The Wolf Pack is Weaponizing
The Patriots have heightened their floor through the draft. The thing I like about this draft is there seems to be a plan that they are sticking with. Opposed to recent years with Bill Belichick, which felt like the motivations came from value, a.k.a. cheapness, stubbornness or boredom, and an unwillingness to work with people or players outside of his influential sphere.
There is a common theme amongst the players in which Elliot Wolf and his team have brought in. It's been talked about over and over again how they're looking for tough character guys. That can certainly get overstated and become cheesy, but I do feel like there is a need for that on this team and in this franchise in the wake of Tom Brady and the carving out of said principles by Bill Belichick. With those type of players, you can diminish the ceiling, but again you raise your floor based on the effort, desire, comradery.
The Patriots were clearly risk adverse in the draft. I don't blame them totally not trading back now that we have seen how tight of a window that would have been with six quarterbacks being taken in the first 12 picks. They needed to draft a QB. In order to move back and still get one would have been difficult. In hindsight the Giants offer for the 6th pick and next years 1st was on the table and could have landed the Patriots JJ McCarthy who they were heavily rumored to be interested in. The odds tell us that McCarthy and Drake Maye have an equal good chance at sucking balls, so I probably would have picked up the extra first round draft pick. But, if you want to tell me the physical tools that Drake displays are worth not acquiring then Fine. Risk adverse.
Passing on WR - AD Mitchell is another example of a risk adverse move, but half the league felt the same way. So I don't blame him too too much for that. The biggest second-guess is their approach at tackle. Caedan Wallace is getting mixed reviews from the so-called experts. He’s projected anywhere from a project tackle/ Guard combo to the steal of the draft and as good as his counterpart at Penn State, Olu Fashanu.
Regardless, the Patriots had opportunities in the third round to move up and acquire a more bona fide fit at the left tackle position, which you would think would be a priority. Instead, it felt like the moment moved a little too fast for the Wolf Pack and they not so much panicked, but just grabbed the last tackle available.
Six out of seven draft picks were on the offensive side of the ball. All at positions of need. All with similar high character characteristics. The Patriots had a plan, they scouted, they stuck to their board, and should have a higher floor than last year. The obvious elephant in the room is if Drake Maye can play it's a game changer. The right move should be to plan and sit him this year. He would need to show a significant level of proof he is ready to be a starting QB in the NFL. We just sat through “How to ruin a QB 101”. No need to repeat history. Until then let BBH take the reins and develop their young team.
