The Modern Day History of the New England Patriots

The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower
by Christopher Price

Review by C. Douglas Baker

This book lays out the reason the New England Patriots have been able to sustain a high level of excellence over the past seven years in an era of salary cap limitations that aggressively promotes parity.

Despite this, the Patriots have appeared in four of the last seven Super Bowls, winning three of them. 

Last year they posted an 18-0 record before being defeated in Super Bowl XLII 17-14 by the New York Giants in a rather poorly played game on the Patriot’s part.

How do they do it?

First, Robert Kraft is no longer the meddling owner he was when Bill Parcels was the head coach. He lets the football people make the football decisions, especially on personnel.

Second, Bill Belichick is clearly one of the smartest coaches when it comes to strategy (Super Bowl XLII being an exception).

But he too has learned from his mistakes as head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He treats his players a little differently and has more control over personnel, even though his media skills still lack something to be desired.

Third, Belichick doesn’t try to do everything. It’s impossible. While he has final say over all football related matters, he relies heavily on Scott Piloli, head of player personnel.

Piloli has been with Belichick for a long time and their scouting department turns up high character players who fit Belichick’s system. Their drafts under Belichick have been very good, for the most part, which is critical for building a team.

Fourth, Belichick mostly lets the players police themselves.

The veterans on the team know what it takes to win championships and the team first philosophy that permeates the organization is not just lip service. The veteran players work to make sure everyone stays on this course.

Fifth, the Patriots adroitly manage the salary cap. Unlike a lot of teams they don’t sell out by signing players to huge contracts and guaranteed money to make a one time championship run.

Doing this can hamstring a team for years as players with large signing bonuses counting against the salary cap for years, even if they are no longer productive or even on the team.

Furthermore, there is no sentimentality to their decisions.

They cut Lawyer Malloy, a mainstay at strong safety for several years and a favorite of fans, players, and coaches alike, because of a contract dispute where they felt the amount of money he wanted was not in the long-term interests of team.

And finally they have Tom Brady.

Successful teams must have a decent quarterback at the helm. Brady, a sixth round draft pick, has turned out to be one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Having mostly a solid defense and Brady at the helm of the offense has been critical to the team’s success.

Overall this book is reasonably well written and is an excellent modern day history of the New England Patriots franchise.

The first part of the book deals with pre-Kraft Patriots history. It was necessary to set up the rest of the book, but there is nothing particularly new here.

The rest of the book does a good job of laying out just why the Patriots have been successful over the past seven years.

That said this book needed a better copy editor. There are many places where conjunctions are missing, which is annoying to the reader.

In one chapter a quote by Belichick is repeated within a few paragraphs of each other. At times the author tells us something and then basically repeats the same information in different words, which is what happened with the redundant quote.

Nevertheless, this is a book that Patriots fans and football fans in general, should greatly enjoy.

 

The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower

John Fox Has Never Put Back-to-Back Winning Seasons

Because of a disappointing 2007 season, head coach John Fox was on the hot seat a bit for the Carolina Panthers. But he had his team playing consistently in nearly every facet of the game in 2008, leading them to a 12-4 record, an NFC South championship, and the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.

However, that playoff loss to the Cardinals was very significant.

Coming off a 12-4 season, the fact that Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox never has put back-to-back winning seasons together is something that is not lost on Jerry Richardson, the owner. Last season’s playoff loss to Arizona was a huge disappointment and Fox will be under pressure to win this year.

Fox’s current contract runs through 2010. If he wins in 2009, he will get a new contract. If he does not win, he may be in trouble.

Signed by Carolina in 2002, John Fox is the Panthers’ third head coach in their short team history.

Only two starters from offense, wide receiver Steve Smith and fullback Brad Hoover, remain from the team Fox inherited.  There are none on defense and one from special teams – placekicker John Kasay, the last original Panther. Fox did quickly reverse a few seasons with losing trends, which included a 1-15 embarrassment.

