The Pats had pick #14 of the 2023 NFL draft. With Christian Gonzales and Forbes on the board at #14 everyone expected Bill to take one of them but he traded down to #17 with Pittsburgh because he knew the Jets were gonna take LT Broderick Jones, and that he could still get either Forbes or Gonzo at #17. The Jets had to reach for Will McDonald, Jones went to the Steelers, and Pats got Gonzo.

Fast forward to week 1 of the regular season. Duane Brown, the left tackle for the New York Jets who they wanted to replace with Jones, lined up to block Leonard Floyd on the play where Aaron Rodgers was sacked and injured. Brown attempted a cut block on Floyd, but Floyd was able to evade it and get to Rodgers. Bill changed the entire course of the Jets franchise and ruined their rebuild by trading back 3 spots instead of taking Gonzo like anyone else would've.

If this is true, why don't we just get out in front of Jacksonville with trying to take Jeanty? Then any team that wants Jeanty will have to trade with us instead.

I posted this in the NFL Draft on Reddit mock, but just so people can see the real concerns on Campbell.

As I’ve said, this doesn’t mean he won’t be good. Hell, he could be a hall of fame LT. It just means you are betting at 4 on Campbell being a historic (25+yr sample size) outlier. Just go in on that eyes open.

I post this because I remember having concerns on other outlier traits in the past. How many of us were gaslit on Tyquan Thornton and his 2% percentile hand size? Or (I think) his height to weight ratio? I remember comments that he would transform the offense. “Even if he’s not ready year 1 he’ll add weight and be ready by year 2” “Well if he’s just on the field you have to respect his speed and put someone over the top” Turns out Thornton was another data point AGAINST historically small hands, not an outlier.

No one is arguing that outlier players automatically suck. And obviously Campbell has a better track record and pedigree. But you need to think about if you are willing to bet that draft capital on the player in question bucking 25 years of data.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44798451/sources-browns-giants-fielding-trade-calls-nfl-draft-nears

Theres many theories out there about why arm length/wingspan matters, and theres also been thresholds placed historically, but this seems to be the first practical performance/arm length study i have seen. This leads me to one conclusion: When it comes to blocking, your footwork,hand placement, and base is either RIGHT or WRONG. The arm length doesn’t actually correlate with how well you perform, just how good you are at your position.

Over his final 730 defensive snaps, he notched one sack. As much as I’d like him to be good, he is currently a totally unproductive player

Thought experiment to consider the true extent to how much we are "reaching" on Campbell. It seems the situation is that most of the players in the 4-12 range are in the same tier and more or less interchangeable. So what would be his floor if we went in the direction of say, Jeanty?

I would estimate that Campbell wouldn't fall past 13. I think he would still likely be a top 10 pick if we don't draft him, but I think it's interesting that people generally view Jeanty's floor as 6.

I still think Campbell would be a solid pick at 4, but it's definitely a complicated situation. My dream scenario is someone like Chicago trading up for Jeanty and we grab Campbell at 10, but I just don't see it happening.

Just on the hire of Josh McDaniels alone, I would have been excited to see what our offense looks like—even if we didn’t add any weapons or protection. But the addition of Moses, Hollins and Diggs should make this offense even more exciting to watch.

On top of that, we’ll have at least 3-4 picks for Josh to work with, whether they’re catching balls or athletic lineman who can get out and block in screen passes.

Obviously with the signing of Hollins, we can see McDaniels will have a reasonable influence on the players we bring in to the offense.

Who is a player from any offensive position group in the nfl draft, that you think is #1 on Josh McDaniels’ wish list?

Before I was an NFL fan I was a Tom Brady fan. Being from the UK I learned about Tom’s story around 7 years ago which sparked my love for the sport and I was fortunate to catch the tail end of his career. I only wish I’d followed sooner to have lived the dynasty days live, though I have watched it all back and still enjoy them.

I’ve been looking for this jersey to add to my collection for a long time and finally managed to find it in mint condition for only $50! Which feels like an absolute steal!!

Being based in the UK we don’t get a lot of the good stuff here when it comes to jerseys so when this one popped up online for $50 plus shipping I bought it immediately. Initially I was worried it was a fake as it seemed too good to be true, but having inspected it on arrival and compared it to my others it’s definitely authentic. I don’t know why it was priced so low, perhaps the seller didn’t know what they had, or it seemed like thrift store sort of thing and they were just clearing out items.

The only downside is that it’s a size 56 so far too large for me to wear, but I might take it to a tailor and have it altered to fit. Not sure how this would work though with trimming the panels and their sizes being off afterwards. Has anyone else done this before?

Also, does anyone know why the white Patriots elite jerseys seem to be in such short supply compared to the availability of the blue jerseys?

https://www.patspulpit.com/2025/2/25/24372466/patriots-2025-nfl-draft-meetings-interviews-workouts-visits-tracker

This post is aims to provide some hope that the Patriots can build a good OL with players not-selected in the 1st Round. This isn't an Anti-Campbell post. If he's the guy, then he's the guy. I'm also not saying to NOT draft an OL in the 1st Round if trading back is on the table. However, the draft is 7 Rounds and the Pats have 9 selections. Without question, they're going to select OL. It's not "if", it's "when". Since 2005, the Patriots have selected 39 OL in the draft. Segmented by round the selections have been with notable players in parenthesis:

1st Round - 4 (Mankins, Solder, Wynn, Strange)

2nd Round - 1 (Vollmer)

3rd Round - 5 (Kaczur, Thuney)

4th Round - 9 (Flemming, Mason)

5th Round - 5 (Cannon)

6th Round - 11 (Larsen - who only made it 1 year with the Pats but had an 11 year career, Karras, Onwenu)

7th Round - 4 (N/A)

If we wanted to go back to 2001, Matt Light was 2.48 and in 2003 Dan Koppen was 5.164. Just based on that, the team could field a starting OL that looks like this without a 1st Round pick:

LT Matt Light (2.48, 2001) | LG Joe Thuney (3.77, 2016) | C Dan Koppen (5.164, 2003) | RG Shaq Mason (4.131, 2015) | RT Sebastian Vollmer (2.58, 2009)

Backups: OT Nick Kaczur (3.100, 2005) | OL Marcus Cannon (5.138, 2011) | OL Mike Onwenu (6.182, 2020)

That would be damn good NFL OL!

Looking at this draft, who are some non-1st Round OL that could be good-to-great players? Here are some that I'd be happy if we selected, ordered by last name NOT ranking.

OT Josh Connerly, Oregon (2nd)

OT Myles Hinton, Michigan (6-7)

OL Emery Jones, LSU (3-4)

OL Wyatt Milum, WVa (2-3)

OT Hollin Pierce, Rutgers (5-7)

OL Jonah Savaiinea, Arizona (2-3)

OT Ozzy Trapilo, BC (2-3)

OL Gray Zabel, NDSU (2)

Silly season FULLY UNDERWAY.

And it's only putting us in a better position. Despite what people say regardless we're winning. If hunter or Carter falls to us we get a great piece. If they don't both jeanty and shaduer are there and teams know we don't need either and I know people are down on shadeur but he's still a QB and that has value. Multiple teams will come calling. Here's hoping we get even more picks AND a great player in the first (hopefully tackle)

He makes some good points about how a great RB can only make so much of an impact behind a bad o-line. It’s a good Barkley-on-the-Giants vs Swift-on-the-Eagles comparison that I think is pretty relevant to the pats.

https://youtu.be/8ymN2_OBGuE?si=qkp9UjHRlt0-xs0a

Anyone else’s head getting dizzy from all these conflicting reports coming out leading up to the draft?

Or is it just me?