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Bill Belichick gets a lot of praise for his drafting of tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez in the same draft, and rightfully so.
But before you put Belichik in Canton as a GM, consider how poorly he has drafted in the secondary the last few years.
It was reported the other day that the New England Patriots have 18 undrafted free agents on their Super Bowl roster.
How do you get the the Super Bowl with 18 undrafted free agents on the roster? That is easy – you have a quarterback named Tom Brady.
Brady is so good he covers up a lot of weaknesses on the team.
Mark Sanchez (and most other NFL quarterbacks) can’t do that.
Sanchez generally needs the whole team to be operating as a well-oiled machine around him to be successful.
Brady can carry a team on his back.
Remember, one area the Pats have a significant number of undrafted free agents is in the secondary.
Why?
Belichick has done a poor job of drafting in the secondary in recent years.
And the one guy who supposedly hit on, Rutgers cornerback Devin McCourty (2010 first round pick), took a step back this year.
After shining as a rookie, McCourty didn’t play well in his sophomore year.
So much so, he’s now playing safety in nickel packages.
Think about all the high draft picks Belichick has messed up on defensive backs the last few years.
2007 first round pick, safety Brandon Merriweather, was cut last summer after just three years.
2009 second round pick, cornerback Darius Butler, was cut after just two seasons.
2011 second round pick, cornerback Ras-I-Dowling, ended up on IR this year. He was injury-prone at Virginia, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Based on his injury issues, he was a reach at the top of the second round.
2008 second round pick, cornerback Jonathan Wheatley didn’t last long either. You can throw in 2008 fourth round pick, cornerback Gerald Wilhite, who didn’t work out as well.
Can you imagine how unbeatable the Patriots would be this year if these picks, at least some of them, had worked out?
But because they didn’t (though Dowling still has time), it’s somewhat surprising the Pats made the Super Bowl this year. Their secondary is a big problem, and Eli Manning should be able to get a lot done in the Super Bowl.
Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham and Victor Cruz vs. the aforementioned McCourty and the undrafted pair of Sterling Moore and Kyle Arrington. These match-ups favor the Giants, in a big way.
Remember, the last two weeks of the season, Buffalo and Miami jumped out to big leads on the Patriots, but then Brady did his thing to lead New England back, and to a pair of wins.
So don’t be so fast to call Belichick a personnel genius for “finding” 18 undrafted free agents.
A big reason he needed some of these guys was because of how poorly he’s drafted in the secondary.
I think this comes back to bite him the Super Bowl.
While quarterbacks Sanchez, Joe Flacco and Tim Tebow, didn’t take advantage of this group the way they should have, Eli Manning should be able to.
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