 

 

 

Quote of the Day:
Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Forget Firing Officer Powell, Make Him Suit Up For the Detroit Lions

One of the more surreal stories the National Football League has ever spawned is developing in Dallas, Texas.

Considering all the chaos issuing forth from the NFL on an annual basis, that’s saying something.  It’s so bizarre on so many levels, it’s pushing even the memory of Terrell Owens to the back of the football world’s mind despite taking place in the city that just gave him the boot (don’t think TO hasn’t noticed).

I’m glad I’m not Robert Powell in the wake of this story.  Because I suspect he’ll get exactly what he deserves and it shan’t be pretty.

It seems Ryan Moats wasn’t the first NFL player to be held at the mercy of this infant on a power trip.  Although Zach Thomas wasn’t the one cuffed and arrested for making an illegal u-turn, his wife is a close proxy and, in several instances, the law views one spouse as an extension of the other so the stretch is not a huge one.

There are several ways to interpret this latest news:

(1)  Powell has a personal vendetta against pro football players because the odds of two people with direct connections to the League being his random victims are too small.

(2)  Powell is a racist bigot—Maritza Thomas is Latin American.  The Dallas Morning News calls her “Hispanic,” but I thought that’s a no-no.  Whatever, I’m not really politically correct anyway since I don’t care what race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc. a person self-identifies as—it’s all cool with me as long as you don’t force it down my throat.

Shoot, a far worse crime than anything you could be from that list is being a Dodger fan and I’m willing to overlook even that.

The point is Maritza Thomas ain’t white and neither are Ryan Moats nor the occupants of his truck.  Robert Powell is.

(3)  Powell is simply a perfect example of one abhorrent cop splashing mud all over the good shields of his fellow officers—drunk with the ripples he can send through his little pond.

If you ask me, I say it’s No. 3.

That both Maritza Thomas and Ryan Moats happen to be connected to the millionaire-celebrity lifestyle of the NFL has to be mere coincidence.  It’s a crazy one to be sure—one level of surreality—but life is full of crazy coincidences.

My freshmen year in college, I happened to be put in the same dorm as a kid I used to trade Star Wars action figures with back in preschool.  I had absolutely no connection to him in the 10-plus years since then because we went to different kindergartens and then my family moved to San Francisco.

Plus, I only ran across his name looking through the facebook (the real thing before it was a cyberspace phenomenon) for cute freshmen girls.  Otherwise, I would’ve never known he was there because of the way Stanford segments some of its larger dorms.

And that’s one example—I’m sure other people have far more impressive offerings.

The racism angle is, frankly, plausible.  And this is coming from someone who loathes the race card.

Given the context, it’s at least reasonable to argue this is another crazy cracker, good ol’ boy from Texas going around and exploiting minor transgressions to their fullest extent under the letter of the law.  Just to screw with minorities and establish an illusory dominance over them.

I lived in Austin for a year.

The capital is almost without a doubt the most liberal city in the Lone Star state, or it was in 2001 (admittedly, that’s a pretty long time so things may have changed).  Even so, I’d hear the n-word dropped in casual conversation on what seemed like a daily basis.  Not just by young kids and bitter senior citizens, and in no way that could be construed as harmless or innocent.

In addition, the State was executing people like crazy.  Most of whom were people of color and most of the crimes were not of the incredibly grotesque nature for which liberal use of the death penalty should be reserved.

So it’s plausible, but the same coincidence rationale applies and with ever more force.

The number of non-white people in Dallas is obviously and exponentially larger than the number of people directly connected to the NFL or some other approximation.  Furthermore, I have no real idea what the racial atmosphere is like in Dallas or Texas today.

My first-hand experience is from another city and damn near a decade ago.  I’ll give Texas the benefit of the doubt and extend it to Robert Powell via the State’s implicit endorsement of him.

More importantly, what makes the interpretation of the episodes a no-brainer for me is we’ve all seen these kinds of authority figures.

Whether it’s a cop in your own city, a security guard at some mall, some yard duty at a high school, a junior officer in your company, whatever.  They’re people who crave power and abuse whatever little bit of it they have.

