These weeks between games are getting looooong. Let's talk about the draft. Who do you like, either at the top of the draft or later? What positions do you see the Patriots targeting? What prospects are particularly interesting?
Obviously, its impossible to know what the Patriots' needs will look like until free agency shakes out. My strong suspicion is that they find a way to restructure Revis and resign McCourty, but beyond that who knows.
I see an edge player on defense, who can line up in a three point stance in a basic 4-3 and also play on the edge in a 5-2, as the team's biggest need. Nink is getting old while Chandler Jones is a free agent after 2015 who seems likely to get an offer somewhere else that BB won't want to match. Easley is a nice situational matchup outside as a 4-3 DE but its hard to see him as a starter there. Given the weak depth at the position anyway, this seems like a good spot to bring in a high-round pick that can be groomed for a starting spot.
I'd also like to see us continue to rebuild the OL. Connolly and Cannon are both FAs in 2015 so there will be a depth issue regardless. Fleming has shown some flashes but is he ready to be the swing tackle in 2015? Finally, whether the team is committed to Nate Solder at LT beyond 2015 is perhaps the biggest question (I hope so, but its not crystal clear given the combination of impending free agency, concussions, and poor play at the beginning of this year). At a minimum, I'd like to see a building block interior lineman added somewhere in rounds 1-4.
One player I have seen a lot and really like is DE Nate Orchard from Utah, a local Salt Lake City kid who has just crushed the Pac-12 this year for the Utes. I think he's probably a second round pick but he just makes plays (16.5 sacks this year, including big time games against top competition), he has the kind of longer frame (6'4, 255) BB likes on the edge (although he probably needs to add a little weight/strength for the NFL level), and he has played both on the line as a 4-3 DE and standing up as an LB.
He will probably be gone by the time we pick in the first round but Brandon Scherff, a G/T from Iowa, looks like a monster player to me, the kind of guy who could be a dominating Mankins-like interior player for the next 6-8 years. If scouts see him as a tackle then it seems likely that he gets picked in the top half of the draft. But if scouts see him as a guard (I've read some concerns about his arm length), then he might be around in the 20-30 range, where the Patriots hopefully won't be picking but at least within striking distance for a potential move up the board.
Another really interesting case to follow will be WR Dorial Green-Beckham. He is sitting out this year after having been dismissed by Kansas for off-the-field stuff and has transferred to Oklahama and claims that he won't enter the draft. But very few people seem to believe that. The off-the-field issues are real enough that he might not even be on our board (esp pushing his GF down the stairs) and he hasn't played football in a year. But as a pure prospect he may be in the Julio Jones/Sammy Watkins class and its pretty rare that teams like the Patriots get a chance at talents like that.
Obviously, its impossible to know what the Patriots' needs will look like until free agency shakes out. My strong suspicion is that they find a way to restructure Revis and resign McCourty, but beyond that who knows.
I see an edge player on defense, who can line up in a three point stance in a basic 4-3 and also play on the edge in a 5-2, as the team's biggest need. Nink is getting old while Chandler Jones is a free agent after 2015 who seems likely to get an offer somewhere else that BB won't want to match. Easley is a nice situational matchup outside as a 4-3 DE but its hard to see him as a starter there. Given the weak depth at the position anyway, this seems like a good spot to bring in a high-round pick that can be groomed for a starting spot.
I'd also like to see us continue to rebuild the OL. Connolly and Cannon are both FAs in 2015 so there will be a depth issue regardless. Fleming has shown some flashes but is he ready to be the swing tackle in 2015? Finally, whether the team is committed to Nate Solder at LT beyond 2015 is perhaps the biggest question (I hope so, but its not crystal clear given the combination of impending free agency, concussions, and poor play at the beginning of this year). At a minimum, I'd like to see a building block interior lineman added somewhere in rounds 1-4.
One player I have seen a lot and really like is DE Nate Orchard from Utah, a local Salt Lake City kid who has just crushed the Pac-12 this year for the Utes. I think he's probably a second round pick but he just makes plays (16.5 sacks this year, including big time games against top competition), he has the kind of longer frame (6'4, 255) BB likes on the edge (although he probably needs to add a little weight/strength for the NFL level), and he has played both on the line as a 4-3 DE and standing up as an LB.
He will probably be gone by the time we pick in the first round but Brandon Scherff, a G/T from Iowa, looks like a monster player to me, the kind of guy who could be a dominating Mankins-like interior player for the next 6-8 years. If scouts see him as a tackle then it seems likely that he gets picked in the top half of the draft. But if scouts see him as a guard (I've read some concerns about his arm length), then he might be around in the 20-30 range, where the Patriots hopefully won't be picking but at least within striking distance for a potential move up the board.
Another really interesting case to follow will be WR Dorial Green-Beckham. He is sitting out this year after having been dismissed by Kansas for off-the-field stuff and has transferred to Oklahama and claims that he won't enter the draft. But very few people seem to believe that. The off-the-field issues are real enough that he might not even be on our board (esp pushing his GF down the stairs) and he hasn't played football in a year. But as a pure prospect he may be in the Julio Jones/Sammy Watkins class and its pretty rare that teams like the Patriots get a chance at talents like that.