Boston Super Blog

2010 NFL Draft

The NFL has concluded it’s 2010 Draft, and the New England Patriots may have been the busiest team over the last few days. Everyone knew that Bill Belichick loves to deal. And deal. And deal. He has never had a problem as he would jockey for position – whether that meant moving up or down – and this year was certainly no different. Sometimes it works to their advantage by stockpiling picks, while in other instances it has worked against them, as they have allowed other teams to move up and grab an impact player.

The Pats made multiple trades on all three days of this year’s draft. It started in the first round. They sent their 22nd pick to the Denver Broncos, who selected WR Demaryius Thomas of Georgia Tech, for the 24th pick and the 113th pick, where they selected TE Aaron Hernandez from Florida (113).

They then sent that 24th pick and the 119th pick to the Dallas Cowboys, who selected WR Dez Bryant from Oklahoma State. In return, they got the 27th pick, where they took CB Devin McCourty from Rutgers, and the 90th pick that got them WR Taylor Price from Ohio. With Randy Moss entering the final year of his contract and Wes Welker coming back from a pair of serious injuries, it must have been awfully difficult to pass on Bryant and Thomas.

Gronkowski will be expected to replace Ben Watson

In Round 2, they traded their 44th and 190th pick to move up to number 42, where they selected TE Rob Gronkowski from Arizona. He will be expected to step in for the departed Ben Watson. Gronkowski is a Jeremy Shockey type of tight end who will be very vocal and emotional on the field.

New England went on to trade their 47th pick to the Arizona Cardinals for the 58th and 89th picks. They kept neither of those picks, but more on that later.

They sent the 58th pick to the Houston Texans for the 62nd and 150th. LB Brandon Spikes from Florida was their 62nd pick, and they selected Michigan P Zoltan Mesko at 150.

Back to the Arizona trade. The 89th pick that they received was sent to the Carolina Panthers for a 2011 2nd round pick.

Spikes was the product of a pair of trades

In between some of those selections and trades, the Pats picked up another Gator, Jermaine Cunningham at DE. Cunningham was very verstaile at Florida, though he received much less attention than players such as Spikes and Carlos Dunlap.

With their 113th pick, who they got from the San Francisco 49ers through the Denver Broncos, the Patriots once again went back to the well…that is the well from the University of Florida.

As everyone knows, an NFL Draft is not a draft until the Pats have done two things – make a bunch of moves and draft at least two tight ends.

I believe we can all agree that they more than complied with both.

As everyone knows, New England has to draft at least 2 TE's to make their annual qouta

Aaron Hernandez, a TE from Florida, was their one and only fourth round selection. Hernandez is a great pass catcher, and can also be used in other formations for Belichick on offense.

The wheeling and dealing came to an end in the seventh round, as New England shipped two seventh rounders, numbers 229 and 231, to the Washington Redskins for pick number 208, where they chose OL Thomas Welch from Vanderbilt.

The Pats finished out their draft with OL Ted Larsen form North Carolina State (205), DE Brandon Deaderick from Alabama (247), DT Kade Weston from Georgia (248), and Oklahoma State QB Zac Robinson (250).

The Patriots ended up with 12 players from the 2010 NFL Draft. I attempted to list what they traded away and got in return, but it really started to make my head hurt. I got extremely tired in the process, so you’ll have to do that research on your own.

There was certainly plenty of trading before and during this year’s draft. While many other teams, especially those in the AFC East, made some moves to acquire impact players and projected impact draft prospects, I would say that the jury is still out on the Patriots.

Is there any question that Bill Belichick and Florida head coach Urban Meyer are close friends?

The Miami Dolphins acquired WR Brandon Marshall and signed LB Karlos Dansby. The New York Jets signed many players, and traded away some of their older players for impact players through the draft – most notably CB Kyle Wilson and OL Vladimir Ducasse. Even the Buffalo Bills selected the explosive RB from Clemson, C.J. Spiller. I just don’t know if New England grabbed any impact players who can make an immediate difference on either side of the ball. Even their first round pick may see more time on special teams.

Say what you want about this year’s draft, and I know you will have many mixed feelings, but one things is for sure. The Pats will have some very good picks in next year’s draft. They will enter it with two picks in the first round and two picks in the second. Oakland’s first round pick has top ten written all over it, even with the acquisition today of QB Jason Campbell from the Redskins. The Panthers second rounder could also be a fairly good one, as they are not expected to compete in the tough AFC South.

Everyone loves the NFL Draft. But it is awfully difficult to give each team a grade – not yet at least. You have to keep in mind that none of the players selected have ever taken a snap in the NFL. Yet while I write this, I have to admit that I really like what Scott Pioli did with the Kansas City Chiefs. You all remember that name, right? Evidently, he was the guru of the Patriots’ drafts of the past.

With their first three picks, KC grabbed the top safety and possibly the next Ed Reed – SS Eric Berry from Tennessee. They then took the second most explosive RB in the draft, Dexter McCluster from Mississippi, and snatched Javier Arenas, a CB from Alabama. They made a huge splash with basically half the amount of picks New England possessed.

So, with all that said, I would love to know what all of you think. Whether you root for or against the Patriots, how do you feel they did, and what would you have done differently; like the no-brainer decision of taking Jerry Hughes from TCU at pick number 27!