I’d say Bill does just fine at evaluating (UNDRAFTED) talent.
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He HAS to, given his massive amount of whiffs in the draft over the past several years.

Gotta love how you New England idiots continually attempt to spin everything. Face it, Bill usually hits on his first rounder, mostly whiffs on the rest (except for last season, but then again it’s way too early to tell if any of those guys will really stick around for more than a couple of years, given how Merriweather and Butler started early but still got the boot) and TOTALLY LUCKED OUT on getting Brady.

I’d say Bill does just fine at evaluating talent.

If the Pats stayed at their original pick, they could have had Oher (Balt took Oher at 23), Vontae Davis (if they were looking at CB, then why not take the best one in the draft?), or Clay Matthews, who most draft experts had the Pats taking. After they traded down to 26, they still could have had Matthews (Davis was gone), but they traded with GB, who took Matthews.

I was SCREAMING at the TV for the Pats to take Matthews, but, alas, it did not happen.

See. I told it hurts more when you look at it this way.

@you betcha

The trade wasn’t Matthews for Butler even up . The pats also acquired Ron Gronkowski, Brandon Tate, and Julian Edelman with the picks obtained from the pack.

However, you have to give credit to Ted Thompson . He’s not afraid to make a controversial move ..

Regarding Butler, he may just need a new start. For whatever reason, he never developed. Another club may have a better result.

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ITS BECAUSE YOU HAVE A FUTURE HALL OF FAME QB.

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Coaching had nothing to do with holding Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and The Greatest Show on Turf to 17 points back in ’01.
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Good point, coaching. That, and a lot of “film study”.

In that deal and later deals w/those picks Pats got Butler, Tate(both busts) and Gronkowski.

Have a feeling it won’t look so bad in a year or 2.

you were trying to be smart ass and dispute my remarks by saying “natural selection” BUT you are actually right.

in other words you make the picks, they go to camp and then it is survival of the fittest. that is the natural order of things.

NOT “draft failure”

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Its debatable whether TT is a better drafter than BB but I have to give BB credit for putting together a very solid team every season.

Thompson tends to rely on his draft classes a lot more than Belichick and doesn’t use FAs very often unless he absolutely has to and when he does he doesn’t spend big on them with the exception of Charles Woodson.

Having said all that, I can’t say Thompson is the best GM in the league but I do believe he is in the top 5 at drafting and he better be because thats how he builds his team. Also his first 4 or so years were not that great but he still managed to nab a few good players in those drafts that are still with the team.

I bet Bill Belichick regrets that trade.

Other coachers or GMs are prone to clog the roster with someone like Vernon Gholston to save face.

Belichick knows the NFL draft is a total crapshoot. Sometimes you have a bumper crop – sometimes they’re all busts – usually its a combination – for all teams.

But not every team has Belichick’s inclination to put pride and ego aside and give a roster spot to an undrafted rookie who earned the spot rather than a former 1st or 2nd round pick

at least will beatty is getting the chance to start with the giants this season and he looks good

The 2010 draft (and Brady) probably will save this team from becoming the Bills.

As you pointed out 17/50 picks are still on Pat’s roster. Steelers 14/38, Colts 16/41, Ravens 18/49. All pretty close.

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Get your facts straight, tedmurph. Steelers have 21/43 on their roster during exactly the same timeframe as the Pats dismal performance you’ve mentioned above.

And comparing him to Ozzie isn’t exactly doing him any favors as most unbiased Ravens fans will admit that he’s missed a lot, especially lately. Both are overrated.

09 looks like a solid B- even with the Butler miss as Volmer, Chung, Pryor, Edelman, and maybe Ohrnberger/Brace are OK.

10 looks like an A+ and the jury is out on 2011 (too early to tell either way – that said Ridley and Solder look legit). Side note – not sure if it is coincidence or not, Casserio has taken more of a lead role since 09 after Pioli left.

Belichick accumulates picks as he knows that no one is perfect in the draft but he typically has more picks to take shots with. BB is also big on continued improvement/upside and is not afriad to move on no matter the draft pick status or resume of a player.

I also think people need to give them credit for the strong contributions that they have gotten from undrafted free agents and cuts from other teams – see Green-Ellis, Guyton, Woodhead, Dane Fletcher, Hoyer, etc. – and maybe Jeff Tarpinian who made the team as an undrafted free agent.

Last note – the Pats cut Butler (2nd rounder in 09) to pickup A.J. Edds (4th round LB from Miami Dolphins 2010 draft). He spent his rookie season on injured reserve after tearing his ACL in training camp and then led the Dolphins with 18 tackles this preseason, while adding a sack. He also can long-snap. Let’ssee how it all works out with time.

ITS BECAUSE YOU HAVE A FUTURE HALL OF FAME QB.

————————————————–Indeed.
Coaching had nothing to do with holding Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and The Greatest Show on Turf to 17 points back in ’01.

The draft is always a crapshoot and the teams that are consistantly good and have a rep for good drafting are pretty close(I’ll leave the ‘fins out of this as they’re an easy target). It’s hard to draft late every year and find players to make rosters that are already good.

As you pointed out 17/50 picks are still on Pat’s roster. Steelers 14/38, Colts 16/41, Ravens 18/49. All pretty close.

This leaves out the fact that they traded picks for Moss and Welker, and traded picks for an extra 1rst and 2nd next year.

Also, just because they’re not good enough for the Pat’s roster doesn’t mean they can’t play in the league. Butler will be the 13th guy released this year to get picked up.

Really bummed about it but if he spent as much time on the playbook as he does on twitter- this story probably wouldnt have happened.

Go Dolphins…your GM Ireland…chose J Long over Matt Ryan…your Dolphins chose Ted Ginn & his family @ #10…Would you like me to add on another 50 miserable personnel decisions??”?..Like last season having the worst bottom 15 of roster in NFL??? special teams that required special Ed?

Patriots cut alot of GOOD players…Ever think it’s because theyve found someone better, who will improve their team????…I suppose thats why they ‘rebuild’..and go 14-2

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11-5 with Matt Cassell.

Show me one GM/Coach who who hits more than 1/3 of his draft classes?

Right, there ain’t one.

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Best GM in the league does … Kevin Colbert.

21/43 in the same timeframe (which kind of invalidates the knucklehead pats fan’s theory above since the Steelers have won a ton during that time too). And that’s not even counting players that are on other teams’ rosters.

And for the record, that blows away Ozzie’s record in Baltimore — another grossly overrated GM.