Hawg73
Mediocre with flashes of brilliance
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2002
- Messages
- 25,146
- Reaction score
- 11,469
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 68
- Location
- Gumdrop house on Lollipop Ln.
There is an old saying that “hindsight is 20/20” – which basically means that it is easy to look back after the fact and know what the right thing to do was or at least way easier than knowing in advance. Nothing is a better example of that than the crapshoot that is the NFL draft, but.......I got curious.
Since the media is having a field day trying to roast Bill Belichick at the stake for our, lets say, lack of dynamic NFL talent at several key positions, I have been asking myself what the truth of the matter is and it’s hard to argue that this is clearly the case as we approach the halfway point of the most bizarre season in NFL history. We pretty much suck at TE, WR, LB and are subpar on the defensive line. QB is also a huge question mark, to put it kindly.
With all that in mind I have decided to have a little fun with all of this and revisit a few of our recent drafts just to see if there were any players available that might have been able to help us be a little more competitive in the year one AB (anno Brady). Let’s see what we could’ve done had we been a little bit sharper in the scouting department. Call it an exercise in imagination.
In order to make this simpler I just stuck with the draft slot we ended up with after trades (or whatever) and didn’t worry about all the little details. I just took a different guy than our GM did and I promise that in each case this is exactly the move I would have made (as if).
2017
Our first selection in this draft was Derek Rivers (83rd overall) and he’s been basically a hole on the roster ever since, but we could’ve taken WR Chris Godwin (84th) instead.
Next, we got zero help from OT Antonio Garcia taken at 85. I’ll pass over Kareem Hunt due to his anger management issues and take TE Jonnu Smith who has given the Titans 22 catches for 5 TDs this year and appears to be on the rise at a position where we could use a little help.
We took Deatrich Wise Jr. at 131 and the nicest thing I can say about him is he's an emotional player who is tall. He can’t set an edge and is not especially quick or strong, so I’ll push the eject button on him and go for RB Marlon Mack (143) who is hurt now, but has rushed for about 2400 yards and scored 20 TDs for the Colts.
Our 4th and last guy at pick 211 was Conor McDermott who was entirely forgettable ( other than the fact he came out of the closet as a gay man after being employed here) and while I’d love to add some defense to our roster I couldn’t pass on K Harrison Butker (233) who is deadly from about 60 on in and would’ve prevented us from rolling the dice with Nick Folk anytime we have to chance a 40-yard+ knuckleball from a guy whose own family likely covers their eyes when he kicks.
2018
We took Isiah Wynn (23) and Sony Michel (31) in the 1st round with some mixed results, but we could’ve instead had Lamar (MVP) Jackson (32) and Darius (DPOY) Leonard (36).
Unfortunately we then whiffed on Duke Dawson (56) but in a more perfect world we might have stumbled across Fred Warner (70) who just destroyed our offense last week.
We then selected Ja’Whaun Bentley at 143 but in my rich fantasy world we skipped the opportunity to take perhaps the least athletic LB in the entire league and took DT Bilal Nichols (145) who kicked some ass Thursday night for the Bears.
2019
While the results of this draft aren’t fully know, it represents a pretty good haul overall. However, it wasn’t hard for me to redo our first two picks.
I’m going to erase the selections of the much-maligned N. Harry (32) and the pine-riding Joejuan Williams (45) and go with Deebo Samuels (36) and D.K. Metcalf (64).
I’ll keep Chase Winovich and Damien Harris, but will swap Yodny Cajuste (101) for the Raiders’ pass rusher Mad Maxx Crosby (107).
Imagine, if you will, a current Pats team with the additions of these guys:
WR Chris Godwin, Deebo Samuel, D.K. Metcalf
TE Jonnu Smith
QB Lamar Jackson
RB Marlon Mack
K Harrison Butker
LB Darrius Leonard, Fred Warner
DT Bilal Nichols
DE Maxx Crosby
Since the media is having a field day trying to roast Bill Belichick at the stake for our, lets say, lack of dynamic NFL talent at several key positions, I have been asking myself what the truth of the matter is and it’s hard to argue that this is clearly the case as we approach the halfway point of the most bizarre season in NFL history. We pretty much suck at TE, WR, LB and are subpar on the defensive line. QB is also a huge question mark, to put it kindly.
With all that in mind I have decided to have a little fun with all of this and revisit a few of our recent drafts just to see if there were any players available that might have been able to help us be a little more competitive in the year one AB (anno Brady). Let’s see what we could’ve done had we been a little bit sharper in the scouting department. Call it an exercise in imagination.
In order to make this simpler I just stuck with the draft slot we ended up with after trades (or whatever) and didn’t worry about all the little details. I just took a different guy than our GM did and I promise that in each case this is exactly the move I would have made (as if).
2017
Our first selection in this draft was Derek Rivers (83rd overall) and he’s been basically a hole on the roster ever since, but we could’ve taken WR Chris Godwin (84th) instead.
Next, we got zero help from OT Antonio Garcia taken at 85. I’ll pass over Kareem Hunt due to his anger management issues and take TE Jonnu Smith who has given the Titans 22 catches for 5 TDs this year and appears to be on the rise at a position where we could use a little help.
We took Deatrich Wise Jr. at 131 and the nicest thing I can say about him is he's an emotional player who is tall. He can’t set an edge and is not especially quick or strong, so I’ll push the eject button on him and go for RB Marlon Mack (143) who is hurt now, but has rushed for about 2400 yards and scored 20 TDs for the Colts.
Our 4th and last guy at pick 211 was Conor McDermott who was entirely forgettable ( other than the fact he came out of the closet as a gay man after being employed here) and while I’d love to add some defense to our roster I couldn’t pass on K Harrison Butker (233) who is deadly from about 60 on in and would’ve prevented us from rolling the dice with Nick Folk anytime we have to chance a 40-yard+ knuckleball from a guy whose own family likely covers their eyes when he kicks.
2018
We took Isiah Wynn (23) and Sony Michel (31) in the 1st round with some mixed results, but we could’ve instead had Lamar (MVP) Jackson (32) and Darius (DPOY) Leonard (36).
Unfortunately we then whiffed on Duke Dawson (56) but in a more perfect world we might have stumbled across Fred Warner (70) who just destroyed our offense last week.
We then selected Ja’Whaun Bentley at 143 but in my rich fantasy world we skipped the opportunity to take perhaps the least athletic LB in the entire league and took DT Bilal Nichols (145) who kicked some ass Thursday night for the Bears.
2019
While the results of this draft aren’t fully know, it represents a pretty good haul overall. However, it wasn’t hard for me to redo our first two picks.
I’m going to erase the selections of the much-maligned N. Harry (32) and the pine-riding Joejuan Williams (45) and go with Deebo Samuels (36) and D.K. Metcalf (64).
I’ll keep Chase Winovich and Damien Harris, but will swap Yodny Cajuste (101) for the Raiders’ pass rusher Mad Maxx Crosby (107).
Imagine, if you will, a current Pats team with the additions of these guys:
WR Chris Godwin, Deebo Samuel, D.K. Metcalf
TE Jonnu Smith
QB Lamar Jackson
RB Marlon Mack
K Harrison Butker
LB Darrius Leonard, Fred Warner
DT Bilal Nichols
DE Maxx Crosby