But don't we always - like ALWAYS - hear that teams (generally) make offers for that particular pick more than any other, due in large part to the overnight resetting of draft boards and priorities?
I agree with you that from the patriots's POV that's how it seemed - no one made them an offer they felt was worth taking. Given their decision, I guess that's what happened. But it was arguably the worst missed opportunity of this extremely successful time period. Don't mind me, I'm just retroactively frustrated.
Edit clarifying.
They did have some sort of opportunity (on the Pats' website there was also a video of Ernie Adams telling BB to just draft the kid). I can't find a link to the article now but here's some text from a Peter King article about that draft. It looks like the Pats were trying to trade 33 for 45 + a 2011 third plus a 2013 second and walked away from 33 for 45 plus a 2011 third and a 2012 third. You never know but neither of those trades are massive missed opportunities.
Article: Come back with me to draft weekend 2011, when the 49ers had the 45th overall pick and began to understand late in the first round that they'd need to move up to get the man they wanted, Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
I covered the draft in San Francisco that weekend. GM Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh had targeted Kaepernick and TCU quarterback Andy Dalton, in that order, before the draft. Late in the first, Baalke tried to trade up with a package of picks starting with the Niners' pick at 45, but couldn't swing a deal. He started again a half hour before the beginning of Friday's second round, calling the Patriots, who held the first pick (No. 33) that evening.
The Raiders, who'd dealt their 2011 first-round choice to New England in September 2009 to get defensive tackle Richard Seymour, were also trying to get the Pats' pick. That gave the Patriots leverage. San Francisco offered two third-round picks (one from this draft, one from 2012) to move up, but New England wanted a third-rounder this year and a second-rounder next year. Baalke thought that was too much, even if it meant losing his quarterback of the future. The Patriots hung on and drafted Virginia cornerback Ras-I Dowling. Baalke knew the Bills weren't going to take Kaepernick or Dalton at 34, and he figured Cincy would take Dalton at 35. So he focused on the pick after Cincinnati's, held by the Broncos, and dealt fourth- and fifth-rounders this year to Denver. Baalke got his man, and for significantly less than he would have paid New England.
A clipboard holder that's traded for a conditional seventh isn't decent value out of a third rounder to me, but to each their own I guess.
Third rounders are massively overrated. Having a third rounder make your roster for years is good value. Backup quarterbacks are also challenging to value--if you don't have one on a rookie contract you have to pay a guy like Chad Henne $3 million a year so there is pretty good value in having a rookie QB as your backup.
