Good article here on their draft approach with some on their player approach as well. Makes me think Bill would have traded Joe Thomas.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/bill-belichick-nfl-draft-new-england-patriots/

@gftchris said:

Edelman - 7th round

NFL Network did a show on the Pats 2014 Season called "Do Your Job". If you've not seen it, it is worth a look. There's a lot of boilerplate, highlight-reel stuff, but there are some moments that make you go, "Wow."

One such moment involved Edleman. According to Edleman when drafted Belichick told the 3-year, Kent State QB, "I don't know what we're going to do with you, but you're a hell of a football player."

But part of the Pat draft "magic" is myth. Look at their 2009 Edelman draft in full...

Round 1: No one. They traded down.

Round 2: S Pat Chung, DT Ron Brace, CB Darius Butler, OT Sebastian Vollmer

Round 3: WR Brandon Tate, LB Tyrone McKenzie

Round 4: OL Rich Ohrnberger

Round 5: OL George Bussey

Round 6: LS Jake Ingram, DT Myron Pryor

Round 7: ?? Julian Edelman, DT Darryl Richard

@tim-couch-pulls-out said:

I'd say it's a little of both. They are great at spotting elements of a player's game they deem important, and then they are great at developing that talent.

Smart seems to be the one attribute required in all Patriot picks and for good reason. The Pats' preparation under Belichick simply has no equal. Two examples come to mind:

- The Seahawk batted ball. While the conversation was around how the Refs missed calling the penalty and the ESPN post game crew all went on about how they did not know that rule, a Pat player Tweeted, "WE practice that situation."

- In a recent game another of their OL went down. They shuffled two others in route to slotting the replacement. They could do that because they practice their OL at multiple positions throughout the season.

Contrast the latter with Erving preparing to make his first start "in the position he has practiced the least."

They were great before Gronk, so Im sure they'd be great w/o him......didnt miss a beat in 2013, while he missed half the season...

They have the ability to just reload and keep winning.....15 years and counting.....

@mudfly said:

Sure, but if he doesn't have Brady & Gronk, the two A's, they're going nowhere.

His words......Id rather have all B & C players, than relying on a hand full of A's, balanced out by a bunch of D's.....

@gftchris said:

I'd say it's a little of both. They are great at spotting elements of a player's game they deem important, and then they are great at developing that talent. They liked Brady's competitive drive, his accuracy and his intelligence; they didn't care about his inexperience, his arm strength or his relative immobility. Belichick was looking for a clipboard QB with upside, not a franchise savior. Almost exactly the same situation as Garoppolo - they like what he has going on upstairs and inside more than what he can do on the field.

Why take Brady in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd when he's projects as a mid-late round guy anyway? Taking him in the 6th doesn't mean they "missed" him...it means they didn't get trigger happy and reach for him - a lesson we could learn from.

It goes to show that it honestly almost doesn't matter what you do in the first, second, third rounds etc. as long as you have a plan and that plan is working. The Patriots plan is:

Smart QB

Receiving mismatches (shifty WR that get open in space, athletic TE)

Multifaceted OL that bounces between ZBS and Power

Talented multi-tool RB/WR

Short yardage, one cut change-of-pace RB

You know what's funny? That plan looks awfully familiar...

EDIT: Here's a good article from Business Insider on the Patriots taking Tom Brady - http://www.businessinsider.com/patriots-tom-brady-draft-2015-1

@hx214 said:

I'm a little tired of the 'patriots are so great at talent spotting' routine. If they were that great, they wouldn't have waited until the 6th to pick brady, or the 2nd to pick gronk. Everyone goes on about how they don't have superstars outside of those two - where are their first rounders, second rounders, the guys supposed to become superstars? Edelman - 7th round; Danny Amendola - FA; whereas their first rounders have not done much in the way of useful. Easley, Hightower, Jones, Solder, not a pro bowl between them.

Is it talent spotting, or good coaching?

@gftchris said:

Ya, Weeden was the one that got his leg broke anyway. I blame him. Haha. Plus he sat out last year without a team all season so its not like anybody else saw anything in him either.

@bringbackbrownie2 said:

Who cares? He wasn't doing it for us, so it doesn't matter what he does elsewhere.

@kent said:

"Anytime a player with the talent level of Turbin becomes available, you go get him." -Mike Pettine maybe not a verbatim quote but I know he said something similar.

Yeah I'll laugh when he is fully healthy next year and pulls a Dion Lewis on us...

A job.

@gftchris said:

Where's Touchdown Tommy on this list

"Credibility"

Mike

It honestly doesn't bother me that much, its not like he was a high draft pick or something... but you bring a guy in, wait on him for 4 weeks because of his ankle, play him two games and cut him based on a few fumbles after you tell everybody how much you like him as a player....

Turbin

West

Tate

McGahee

Richardson

...

...

@sadbrownsfan said:

I can't believe we just cut the next Jim Brown

Turbin was just cut.

and...if so.....will he be worth the wait or gone in a few weeks?.......

@d-bone said:

Good read! Thanks for sharing that D-Bone!

@browns149 said:

Jim Harbaugh, gets a head coaching job, then quits, and quits and quits, and quits, and finally quits enough to get his dream job and then loses one of the top 5 worst best finishes EVER

Fixed...

Jim Harbaugh, gets a head coaching job, then quits, and quits and quits, and quits, and finally quits enough to get his dream job and then loses one of the top 5 worst finishes EVER

And then after all that, he leaves for Indy, for his good buddy Andrew. And finds out Andrew is damaged goods. And then quits again.