The most disappointing omission for me is Aaron Hernandez. In a better world, we're all listing both him and Gronk and how the offense that the Pats built around them was virtually unstoppable from 2011 on.
What’s interesting (to me, anyway) is that on the top ten of that list, only two players (Welker and Vrabel) were not drafted by the Pats. And of those draftees, only Brady and Koppen were not a first or second rounder.Patriots leaders in AV, '01-'18:
Brady, obviously - 269
1. Mankins - 114
2. Light - 109
3. Wilfork - 102
4. Welker - 86
5. Big Sey - 85
6t. Gronk - 82
6t. Koppen - 82
8t. McCourty - 66
8t. Vrabel - 66
10. Bruschi - 65
Near-misses: Faulk, Ninkovich, Solder (60), Edelman, Mayo, Vollmer (59), Hightower (53), Warren, Neal (50)
Gost, Branch, Moss, Connolly, Troy Brown, Cannon, Kaczur, Law round out the top 25 (there's a four-way tie for 24)
Harrison 29th, McGinest tied for 32nd, Butler tied for 39th, White 42nd, Vinatieri tied for 69th
I don't love the way AV accounts for individual OL play or ST, so I would probably adjust based on that. This stat is also regular-season-only and obviously playoff performance matters. But an emphasis on playoff splash plays is necessarily going to depress OL, so I think people are selling guys like Mankins, Light, and Koppen way short. And I get that guys like Gronk and Sey maybe didn't have the standout performance in the playoffs, but they contributed a ton to being there in the first place. They can't just roll out anybody and win 12 games.
I'm also not as inclined to dismiss the contributions of guys like Mankins and Welker just because they weren't on championship teams. There have only been ~25 500+ teams in NFL history and the Pats have four of them ('07 and '10-'12) and those guys were on all four. It's fair to blame them for some unfortunate playoff moments, but it's not fair to blame them because they were on the best offenses of the B/B era but some of the worst defenses. I get that this list is "important," not "best," but I don't think the importance drops to zero in seasons where they didn't lift a Lombardi at the end.
Nit pick but Bruschi was a 3rd rounder I believe.What’s interesting (to me, anyway) is that on the top ten of that list, only two players (Welker and Vrabel) were not drafted by the Pats. And of those draftees, only Brady and Koppen were not a first or second rounder.
I think the issue is longevity; AV gets accumulated over a long period of time. Rodney Harrison, for instance, was already in his 30s when he signed with the Pats, so he only played 63 (regular-season) games in NE. Mankins played 130, more than twice as many. It's just hard for a guy who wasn't drafted by a team to rack up a lot of AV unless he joined right after his rookie contract like Vrabel, Welker, and Ninkovich did.What’s interesting (to me, anyway) is that on the top ten of that list, only two players (Welker and Vrabel) were not drafted by the Pats. And of those draftees, only Brady and Koppen were not a first or second rounder.
Even looking at 11-20, only Nink was acquired by trade or FA. And Edelman and Bruschi and Neal are the only three who weren’t first or second rounders.
Bruschi was #11 in the link's top 10 (as they had Brady #1).Nit pick but Bruschi was a 3rd rounder I believe.
My point was that for all the talk about BB's draft record, he has had a lot of significant hits when picking in the first two rounds. And conversely, with only a couple exceptions, despite all the talk about how BB can find diamonds in the rough of later rounds and UDFA's, there really haven't been many who consistently generated value over the long-term.I think the issue is longevity; AV gets accumulated over a long period of time. Rodney Harrison, for instance, was already in his 30s when he signed with the Pats, so he only played 63 (regular-season) games in NE. Mankins played 130, more than twice as many. It's just hard for a guy who wasn't drafted by a team to rack up a lot of AV unless he joined right after his rookie contract like Vrabel, Welker, and Ninkovich did.
Hernandez will always be a massive what if for me. That 2013 team looks completely different if he's around. It's also when Edelman started to get going so perhaps his development gets stunted a little bit with AH.The most disappointing omission for me is Aaron Hernandez. In a better world, we're all listing both him and Gronk and how the offense that the Pats built around them was virtually unstoppable from 2011 on.
Ah, ok then. Carry on.THE OP S
Bruschi was #11 in the link's top 10 (as they had Brady #1).