Bounty or bust??????

[patriotmarty12]

T. Jones deal all but done, a 3rd,7th and a 4th next year, so your talking about 3 4's next year... As far as this year goes your talking about 13 picks right now, and 5 on the first day, boy with alot of D-lineman and Qb's sure to be taken high, this could turn out to be a bonaza of huge proportions.. They will have the luxury to gamble a little bit on someone who has health issues but huge upside, Remember Curtice Martin a 3rd rounder with huge health issues, but big upside, if they can make the right gambles and the right picks in this draft they could be on the verge of building a monster team that could be a serious SB contender for the next 5 years, heres praying that the bad picking and bad luck of Bobby Grier has no place here and the Pats clean up in a major way..............And major Kudo's to BB and Scott P for clearing space and making the nfl draft this year the New England Patriots invitational....

 

[patsfan]

I agree. There is a huge opportunity just around the corner........but that opportunity must be seized. This team cannot afford to squander draft picks like it did under the Bobby Greire house. Pioli and BB have done a better job then Greire, but I believe only a little above average. But this year they have the quantity if they want it, and the flexibility to turn quantity into quality. We all know that BB trades draft picks to move up and down every year. So, we'll have to see how this pans out, but the opportunity to make this a solid contending team for 5 years to come is almost upon us.

 

[Peg]

T. Jones deal all but done, a 3rd,7th and a 4th next year, so your talking about 3 4's next year... As far as this year goes your talking about 13 picks right now, and 5 on the first day, boy with alot of D-lineman and Qb's sure to be taken high, this could turn out to be a bonaza of huge proportions.. They will have the luxury to gamble a little bit on someone who has health issues but huge upside, Remember Curtice Martin a 3rd rounder with huge health issues, but big upside, if they can make the right gambles and the right picks in this draft they could be on the verge of building a monster team that could be a serious SB contender for the next 5 years, heres praying that the bad picking and bad luck of Bobby Grier has no place here and the Pats clean up in a major way..............And major Kudo's to BB and Scott P for clearing space and making the nfl draft this year the New England Patriots invitational....

Well, Marty & Patsfan--
I agree somewhat, but with all due respect, I largely disagree with what you two have posted here & more pointedly, with the other post (Marty) about what kind of team that we have right now...
First of all--
Of course NO ONE wants to see draft picks squandered... No team is ever good enough to withstand that... Not even our TEAM!...
I honestly believe that BB has positioned us here to use our quantity to attain some real quality draft picks here...
Agreed so far?...
Now, when you go talking about FIVE years from now, well, then we diverge a bit... Due to parity in the league and the fact that MANY players are not even with one team for any where near the 5 year mark, I ask you what you mean by that? Shall we pick a late round guy that is a "project" and develop him under the tutelage of one of our veterans, only to have him sign with another team when he is actually ready to become a productive member of the team?!... Due to the way that the league is now structured, we need to strategize to WIN NOW!! (And MAYBE into the near future...) That means a perfect blend of veterans (hopefully not injury prone) and youth... Frankly, I agree with BB and would prefer to defer to veterans than rookies... (known quantities vs. predicted...) And so far, our veterans have not been cost prohibitive, so let's keep 'em and fill in the few blanks that we have with some rookies...
I am here to tell ya that although we don't have stellar RBs, our RB corps will do NICELY... It is the SAME, plus the addition of a now healthy Womack, as our SB TEAM, for goodness sake... Just have Charlie CALL MORE RUNNING plays and balance the offensive play-calling... SHORE UP THE OL, so that we have one that can "gel"... We are no more than ONE player of fixing that particular need...
Shore up the DL, so that we can stop the run, like we did during our SB season... Again, it may only take one more guy to do that for us...
Sure, it would be NICE to have a BIG WR, but during our run to the SB, we didn't have one... Our WR corps of Smurfs CAN get the job done, if Brown isn't injured...
We are looking pretty good here, gentlemen... I know that I have my rose-colored glasses firmly re-planted on my nose, but what would you say that is different ffrom this?...
btw--Marty--I am hoping that disagreeing with a minister does not mean that I will go to h-e-double-toothpicks! LOL!

 

[dropKickMurphy]

It's interesting to look back at other periods in the team's history in which they stockpiled a large number of high picks.
In the 5 year period from 1973 to 1977 the Pats had a total of 9 first round picks. These 9 picks were used to select:
John Hannah
Sam Cunningham
Daryl Stingley
Russ Francis
Mike Haynes
Tim Fox
Pete Brock
Stanley Morgan
Raymond Clayborn
How's that for a collection of Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, and solid players?

Now, let's take a look at the 3 year period from 1997 to 1999 in which Bobby Grier had total control of the draft. Out of the 27 players drafted by the team in those years, the only players still with the team are Damian Woody and Kevin Faulk. The Pats' selections were bolstered by additional picks (3rd and 4th round in 97; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks in 1998; 1st round pick in 1999) they got from the Jets in compensation for Parcells and Curtis Martin. The picks from the Jets were used to draft:
Sedrick Shaw
Damon Denson
Tony Simmons
Robert Edwards
Christopher Floyd
Andy Katzenmoyer
The opportunity to build upon the team that lost the Super Bowl to the Packers was seemingly lost by this disastrous waste of draft picks.
The great irony in all of this is that the awesome talent the team picked up in the 1973 - 1977 drafts never carried them to a championship; and with all of the squandered draft picks of the Grier/Carroll era, the team was able to win its first Super Bowl in the 2001-2002 season. It's still hard to believe.