A year ago at this time the popular phrase describing the Patriots draft process was “collaborative.”
Heck, we had convenient video evidence of said new-age collaboration thanks to Patriots.com of Bill Belichick making sure everyone in the New England war room was “good” with the selection of quarterback Mac Jones at No. 15 overall.
After a series of pretty poor drafts heading into April of 2021, something that’s been noted often by owner Robert Kraft, Belichick was theoretically and seemingly taking heed of the advice he was getting from key personnel advisors like Dave Ziegler, Matt Groh, Eliot Wolf and Matt Patricia.
And it worked! Jones had a Pro Bowl rookie season after falling into the needy Patriots lap, by far the best of five rookie quarterbacks taken in the first round. Beyond that second-round pick and fellow Alabama stud Christian Barmore – who Belichick & Collaborative Co. traded up to secure -- looked like both a draft steal and future stud, while fourth-round Oklahoma running back Rhamondre Stevenson might garner similar descriptions moving forward.
The collaborative effort was a collaborative success.
Even Kraft took notice.
But, alas, this is a new year with a new draft. Zeigler has moved on to run the Raiders.
And, at least based on what we saw on Thursday night, Belichick is back to his old ways.
In almost every aspect of the night, the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft for the Patriots was a classic Belichick production.
There was, of course, the requisite trade down from 21 to 29, picking up extra assets in the middle of a draft that’s supposedly oh so deep. Forget New England needing elite playmakers, starters and impact talent, value is value, right?
Then there was the kind of stunningly strange selection at No. 29 of Tennessee-Chattanooga guard Cole Strange that left the TV networks scrambling for highlight footage and opposing NFL teams honestly laughing at the over-drafting of a guy most expected to go a round or two later.
Oh, but wait, like any great late-night TV infomercial there is more.
During Belichick’s meeting with the local media after the first round the aged boss proclaimed that Strange was indeed the best player available on the Patriots draft board at No. 29. In fact, there was a “good chance” that if the team had stayed at No. 21 it would have used that selection on Strange.
Oh, and despite social media video of the Rams laughing about Strange going in the first round while L.A was doing work on him as a possible pick after the third round, Belichick declared as always without sourcing or citation that the small-school guard “wouldn't have lasted much longer” than No. 29.
If you say so, Bill. In Bill We Trust after all, right?
Two-plus decades covering Belichick’s drafts and this year’s is really so on brand, so on script.
Can’t tell you how many times Belichick’s traded down to the displeasure of the fans throughout Patriot Nation and in the team’s Trade Down Party at Gillette Stadium. Or how many times he’s taken a player from a small school or off the radar of more traditional, conventional draft projections.
The external reactions were the same as they were last night.
And Belichick explained such moves back then with much of his analysis of the Strange pick. Could have taken him at the original spot.
New England’s top player on the board, at least the board as Belichick sees it.
Said player wasn’t going to last very long, and no one really being capable of disputing that debatable point.
Sometimes the picks of guys like Logan Mankins, Sebastian Vollmer and Kyle Dugger work out. Sometimes the picks of Tavon Wilson and Jordan Richards definitely do not.
Should the Patriots have addressed a definitive need by picking prized cornerback prospect Trent McDuffie at No. 21, just as the Chiefs did after trading into New England’s pick?
Is Strange a plug-and-play starter at guard, a combination of Mankins and recently-traded starter Shaq Mason that he’ll need to be in order to represent value?
Time will tell on both accounts.
But one thing we know for certain right now is that Belichick is very much running the show that is the Patriots 2022 NFL Draft. He’s doing things his way. Seemingly much the way he always has.
For better or worse.
And that “collaborative” success of last spring targeting big-time prospects from big-time programs, well that already feels like a distant memory.