When I did my write-up on the Patriots draft last week, I had this to say about the Patriots fifth draft pick:

Nate Ebner, SS, Ohio State, Pick #197, 6’1 205 pounds
Another of Belichick’s bizarre picks, who’s very similar in size to Tavon Wilson. Again, not sure of Belchick’s angle on this one.

Well, the angle has become pretty damn clear. This kid basically didn’t play football at Ohio State – true he was their best special teams player, but he was first and foremost the best player on the rugby team.

The video above is pretty astounding – at this point it’s made its way around the web, but I figured I’d post it for those of you who haven’t caught it yet. I first saw this video last week, and I keep coming back to it. Not only is Ebner’s speed and ability to cut pretty astounding, but the ferocity of his tackles for a guy that’s only 6’1 205 is incredible. I have no doubt that this man orders his In-N-Out burgers with an extra side of animal sauce.

Better yet, I imagine that this kid wasn’t even on the radar of most teams, and for those that he was I’m sure more than a couple of scouts had the “he’s a rugby player, not a football player” conversation. All I know if I like what I see in this video, and I have no doubt that this kid is tough as nails.

A diamond in the rough? We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m sure excited to see what he can do.

When I think about the Patriots and the NFL draft, a line from Alanis Morisette’s song “Ironic”  immediately comes to mind, “It’s like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.” I then typically cringe, begin to sweat a bit, then whimper myself to sleep. Sure, the Patriots are among the best teams when it comes to drafting, but Bill Belichick’s history of trading down picks and selecting players at our best positions is absolutely maddening. Maybe Belichick is softening in his old age, I’m not sure, but it sure as hell seems as though he threw me a life-preserver this year.

With the draft approaching, I had several meaningful conversations with Pats fans as of late – it’s been long enough, we’ve had our time to cope, and speaking about the Patriots is slowly moving away from being a taboo subject. The new sentiment I’m hearing, and one I subscribe to very much so, is that Tom Brady just needs to win one more Super Bowl. It’s not about the best ever argument or anything like that anymore – it’s simply the fact that Brady has become a much better quarterback than he was in his younger years and he deserves to win a championship in this part of his career. A fourth Super Bowl for Brady, and we can all die happy.

It’s been maddening that the Patriots have seemingly forgotten that they were a defense first team when Brady & Co were ringing off championships. Brady never had a single offensive Pro Bowl player in any championship season, but he had a roster filled with defensive stalwarts. Heck, the Patriots didn’t even know what they had in Brady in those years. Since they’ve come to realize Brady’s greatness, it’s as though they’ve thrown any importance attached to the defense out the window – and in doing so they’ve put up several of the best offensive season’s in the history of football, while winning a total of 0 championships. Earth to Bill, draft some defensive players for heaven’s sake.

Simply put, I’m ecstatic with this year’s draft class. The Patriots selected defensive players with their first six picks – frankly I don’t care if these guys were the linebackers on the Little Giants or defensive ends in the XFL, I’m just happy as could be that their needs were addressed. It seems as though the Patriots got a few definite studs, and they took their usual Belichick sleep picks as well that left everyone utterly confused. I love it – our defense in a couple of days changed from old, small, and slow to big, fast, and young. Here’s what we landed.

Chandler Jones, DE, Syracuse, Pick #21, 6’5 266 pounds
The Patriots obviously love this guy – he should contribute immediately at the position where we need to most help.

Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama, Pick #25, 6’2 265 pounds
Hightower has been touted as the Patriot that will have the most immediate impact. At their respective press conferences, Chandler Jones seemed giddy and talked about how excited he was to be a Patriot. Hightower instead talked about how he was ready to crush people, basically saying, “Every player on the other team is going to want to know where I am on the field… and I’ll get to them regardless, and when I do, it’s going to hurt.” We’ve got a savage in the making here – and Belichick is already comparing his football IQ to that of Jerrod Mayo.

Tavon Wilson, CB/FS, Illinois, Pick #48, 6’0 205 pounds
One of Belichick’s WTF picks, nobody expected this guy to get picked this high – or at all. It seems like a good “system” pick – who knows. He’ll either be great, or he’ll be working at Kohl’s by the end of camp.

Jake Bequette, DE, Arkansas, Pick #90, 6’5 274 pounds
Almost everybody in New England’s favorite pick – we got this guy late, and his production in college was absurd. He’s crazy fast for his size, and he beat out the majority of wide receivers and running backs in both the 3-cone and short shuttle drills at the combine. He’s also a team leader, an absolutely no problems off the field type of guy. Awesome.

Nate Ebner, SS, Ohio State, Pick #197, 6’1 205 pounds
Another of Belichick’s bizarre picks, who’s very similar in size to Tavon Wilson. Again, not sure of Belchick’s angle on this one.

Alfanzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska, Pick #224, 5’10 204 pounds
The other surprisingly awesome pick taken in the later rounds, this guy was projected as a late first or second round pick but fell dramatically because he was arrested last week. Almost everybody cites this guy’s talent, as he shut down many of the best receivers in college football this year – most of whom were selected much higher than he was. This is a personality flaw pick, but if anyone can control him it’s Belichick.

