From Sean McVay to the Draft Pundits, the World is Dragging the Patriots Over Their 1st Round Moves

"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." - Thomas Paine

At moments like this, my brain always finds it hard not to go right to T-Paine and his classic first lines of The American Crisis. As openings go, it is to times where your resolve is being tested what the first few bars of Zeppelin's "The Immigrant Song" are to music or the first scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark are to cinema. 

And when the Patriots drop down out of the 21st spot, thereby missing out on highly regarded, big school, consensus first round impact defenders like CBs Trent McDuffie and Kaiir Elam, LBs Quay Walker and Devin Lloyd, and DT Devonte Wyatt to take a guard out of Chattanooga, Pats fans souls are going to be tested. 

The point of this is not to bash Cole Strange. Like I wrote in my draft preview of the top guards and last night after the pick:

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... he's got a lot of good traits and was considered one of the five best at his position in this year's class. The most recent Mock Draft Database had him going at No. 86 overall. He's got a lot of upside and hopefully will exceed it. 

It's just than nobody outside of the Patriots War Room was expecting to hear his name mentioned when it was. Nobody. Case in point:

Granted, when you're the defending champion and you have absolutely nothing but time on your hands until that 104th pick comes around Friday night, you can afford to laugh. Even at the expense of the man you fanboyed all over four Super Bowls ago:

But McVay is not alone in laughing at the decision. NFL.com gave them a grade you would've tried to turn into a "B" before showing the report card to your mom:

Grade D New England Patriots

 Draft pick

• UT-Chattanooga OG Cole Strange (No. 29 overall)

Analysis: The Patriots traded down from No. 21, acquiring two middle-round picks from the Chiefs. Their pick at No. 29 was a surprise, as Strange was selected at least 40-to-50 picks ahead of where I expected him to go. This is typical of New England, which often goes against the conventional wisdom in the draft. Strange is a versatile player with a high floor who will likely play for a long time. I’m not sure he warranted a top-50 pick, though.

Sports Illustrated is slightly more complimentary:

[T]his is a surprise, as they likely could have waited at least another round, possibly two, for Strange. Strange has good balance and quick feet and should be a solid interior blocker, even though the value in Round 1 is less than ideal.

GRADE: D+

I could go on, but you get the point. Even the people who like Strange (not that kind of Strange; you're gonna have to start getting your mind out of the gutter, Mister), are stunned he went when he did.

For his part, Belichick defended taking a guard who spent five years blocking guys from Furman, Samford and Austin Peay for the last five years in Round 1 by saying he thought it was the 29th pick or never:

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And there's some support for him being right on that point:

So sure, he might be a stud. Like I said in the blogs I linked above, no one would argue Logan Mankins didn't turn out to be a great pick. But true story: When they took Mankins at 32 in 2005, I turned to my brother Jack (who raised me to be a Draft Dweeb) and said, "I swear to you, I've never heard this man's name before." And Jack replied, "I had them taking him. In the second round." So that pick was either a shock or a reach, depending on your perspective. But Belichick and his staff were right, and the joke was on the rest of us who were so taken by surprise. 

Personally, I would much rather have had any of the aforementioned high-ceiling defensive prospects from the traditional Patriots feeder schools instead of the highest drafted Chattanooga Moccasin of all time. But this is what you get when you are a worshiper in the Church of Belichick. You don't have it like everyone else. Here is where the conventional wisdom is totally unconventional. Where the thinking isn't so much outside the box as it in a parallel dimension occupying the same spacetime as the box. Where the seemingly most illogical moves turn out to have their own inner logic, and you have to wait for it to make sense. 

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For the 23rd year in a row: In Bill We Trust.