Especially against those he/she sees as the biggest threats.  And a control freak like Powell would logically feel most threatened by those who aren’t intimidated by his pseudo-power.  It’s clear that, under the circumstances, the Moats entourage wasn’t intimidated.

And it’s not a stretch that the wife of an NFL superstar might exude an entitled, overly-aggressive attitude.  Bingo, out come the handcuffs.

Robert Powell may be jealous of anyone with money and glamour.  He may be a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan.  Who knows?  I certainly do not.

I just think the law of probability favors something we’ve all personally experienced backed by logical inference rather than reasonable-though-less-likely alternatives that would cause much more of a firestorm.

Unfortunately, some people like to inject as much incendiary scandal into an episode as possible and exploit mere coincidence to do so.  But it’s just wrong to assign causal relationships between things on such meager data as a sample set of two.

So, as paradigms of journalistic integrity like ESPN await further “progress” with salivating anticipation, I’m taking everything with a grain of salt because the most likely story is the one that will move the least ink.

Which means it’s probably the one that’s gonna get the least attention.

Why Bart Starr Is Underrated

In today’s NFL, fans focus too much on the present day. We love the players that we witness play, however, many of us fail to learn about the players of the past.

I was recently at a sports bar and I overheard a conversation about the greatest quarterbacks of all time. As a lifelong NFL fan, I decided to participate in the conversation. When I heard their list, I was shocked. Nowhere in their list did I hear the name Bart Starr.

After realizing this I asked them, “Why isn’t Bart Starr in any of your lists? Clearly, he was one of the all time greats that played this game.”

Their answer was “he had Hall of Fame talent all around him, besides, his stats weren’t even that good.”

I excused myself from the table as soon as I heard the ludicrous statement.

Many NFL fans today, fail to have knowledge on the history of this eminent game. Many fail to do extensive research and adhere to their colleagues’, friends’, or families’ accepted beliefs.

They fail to realize that Starr has achieved more success in the era that he played in than most of the quarterbacks that they consider to be better than he was.

Starr was a clutch and prolific passer who led his teammates to adore and admire him. He did nothing but win month after month, and year after year. He was the on-field general of one of the greatest if not the greatest dynasties the NFL has ever seen.

He was a samurai of the Packers offense, slicing through defenses with his efficient passes. He was just what his last name said he was: a star.

However, in the modern world, his accomplishments are thrown out in the streets like garbage. His achievements are stomped on by the feet of inanity. Some even go as far as to call him overrated.

Common misconception has done a severe injustice to Bart Starr’s legacy. His legacy is usually shrouded by the fact that he was surrounded by Hall of Fame talent.

People throw his achievements away, stating that he had a great defense and great running game to back him. They discredit his clutch abilities by saying he rarely had to score a lot of points in order for his team to win.

On the contrary to popular opinion, I believe that Bart Starr is one of the most underrated and underappreciated quarterbacks in NFL history.

How good was Bart Starr? Well, I’m here to shed some light to this subject.

 

Statistical Analyst

Here are Bart Starr’s career stats.

1808/3149 (57.4 percent), 24718, 152 TD, 138 INT, 80.5 QB rating

From a first glance, these statistically may not seem good at all. But let’s take an in-depth look into them.

Many blame him for not having a spectacular season as he has never thrown for over 3,000 yards, nor has he ever thrown more than 20 touchdowns in a season. Let’s examine this situation.

Throughout his career, Bart Starr has started a full season as the primary quarterback only four times. This limits his opportunities to put up big stats.

Here are the seasons that he did in fact start the whole year.

1961: 172/295 (58.3%), 2418 yards , 16 TD, 16 INT. (Pro Bowl Selection)

1962: 178/285 (62.5%), 2438 yards, 12 TD, 9 INT. (Pro Bowl Selection)

1964: 173/272 (59.9%) 2144 yards, 25 TD, 4 INT.

1965: 140/251 (55.8%) 2055 yards, 16 TD, 9 INT.