Jeremy Ebert, WR, Northwestern, Pick #235, 5’11 200 pounds
Wide receiver is not a position in need by any stretch of the imagination for the Pats, but this was a great pick as well. With his size and a 4.4 forty under his belt, he’s both bigger and faster than Wes Welker. He’ll compete primarily with Julian Edelman and Anthony Gonzalez, which is a nice problem to have at the back-up slot receiver position.

I have big expectations for these guys, and I think that Jones, Hightower, and Bequette in particular have a chance to transform this team defensively. So here it is, my prediction that you can trace back to May 1, 2012 at next year’s Super Bowl; if Tom Brady is healthy throughout the playoffs next season, the Patriots will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy.

For those of you that think I sit around by myself and rant about Boston sports, well, I’ve got nothing on my roommate. Check out his recent rant on 98.5 The Sports Hub, in regard to the Patriots head-scratching 2011 draft class. You won’t regret it.

Patriots draft pick Nate Solder

Let me start by saying that I’m not Mel Kiper or Todd McShay, not by a long shot. That said, I did watch the first round of the 2011 NFL draft last night, and saw a few obvious winners. A couple of initial reactions before I dive into my winners…

Roger Goodell is the man. When he first walked out to announce the beginning of the draft, he was understandably booed in the wake of this whole NFL lockout ordeal. Note to any NFL fans that missed it, but Goodell has been paying himself a salary of $1 per quarter while this mess has been going on — but that’s beside the point. Goodell took the boos in stride, kept his speech brief, and turned the fans’ boos to cheers by saying “Let’s get back to some football!” Well played Roger.

I was also taken aback by the enormous amount of criticism everyone had for Cam Newton, the #1 pick, and the complete lack of criticism for #2 pick Von Miller, who took 5 minutes to stop crying and walk on stage. I do think Newton will be a flop — he was already talking about the “ups and downs” in his “career” last night. If he’s doing that at 21 years old, imagine how much of a diva this guy will be after he’s been in the league a few years, hasn’t had epic success, and has been criticized on a national level? This guy, in my eyes, thinks he’s special.

On to my winners for the night: I think the New Orleans Saints had far and away the best first round draft, picking up California DE Cameron Jordan and Alabama running back Mark Ingram. The Saints now have depth at running back to go along with quarterback Drew Brees — they are going to be hellish to try to stop on the offensive end. My secondary winner for the night was the New York Jets, who picked up DE Muhammad Wilkerson from Temple. Nearly everyone says this guy can play in the NFL right away, and to get him at the 30th pick was a steal.

As for the Patriots, their primary need is defensive players, specifically defensive ends. It was strange to me to see them take Colorado OT Nate Solder. I’m never one to doubt Bill Belichick’s drafting (see Aaron Hernandez and Gronk last year), and I’m certainly all for an OT who will play on the corners and help give Tom Brady more time in the pocket. This guy is also huge, at 6’8 and 319 pounds. Overall, I’m OK with this pick. What I’m not OK with is the Patriots trading down, giving up their 28th pick where they could have easily claimed Mark Ingram. While BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead had big years last year, Ingram is a better runner than them both and would have given the Patriots a nearly unstoppable offensive attack. He’s also versatile and would have fit perfectly into the Patriots system. I mean this guy is a Heisman winner, come on. I think they will come to really regret that decision — I would have been totally cool with the Patriots using their remaining 5 picks for defensive players. They are just addicted to stockpiling draft picks. At least they have the first pick in the second round, with some good talent still on the board.

Who were your winners?

A Guest Post by Patrick Klimm, Boston, MA

           I want to begin this article by making it clear that I am one of the most diehard and loyal Patriots fans out there.  However, as I sit back and watch what has been going on with the team over the past several years and throughout this offseason, I have to seriously question the direction they are heading in.  Many fans, including myself at times, still see the Pats as a well oiled machine that hasn’t outlived its days as a dynasty.  The reality is they haven’t won anything in six years, the icing on the cake being getting blown out by the Ravens in the playoffs last year.  Their frugality and unwillingness to spend money to improve the quality of the team has finally caught up with them, as many publications now have the Pats finishing 3^rd in the AFC East behind the Jets and Dolphins.  What was once considered to be one of the best run franchises in all of sports may now be stumbling back into mediocrity.  How did this happen?

