Pats Draft Rd.2/38: DI Christian Barmore

Mystic Merlin

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That’s kind of a shitty move by Bedard, even if it isn’t intentional. If he isn’t confident enough in the reporting to go with it, or he is genuinely concerned about making Barmore look bad, then why mention it at all? You’re just going to invite peoples’ minds to run wild with possibilities.
 

BigSoxFan

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That’s kind of a shitty move by Bedard, even if it isn’t intentional. If he isn’t confident enough in the reporting to go with it, or he is genuinely concerned about making Barmore look bad, then why mention it at all? You’re just going to invite peoples’ minds to run wild with possibilities.
Yeah huge reporter pet peeve of mine. I don’t want to hurt the kid so I am going to just insinuate something bad instead. If you didn’t want to hurt him, you wouldn’t do that at all.

Or, you report it and stick your name to it.
 

Pandemonium67

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Again, it's worth noting that if there weren't any issues or concerns with Barmore, he likely would've gone much higher. You've got to take your swings. I'm sure BB consulted with Saban and gathered a lot of other intel, and that led him to move up 8 spots and take a shot. Maybe Barmore is a Gronk, maybe an Easley. I'll go with BB on this one.
 

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Personally I think its safe to assume that there are some places the Pats wont go regardless of talent. Especially considering history . *Coughernandez *aahhhbrownchoo

SO while the Character issues might be "Bad" they are not "BAD". Cant think of an example of what would be "permissable" (Pot I guess....wrong place wrong time maybe). But I do think that being "too close" to a violent episode (shooting.....) or a sexual assault type of thing then the Pats are not holding their noses and drafting him anyway.
(maybe thats naive after Brown...)

Dumb might be "hey we are getting tested tomorrow fellas" And that night Barmore smokes a lb. (I know I know he wasnt supended for drugs....just an example.)

I actually am rooting for him. I joked to friends on draft day that the pats would step to the mike with 3 QBs still on the board and say "From the university of Alabama the NE Pats select......Christian Barmore" And we would all look askew at Bill.
 

Shelterdog

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On BSJ today, there's a recap of Warren Sapp's workout with Barmore in Florida before the draft. Sapp wouldn't be my number one most trusted source on anything, but the story was not good.

Cook followed up Sapp’s statement with a question, does Barmore’s issue lie in the fact that he wasn’t willing to take his directions or that he couldn’t follow the directions? Sapp responded bluntly.
“Both,” Sapp said. “If I tell you to swing your left arm and you move your right, I’ve got a real issue – and that’s just one example. Trust me. For me to throw my visor and throw my $300 glasses, I’m telling you. I’m like, ‘Is there something wrong with me?’”
It's not good but I'm not sure it's particularly bad. You don't need to be a rocket surgeon to play DT, I doubt BB -- with or without Saban's input -- thought he was getting a mensa candidate. If someone with Barmore's physical talents was like Alain Paige off the field he's be a lock for a top five pick.

And as others have noted, the "I won't print a specific allegation but I'll generally tell you he's dumb and awful" approach isn't particularly informative or a model of journalistic integrity. Pretty sure he didn't reach out to Barmore, the Pats or Bama for comment either.

EDIT: I'll bet a zillion bucks that Bedard's sourcing is something like an ex Bama coach like Brian Daboll saying "I heard he punched a police horse and Saban took his playstation away as punishment and that's why baramore deleted bama references on his twitter." And then Bedard ran with it without knowing if it was true.

Not "burning your sources" is a weakass reason to report generally what you were told when you clearly weren't able to get an agreement to use the information you need to use to fairly report on the situation.
 
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ManicCompression

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I feel like a consistent criticism about BBs drafting (at least from me when I dislike his picks) is his tendency to favor high-floor, low ceiling guys in early rounds (example, Michel instead of Nick Chubb or Harry over Brown/Metcalf/Samuel).

As long as he's not at a Tyreek Hill level asshole, I'm happy to take the physical upside guy with the chance he fails. At least we took the risk. There's nothing more frustrating than when the Pats opt for the high-floor guy and they still miss - you might as well gamble on the guy with the high-ceiling.
 

tims4wins

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It's not exactly apples to apples, but Vince Wilfork also fell in the 2004 draft for who knows what reason. He didn't fall as far, but while Barmore was generally mocked as a first round pick, the range of outcomes seemed pretty big - I saw him up as high as around 10, but I also saw him in the mid to late 20s. A drop from late 20s to 38 isn't some crazy drop.

