Draft Grades Compiled

[jterrell]

Actually the Patriots drafting has not been good overall, and I think they cling to the assumption that all draft picks, even 1st and 2nd, are basically 50/50 crap shoots, so their preferred strategy has been to get as many draft picks as possible.

I sound like a broken record, but the Patriot model is Brady and Belichick, and the rest is largely window dressing to me. That model is not reproducible and cannot really be emulated.

Belichick can make almost any group of smart players fairly impressive on defense. Does anyone here have any doubt if we traded Dak and Red for Brady and Belichick that we'd be the favorites next year? I'm not claiming we should do that, and I get it's a short term plan, but based the fact that Brady seems to be getting better as he hits 40, I wouldn't be surprised to see 4 more years of elite performance out of him and 2 more Super Bowls. That would be 7 since we've won any, so not bad. Of course, I expect we'll win the other two during those 4 years, so it's all good.

That's not true over the past decade, maybe more recently but at larger they have been very good.
The 2010 class for them was excellent.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/04/nfl...s-best-drafting-teams-picks-classes-2012-2016
That ranks them 7th per pick.
Saw another article that had Dallas and Pats as the two top drafting teams based on pro bowlers drafted over some set period.

They of course lost a pick in deflategate and gave away picks in R1 and R2 this year so they will undoubtedly look worse in draft investigations as we go forward.

But the Patriots model has been to NOT PAY big money for guys or use premium picks and instead trade down to collect more picks as well as sign underrated cheap guys.
This off-season flies in the face of that model and ties up premium draft resources for guys who will require fairly immediate large salary commitments.

And this is exactly what Dallas did in the last few seasons under Troy.
You are sacrificing future value for increased odds now.

All that said, the winning is obviously very Belichek and Brady influenced tho their record minus Brady the past 5 years is pretty dang salty as well.
This team won a lot of games with that empty sack, Cassel.

 

[AsthmaField]

It's based on quickness and power.

(and leverage).

 

[AsthmaField]

lol wow

Quick... someone get that dude some testosterone and inject it straight into his carotid artery.

 

[Direwolf63]

Ealy and Cooks trades are what desperate teams do at the end of a franchise QBs career.
Cooks has a 1.5m cap hit this year but it balloons to over 8m next year and then he hits unrestricted free agency.
Ealy is on a cheap 900K deal this year but is an UFA next year.

So you paid a 1st and a 2nd to be better right now with only a large cash commitment keeping those players on your roster.
That's pretty much been the exact opposite of Patriots roster mgmt and is an F in drafting not A.

I know people hate to criticize the Patriots because they've so often come up Aces but this was terrible roster/cap management.

The Patriots have the best QB of all time turning 40 years old. So before he's done the Pats want Brady to win his 6th and 7th Super Bowls. Who knows, maybe his 8th too.

So to win those Super Bowls, they sacrifice tomorrow to win for today. They can worry about tomorrow tomorrow. If I were in their shoes, I'd do exactly the same thing.

31 teams are trying to build to win Super Bowls. The Patriots are already built to win Super Bowls. They want to win a few more right now. So they make moves like Cooks and Ealy to do that. They have been making moves like this forever (Moss, Revis, Talib, etc.) Hard to criticize that. For me anyway. Moves like this may be mistakes for other teams, including the Cowboys. But not for them.

Yes, there will be a point in time when they will be 6-10 again. But how many Lombardi's will they have in their trophy case when that happens? Who knows? They are favorites again this year.

As for cap management, they were something like $60M under the cap back in March. That's pretty good for teams winning Lombardi's.

 

[TheHerd]

That's not true over the past decade, maybe more recently but at larger they have been very good.
The 2010 class for them was excellent.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/04/nfl...s-best-drafting-teams-picks-classes-2012-2016
That ranks them 7th per pick.
Saw another article that had Dallas and Pats as the two top drafting teams based on pro bowlers drafted over some set period.

They of course lost a pick in deflategate and gave away picks in R1 and R2 this year so they will undoubtedly look worse in draft investigations as we go forward.

But the Patriots model has been to NOT PAY big money for guys or use premium picks and instead trade down to collect more picks as well as sign underrated cheap guys.
This off-season flies in the face of that model and ties up premium draft resources for guys who will require fairly immediate large salary commitments.

And this is exactly what Dallas did in the last few seasons under Troy.
You are sacrificing future value for increased odds now.

All that said, the winning is obviously very Belichek and Brady influenced tho their record minus Brady the past 5 years is pretty dang salty as well.
This team won a lot of games with that empty sack, Cassel.

Belichick and the AFC East guarantees 9 wins with me or you at QB!

 

[Sydla]

Lance Zierlien was not a fan of our draft.

But he had the Eagles with the #1 draft over all. LOL.

 

[DBOY3141]

Lance Zierlien was not a fan of our draft.

But he had the Eagles with the #1 draft over all. LOL.

Saw that. I think he had us at #20.

 

[Sydla]

Saw that. I think he had us at #20.

I heard him on Philly radio today. He was gushing over every player they picked. I mean he was gushing on their 6th round pick and how Mack Hollins was a total steal in the 4th.

But like most of these analysts, hypocrisy reigns. He said taking Sidney Jones in the 2nd was great getting first round value and the Eagles docs obviously know something.

But he docked us last year for taking Smith, a top 3 pick. LOL.

 

[DFWJC]

Every year, FO puts together a "Draft Report Card Report," summarizing draft grades from around the web. This year's is here:

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/nfl-draft/2017/2017-nfl-draft-report-card-report

In the aggregate, the Cowboys came in the middle of the pack: 18th in the NFL, with grades ranging from A- to C-. There are links to each of the report cards used in the compilation.

The best part of this is that it's an archive that lets you look back and see how right or wrong snap draft evaluations have been in the past. The article includes links for the previous reports, going back to 2004. So, for instance, last year the Cowboys' draft came in 25th on average. I think it's safe to say it will look a little better than that in the long run.

Ranks for some other teams:
1. 49ers
2. Browns
3. Commanders
9. Eagles
26. Giants
31. Rams
32. Bears

The Browns and 49ers did appear to have good drafts