            Over the past 10 years the Patriots have become known for their expertise in talent evaluation, finding value at every position and having strong influences and leadership in the locker room from both players and coaches.  There’s no question a winning coach is still in place, but how good has the talent evaluation been over the past several years?  Sure they have made excellent trades for Randy Moss and Wes Welker barely giving up anything in return, but a franchise that historically has been one of the best in the draft has fallen behind – which may be attributed the loss of GM Scott Pioli.  Year after year, they have traded back or out of the first round altogether, which has terribly frustrated fans.  Beginning in 2005, the Patriots first round, 32^nd overall pick was Logan Mankins who has turned into one of the best guards in the game and who they now refuse to pay.  2006 may have been the worst draft year where the most dependable pick was kicker Stephen Gostkowski who was taken in the 4^th round.  Their first round pick that year was underachieving and injury plagued Laurence Maroney, followed by receiver Chad Jackson who they traded up to get and who turned into a complete bust.  2007 was another horrible draft where the only notable player they got was Brandon Meriweather, who has turned into a pretty decent safety although he still makes absolutely ridiculous decisions at times, ie. taunting penalties to put teams in scoring position.  2008 seemed promising with the drafting of Jerod Mayo at 10 overall (who they traded down to get). After a monster rookie season, Mayo suffered a sophomore slump, albeit primarily due to injury.  In that draft they scored studs like Terrence Wheatley, Shawn Crable, Kevin O’Connell, Jonathan Wilhite and Matthew Slater.  And by studs I mean absolute busts.  It may be too early to tell what the class of 2009 will achieve but Ron Brace doesn’t seem to show too much promise and Darius Butler and Pat Chung have yet to offer serious contributions.  However, it must be noted that they did take Sebastian Vollmer in the 2^nd and Julian Edelman in the 7^th, both of whom were nice surprises.  Also note that they did trade out of the 1^st round entirely.  That brings us to the 2010 draft where they traded down multiple times passing up impact players to go with a guy like Devin McCourty to throw into their heap of undersized cornerbacks.  They also drafted highly touted tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and while I like them, we all know the Patriots’ record with drafting tight ends (see Ben “stone hands” Watson and Daniel Graham.) 

            With the past five years of draft history outlined it is pretty clear that the Pats have not yet drafted a serious impact player, save perhaps Jerod Mayo, and at times Meriweather.  Of those two, Mayo was able to step in and contribute right away but it took Meriweather several years to develop into a starter.  Players are first round picks for a reason – because generally they are better and are able to contribute more quickly.  How can you expect to improve your team if you keep trading down and out of the first round for “value” in later rounds?  When a team says it is looking for value in later rounds it basically means they are looking to get lucky and hit the jackpot with some unknown player, which is perfectly fine if you are a small market team and need to run your team that way.  The fact of the matter is the Patriots are not a small market team.  Actually, Forbes just recently published a list of the richest sports franchises in the world. Guess who was sitting there at number five?  You guessed it.  The stingy, value-seeking New England Patriots. That’s not number five in the United States or in the four major sports, that’s in the world.  To put it in perspective number one was Manchester United and number three was the Yankees.  As a matter of fact, all 32 NFL teams were on that list.  That’s right, all 32 NFL teams were on the list of the 50 richest sports franchises in the world.  That means that even the bottom feeding Oakland Raiders (44^th), perhaps the most pathetic franchise in all of American sports, made the list ahead of great franchises like the Lakers (49^th).  The scariest part is where the Pats fall in the payroll rankings.  For the 2010 season the Patriots have the third lowest team salary in the NFL at a projected $92,734,120.    

            That is why I get so upset when I hear the Patriots can’t afford certain players or refuse to offer contracts to guys who have played their hearts out for them.  Vince Wilfork was put through the ringer after not holding out, not making a stink about his contract situation, and showing up for camps, which is more than can be said for most players.  Tom Brady is still without a new contract.  They refused to sign pro bowler Asante Samuel because he was demanding too much.  Instead they went with cornerback by committee and put on the most pathetic display of pass defense I have seen in a while.  They inexplicably traded Mike Vrabel to free up space from his miniscule couple million dollar contract.  The one big name they did sign was Adalius Thomas which worked out terribly.  Not to mention the Joey Galloway and Shawn Springs experiments.  They simply refuse to go out and sign big name players or to keep their high first round picks because they don’t want to pay people.  That doesn’t sound like something the 5^th richest sports franchise in the world should be doing. 

            I’m not a proponent of players making exorbitant amounts of money, especially rookies who haven’t proven themselves yet.  I do believe however, that when a player is loyal, works hard and performs, then he should be compensated accordingly.  The Patriots refuse to do that and they have gotten that reputation throughout the league.  What kind of star player will willingly choose to come here now if he knows he’s going to be treated like that?  They are alienating their own players and future prospects, and that needs to change.  As a fan it’s easy for me to say that a club should open their pockets and spend away – I do realize that however wealthy a team may be they do still need to operate under a budget.  However, it’s evident that the Patriots are not operating to their maximum spending potential.  They haven’t spent money in the draft or in free agency and it’s beginning to show.  The Jets went out and got Santonio Holmes, Antonio Cromartie,  LaDainian Tomlinson, Jason Taylor, and stayed put in the draft.  The Dolphins signed Brandon Marshall, Karlos Dansby, and stayed put at their position in the draft.  Outside of keeping Vince Wilfork, the Pats have made no major moves and moved down multiple times in the draft.  They signed dinosaurs like Tory Holt and Alge Crumpler.  Sweet.  Way to keep pace in the East.  Not to be repetitive, New England Patriots, but you are the 5^th richest sports franchise in the entire world.  Act accordingly.

Check out http://www.chrisross91.wordpress.com.