The Patriots 53-Man Roster Means the End of the Line for Perhaps Belichick's Worst Draft Pick Ever

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The Patriots cut down to the "final" roster, in quotes because it's guaranteed to change a hundred times between now and kickoff against the Raiders, really seemed to me to be a showdown between the last two architects of the draft. Bill Belichick, who called the shots for the better part of 25 years, and Eliot Wolf, who had the 2024 draft and was Mike Vrabel's Huckleberry in the spring. 

Neither guy had exactly wrapped himself in glory over the past seven years, give or take. As a matter of fact, between some of Wolf's second-year guys being traded (Joe Milton), sent to IR (Ja'Lynn Polk), or given their outright release (Layden Robinson), Wolf was two roster moves away from having only one, painfully obvious pick from last season on his 53-man:

But both Wallace and Baker - who was an incredible longshot given the fact his only catch of the season came in Game 17 - survived the cut. As definite roster bubble guys, but still. So the jury is still very much out on the Class of '24.

Making it all the more significant that one of the most controversial picks of GM Bill's very controversial draft history did not survive the cut:

Strange 69: In this game, the roster means life. The tribe has spoken. It's time for you to go.

The previous consensus top choice for Worst Belichick Draft Move had been taking N'Keal Harry at the end of the 1st round in 2019. With good reason. The list of wideouts taken in Round 2 and later includes some of the best at their position over the last half decade. Deebo Samuel. AJ Brown. DK Metcalf. Terry McLaurin. But somewhat to Belichick's credit, Harry was not considered a reach at No. 32. To argue otherwise is pure revisionist history. He was the third receiver off the board, which is where he was projected to go. It hurts because he never did a damned thing and because Brown said he cried real tears when he heard he was not coming to New England. But the Patriots got the highest draft grade of any team largely because they finally invest the draft capital necessary to … wait for it … give Tom Brady a weapon. 

No such case can be made for Strange. As evidenced by Sean McVay and Les Snead's immediate reaction, which went around the world in seconds:

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The Rams didn't have a 1st round pick and never expected that would cost them a guard out of Chatta-fooking-nooga. Worse still, Strange's selection came after a trade down from 21 to 29. Kansas City took a All Pro CB Trent McDuffie at 21. Three straight picks from 24-26 have made Pro Bowls. While Cole Strange didn't make it to the end of his rookie deal.  

It gets worse. In his third season, Strange couldn't lock down his starting LG spot on the worst offensive line in football. He lost his job this year presumably to 3rd round rookie Jared Wilson. He was trying out at center, and couldn't hang onto that job, either. His 2024 Pro Football Focus overall grade of 48.6 would made him 116th among all guards. And his career high of 64.6 in 2023 put him in the stratosphere, all the way to 34th. 

And so ends the Patriots career of one of, if not the, costliest personnel moves of GM Bill's storied career. He still has a ton of talent he drafted on this roster. Christian Gonzalez. Michael Onwenu. Christian Barmore. Kayshon Boutte. Marte Mapu. Keion White. So we can't declare that Wolf and Vrabel have completely rejected all his picks and started over. 

But if you ever wonder why some Pats fans - myself included - were looking on the brightside when Mr. Kraft fired him and he had a mutual parting of the ways, it's that we didn't want to see any more draft reaches. No more hunches. No more off the wall picks no one had expected or even heard of. If we're going to fail, let's fail with a little conventional wisdom for a change. 

How good the Class of '25 will turn out to be, only time will tell. But at least no other opposing coaches and GMs laughed at our picks. That fact alone is a comfort.