2024 NFL Draft 4th through 7th round gamethread WITH SPOILERS
- Thread starter tims4wins
- Start date
Seems like some really good talent available. I love that they have two picks early. Would love a CB and a TE/WR.
TJ Tampa CB - seems like many had mocked as a 2nd
Franklin WR - also ranked much higher on a lot of boards
Carson CB.
Dorlus Edge
Pran-Granger C
Sanders TE
Abrams-Draine CB
Johnny Wilson WR
Stover TE
Laube RB
TJ Tampa CB - seems like many had mocked as a 2nd
Franklin WR - also ranked much higher on a lot of boards
Carson CB.
Dorlus Edge
Pran-Granger C
Sanders TE
Abrams-Draine CB
Johnny Wilson WR
Stover TE
Laube RB
I know this isn't the mock draft thread. But I just did this one and then saw your post.
I'd love to see 2 of Johnny Wilson, JT Sanders, Troy Franklin or Javon Baker today, or a bit later Jalen Coker would be a nice add as a ST contributor who could develop into a quality WR.
Johnny Wilson might be my top guy now because he would allow NE to play bully ball with him and Polk blocking downfield they could rely more on the run game which is a rookie QBs best friend. He is just a massive WR, lacks polish but has good athleticism for his size.
Johnny Wilson might be my top guy now because he would allow NE to play bully ball with him and Polk blocking downfield they could rely more on the run game which is a rookie QBs best friend. He is just a massive WR, lacks polish but has good athleticism for his size.
Grain of salt but on discord reports are Franklin bombed his interviews.
Hoping for more offense but expecting edge/db.
Hoping for more offense but expecting edge/db.
I’d love another WR and then a TE - Sanders or Stover - with these next two picks. Then use the last few picks to grab a couple of corners and a RB maybe.
Just did a PFN mock and I was able to get Wilson, Sanders, Laube, Boyd (DT) and Vaki. I would take that.
So far, I’m happy with what they’ve done. I think Maye has enormous potential and I wanted them to swing for the fences at QB. They did that. I wanted them to address WR and OT. Polk is really freaking good. I don’t know that he’s the best fit for the Pats, who still need a legit X, but the guy is terrific. And I honestly can’t say I know enough about OL play to evaluate Wallace, but they seemed very confident and comfortable picking him and my guess is that he will end up being a competent NFL OT. Maybe not great or a star but competent.
Live having two of the first picks this next round. Lots of good players with real potential still out there.
But here’s the thing… if they only nail one pick, and it’s Maye, it’s a good draft.
Live having two of the first picks this next round. Lots of good players with real potential still out there.
But here’s the thing… if they only nail one pick, and it’s Maye, it’s a good draft.
Bedard can be hit or miss these days, but I think he had a pretty solid column on the Pats day 2 picks.
https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2024/04/27/bedard-with-his-pair-of-day-2-picks-eliot-wolf-starts-to-rebuild-neglected-patriots-offense-with-solid-doubles
https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2024/04/27/bedard-with-his-pair-of-day-2-picks-eliot-wolf-starts-to-rebuild-neglected-patriots-offense-with-solid-doubles
This seems to confirm exactly what I got criticized for a couple pages back. Suggesting that we just went for high floor players at positions of need. That is an extremely disappointing sign from the new front office as it's a sign of short-term focus and checklist mentality, both of which are horrible ways to draft.
I am a lot less concerned with the individual players and much more concerned about the process behind them. Obviously, we don't know if this is 100% true, but if it is, it is depressing. Drafting for floor and need is how teams that run the NFL treadmill behave.
But I think I've said my piece.
I'm curious whether you watched the early part of last season, specifically the ofensive line.
And also whether you find players like this to be somehow "extremely disappointing."
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/N/NelsJo00.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneJa04.htm
I did. Our team was terrible. But my goal for the Patriots isn't to be "not terrible." It's to be great. If we're just drafting to fill holes with guys who can play immediately, even if they have low ceilings, that is indicative of a bad process. It is aiming for mediocrity
As for Nelson and Jones, like I said, I'm focused on the process, not the individual players. Jordy Nelson turned out to be an incredible WR, so evidently, he had a very high upside. But if he was just picked to fill a hole and viewed as high floor low upside and turned out to have a high upside, they just got lucky. I'd love to get lucky with Polk too! But I am disappointed that it seems like our process is bad.