His best seasons, besides 1966, occurred when he started the entire year.

But starts doesn’t tell the whole story to why Bart Starr never had a spectacular season. Passing attempts has a lot to do with it. He averaged 20 attempts per start.

Sammy Baugh averaged 36 attempts per start. Tom Brady has averaged about 33 attempts per start. Peyton Manning has averaged about 34 attempts per start.

As you can clearly see, all of these quarterbacks average over 10 more attempts per game than Bart Starr.

The most attempts Bart Starr has ever had in season was 295. When Johnny Unitas threw for 24 touchdowns in 1957, he had 301 attempts.

In 1959, Johnny Unitas threw 34 touchdowns, but he had 367 attempts. He had 378 attempts in 1960 when he threw for 25 touchdowns.

When Sammy Baugh threw for 25 touchdowns in 1947 he had 354 attempts. In 1962,  Y.A Tittle had 375 attempts when he threw for 20 TD. In 1967, Fran Tarkenton had 377 attempts, throwing 29 touchdowns.

All of these players took 300 or more attempts in order to throw for 20 or more touchdowns, Bart Starr never had 300 or more attempts in a season.

So if Bart Starr had 300 or more attempts would he have thrown 20 or more touchdowns?

A statistic that could help us figure this out is TD% (touchdown percentage). This statistic helps us find out how many attempts it took for a quarterback to throw one touchdown.

In Bart Starr’s case, it’s not logical to use his career TD% since he had very few attempts his rookie (44) and his last year (45). I decided to take the TD% in the year that he the best TD% and see how many attempts it would have took him to pass for 20 touchdowns.

In 1963 Bart Starr had 244 attempts and had a 6.1 TD%. If he kept going at that pace it would have took him about 327 attempts to reach 20 touchdowns.

This was the case for many quarterbacks in his time such as Sammy Baugh and Johnny Unitas. In fact, in the seasons in which Johnny Unitas didn’t have 300 or more attempts he never threw for 20 or more touchdowns.

Neither did Sammy Baugh. In fact, many quarterbacks today would struggle to throw for over 20 touchdowns if they had about 240 attempts per year.

Fans today make the mistake of focusing too much on the overall results. I like to look at the averages. And that’s the place where Starr excelled in.

Throughout his career, Starr has averaged 7.8 yards per attempt. Joe Montana, Sammy Baugh, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Y.A. Tittle, Fran Tarkenton, and Otto Graham all couldn’t match that mark.

He averaged 13.7 yards per completion in his career. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, John Elway, and Dan Marino all couldn’t surpass this mark even with the fact that they started in more games and completed more passes.

He has a better career completion rating than Johnny Unitas, Sammy Baugh, Fran Tarkenton, and Y.A. Tittle.

His interception percentage was lower than that of Johnny Unitas, Y.A. Tittle, and Sammy Baugh.

His quarterback rating is better than that of Sammy Baugh (72.2) , Sid Luckman (75.0), Johnny Unitas (78.2), and Y.A. Tittle (74.3).

Bart Starr led the league in passer rating three times.

He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1960, 1961, 1962, and 1966. In 1966, he was named the NFL MVP and was named First Team All-Pro.

 

Postseason and Clutch Play

Bart Starr is arguable the greatest postseason quarterback of all time. He has an NFL record 9-1 playoff record, and he has won five NFL Championships.

Many may argue that the record and championships were a result of the team being talented in all positions. What they don’t know is that Bart Starr had some prolific games in the playoffs and championship games.

In the 1961 Championship game against the New York Giants, he threw for three touchdowns as the Packers humiliated the Giants in 37-0 victory.

His best postseason game was the 1966 NFL Championship game, when he threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns as the Packers beat the Cowboys 34-27.

His best clutch performance came in the 1967 Ice Bowl. The official game-time temperature was -13 degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind chill made it seem like it was -48 degrees Fahrenheit.

The average quarterback will not dare to play in this kind of weather. In fact, the league won’t even allow anyone to play in this kind of weather.