Also, with regard to intelligence and d-line play, BB had an interesting answer with regard to leadership after they drafted Mac that I think pertains to this situation. Note that he didn't mention d-line in his response.

Q: I know the leaders can come from anywhere on a roster, but it seems like it's almost a prerequisite at the quarterback position. I'm wondering what you learned about what makes a leader in the pre-draft process just at the college level?
BB: Well, again, we tried to do our homework on all the players. Yeah, players like center, quarterback, defensive signal caller, free safety, inside linebacker, and so forth. Like, those positions all have a level of communication and to a degree leadership and so forth.
 

OurF'ingCity

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BB has shown a pretty consistent willingness to take flyers (to one degree or another) on people with "character issues." Some work out (Corey Dillion, Randy Moss), some don't work out (Adalius Thomas, Antonio Brown - although acquiring him was probably highly Brady-driven). Ultimately I think the Pats just figured that Barmore's talent made him a good value at that position in the draft and they'll do their best to address whatever "character issues" present themselves.

If Barmore is just super lazy and/or extremely dumb I doubt Belichick would hesitate to just cut him before the season - but, as others have pointed out, his "character issues" didn't prevent him from being a productive player on Alabama (about the closest you can get to the pros without actually being a pro), so I'm not entirely sure why they would prevent him from being a productive player on the Pats.
 

Shelterdog

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BB has shown a pretty consistent willingness to take flyers (to one degree or another) on people with "character issues." Some work out (Corey Dillion, Randy Moss), some don't work out (Adalius Thomas, Antonio Brown - although acquiring him was probably highly Brady-driven). Ultimately I think the Pats just figured that Barmore's talent made him a good value at that position in the draft and they'll do their best to address whatever "character issues" present themselves.

If Barmore is just super lazy and/or extremely dumb I doubt Belichick would hesitate to just cut him before the season - but, as others have pointed out, his "character issues" didn't prevent him from being a productive player on Alabama (about the closest you can get to the pros without actually being a pro), so I'm not entirely sure why they would prevent him from being a productive player on the Pats.
Just to quibble, Adalius Thomas wasn't really a known character issue, was he? I thought he was perceived as a hardworking player who went from a late round pick to a long term starter in Baltimore--and ended up being a locker room cancer when he came here for big bucks.
 

Shelterdog

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Here is the Bedard clip for anyone who wants to hear it from the horse's ass' mouth:
Which teams did he reach out to with Bama connections and similar defensive schemes to the Pats? I'm guessing Baltimore (long close to Bama b/c of Newsome) and the Bills (Daboll).
 

Bowser

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Here is the Bedard clip for anyone who wants to hear it from the horse's ass' mouth:

View: https://youtu.be/0FH6K9z7IL4?t=1694
What an a-hole. Bedard claims to be "reporting delicately" what he's heard, then carpet bombs Barmore's intelligence, character, and work ethic. He compares the Saban-Barmore intel situation to that of Meyer-Aaron Hernandez and then demands, preemptively, he not be given shit for it on social media.

If Barmore truly doesn't know his left from his right, as Sapp alleges, and yet has managed to turn himself into a second round pick, imagine how good he'll be when Bill sets him straight on the subject.
 

tims4wins

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Douchebag. Always has been, always will be.

edit: "maybe he doesn't ask the questions" - good call Bedard, BB doesn't ask tough questions about prospects. SOLID take.
 

bakahump

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Your would think Alabama coaches would be used to people who dont know their right from their left. "Ok so if you hold up this one .....it looks like an L"
 

Captaincoop

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Not going to cut and paste it because it's behind a paywall, but the Sapp information boils down to this guy is incapable of taking direction because he is really, really dumb. No idea if it's accurate, that's just the tenor of Sapp's comments.
 

lexrageorge

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The fact that Sapp and Bedard hate the pick makes me want Barmore to succeed even more.
 

Shelterdog

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Douchebag. Always has been, always will be.

edit: "maybe he doesn't ask the questions" - good call Bedard, BB doesn't ask tough questions about prospects. SOLID take.
I think the best insight on this is a story Ryan Russilo tells about what BB asked Stoops about Gronk. Is he an asshole?

BB is going to ask reasonable questions about high draft picks. Whatever he got for an answer from Saban and whatever he did with that answer, who knows.