I don't know how one gets a "drafting for floor" vibe from a front office that just picked Drake Maye #3.
Like I said, I don't know if it's 100% accurate, but that sounds like the read Bedard had on the situation. I loved the Maye pick and was happy we didn't trade down.
This is a multi-year rebuild. Do you understand how bad this roster was and how poorly Belichick ran it into the ground especially on the offensive side of the ball? They have very little skill position talent and literally need good players just to get to a competent level.
The fact that it's a multi year rebuild is exactly the reason why our process shouldn't be focused on low ceiling, high floor players in positions of need.
When you have no urgent need to win, we should be increasing talent overall on the roster and shooting for the stars.
We don't just need more skill position talent, we need more talent period. Obviously skill position and LT were the most deprived areas on the team, but the thing about a multi year rebuild is that by definition, you have multiple years to fix them, so you shouldn't be pressured to do so in any particular draft.
like I said, I am not knowledgeable enough to evaluate the particular players. But I know a bad process when I see one, and this article combined with what we know about the players suggests we are running a bad process that's gonna put us on the treadmill.
The more I think about it the more I think you have to take a shot at Tez Walker. That is the swing for the fences WR pick. Dude’s RAS is 38th all time since 1987 across 3,063 receivers. His RAS is even higher than Mitchell’s. Add in that he played with Maye and it’s just shot that you have to take. I am preparing myself to try to not be devastated if they don’t draft him.
Edit: sorry wrong on Mitchell, Mitchell was 11th. Wow.
Edit: sorry wrong on Mitchell, Mitchell was 11th. Wow.
I was going to suggest Wiley as a TE that can block but also be used in the red zone. Didn't realize he was already picked.
Thoughts on Stover? Most of what I've read focus on his pass catching and his ability to gain yards after the catch. But I recall reading at least one profile that was also quite high on his blocking.
If the quarterback is great they'll be great. It seems like an oversimplification, but it's true. They bet on traits and ceiling in the right position, and regarding Polk especially I think he could be a really good player. Yeah he doesn't have Jamar Chase upside, but he has Amon-Ra St. Brown upside in terms of play style, size and measurables. Is that too low a ceiling?
I want somebody to tell me that picking Rattler (on the grounds that whatever else you have on your team everything depends on finding a viable quarterback and Maye is a project so improve your odds slightly by adding a second long-shot project) makes no sense at all.
Polk is a million times better a pick than Tyquan Thornton was in 2022 and a billion times better a pick than trading up for a Fking kicker in the 4th last year.
I would have preferred to pick Ladd at 34 or trade further back like AZ who gained over 100 spots netting the 79th or CAR who netted 2 2nds including one in 25.
I wouldn't hate Polk if he was the pick at 34 nearly as much as the aforementioned previous picks. Polk is vanilla which is exactly what you need when your roster is as devoid of talent on offense as this NE offense is.
I would have preferred to pick Ladd at 34 or trade further back like AZ who gained over 100 spots netting the 79th or CAR who netted 2 2nds including one in 25.
I wouldn't hate Polk if he was the pick at 34 nearly as much as the aforementioned previous picks. Polk is vanilla which is exactly what you need when your roster is as devoid of talent on offense as this NE offense is.
Here is why, to me: you only have so many reps these days in your camps. While Brissett knows the AVP offense, you want Maye getting as many of those reps as possible. Maybe next year you take a late round QB flyer.
I love Rattler as a project. Huge arm, good pocket management skills and waaaaay more in structure production than I anticipated before getting into his tape. Don't know if he makes sense for the Pats with his personality and Maye also being a rookie, but if I had an entrenched franchise guy I'd be jumping all over him in the hopes of flipping him to some QB needy team in 3 years for a second rounder+.
Like I said, I'm focused more on the process than on the player. I don't know whether Polk will be a good pick. I do know that if the team's drafting philosophy is "we need to fill holes and draft guys who have high floors, regardless of ceiling" then we have a bad process and a bad front office.