The officials couldn’t even use their metal whistle in the frigid weather. The NFL Network reported that the referee tried to blow the whistle after the first play and as he pulled the whistle out of his mouth his lip started bleeding.

Even with the relentless Doomsday Cowboys defense Bart Starr quickly went to work and he gave his team a 14-0 lead after two touchdown passes.

With the Packers down 17-14 and 4:50 remaining in their own 32-yard line, in sub-zero temperatures, Starr led his team to one of the most ostentatious and methodical drives in NFL history.

His play calling and pinpoint accurate passes propelled the Packers down the field all the way to the Dallas 3-yard line.

With the ball on the 3-yard-line, Starr gave the ball to Donny Anderson three straight times and he only managed to gain two yards.

It was third and goal at the one yard line with 16 seconds left on the clock. Center Ken Bowman and Guard Jerry Kramer made perfect blocks and allowed Starr to execute a quarterback sneak to give Green Bay the victory that gave them a third consecutive NFL Championship.

 

Team Support

Many say that he had great team support. They state that he had suffocating defenses and prolific running games. These are the same people who don’t do enough research on the subject and adhere to the general public’s point of view. 

Bart Starr’s Packers weren’t a great running team in their early and later years. In fact in some Championship years Bart Starr had horrible run support.

Here is the rank of his running game in every year that he played:

Year:                                 Rank:                        Amount of Teams in the league:

1956                              10                                        12

1957                              11                                        12

1958                              10                                        12

1959                               3                                         12

1960                               2                                         21

1961                               1                                         22

1962                               2                                         22

1963                               2                                         22

1964                               1                                         22

1965                             15                                         22

1966                             11                                         24

1967                             5                                           25

1968                            15                                          26

1969                            13                                          26

1970                            16                                          26

1971                             4                                           26

This chart helps us see that The Packers had their best rushing teams from 1959-1964. They had horrible rushing teams from 1956-58 and had sub-par rushing attacks from 1965-71.

So how did the rushing game impact Bart Starr’s performance?

Well, from a first glance it seems that whenever the rushing game was good, he did better, considering he had his best seasons from 1961-65, the same span of years in which the Packers had a good running game.

But a closer look proves otherwise.

In the years that he had a prolific running game those were the years that he had the most attempts in. So we can’t really say that it was the running game that made his numbers go up.

He also had a very good year in 1966 and lead his team to the a Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs even though his defense ranked 11th in the league. 

The conclusion that he didn’t play well when he had a bad running game cannot be made, because he averaged 186.5 attempts in the years that his running game wasn’t one of the most productive in the league.

 

The Verdict

Even with all of his accomplishments and accolades the general public proves to be ignorant and foolish by not giving Bart Starr his due respect. He played in the harsh weather Green Bay had to offer, called his own plays, and yet, many consider to him to be overrated.

The public loves the quarterbacks with all the stats but fail to recognize the quarterbacks that have done nothing but win. They fail to take an in-depth look into the stats to reveal secrets that they may not have known.

I hope that this article gave you a more clear understanding of who Bart Starr was a player.

2009 NFL Mock Draft: Edition 2

A lot has developed since my last mock draft; the NFL Combine, Pro-days, and a ton of speculation. The top players have definitely shifted; down stocks are the overweight Andre Smith and injured Michael Crabtree, and up are former Baylor unknown Jason Smith and senior linebacker Aaron Curry. So, without further ado, here goes my second attempt at a first round mock draft.

1. Detroit Lions: Matt Stafford, QB, Georgia

Whether this is the right pick or not remains to be seen, but right now it definitely appears as though Detroit is leaning his way. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a bad quarterback; he has the skill set, height, and is apparently pretty smart (a 38 on his Wonderlic puts him in the 99th percentile). I’m just not sold completely on this being the right move.

 

Mark Sanchez: Will the Jaguars Select Him with Eighth Overall Pick?

Currently sitting with the eighth overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars are certainly a team that have a lot of guys currently on their radar.  So is Mark Sanchez the guy they wish for the most?

