For starters, I thought the Patriots did OK. They filled most of their needs, got a few steals in there, and most importantly unloaded Ellis Hobbs. That could not have come soon enough. I love Chung, he is a young Rodney Harrison who hits hard and can take control of the secondary. Between Chung, Meriwether and James Sanders, those are a great three young safeties to build a secondary around. And with the addition of Butler (who I am not going to judge just yet because I hope his great athleticism and abilities outweigh his poor tackling skills) and removal of Hobbs, the Pats secondary can grow up as a unit and in the coming year develop into a very strong cohesive unit.
Brace and Tate were steals for them. Brace can come in and give Wilfork a much-needed rest. This also allows for Mike Wright and Jarvis Green to start learning the ropes at end when the don't re-sign Seymour next year when his contract expires. And Tate was a steal to have fallen that low in the draft. Granted, they are taking a chance on him with is knee problems, but giving him a year to develop behind Galloway with the help of Moss and Welker, he will become, I think, what they were hoping Chad Jackson would turn out to be a few years back.
Some things that I was surprised about: No linebacker until the third round. They had the chance to pick and number of the solid linebackers and just kept trading down and trading down to the point that they had none left worth picking. My only reasoning is that Belichik just did not like any of them for his system. I trust the guy at this point. And, the kid they picked up seems like a good early down pick up with great size who, much like Thomas without the speed, and may develop, who knows.
I feel as the Jets, Dolphins and Brows were all out to get that Pats in this draft. Ha, I'm just kidding, I always feel that way, but the Jest made a great move to get Sanchez who will step in right away and will be the face of that franchise for years. I am a little worried because I think he is far superior to Matthew Stafford because of how much more fluid he is and how much more athletic I believe he is in the pocket.
And lets all take a moment to laugh at the Oakland Raiders who passed on Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin for Darrius Heyward-Bey. Ha! That's comical. Sure he is fast, but I guess Al Davis has not gotten the memo that there are more important things to being a wide receiver then simply being fast. Like say catching the ball, something that HB has had an issue with for years and having a positive attitude, which he also lacks a great deal of. Crabtree and Maclin were and are better receivers and we will watch the Raiders continue to be where talent goes to die for the next 5-10 years.