If the QB is great they'll be good. Great QBs with bad front offices often strike out and win no super bowls.
I am as down on the leadership of the franchise as anyone could be, and I cannot understand the logic that the Patriots should be drafting players with huge ceilings and low floors with the current lack of talent on this roster.
If polk and Wallace perform at median, I think both are starting by the end of year one. That is exactly what this team needs so it can then start to take bigger swings in later years.
We all know if you get 2-3 good players out of a draft it was a good one. I feel pretty good that we did that here, rather than rely on guys with tools who might or might not figure it out.
If polk and Wallace perform at median, I think both are starting by the end of year one. That is exactly what this team needs so it can then start to take bigger swings in later years.
We all know if you get 2-3 good players out of a draft it was a good one. I feel pretty good that we did that here, rather than rely on guys with tools who might or might not figure it out.
But why is that the team's drafting philosophy and not "we really like this player, thus we are picking this player"? It's not like they drafted Bo Nix at 3.
We have no idea what the ceiling is for these guys. You mentioned Jordy Nelson, but look at the pre draft reports on guys like Kupp and Puka Nacua. Sometimes the high floor contributors end up becoming monsters. I do think there's some tension between picking a guy who's the better player right now vs. picking the one that has traits that indicate he could be better in the future, but a lot of the time the guy who's better right now also finds a different gear in the pros. No one approaches a day 1/day 2 pick like "yeah, this dude isn't ever going to be really good, but mediocrity is all we need".
I think there needs to be a mix of high floor/low ceiling guys and low floor/high ceiling guys. If you take Maye and give him Mitchell and Suamataia, but they bust, it’s a good chance Maye busts, too. There such a deficit of talent on offense that simply having competent players is a huge improvement. TBH I’d rather have a high floor OT that won’t get Maye killed in the first season right now, than a guy that might develop into a star a few years down the road. Maye needs basic competency around him or the multi-year rebuild becomes 6-10 year rebuild. By all means take a risk on a high ceiling WR in the 4th round and hope he blossoms, but for the love of god please give Maye something resembling competent weapons.
I would be surprised if Polk isn't starting day one. Bourne is still recovering from ACL and JuJu is likely cooked. Rest of the outside WRs are journeymen.
who drafted him? I thought he was still available as well and that he would be a good fit
Odds are Maye won't even be starting for most of this year. The reason it's a bad process in my opinion is that it's too focused on the short-term. Short-term thinking kills franchises. I'm not particularly wedded to Sumataia and Mitchell. Mitchell had clear character issues. I liked Sumataia but dont know enough.
The other thing I'm worried about is that the Pats WR coach seems to have a connection to Polk, so we seem to be picking based on familiarity. People close to players will always overrate them, so the fact that we seem to have reached for players our coaches have connections to is a very ba
I would've liked to see Newton or DeJean. There was a huge run on WRs and OTs and we could've picked up significant value by zigging when others are zagging.
Maybe I'll be wrong, but this draft has not encouraged me from a process standpoint
This is an interesting data point. Beyond Marino (0-1), Kelly (0-4, Tarkenton (0-3) and Moon (n/a, but 5 Grey Cups), who are the "great quarterbacks" who never won a Super Bowl?
Please don't start this again. We know how you feel.
We are going to find out very quickly how wrong you are with these statements when the QB play is much better.
Reminder: Like or dislike the picks, posts and not posters today. No pick has played a single NFL snap yet.
I agree with the entire premise of your post (long-term rebuild, BPA, don't try to solve all problems with one draft, etc.).
Then you jump into "therefore" part at the end, and that's where you lose people. "I know a bad process when I see one and Bedard confirms my bias with this piece" isn't going to convince anyone of anything.
It is a super deep top100 in WR and OT. To have not picked guys there in clear areas of need would have been stupid. Quibble on the guys chosen if you want.
Sorry, this is wrong. I literally get a hit on Google that says the Niners drafted him at 94. But PFN still shows him as undrafted.
I just really want to understand how we can ascertain anything about a regime's process and philosophy by just their 2nd and 3rd picks in their first draft. It's not even complete yet and the first player they drafted was the definition of a traits, high ceiling guy.