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/1270680/i-love-this-story-of-belichick-calling-mike-stoops-in-2010-to-ask-if-gronk-was-an-asshole
 
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OurF'ingCity

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Here is the Bedard clip for anyone who wants to hear it from the horse's ass' mouth:

View: https://youtu.be/0FH6K9z7IL4?t=1694
Holy shit he straight up implies that this scenario is akin to the Pats drafting Aaron Hernandez. That's borderline defamatory. And then he goes on to theorize that Belichick just "takes for granted" that Barmore played at Alabama and "didn't ask the questions"?? That's a laughably dumb, Skip Bayless-level take. I also enjoy how after Bedard's rant the host is basically like "umm...ok...I thought it was a good pick."

If I'm Belichick I excerpt this clip, show it to Barmore on Day 1 of camp and say "Look at this - no one believes you can be a good pro. Care to change their minds?"
 

MuppetAsteriskTalk

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One of my smartest buddies can't tell left from right and screws it up all the time. Don't think that little glitch says much at all about somebody's ability to process complex info.
 

TheRooster

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I'm 100% comfortable with Bedard's commentary. The Sapp video is out there and clearly other NFL people are expressing concerns about Barcode. The Pats are obviously okay with the risk/return.
 

Marciano490

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Warren Sapp is a horrid human being and shouldn’t be listened to or cited for anything whenever he clambers out of his hole to shout into the void.
 

lexrageorge

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I recall Warren Sapp predicting Russ Hochstein would cause the Patriots to lose the Super Bowl against the Panthers. That's all we really need to know about Warren Sapp's prowess at evaluating football talent.
 

Shelterdog

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Warren Sapp is a horrid human being and shouldn’t be listened to or cited for anything whenever he clambers out of his hole to shout into the void.
Not a dancing with the stars fan? I’m not hugely knowledgeable about the guy-any reason to want to shoot him into space other than his obvious general idiocy?
 

BigJimEd

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I'm 100% comfortable with Bedard's commentary. The Sapp video is out there and clearly other NFL people are expressing concerns about Barcode. The Pats are obviously okay with the risk/return.
Concerns are fine. He could have reported that multiple teams had serious concerns enough that one team took him off the board. Doubt many would have had a problem with that.
Instead, he decided to prove that he has little integrity and wants to insert himself as part of the story.
 

Marciano490

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Not a dancing with the stars fan? I’m not hugely knowledgeable about the guy-any reason to want to shoot him into space other than his obvious general idiocy?
Domestic violence. Homophobia. Dirty plays. Solicitation. Take your pick.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Plenty of great NFL players are pretty fucking stupid. Plenty of shitty NFL players are really fucking smart.

Speaking of Warren Sapp, the forgettable Mike Mamula scored a 49 on the wonderlic. The Eagles were so impressed, they traded up to acquire his brilliance for their roster. Passed up on, you guessed it, Warren Sapp to get him.

Frank Gore got a 6.

Sounds like hes dumb. As long as he can bully offensive lineman and stop the guy with the ball from running past him, I dont give a shit. Hes an interior lineman. Unless hes a fucking potato, he'll figure out the incredibly complex 1 gap, 2 gap, or stunt assignments.

He'll be fine.
 

snowmanny

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The waterboy figured it out. From the highlights it looks as if he knows which one is the quarterback.
 

Super Nomario

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I feel like a consistent criticism about BBs drafting (at least from me when I dislike his picks) is his tendency to favor high-floor, low ceiling guys in early rounds (example, Michel instead of Nick Chubb or Harry over Brown/Metcalf/Samuel).
I don't think that's a good characterization of either of those decisions, to be honest. When I think of the "high-floor, low-ceiling guys" I think more of dudes like Duron Harmon or Jordan Richards. But I guess the relevant takeaway here is that risk comes in several flavors. Is taking a personality risk in Barmore more or less of a risk than drafting a guy like Milton Williams (a Combine freak who has no idea what he's doing)? Easley was the total package in terms of risk: undersized, little production, extensive injury history, no testing numbers, bad personality / off-field. They ain't all like that one.
 

ManicCompression

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@Super Nomario that's fair. The draft seems to typically be:
- Guys at the top are impressive physically, mentally, health, and have production to show it
- Second and third rounds - they have probably two of those things, and you can gamble on high-ceiling injured players
- Later rounds - You have one trait to dream on

The Pats are usually drafting late in the rounds and they historically tend to lean on players who may not have a ton of physical projection but they have production, intelligence, and a good mentality. It's not often they take the guy with insane physical talent and speed for their position - Jamie Collins is the only freak athlete I can think of in recent history, maybe Shaq Mason? - and I think that limits the upside of the team. When I think of the worst losses in recent Pats history, it's times when they've been physically overmatched and they don't have an answer for the athleticism of the opposing team. Now that we're lacking an all-world QB, floor is less important and we need some other positions to come through at an all-pro level to help us win.

