ICEMAN

I think that, overall, this might be the only Patriots draft that I haven't hated in years. Great work. I REALLY wanted for the Pats to get Hunter, but what can you do (outside of not losing that last game to Buffalo!!!!). ICEMAN

I agree. When making decisions that affect so many people and huge amounts of money, you can't risk brining on a headache without the corresponding talent level. This kid's father has not done him any favors on the personality side of things (hubris, God Complex etc...) either. People have rightfully been turned off by both of them. Have some humility. ICEMAN

Ditto. I'll take him. 6'5 and he ran a 4.49 40? He also had over 1,300 yards in each of the past 2 seasons with three years in a row of 8, or more touchdowns. If the Pats are forced to select a guy @ 4 that is not Carter, or Hunter, I'll take Tet. ICEMAN

I just heard that Philly is working the backchannels for a deal that would land him. This begs three questions. #1 - Are they crazy? #2 - What percentage of the salary cap would Philly be paying it's WR's if this trade were to happen? #3 - Does Philly have a different cap number than all of the other teams? ICEMAN

Which of the following pairs would you prefer the Patriots start off the draft this year with? Travis Hunter & Josh Simmons Tet & Kelvin Banks Will Campbell & Emeka Egbuka Armand Membou & Matthew Golden ICEMAN

The problem that I have with Golden is my fear that he is just the most recent iteration of Darrius Heyward-Bey and John Ross. If Hunter is gone by 4 (which he probably will be), then I would try to trade back to the 9-12 range and grab an extra 3rd r ounder in the process. That way, the Pats could use the extra 3rd to grab Trapilo the 6'8" LT from BC. He looks like he could be a solid RT, if not LT in the NFL with a year of coaching. ICEMAN

Ray - I completely agree. The only reason that I want them to take a WR first is because I think that the distance between Hunter/Tet and the other WR's that can be had at the end of the first round is MUUCH bigger than the distance between the first Tackle taken and the 2-3 that will be available at the end of the round. I want them to double dip at Tackle early in this draft. The Pats had BC's left tackle Trapilo in for a visit last week, so I would not be surprised to see him drafted in the 4th/5th by the Pats. ICEMAN

I think that the Pats are pretty much keeping all options open at this point. I think that right now it's #1 - Hunter, #2 - Carter and #3 - Drop back and take a Tackle, or Tet/Tyler Warren. Regardless of what happens, I firmly believe that they will trade back into the backend of round #1 and take the best available Tackle. ICEMAN

I really would have preferred the Pats to sign Allen, rather than Diggs, but beggars can't be choosers. I'll take Diggs as long as they draft Hunter, or Tet still in the first round. Even healthy, Diggs is not the #1 WR that Maye needs to progress. He's a nice complimentary piece, as long as he feels properly motivated. I don't think that will be an issue, since most of Diggs problems in the past were due to being almost too motivated. ICEMAN

Let's call it the ICEPLAN for the Pats. There is so little time and so many players to be replaced. In my humble opinion (humble?), here is how I would handle Free Agency and the draft. Let's start with Free Agency. #1 - Sign Staley. or Robinson to be the LT next season. #2 - Sign Chris Godwin, or Davante Adams (which he would never agree to!). Beyond them, I don't really see any solutions to the Pats absence of a #1 WR in Free Agency. #3 - Sign Mekhi Becton to start at Left Guard. He might actually be able to fill-in at LT in a pinch. #4 - Sign a top flight CB to pair with Gonzales. Preferably someone under 28 years old. #5 - Sign one of the top Edge Rushers in FA. I would prefer Chase Young. #6 - Get a couple of DL that have some sand in their pants. The Draft. #1 - Trade down at all costs, unless Hunter, or Carter are there at 4.Then use your first pick on McMillan, or Tyler Warren. #2 - Trade back into the backend of the first round and select Josh Simmons. It will probably take the Pats 2nd plus one of their 3rd round pick. #3 - For the rest of the draft, I would stock up on DL and CB's. ICEMAN

Holy Crap. Stefon Diggs was in town yesterday for a visit with the Pats. God help us. He's going to drive Maye NUTS! ICEMAN

Good Lord! We're good now!

