Patriots' Draft 2007

On the surface, this years Patriots draft moves seemed a little suspect, trading away all their high round draft picks for picks next year, then sending away a fourth round pick for disgruntled superstar receiver Randy Moss. However, I think in hindsight it will work out better than if the Pats had exercised all of their picks this year where they sat.

With the 24th pick in the draft, Bellicheck and Pioli chose Brandon Meriweather, a hard hitting and versatile safety from Miami, filling a hole in the teams depth chart, and also grooming a replacement for Rodney Harrison as he gets closer to retiring. After that move, however, the team proceeded to send away picks this year for picks next year. The move made sense. This years draft class was fairly unimpressive, and next years class is widely considered to be deeper, talent wise, into the second and third round. Also, the Patriots' major needs and gaps were widely defensive, and with the top tier linebackers and corners having already been picked over before the Pats had their chance, it makes sense to look ahead to next year for value, rather than waste draft standing on third tier players.

In the later rounds the Pats drummed up some potential depth at O-line, D-line, and middle linebacker. If there's one thing that New England has done in the Bellicheck era, it's get major production from late round linemen. The big news, however, came early on Sunday when the Pats announced they'd traded their fourth round pick for Oakland wideout Randy Moss. Moss' bad rap is well known, in two underwhelming and losing seasons in Oakland, he wanted out, even admitting he took plays off. While it seems out of character for New England to bring in a player like Moss to a locker room where character and hard work are everything, let's not forget that both Rodney Harrison and Corey Dillon has similar bad raps when they came to New England, only to turn their careers around and become leaders in two Super Bowl campaigns.

Draft grade: B+/A-