Sony Michel isn't a pain for teams to physically handle while Chubb is. Harry, because of how slow he is, is not a physical advantage while those other receivers are. It's nice when they take those big swings, which is why I like this draft more than the late-Caserio era drafts. Barmore is an advantage, Stevenson is a load, McGrone brings speed to the LB position, and Perkins seems to have his own physical tools.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I just don’t think it’s accurate to say that the Patriots prioritize other traits over physical attributes and upside. It’s really a mixed bag. Digger and Uche were both drafted largely on elite physical traits or potential. Same for Malcolm Brown, Dominique Easley, Derek Rivers. Isaiah Wynn lacks a bit of size but has plenty of athleticism for the position. JoeJuan Williams was arguably drafted on physical traits more than anything else.
 

Super Nomario

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The Pats are usually drafting late in the rounds and they historically tend to lean on players who may not have a ton of physical projection but they have production, intelligence, and a good mentality. It's not often they take the guy with insane physical talent and speed for their position - Jamie Collins is the only freak athlete I can think of in recent history, maybe Shaq Mason? - and I think that limits the upside of the team.
The Patriots certainly value production, intelligence, and a good mentality, but your memory is having some issues here. Just last year, Dugger, Uche, and Keene were physical freaks. Vollmer and Solder were physical freaks with meh tape (especially in Vollmer's case). Chandler Jones had like 4 sacks his last year in college. Gronk and Ras-I Dowling were physical marvels with injury history. And some of their best picks, unsurprisingly, were guys like Devin McCourty and Joe Thuney who were great athletes and had the kind of personality / production stuff they like.

You're not the only person I hear making arguments like this, but I think it is wrong. The one thing I will say is they tend to value size more than most teams and value straight-line speed a little less, though this does vary by position.

Sony Michel isn't a pain for teams to physically handle while Chubb is.
Chubb has turned out to be the better pro, but I don't think that's because Michel had less upside. They ran basically the same 40 time. Michel was more of the big-play threat at Georgia. I think he left his best football in Athens though.

Harry, because of how slow he is, is not a physical advantage while those other receivers are.
This is pretty narrowly focused on 40 time. Harry has average speed (4.53) but he's huge and he jumped out the gym. RAS has him like an 85th percentile athlete. Harry's a lot slower than than Metcalf but he's not much slower than Deebo (4.48) or A.J. Brown (4.49). He just sucks at the technical aspects of the position. I think his long speed would be fine if he could get off the line of scrimmage worth a damn.

FWIW Harry is an aberration among their highly-drafted WRs; almost all the other receivers they've taken in the first three rounds were 4.45 guys who had crappy production in college (Bethel Johnson, Taylor Price, Aaron Dobson, etc.); IOW, the kind of high-upside swings you're advocating for. Obviously, they didn't work out any better.

It's nice when they take those big swings, which is why I like this draft more than the late-Caserio era drafts. Barmore is an advantage, Stevenson is a load, McGrone brings speed to the LB position, and Perkins seems to have his own physical tools.
Statistically this was not a particularly good group of athletes, to be honest.
 

Saints Rest

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The Patriots certainly value production, intelligence, and a good mentality, but your memory is having some issues here. Just last year, Dugger, Uche, and Keene were physical freaks. Vollmer and Solder were physical freaks with meh tape (especially in Vollmer's case). Chandler Jones had like 4 sacks his last year in college. Gronk and Ras-I Dowling were physical marvels with injury history. And some of their best picks, unsurprisingly, were guys like Devin McCourty and Joe Thuney who were great athletes and had the kind of personality / production stuff they like.

You're not the only person I hear making arguments like this, but I think it is wrong. The one thing I will say is they tend to value size more than most teams and value straight-line speed a little less, though this does vary by position.


Chubb has turned out to be the better pro, but I don't think that's because Michel had less upside. They ran basically the same 40 time. Michel was more of the big-play threat at Georgia. I think he left his best football in Athens though.


This is pretty narrowly focused on 40 time. Harry has average speed (4.53) but he's huge and he jumped out the gym. RAS has him like an 85th percentile athlete. Harry's a lot slower than than Metcalf but he's not much slower than Deebo (4.48) or A.J. Brown (4.49). He just sucks at the technical aspects of the position. I think his long speed would be fine if he could get off the line of scrimmage worth a damn.

