You can't say BB has bad drafts. We have to keep Defending him against Brady era fans. The 3 year rule proved some of them were bad drafts. 2019 being one of his worse
No, I think he's had a bunch that were worse than 2019, which was decent.
Now take it on back through 2012……..
Good point. This is actually where I think he fell down, and it's actually worse farther back.
The results aren't going to be markedly different.
I disagree. Going back to 2000, even. I may be overlooking some guys whose contributions fell out of my memory, but:
2000: B, by the grace of God and Mo Lewis. Outside of that one 6th rounder, a total shit show. 9 other picks, and the best of the lot was JR Redmond, who had his moments, but was never in the 30%. 1/0.
2001: A-. 2/0 with Seymour and Light.
2002: C. Walk or single, 0/3 with Branch & Givens, plus a weak point for Jarvis Green.
2003: B+. Good draft. 1/3, with Ty Warren plus Wilson, Koppen, and Assante.
2004: B+. Just a 1/1, but Wilfork was a 1%, not 8%, plus Ben Watson.
2005: D+. Low positional value 1/0 with Mankins, some limited value from Sanders and Hobbs, I guess. But probably an out after a lot of fouled-off pitches to wear down the pitcher.
2006: D. An out. With 10 picks, got nothing but Maroney and Gostowski. Technically a 1/1, but you can't have a 1/1 with much less positional value.
2007: D- Out. 0/1 for Brandon Meriwether.
2008: C. Walk or single. 1/1 for Mayo and Slater.
2009: Solid draft, B+. An extra base hit. 1/2 or 1/3 with Edelman, Chung, and Vollmer plus Tate.
2010: A- Nice draft. 2/1 with Gronkowski, McCourty, and Hernandez, with a little extra credit for Spikes, and you don't mess with the Zoltan.
2011: C+ A weak 1/1, more like a 0/2 with Solder, Cannon, and some points for Vereen and Ridley
2012: B+. 2/0 or 1/1 with Hightower and Chandler Jones, then a whole lotta nothing.
2013: D. Pretty weak. Jaime Collins and Duron Harmon are probably a weak 0/2.
2014: C-. 1/2 or 0/3, but a weak one: White, Stork, & JimmyG.
2015: C+. A weak 1/1, with Shaq Mason plus a combined Trey Flowers and Malcolm Brown
2016: C+. Another weak 1/1, with Thuney plus a combined Brissett and Elandon Roberts
2017: F. A total abortion of a draft. Only 4 picks starting in the 3rd round, so it's graded on a curve, but it's a weak 0/1, only producing Deatrich Wise.
I think what hurt the Patriots teams of 2019-2021 were the drafts of 2013-2017. Recent drafts have been better, IMO. 2018-20 are much maligned, but it looks like each will end up being better than 2015&16, which were the best years in the 2013-2017 range. 2021 & 2022 look like gold, and so the average over the last 5 years is very good, with no real painful years.
Certainly neither span is as bad as 2005-2008, which set up those hollow, paper tiger Patriots teams from 2008 (and in some ways, 2007!) through ~2012.
Thankfully, our GM is amazing, and is also pretty strong at FA and absolutely amazing at 1) UDFAs, 2) trades, especially for future value, 3) avoiding cap hell, and 4) milking the compensatory pick system. So we've been able to...let's say, maintain a highly competitive team over time.