2024 NFL Draft 4th through 7th round gamethread WITH SPOILERS
- Thread starter tims4wins
- Start date
Yeah, having a high upside rookie QB just makes so much of a difference. We can actually dream of becoming contenders again, and a guy like Mac honestly never gave me that feeling as I knew even in the best of outcomes a ton of other stuff had to break just right.
I have a feeling that in addition to American football they also are huge fans of American wrestling.
And better yet, a 1-10 start, and maybe a couple Drake Maye "close but lose it" games, means a 3-14 record, and another top end set of picks to add to this one.
The sub forum in the post Belichick era may have to be changed from “Wait, Who??” to “Meh, Him”.
As long as they are entertaining and bad I’m fine for a year or two. The last two years were boring and bad and not building to anything which sucked.
Not gonna lie, these aren't the OL and WR guys that some of us wanted, but they sure as fuck have awareness that the offense needed massive help and are cornering the market like Duke and Duke.
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That last game of 1993 with Bledsoe vs Miami was the highlight of my 11 year old life. Who cares what the record was. That was awesome and to end the year like that ruled.
And it really didn't affect anything draft wise. They still got Willie McGinest at 4 where Marshall Faulk went two to the Colts who finished one game worse than the Patriots. Don't think Parcells would have taken a running back at number 2 if they were in that spot.
Agree, no chance.
Actually some similarity to last year. I thought the Denver win was gonna blow our chance at Maye but it worked out.
I wonder if the Krafts are trying to get the draft to Boston. Interesting see where the hell they would put it? Boston Common or City Hall Plaza? Hard to think where they could even fit that many people.
Picking "high ceiling, low floor" guys is fine for good-to-great teams. But the Pats on offense were a complete dumpster fire last season. Accordingly, it appears the front office decided to focus on "better than 2023" for QB, WR, and OL. How much better remains to be seen, but the strategy feels right to me.
When I hear this i always think of the Dominick Easley pick. It was a great gamble for the Pats IMO. Top 5 guy drops to the end of the first round and Pats take a shot at it because they can. He ends up busting and they win 3 more Super Bowls. People think he was an awful pick but it was worth the gamble.
A few that come to mind…
McNair (underrated imo)
Det is an awesome sports town - seems like it’s been a great event. I love that it’s made the city look more appealing. Site looks awesome. I love a good comeback
I think it's totally the opposite. Good to great teams need to compete now and need certainty. We don't need to compete now. Drafting like this is a great idea if we have the burning desire to go 7-10 instead of 5-12 or 4-13
plus, our first pick is a high ceiling low floor guy - I would think regardless of where your team is, you kind of want a portfolio theory approach…some high risk/beta guys (maye) and some higher floor plays…you need a mix
maybe they swing for some high ceiling guys late
The Jets having an international fan from Ireland makes sense. The love of green, sure, but those people know all about suffering.
My dislike is less for the low ceiling thing (though I don't like it) and more for the fact that it felt like they forced WR and LT. We picked the 10th WR when the 3rd CB and 2nd DT was on the board who are widely viewed as impact players. Reiss said that people around the league (not just media scouts) think Polk was a clear reach.
I will add that the Jets made a smart move going back to the late 70s/early 80s unis, which was their best look before they screwed them up by adding black elements to them.
Think of it this way: They made a huge investment at 3 with Maye. They have next to nothing in terms of offensive infrastructure right now. The line sucks, the WRs suck, the TEs are old and not very explosive... it's going to be very hard for Maye to do much if no one outside of Pop Douglas can get open.
So rather than draft players with high risk profiles who could bust - Adonai, for example - they went with players who we can say with confidence won't bust. There's now something of a foundation in place for Maye, when he starts, with two security blanket receivers in Pop and Polk who find holes in zones and then a different kind of threat in Baker. Are they going to be the best, most explosive offense in the NFL? Probably not even close. Could they possibly be competent? Maybe, and that's a huge step up from last year.