FWIW Harry is an aberration among their highly-drafted WRs; almost all the other receivers they've taken in the first three rounds were 4.45 guys who had crappy production in college (Bethel Johnson, Taylor Price, Aaron Dobson, etc.); IOW, the kind of high-upside swings you're advocating for. Obviously, they didn't work out any better.


Statistically this was not a particularly good group of athletes, to be honest.
I wonder if the delta between college production and pro production, both up and down, for a player going to the Pats might be related to the emphasis BB puts on other aspects of the game? For example, and I'm just spitballing here, maybe Michel in college isn't asked to place much emphasis on ball protection, and thus he is a bit more of a risk-taker, which results in some big plays. But when he gets to the NFL, BB hammers ball-security, making him more tentative, just enough that big plays dry up. OTOH, maybe a guy like Vollmer gets some higher-level coaching that emphasizes his strengths, thereby turning him into an elite RT.
 

Shelterdog

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This is pretty narrowly focused on 40 time. Harry has average speed (4.53) but he's huge and he jumped out the gym. RAS has him like an 85th percentile athlete. Harry's a lot slower than than Metcalf but he's not much slower than Deebo (4.48) or A.J. Brown (4.49). He just sucks at the technical aspects of the position. I think his long speed would be fine if he could get off the line of scrimmage worth a damn.
I'm not on N'Keal Harry's defense team, but based on the combine type stats he's essentially Dez Bryant or Josh Gordon. Lot of other problems with his game--technique instincts explosiveness what you have--but he absolutely has the athletic profile of a big first round wide receiver who isn't Calvin Johnson or Julio Jones.
 

ManicCompression

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The Patriots certainly value production, intelligence, and a good mentality, but your memory is having some issues here. Just last year, Dugger, Uche, and Keene were physical freaks. Vollmer and Solder were physical freaks with meh tape (especially in Vollmer's case). Chandler Jones had like 4 sacks his last year in college. Gronk and Ras-I Dowling were physical marvels with injury history. And some of their best picks, unsurprisingly, were guys like Devin McCourty and Joe Thuney who were great athletes and had the kind of personality / production stuff they like.
You bring up some good examples and perhaps I'm not giving them enough credit. I think the frustrating portion for me is that when they do take these kinds of "chances" on high-end physical players, it often pays off.

I forget where I heard it - maybe it was a Russillo pod? - but someone talked about how the scout perception around the league is that the Patriots historically favor drafting guys who'll give consistently B/B- performances over higher-variance guys. That seemed to match up with the frustrations of recent drafts and the barren cupboard of young players that forced the team to splurge in free agency this year.

All in all, I'm pleased that they took some aggressive swings here and I'm glad Barmore is one of them, even if he doesn't work out.
 

Super Nomario

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You bring up some good examples and perhaps I'm not giving them enough credit. I think the frustrating portion for me is that when they do take these kinds of "chances" on high-end physical players, it often pays off.
I think that perception is coloring your perception of some of the individual examples. To me, N'Keal Harry and Sony Michel were chances on high-end physical players that failed. So I don't necessarily agree that it "often pays off." Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

I forget where I heard it - maybe it was a Russillo pod? - but someone talked about how the scout perception around the league is that the Patriots historically favor drafting guys who'll give consistently B/B- performances over higher-variance guys. That seemed to match up with the frustrations of recent drafts and the barren cupboard of young players that forced the team to splurge in free agency this year.
The cupboard isn't barren because N'Keal Harry is giving them consistent B/B- minus performances; it's barren because he's giving them D/D- performances. And to be fair, Duke Dawson is a lower-variance guy who just wasn't good enough. But to me the issue is the evaluations, not the risk profiles.
 

SMU_Sox

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These narratives are so flimsy they don’t hold up to the lightest scrutiny. Take a second to think about it before even putting it out there. I mean B/B- performances where the hell do they think this up?
 

ManicCompression

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The cupboard isn't barren because N'Keal Harry is giving them consistent B/B- minus performances; it's barren because he's giving them D/D- performances. And to be fair, Duke Dawson is a lower-variance guy who just wasn't good enough. But to me the issue is the evaluations, not the risk profiles.
To be clear, I think the point is that even the upside of Harry was "good possession receiver" because he couldn't separate at the college level, so the ideal of him is a steady guy who's moving the sticks but not necessarily getting chunk plays. My memory of the Michel/Chubb thing was that Chubb was physically stronger and had the better mix of size/speed, but maybe I'm being clouded by what happened in the pros. I agree that the problem is in the evaluation, but don't evaluations include the likelihood that a player will reach X levels of play?

