Showing posts with label AFC EAST. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFC EAST. Show all posts
Friday, October 7, 2011
NFL Draft Revisited: AFC East
Patriots
17 Nate Solder: Starting right tackle in place of Sebastian Vollmer
33 Ras-I Dowling: 3 tackles in two games played.
56 Shane Vereen: Injured
73 Stevan Ridley: 148 yards on 18 carries (8.2YPC) and 1 TD
74 Ryan Mallett: 3rd String Quarterback
138 Marcus Cannon: Injured (PUP)
159 Lee Smith: Cut
194 Markell Carter: Cut
219 Malcolm Williams: Cut
What I said in April: "In addition to the trading mastery, the Pats also picked six players who we are confident will be rotation players eventually....Solder is a franchise left tackle, he is a man mountain with great arms and hands....Dowling is great value at pick 33 considering he would have been a top 15 pick if he wasnt injured this past season....Vereen is a young Kevin Faulk while Ridley will be a solid first and second down power back...We did not rate Mallett very high, but the more information coming out about him, the better he seems...Maybe the best pick for the Pats was Cannon at 138. He was slated to be a top 50 pick before a cancer diagnosis."
What has happened so far: Solder continues to show us that he can one day step in for Matt Light and become the teams next left tackle. During the first four games he has struggled at times, but has also shown some flashes of dominance in pass protection. His performance in week one against Cameron Wake should excite Pats fans about the future. Injuries have taken a toll on the depth of this draft class. Neither Vereen or Dowling have been healthy hardly at all either during the pre-season or regular season. Due to this, their performance deserves an incomplete. Ridley could end up being the gem of this class. As RFH contributor John Hendrie noted in a past article, he has the ability to step into a pretty awesome situation. With Danny Woodhead going down, look for Ridley's numbers to explode. Cannon, as expected, will sit this season. One sizable disappointment was Lee Smith. Expected to fill the blocking tight end role, Smith never lived up to expectations and was cut.
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