Going into this offseason, and I think many Jaguars fans would agree with me, it seemed like the Jaguars were most certainly going to draft an offensive tackle with their first round pick. 

The crop of offensive tackles in this years draft seems very talented.  However, the signing of Tra Thomas has definitely taken the pressure off the Jaguars to draft what many think is still their No. 1 priority, the offensive line. 

So where does Mark Sanchez fit in?  Well, it never really occurred to me that he was even a remote possibility to land in Jacksonville. 

After doing some research online, and looking at numerous mock drafts, it was obvious that many people out their believe that Sanchez could be this team’s quarterback of the future, including jaguars.com’s Vic Ketchman.

It was also hard to ignore the fact that at least two of the four mock drafts done on nfl.com had the Jaguars selecting Sanchez. 

I know mock drafts are just opinions; however, what if the Jaguars really do feel like the Garrard era is already almost over, and it is time to get that franchise quarterback that may be ready in a year or two?

Sanchez proved he is a great college quarterback, and USC hasn’t produced the worst quarterbacks out there.  So does he really fit in Jacksonville?

Maybe; however, I would say it definitely depends on who is available at the time of their pick.  Personally, I would select guys like Crabtree, Maclin, Raji, and Andre Smith (assuming both Jason Smith and Eugene Monroe are off the board) before I would Sanchez. 

Drafting Sanchez makes some sense, but I think that helping Garrard out should be of more importance right now.

Another strong possibility is the chance of a trade with a team like the Buccaneers or the Jets.  I feel that if either of those teams believed in Sanchez, then the eighth pick would be a perfect pick to move into.  Question is, what will they give the Jaguars in return? 

The draft is less than a month away, and I am counting down the days.

Greg Lewis an Unusual Perspective For A Patriot Fan, I Think

I really don’t care about Greg Lewis. (It is hard to get excited with those stats.)

However, I’ve read a few Patriot fans writing on fan boards how if Greg Lewis has a great year with Brady that’ll put the lie to how McNabb never had receivers.  (Well, no great sane wide receivers.:))

OK, let’s analyse that statement.  I know nothing of the Eagles but I only know Greg Lewis’s name because he is a Patriot now.  Did he ever have a Moss clone taking up a safety?

His not impressive stats

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LewiGr01.htm

Oh, Eagle fans, Lewis won’t be a third receiver, he’ll be a second.  Moss is number one. Welker in the slot is number three.  Minor point, but it bugs me for some reason.

Still, that is a job without much pressure.  He has to replace Jabbar Gaffney or Donte Stallworth.  Although Gaffney and Stallworth were good it isn’t like Lewis is replacing Moss.

If he has a great year, assuming he wins a job at camp, it may not be all the difference of McNabb vs. Brady. 

Oh, that “assuming he wins a job” was serious.   He will be competing with guys that know Brady, Joey Galloway and possibly a late round draft pick for the spots after Moss and Welker.  He may be beaten out by Sam Aiken.

I don’t think he will, but I’m not Belichick.

The difference might be Moss vs. guys whose names I don’t know.

And I also hope he isn’t married to that 83.:)  (For Eagle fans, he already has been given 17, the number 83 was taken by Welker.)

The 25 Best Players in the NFL

I have compiled a list of the 25 best players in the NFL right now. Players values have fallen, and you may be surprised by some on the list and some who didn’t make the cut. NFL fans, here is the chance to truly bask in the appreciation of your team’s great players and where they fall among the league’s best. Here it is; enjoy.

2009 NFL Draft: Who Has the Chips to Wheel and Deal?

This year’s draft will consist of 256 picks. These picks are enough for eight full rounds, even though there are officially seven rounds in the draft.  The other 32 picks are compensatory picks, awarded to teams who have lost players to free agency.

Due to prior trades and other team transactions, draft picks are not evenly distributed throughout the 32 NFL teams. So, each year, PossessionPoints.com analyzes who may be in the best and worst position for making deals for the potential talent they seek to acquire.

