I know a lot of us were dissapointed after the 2011 draft, and oddly enough, we were right. The draft was not a disaster, but the Patriots came into it with a ton of picks and a desperate need for a pass rushers but came away with a lot less than most of us expected. The strength of the draft was the pass rushers but somehow BB whiffed on them all.
Compare the Patriots draft with what the Ravens did. With practically half the draft ammunition, the Ravens came away with a starting CB in Jimmy Smith and a very talented WR in Torrey Smith. In addition they got six sacks from Pernell McPhee who they stole in the 5'th round. The Patriots needed a WR, CB, and pass rusher; they could have gotten all these guys but BB was whiffed.
Solder was good as befits his lofty position at 17. Although he is a moose, he had trouble with speed rushers.
Dowling has talent but came in with an injury history which does not work well with the hard surface at Gillette. He may turn out to be a great picks but it is still too early to tell. If McCourty returns to form and Ras-I can shake the injury bug, the Patriots will have found their outside anchors.
Shane Vereen was the Big Whiff. Instead of taking Torry Smith they took Vereen, an indecisive runner. BB should never ever be involved with WR and RB picks again; he got it right with Ridley but that is unusual for him.
Without reading any of the other 46 posts, many of which I'm sure did nothing but kiss Bill's ass,
this is what's wrong with last year's draft (and almost every other one since 2004): over-drafting,
by neglecting value in favor of locking on a target at the expense of the current situation.
Example #1: Trading 28 to NO instead of 33, thereby removing the chance to draft Mo Wilkerson or Cam Heyward. Zero teams from 29-32 were going to draft Mark Ingram, so there was no reason whatsoever to deal that pick. The obviously better move would've been to wait until the next day and create an overnight market for 33. At worst, we settle for the same offer Bill accepted for 28.
Example #2: Glas-IR Dowling at 33. Due to his injury-riddled senior season, he was a late 2nd-round value who could've been likely available at 56. Instead, Bill ignores Jabaal Sheard & Brooks Reed, or maybe DaQuan Bowers, better values at a position of greater need. IR wasn't even the best DB available at 33 - that would've been Aaron Williams.
Example #3: Shane Vereen at 56. A mid-late 3rd-round value who could've been likely available at the pick used for Steven Ridley. CBs Glas-IR or Brandon Harris would've been a better value here; so too would've been WR Torrey Smith & OLB Justin Houston. Vereen wasn't even the best RB available at 56 - that would've been Mikel Leshore.
Example #4: Stevan Ridley at 73. A 5th-round value who was over-drafted by 2 full rounds. Although he ended with a more productive season than Vereen, he still fumbled his way into Bill's doghouse by the POs. Bill played a lousy hand of poker with this one. OLB Sam Acho & DE Allen Bailey, among others, would've been better uses of this pick.
Example #5: Lee Smith at 159. A UDFA value at a position of little need, he didn't even make the 53 out of TC. OLB Chris Carter, DE Pernell McPhee, C Scott Fusco & XBack Charles Clay all would've had better chances to contribute than Smith.
Example #6: Markell Carter at 194. I'm nitpicking here, because at least he fills a position of need, but Tyler Sash might've been the BPA regardless of position, and he would've spared us the suffering of watching Sergio, Barrett & Slater mis-play the Safety position. There's no way he could've performed any worse than those 3 butchers.
Example #7: Mal Williams at 219. Perhaps the worst 7th-round draft choice in the history of professional football, this non-priority UDFA talent would've been lucky to receive an invite to any camp at all.
What makes him such a horrible pick, besides the utter lack of a future with a team supposedly championship-driven, is the fact that Bill slapped us all in the face by refusing to do the right thing, which would've been to take Mark Herzlich instead.
I suppose I could also mention trading 92 & 125 to weird Uncle Al (as a going-away present?) for 219 last year & 48 this year, but I'm in a generous mood today.