Well, it's not going well for the Patriots regarding getting a decent tackle in Free Agency. Staley is gone. That only really leaves Robinson, who I have not heard anything about a connection to the Pats. They just signed an aging, below average Tackle in Morgan Moses. I am (as usual!) not excited about the Pat's efforts here regarding the most important position of need. As far as the WR's go, everyone that is decent that was available are now gone with Godwin deciding to resign with the Bucs and Adams going to the Raiders. I do not think that I would have given up a 2nd PLUS that contract for Metcalf. He's a great player and in his prime, but I worry about that 10 cent head of his at times. He not the most stable of personalities. Hell, I'd give the Bengals that for Higgins, but that may never pass. The Pats have also filled in the Edge need with Harold Landry, the Defensive line with Milton Williams and the secondary with Carlton Davis III. The Pats are well on their way to having one of the first solid free agency periods in 20 years.

When I see Tet play, I get Michael Thomas vibes. I think that he could be that type of player. Not the fastest guy in the world, but he could get open and had AMAZING hands. ICEMAN

He'll be out of a job in 2 years. ICEMAN

I would stay away from the Pats WR room for the time being. If I had to pick a WR at gunpoint, it would be Pop Douglas. Boutte could turn into something, but Bourne is probably gone. He looks spent last season and has definitely lost a step (which is all it takes in the NFL). I would expect the Pats to add via FA and in the draft as well. ICEMAN

Here is my analysis for what went right and wrong with my draft for the July Mock. Obviously, it's a completely different mindset than the June Mock (since that is not PPR). I really appreciate the fact that all of the drafters in both Mocks take these seriously and aren't trying to "see what everyone does if I take a QB in the first round." Unfortunately, this year, it did not matter what I did in the July Mock league. There were just too many injuries to overcome my crappy drafting. Round 1 Cee Dee Lamb - Not a complete miss, but he did have only half the amount of TD's from the previous year and overall had a 35% drop in total PPR points. Nice start. Yeesh! Round 2 Rahaad White - The receiving stats weren't too bad, but he lost half of his 2023 rushing attempts to Bucky Irving. I knew that Irving could be a potential threat to White's production, but I thought that White would hold him off. Round 3 Isiah Pacheco - Missed 10 weeks due to injury and was a shell of his former self upon return in week 13. He never really recovered. Round 4 Stefon Diggs - He started out OK. Nothing great. He got injured in week 8 and we never saw him again. Round 5 Aaron Jones - Great value in the 5th round for a running back. He ended up only 8 PPR points away from being a top 10 RB. Round 6 Zach Moss - He only played in 8 games before getting injured and sent to IR, but he was completely outproduced by Chase Brown even during those 8 games. This one was a combo bad pick/injured. Round 7 Joe Burrow - I drafted him in every league that I was in this year and was thankful for it. In 2 leagues, I even had Jayden Daniels as my backup! I'm not going to bother going through the rest of my draft, as there was nobody notable (outside of 3 more players that missed a lot of time due to injuries). Long shots and backups. Not a good year for ICEMAN in the July Mock this year. I'll look to do a better job next year. ICEMAN

Mike was the right guy to hire. The Pats need someone that isn't looking to become a top-notch Head Coach, but someone that already is a great Head Coach. The Titan's f-d up by firing him. Mike will just need to hire the right coordinators, personnel people etc... in order to right the ship. Luckily, he is already well aware of the major attention that needs to be paid to the O-Line in the draft (multiple picks please!), Free Agency (whomever they decide is the best Tackle available) and via trade. They need 3 new starters along the O Line next year. ICEMAN

16.10 - TE Mike Gesicki, CIN

15.03 - DEF Bills, BUF

13.03 - WR Adam Thielen, CAR

12.10 - WR Jakobi Meyers, LV

11.03 - WR Brandin Cooks, DAL

10.10 - QB Caleb Williams, CHI

9.03 - WR Rashee Rice, KC