Patriots’ fans are crying over their team’s first draft position, but we do not share their tears. Arguably the powerhouse of the decade, New England has the greatest wealth of picks in the 2009 draft totaling 12 overall and six in the top 100.

Now, we do not believe that the Patriots are going to keep 12 rookies on their team. That would be 20 percent of their roster. However, we do expect that the Patriots will find some ways to trade their multiple picks for either established players or higher quality selections.

If they do not, we are certain that teams will be circling the Patriots’ camp, ready to pounce on the discarded players that do not make the New England roster, and this would prove to be a waste of the valuable picks that the Patriots possess this year.

The teams with the next highest number of top 100 picks are the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants who each have five. Overall, the Lions have nine picks in the draft while the Giants have 10.  We could easily see nine rookies making the Lions’ squad as they need lots and lots of help in multiple areas.

As the NFC East Champions last season, we do not see the Giants in the same kind of need as Detroit.  However, this does not mean that the Giants will easily part with their five top 100 picks, as these selections often yield starting caliber players. If the Giants do make any adjustments, it would probably involve surrounding some of their second-tier picks for veteran players or improved top 100 picks.

Other teams with an abundance of draft picks are the Eagles, Bengals and Cowboys who each have 11 picks overall.  Look for these teams to make deals with the have-not teams who are listed below.

First, on our list of have-not teams are the New Orleans Saints, who only have four picks and one pick in the top 100 at No. 14. This may not sound so dire for the Saints, but remember that the Patriots would have had the opportunity to pick six players before New Orleans picks their second.  The Saints should be looking to improve their draft status any way they can.

The Browns, Panthers, and Redskins only have five picks each out of the 256 total available.  Cleveland may, at least, have some quality as they have three top 100 picks.  The Redskins and Panthers each have two top 100 picks. We guess this is the reason why the Redskins were so active in free agency this off-season. This off-season bolstering may give the Redskins a sense of confidence in their roster, without feeling the need to make hasty draft day adjustments.

There are a few teams that sit in the middle of the haves and have-nots in draft selection. These teams have quantity when it comes to picks, but maybe not quality.  San Diego and Tampa Bay fall into this category. The Chargers and Bucs both have eight picks overall and two picks in the top 100. 

As the chips fall in this year’s draft, it will be interesting to see which teams scurry to make deals and which teams lay back.  We have yet to see a draft day that does not involve some last-minute wheeling and dealing between the haves and the have-nots.

The Chart below shows all the teams, their total picks and top 100 picks.

Team	Picks	Top 100	Avg Pick
New England	12	6	120
Philadelphia	11	4	125
Cincinnati	11	4	142
Dallas	11	2	152
N.Y. Giants	10	5	121
Tennessee	10	3	151
Detroit	9	5	107
Green Bay	9	4	116
Miami	9	4	131
Chicago	9	4	134
Denver	9	3	132
San Francisco	9	3	134
Pittsburgh	9	3	148
Seattle	9	3	149
Houston	8	3	117
Indianapolis	8	3	131
Jacksonville	8	3	132
Arizona	8	3	148
San Diego	8	2	129
Tampa Bay	8	2	156
St. Louis	7	3	104
Buffalo	7	3	113
Atlanta	7	3	113
Kansas City	7	2	136
Oakland	6	3	104
Baltimore	6	3	109
N.Y. Jets	6	3	114
Minnesota	6	3	129
Cleveland	5	3	74
Carolina	5	2	129
Washington	5	2	134
New Orleans	4	1	152

What’s Wrong with These Guys? Draft Sleepers, Not Hype

There are guys like Percy Harvin that everyone has seen every week.

Some how they’ve seen him and not noticed Louis Murphy was the “real” Wide Receiver at Florida.

Every year those guys get drafted high and get chance after chance at sticking on an NFL roster.

Guys like Harvin, Pat White, Everette Brown, Knowshon Moreno all fill that bill this season.

Buyer beware. Better to go cheap and get these substitute stars instead.

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