.

At the time nobody could choose between him and Chubb. In fact most were predicting a better pro career for Michel.

I personally always liked Chubb.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117806273#Comment_117806273

Not so much hindsight, I'm never really a fan of RBs in the first round (or even 2nd) - it rarely works out well. I was against the Barkley pick that year despite loving him as a player. Like many, Bill picking Michel made me pause that he had some secret angle but clearly he didn't.

Looking back on that draft it was actually very poor in quantity of starter level RBs. Outside of Barkley and Chubb no one drafted has stood out and really grabbed a lead back role long term. Lindsay was the best of the UDFA, and probably best career outside of the two listed, but he completely fell off a cliff

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808004#Comment_117808004

Lol, again just because it didn't work out doesn't make it a bad pick at the time.

If Bill decided it's a good pick in the first round I think his opinion is far more valuable than yours.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808773#Comment_117808773

It was both a bad pick at the time and it didn't work out.

I've already said I believe it is nearly always a bad pick to take an RB in the 1st round, in Michel's case add that he had a history of knee issues and the Patriot's history of using a committee of backs and the value of taking him in the first is even worse.

That last bit is just nonsense - you've disagreed plenty with Bill here. History shows Bill isn't infallible, especially when it comes to the draft.

dh1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808773#Comment_117808773

I would value Bill's opinion more than foxtrols also. Even Foxtrol would probably value Bill's opinion more than his own. but it doesn't mean foxtrol is wrong on this one. Bad pick without doubt. Waste of a first round pick. Bill's draft history is shady. More duds than studs