And two days feels like plenty of time.
Not giving them a 1400 on their SATs, necessarily.
But good enough to make Dean’s List.
White’s ability to play outside and inside makes him a typical Patriots defensive line selection.
Mapu is yet another New England Day 2 pick that makes casual fans say, “Who?”
But I thought he showed real potential as a linebacker/hybrid who will star on special teams.
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Cornerback Christian Gonzlez might just be the best athlete Bill Belichick has ever coached at cornerback.
So for the Patriots to get Gonzalez at 17 after trading back?
That’s just awesome.
They then took Georgia Tech defensive end Keion White in the second round.
He’s another elite athlete with a lot of potential.
New England finished the draft with a total of 12 TWELVE!
…
What they didn’t take?
That’s the lone need they didn’t fill.
I’ll second that emotion on the last part.
That said, that headline is not meant to be ironic.
I chose those words carefully.
It has history behind it.
For instance, this was last year:
Cole Strange wasn’t great by any means.
Jack Jones had the 10th lowest passer rating against in the league at his position.
Marcus Jones was an impact special teamer and contributed as a corner as the year progressed.
Oh, and Bailey Zappe won both his starts.
So the instant reaction to this group was dead wrong.
And the reverse is true.
Saved only by the home runs that were Damien Harris and Jake Bailey, plus some offensive line depth.
The point being that no one knows about any team’s draft, but New England’s especially.
I just know that there are things about this 2023 Pats draft I absolutely love.
In no particular order:
They didn’t overreach for anybody.
By this I mean they didn’t get cute like they have at times in the past.
You might argue Marte Mapu in the 3rd round, because he’s a small school guy.
But at the time of his selection, Daniel Jeremiah on ESPN called Mapu his favorite player remaining.
Christian Gonzalez being chief among them, as he was on average a No.
And also Keion White, who was 15th overall on Jeremiah’s board.
They like their offense better than you do.
For sure they like their skill positions and tackles more.
Also, this guy:
Their most intriguing rookie is a 6th rounder.
But in a nutshell, he’s a guy who was a 1st round projection early in his career.
He then needed another surgery.
Boutte just never fit in with the new coaches and new scheme and it crushed his draft satus.
Special teams were a priority.
As well they should have been.
Neither here nor there.
The fact is, he was objectively awful most of the season.
Nick Folk has been a godsend since he arrived as our fourth option in 2019.
But he’s their Roy Kent.
As a result, 2022 was one of the worst seasons for special teams these vision-corrected eyes have seen.
Mock GM Bill if you must for taking a punter and a kicker in one draft.
so they don’t shoplift.
They’re not shy about building through the small schools.
Then they gave him a leave of absence to play in the Olympics.
I’m not sure this has ever been mentioned before, but Chris Hogan plays lacrosse.
And you may be aware after 25 years that Tom Brady was almost a catcher for the Montreal Expos.
The major takeaway being that it’s not about what the experts say.
After all, I wrote about 15,000 words on this draft.
They made 12 picks.
And not only did I get none of them right, all of my priorities were not theirs.
That’s part of what makes this all so bloody fascinating.
Rookie camp can’t start soon enough.
