It’s Spring. A time of hope for football fans west of the Connecticut River that this will be the year their team makes the playoffs and the Patriots don’t.
I wonder what that feels like.
It’s been hard to get jazzed for the draft. The police have been unable to recover the Patriots’ stolen first round pick and with so many questions about the chain of evidence it seems unlikely we’ll see any resolution to that in the next five days. Not that Belichick isn’t a fascinating watch in terms of inexplicable picks of 2nd round safeties no pigskin pundit or bobblehead has on their big board and for his obsession with trading down or into next year’s draft in search of value.
The consensus amongst the gridiron cognoscenti seems to be the Patriots enter the draft with positions of relative weakness - running back, cornerback, wide receiver, a developmental offensive tackle and maybe depth across the defensive front seven - but no real holes. Best available athlete? Even as the pundits and bobbleheads argue New England could go the best athlete route (Yet another safety? A tight end? A quarterback?) their mock drafts are populated with cornerbacks, running backs and offensive and defensive tackles.
I look through these prognostications thinking, “Has anyone ever gotten it right trying to guess what Belichick was going to do in the draft?”
Still, I read them all. I check the heights of the wide receivers. I check the arm lengths of tackles. I check everyone’s three-cone drill time. I look over the strengths and weaknesses. I take note of injury histories, arrest records and reports of “inconsistent effort” and wonder how anyone would think this prospect could be on Bill Belichick’s big board.
I console myself with the opinions of like-minded people. Don’t even bother drafting wide receivers; free agency and trades are where you get players like Wes Welker, Randy Moss and (fingers crossed) Chris Hogan.
I have rules I probably shouldn’t have. I don’t want players with injury histories (so I would’ve passed on Rob Gronkowski). I don’t want players with arrest records. I don’t want players from small schools. I’d make an exception for an exceptional FCS or DIII talent but not until the 6th or 7th round. I like the Big Ten and the SEC. I like three- and four-year starters. I like players who got better every year. I like captains. I like married seniors who married their high school sweetheart and just had a child. I like offensive linemen described as maulers with a nasty streak. I like defensive linemen with quick hands and quicker feet. I like defensive backs with size and ball skills with a willingness to play tough against the run (but who doesn’t). I like running backs who averaged 6.5 yards per carry against Big Ten defenses. I like wide receivers who stand 6’ 4” tall that played in a pro set offense at Cal or Stanford. I like players in general from “smart” schools so I’ve got no problem with yet another Rutgers grad’s name being called for the Patriots in this year’s draft. I’m down with the three-cone drill. Short area quickness is a key capability for every position on the field.
But shouldn’t the draft be all about dreaming big? Paying anything to roll the dice just one more time? Upside. Stratospheric ceilings. Pro Bowl potential. I should be hoping Jaylon Smith falls to the 6th round instead of wanting the Patriots take some undersized linebacker with a turbocharged motor who might be the next Dane Fletcher. Why not take a crazy talented knucklehead like Robert Nkemdiche if he falls to the 6th? I know what you’re thinking: New England just cut crazy talented knucklehead Dominique Easley. What’s that definition of insanity? Is Nkemdiche just Easley all over again?
What if he isn’t?
I’m all for feeding the offensive tackle pipeline, adding depth at cornerback and wide receiver and looking for an upgrade at running back. If the Patriots can find a running back better than LeGarrette Blount I’m not going to say no.
But I’m hoping for something, well, insane. A wide receiver with pick #60. A player literally streaming red flags in his wake as he plummets into the Patriots lap at #96. A kid from Nowheresville A&M with off-the-charts measurables at #196.
The NFL may have stolen the Patriots 1st round draft pick but I refuse to let them steal the dream the NFL draft represents. Somebody nobody ever imagined could play in the NFL is going to be a star someday. You have to look no farther than the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots; a 6th round compensatory pick who went on to become the greatest quarterback of all time. I’ll settle for something on a slightly smaller scale, a kid from Akron who changed positions to become one of the best punt return men in NFL history, not to mention a pretty good slot receiver. Let's go looking for those guys in this year’s draft
Maybe they should take another QB with one of those three compensatory picks in the 6th round.
And a squeaky clean 3-year starter/team captain offensive tackle with long arms and quick feet who might need a year in the weight room with pick #61.
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