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New England Patriots reached too much in 2020 NFL Draft

By Michael DeVito

ORLANDO, FL - DECEMBER 28: Tight end Dalton Keene #29 of the Virginia Tech Hokies prior to their game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on December 28, 2017 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - DECEMBER 28: Tight end Dalton Keene #29 of the Virginia Tech Hokies prior to their game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on December 28, 2017 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /
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The New England Patriots reached on many draft picks in the 2020 NFL draft and that is not a prescription for success.

Some may have thought that that the New England Patriots had some “steals” in the 2020 draft. Unfortunately, however, there weren’t really any of them.

Unfortunately all of the New England Patriots selections, with the possible exception of Josh Uche in the second round, well… came up wanting.

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Almost all of the Patriots picks were selected in a higher round than most of the expert draft analysts thought made sense. So do I.

Once again, the Patriots “brain-trust” determined that they knew better than the entire NFL football establishment (at least media-wise). They, as usual, proceeded along their merry way of drafting players who few thought were worthy of their high draft status. I agree with the doubters.

Readers should take this article with the proverbial “grain of salt’ since I am not known to be a Patriots sycophant when it comes to evaluating their draft picks or personnel moves. Quite the opposite.

But I am a long-time team fan. Unequivocally. Yet, on my favorite team, I call ’em as I see ’em, and in many years their draft performance has been sub-par or abysmal.

And this year is no different. I have made it clear in my posts that the Patriots have been successful in spite of their dreadful personnel decisions over the past 20 years.

They have benefitted from Tom Brady’s brilliance and dominance to overcome this inadequacy. That will be proven this season.

Their drafting has basically been awful in most years. Last season is a prime example, and this season follows the same script, but maybe in a different direction. I actually think some of the Patriot’ picks were decent picks.

But not this one. Take for example Dalton Keene, the tight end out of Virginia Tech. Keene was picked at pick 101. Many top observers think he was selected on average “+86.4 from the Patriots’ actual selection”. That means 86 spots higher than he should have warranted. Interesting.

The Patriots’ top three picks, Kyle Dugger, Josh Uche, and Anfernee Jennings may be decent or even better players.

But that’s not the point here. The Patriots’ draft emphasis is the point, and they failed miserably.

The Patriots offense in 2019 was not very good, really. In fact, it was quite pedestrian. Even the greatest quarterback of all time couldn’t get them into a bye week. T

hey were mediocre. They were deficient at wide receiver, for sure. They were non-existent at tight end. They were second-rate at running back, and their offensive line after injuries and failed attempts to trade them back into competence failed.

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Even the great Tom Brady couldn’t get this motley crew to work. They were summarily dismissed from the playoffs by a Tennessee team that was just ok.

The Patriots had failed one week earlier to dispatch a poor Miami team at home to gain a bye week which could have made all the difference in this poor season (for New England). But they failed to win at Miami.

How their poor draft will stymie the New England Patriots in 2020?

So the Patriots had to be well-aware that their offense even with Tom Brady at the helm was deficient after the precipitous end to the 2019 season, and then Brady bolted for Tampa. Great. So what was their response? Draft defense in their first 3 premium picks which turned out to be one in the second round and 2 in the third round.

Again, I have postulated that these 3 picks may very well be decent or good players. Fine. But, the key coefficient here is, will they improve the poor offense which cost them their season in 2019? The answer is clearly no, and with the loss of their greatest QB ever, it’s a lot worse situation than then.

The Patriots drafted defense first then drafted two overrated tight ends (admittedly a position of need) in the third round.

But they overdrafted them. They could have done a lot better with the picks they had amassed than they did. A lot better. So why not?

For years, the Patriots personnel operation, whoever leads it, has been performing poorly. Whether in drafting which has been truly awful or even in free agency. I have noted before that only the brilliance of Tom Brady has made up for these deficiencies.

Rather than providing the greatest-ever quarterback with the necessary offensive weapons to excel, he was more often than not deprived of even mediocre weapons and forced to try to pull the Patriots to victory nonetheless.

This draft in my opinion totally reinforces the theory that absent the great equalizer, Tom Brady, this team will fail.

It was Tom Brady, not the coaching staff or anything else that delivered the sustained brilliance of the New England Patriots for the past nearly 2 decades. I stand by that statement.

This season it will be laid bare for all to see that the Patriots dynasty was a creation of Tom Brady and not the coaching and personnel staff who failed him time-and-time again.

An article prescribed a path that the post-Brady Patriots might take to outfox and out-maneuver the 2020’s NFL. They refused to take that course.

Next. James Develin restored the fullback position. dark

The result will be a falling back to the pack, as they say. They will be looking up at Buffalo in the AFC East by November. That’s my take on this failed draft and this failed personnel management team. We’ll see what happens.

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