The New England Patriots have a combination of 11 draft picks from the 2019 and 2020 NFL drafts who are under the microscope.
The New England Patriots are entering a new era in their history. They let Tom Brady depart in free agency. Even Brady couldn’t engineer a top season with the offensive cast around him. In addition their defense faltered at the worst times.
Now, their head coach’s reputation and his personnel department’s acumen will be put to the test in the 2020 season. Big time. The team’s last two season’s delivered 10 premium picks in the first to the third rounds. If they don’t deliver the Patriots will be fortunate to be a .500 team, if that.
In addition, I’m adding Jarrett Stidham to that group since he was a 4th round pick in 2019 and he’ll be more under the gun than anyone. 11 players on whose performances the Patriots season will largely ride.
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The team is ostensibly (at least at this point) putting all or most of their quarterback eggs in Stidham’s basket. Some Patriots observers are high on this idea of Stidham being cast into the fire with 4 NFL passes to his credit. They may wind up with egg on their faces.
It’s a huge risk. He’s untested in real NFL waters. Totally. If Jarrett Stidham is tapped to be the opening day starter, a big part of the Patriots’ success or failure will fall on him. Brady or Stidham? They chose the latter. Bad choice.
I’d say the chances of finding another TB12 in the first year after his exit (or in any year for that matter) are slim and none. That’s especially so since the Patriots
\offensive weaponry is so sorely lacking.
Patriots sycophants think they can just bring any quarterback to replace the best ever he’ll be great under Belichick and McDaniels. This is naiveté, and they will be sorely disappointed. Since this is THE most important part of any NFL football team, the prospects of the Patriots are riding totally on Stidham.
There’s not much behind him, at all. The New England Patriots decided that there were no quarterbacks worthy of their 35-40 person draft list to be chosen. Anywhere in the draft. That’s a huge roll-of-the dice and a big strategic, mistake no matter what happens.
The New England Patriots 2019 premium picks need to step up.
After Jarrett Stidham come the other five players chosen ahead of him in 2019, only one of whom did anything in 2019. Their first-round pick, N’Keal Harry of Arizona State was injured a lot and wound up with a whopping 12 catches for the season.
Too early to call him a bust, but he’s on his way. Harry needs to first, stay healthy. Then, actually catch some balls.
Their second-round pick, Joejuan Williams of Vanderbilt, couldn’t even get on the field much last season. He played in 9 games with 5 tackles. He’s on his way to being labeled another second-round failure for the Patriots. An article outlines this abysmal record in detail.
Musket Fire
Williams should have been able to contribute something, at least, in 2019. That’s what is expected from 2nd round picks. He didn’t, nothing at all. That’s not a good sign.
New England Patriots still have promise in 2019 third-round picks
Third round picks were a mixed bag for the New England Patriots.
Their best pick, one I had hoped for and they actually took, was Chase Winovich of Michigan. He was their best pick and will probably be the best of both draft classes. He’s a future star.
Another third-round pick was an offensive tackle, Yodny Cajuste of West Virginia. If you’ve never heard of him, there’s a good reason. He didn’t play a snap. Anywhere, for New England. He was hurt before the draft. New England drafted him anyway. Bad move. No return in 2019.
Their other third-round pick in 2019 was Damien Harris, a running back. He was like the invisible man. He was seldom seen. In addition, the Patriots used this premium pick on a position in which they were at least decent, though not great, certainly.
Again, a misplaced pick that could have been used elsewhere to bolster a real position of need. All in all, this draft class to-date is a strong D+ – C- on premium picks. Not good at all. They also drafted Jake Bailey, the punter in the 5th. He was a great pick. But not a premium pick.
New England Patriots missed the mark with 2020 selections.
Now on to the New England Patriots 2020 draft class.
A previous article comments more extensively about this previously so I won’t belabor the issue. I didn’t like the draft but some of the picks weren’t bad. That sounds a bit contradictory. Let’s explore.
First, the Patriots’ main needs this offseason were on offense. They did little to remedy that in free agency and less in the draft. This team had 11 picks from day 2 on to draft to remedy a position of true weakness, wide receiver. They inexplicably drafted no wide receivers in a supposedly deep wide receiver draft. None. Bad choice.
The Patriots also used their top 3 premium picks, two in the second round and one in the third, on defensive players. Now these players may be decent or good players. All well and good if they are. But they were not where the Patriots should have gone with those picks.
I panned the picks (not the players) for that though I have my doubts on whether their top pick Kyle Dugger can make the transition to the NFL from Division II.
Josh Uche of Michigan and Anfernee Jennings of Alabama may be serviceable or even good players. but I don’t see stardom anywhere there.
The final premium picks taken in the third round on whom New England is counting were two tight ends. They traded up big time for both. They were Devin Asiasi of UCLA and Dalton Keene of Virginia Tech. Asiasi had a good final season for the Bruins but is short for the position. Keane didn’t do much in the way of production at Tech.
These picks, even for tight ends, could have been used on better players. But at least, finally, they were used on a position of real need, thank you.
So there they are, 11 players, who will have to produce in 2020 if the Patriots are to be even anything near a competitive team. They are well behind the Buffalo Bills right now, no matter what the Bills coach says in public.
That New England Patriots hitched their wagon to these 11 players for better or for worse, If it’s worse, they’ll finish behind Buffalo in the AFC East. If better, maybe they have a chance to catch Buffalo, but I doubt it. But, again, as I said before, that’s why they play the games.