These narratives are so flimsy they don’t hold up to the lightest scrutiny. Take a second to think about it before even putting it out there. I mean B/B- performances where the hell do they think this up?
This was something I paraphrased because I listened to it like a month ago. I honestly don't think it's debatable that BB prefers guys who are steadier on a play-to-play basis and I feel like we talk about that on the board frequently as a strength of the team. You obviously know a thousand times more about the draft than I do, so I'll defer to you on this, just explaining my thought process as I had taken several seconds to think about it.
 

SMU_Sox

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This was something I paraphrased because I listened to it like a month ago. I honestly don't think it's debatable that BB prefers guys who are steadier on a play-to-play basis and I feel like we talk about that on the board frequently as a strength of the team. You obviously know a thousand times more about the draft than I do, so I'll defer to you on this, just explaining my thought process as I had taken several seconds to think about it.
Sorry, I didn't mean you personally think about it I mean the guys on the pods and what not :).

I am not sure if he prefers guys who are more consistent on a snap to snap basis or not - I think there aren't any overarching patterns other than he likes seniors and guys with degrees and guys from good p5 programs. Stevenson and Barmore, and to a lesser degree Perkins because he has a nasty habit of biting and chasing can be inconsistent from snap to snap all for different reasons. Again Perkins is a chaser, Barmore is a gambler, and Stevenson doesn't always set up the lane right for non-gap plays. Mac Jones is about as consistent as you can get but snap to snap his ball placement will vary from poor to acceptable to outstanding to perfect. And the B/B- thing is astonishing to me. Gronk, Ras-I, I mean Super Nomario covered it. Bill goes for guys he thinks will fit into what they are trying to do and 99% of them are going to be locker-room fits. Well maybe 90% of them.

Bill has missed, and might I add painfully, on a few evals along the way ("I fucked up on that one" - Belichick on Ron Brace).

I guess people trying to distill Belichick annoy me because you can't boil down his draft philosophy other than he sticks to his board and his board is complicated and nuanced.
 

ManicCompression

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@SMU_Sox all good, I misread that.

You're way more in the weeds on this than I am and I def appreciate you making me check my priors. I just think back to guys like Cyrus Jones where he's small and not particularly fast and it's hard to wrap my head around what the theory of a CB like that is. You guys are right that I'm not properly acknowledging the guys he does take chances on.
 

Granite Sox

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Jeff Howe with a pretty good article today. Heavy focus on raw talent/potential:

Christian Barmore has long been a Mystery Man...

“He would explode off the line of scrimmage, change the line of scrimmage, handle you like nobody’s business. Every play from that nose guard position, he would pursue the football like he was a middle linebacker. He was a man amongst boys.”

When Crosby was able to send Barmore’s film to Locksley, Alabama immediately scheduled a visit. Head coach Nick Saban and his staff all agreed Barmore deserved an offer if everything checked out when they saw him in person.

Karl Dunbar, Alabama’s defensive line coach at the time, attended a Neumann Goretti game that October. He offered Barmore a scholarship on the spot.

“It was over,” Holmes said. “It was another thing to actually see him in game mode.”

Five games into his football career, Barmore had a commitment from Saban.
BOLD added by me.

Behind a paywall, but also a bit in there about how he manhandled the Bama OL while playing on the scout team as he learned how to play...
 

kelpapa

Costanza's Hero
SoSH Member
Feb 15, 2010
4,637
You bring up some good examples and perhaps I'm not giving them enough credit. I think the frustrating portion for me is that when they do take these kinds of "chances" on high-end physical players, it often pays off.

I forget where I heard it - maybe it was a Russillo pod? - but someone talked about how the scout perception around the league is that the Patriots historically favor drafting guys who'll give consistently B/B- performances over higher-variance guys. That seemed to match up with the frustrations of recent drafts and the barren cupboard of young players that forced the team to splurge in free agency this year.

All in all, I'm pleased that they took some aggressive swings here and I'm glad Barmore is one of them, even if he doesn't work out.
Little late, but yes it was a russillo pod. Chris Sims was the guest.
 

Niastri

Member
SoSH Member
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DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,837
"Stop sacking the quarterback, you are only playing in the scout team"

"Tell them to stop me"
Somewhat similar to a story we heard about Mac Jones when he was ON the scout team at Bama playing the first team defense and changing the plays to beat them.