Every year, this board goes through the BAP vs needs debate in the effort to illustrate the best way to draft-or at least avoid draft mistakes.  Invariably, the discussion turns to how the most successful teams do things.  In those discussions, New England is often hailed as the model to emulate, and for good reason.  They've now been to more Super Bowls than any other team, and they have won six Super Bowls over the last two decades.

But they are far from perfect.

Belichick is notorious for being unable to successfully draft WRs.

This article may give us some insight as to why...at least in one instance.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...eal-harry/


According to the article, Belichick ignored the scouts' recommendations as it pertained to available WRs in the 2019 draft.  The scouts were pushing for Deebo Samuel and A.J. Brown.  Belichick took N'Keal Harry, in part because of his relationship with Harry''s coach and a non workout visit.  In fairness, teams rely upon these relationships all the time.  Shula relied in a relationship with Pitt's coach in deciding to draft Marino in the 1983 draft when rumors or drug use ran rampant and caused him to drop.

The Patriots are far from the only team where this dynamic of ignoring the scouts played out.  I can remember back in the 1980s, Dallas scouts recommended the team draft DL's Charles Mann and Bill Pickel, and Landry supposedly ignored them, too.  Mann and Pickel became two of the better DL of the 80s, while the Dallas DL continued its deterioration from dominant group to aging and decrepit until Jimmy Johnson was able to infuse talent into the unit in the 1990s.

At least during the free agency period, Meyer indicated the players they would pursue would be players he and his coaches had first hand knowledge about.  While the draft has a different dynamic in that none of the players have played in the league before, the dynamic also has its share of similarities due to Covid based restrictions on the combine, visits and workouts.  Meyer was a college coach as recently as three years ago and has been a college football analyst since then, he may be tempted to keep his own counsel when it comes to taking players this year, or rely more heavily on his relationships with coaches to sort the wheat from the chaff.

But I think completely disregarding the scouts' findings might be a mistake.

The scouts are a resource he should definitely utilize as he works to replenish the roster.

Has no one seen Moneyball?

I'm sure SOMEBODY has, but I didn't pay attention closely when I had the chance to watch it.

Care to elaborate on its relevance here?

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

These are both getting a bit long in the tooth but were interesting reads a few years ago. I wouldn't expect the numbers to have changed that much since these:

https://harvardsportsanalysis.wordpress....rst-round/

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/cgi/viewconte..._undergrad

FO also has interesting way to analyze draft success/efficiency:

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-a...-2010-2019

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