Once they're competent, that's when you try to go next level and upgrade to maybe trade for that #1 receiver (or sign them in FA with all your cap space), or trade up for the all pro potential left tackle, or a jack of all trades tight end. If you take those huge swings now and then those players suck, then you still have Kendrick Bourne as your #1 option and no additional depth.
This offense needs to crawl before walking, and I love the patience they're showing to uncover multiple ways to get new blood into the lineup.
They might not make the team we drafted OT at 11 and have 2 young guys likely better than what we can get here. We could use a G or C but will probably keep a C cheap that is an in house FA
Excellent analysis. I am in this boat as well. Baby steps is the way to go. Building a base is way more important than trying for a home run on every pick.
Question now is whether adding 100 potential rookies to the league starts to shake the trees a little in terms of making players available. Like if maybe the teams that took linemen or TEs now have vets they might be willing to deal for cap relief or future picks.
Wiley is going to be the next great TE for Mahomes and KC. Between him and Worthy, KC is just reloading. Kinda aggravating actually.
fair. Of course pats may have him as the #6 wr on their board
in the end, scouting is prob as important as draft philosophy - such a hard thing to do but picking the right guys is huge
There’s a few draftable TE’s left but 3 of the better ones have ACL histories
But one of them went/transferred to AZ, walked on, and broke Gronk’s record
He’s my choice for their last or second to last pick, Tanner McLachlan
Oh and he’ll be 25 soon
But one of them went/transferred to AZ, walked on, and broke Gronk’s record
He’s my choice for their last or second to last pick, Tanner McLachlan
Oh and he’ll be 25 soon
There’s also the fact that the game is actually played on the field. The point isn’t to simply acquire the best talent regardless of fit or need, but to field a competitive team. Drafting those defensive players mentioned does nothing to move the needle even if they’re “better talent.” It does nothing to help your (hopefully) franchise QB grow, develop, and thrive, which is the main thing that will determine the future of the entire franchise.
The goal is to field a competitive team, but in what year? Is the question. Even if we suddenly acquired the best WR and the best LT in the league tomorrow, we still would not be competing for the Super Bowl. Of course we will need a better WR and LT, but 1. We don't necessarily need them tomorrow. And 2. The more you force it and reach for one of those positions, the more likely they are to remain needs.
It's very likely that CB actually does become a need in the near future and very possible we'll be regretting not taking DeJean and then have to reach for a CB in some future year. The advantage of rebuilding is that you're able to be proactive and get talent even if it isn't necessarily the best improvement for the team right now.
Drives are going to stall, too. Having an excellent kicker (Will Reichard?) to get points on the board will help.
Why is it that the Eagles - ostensibly a contending team - can wait and take Dejean at 40 this year, but if the Patriots are a contending team with a need at CB, they'll have to reach?
Players drop every single year. It is not a unique circumstance for a player like Cooper Dejean to be available 10-15 spots later than you would expect him to be.
Of course it isn't. But it also might not happen. The more you remain focused on need, the less you are willing to take fallers because they may not coincide with what you need. For all we know, next year a different position could fall that we don't have on our list of needs. The advantage of just taking the talent where it is is that you address needs proactively.
The problem with reaching for a need is multi-fold
1. The fact that you have to reach for a worse player means you may actuallly be less likely to fill the need than you think. Polk's comps in the NFL that I've seen are Doubs, Josh Reynolds, Jalen Tolbert. I guarantee you that if he turns out to be one of those guys, WR will still be a huge need. Maybe he'll be better, and I hope he will, but the further you reach, the less likely you are to fill the need. He also could be worse than that and we'd be back in the same spot we were before. You can say this about any player but the key point is that if you have a desperate need, the draft shouldn't be the place to fill it.
2. Needs can arise in the future different than current needs. What if we really need a CB next year (very plausible) and we're picking 10th. If we pick a CB there, they probably won't be much different than DeJean. If we took DeJean this year and swallowed our lumps at WR, then we could take a WR at the spot next year and fill both needs eventually but have better players at both positions. Not saying everything will turn out like this, but the point is if you draft for talent first, you have more options later on as long as you're willing to wait.
