NFL Draft 2012: Bill Belichick, Patriots Big Winners on Defense

When I think about the Patriots and the NFL draft, a line from Alanis Morisette’s song “Ironic” immediately comes to mind, “It’s like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.” 

I then typically cringe, begin to sweat a bit, then whimper myself to sleep. Sure, the Patriots are among the best teams when it comes to drafting, but Bill Belichick’s history of trading down and selecting players at New England's strongest positions is absolutely maddening.

Maybe Belichick is softening in his old age, I’m not sure, but it sure seems as though he threw me a life-preserver this year.

With the draft approaching, I had several meaningful conversations with Pats fans as of late—it’s been long enough, we’ve had our time to cope, and speaking about the Patriots is slowly moving away from being a taboo subject.

The new sentiment I’m hearing, and one I subscribe to very much so, is that Tom Brady just needs to win one more Super Bowl. It’s not about the "best-ever" argument or anything like that anymore—it’s simply the fact that Brady has become a much better quarterback than he was in his younger years and he deserves to win a championship in this part of his career.

A fourth Super Bowl for Brady, and we can all die happy.

It’s been maddening that the Patriots have seemingly forgotten that they were a defense-first team when Brady and co. were reeling off championships. Brady never had a single offensive Pro Bowl player in any championship season, but he had a roster filled with defensive stalwarts. Heck, the Patriots didn’t even know what they had in Brady in those years.

Since they’ve come to realize Brady’s greatness, it’s as though they’ve thrown any importance attached to the defense out the window—and in doing so they’ve put up several of the best offensive season’s in the history of football, while winning a total of zero championships.

Earth to Bill: Draft some defensive players for heaven’s sake.

Simply put, I’m ecstatic with this year’s draft class. The Patriots selected defensive players with their first six picks—frankly I don’t care if these guys were the linebackers on the Little Giants or defensive ends in the XFL, I’m just happy as could be that their needs were addressed.

It seems as though the Patriots got a few definite studs, and they took their usual Belichick sleeper picks as well, which left everyone utterly confused. I love it—in a couple of days, New England's defense changed from old, small and slow to big, fast and young.

Here’s who we landed.

Chandler Jones, DE, Syracuse, Pick No. 21, 6’5" 266 pounds

The Patriots obviously love this guy—he should contribute immediately at the position where they need the most help.

Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama, Pick No. 25, 6’2" 265 pounds

Hightower has been touted as the Patriot that will have the most immediate impact. At their respective press conferences, Chandler Jones seemed giddy and talked about how excited he was to be a Patriot. Hightower instead talked about how he was ready to crush people, basically saying, “Every player on the other team is going to want to know where I am on the field… and I’ll get to them regardless, and when I do, it’s going to hurt.”

We’ve got a savage in the making here—and Belichick is already comparing his football I.Q. to that of Jerrod Mayo.

Tavon Wilson, CB/FS, Illinois, Pick No. 48, 6’0" 205 pounds

One of Belichick’s head-scratcher picks, nobody expected this guy to get taken this high—or at all. It seems like a good “system” pick—who knows. He’ll either be great, or he’ll be working at Kohl’s by the end of camp.

Jake Bequette, DE, Arkansas, Pick No. 90, 6’5" 274 pounds

Almost everybody in New England’s favorite pick—we got this guy late and his production in college was absurd. He’s crazy-fast for his size, and he beat out the majority of wide receivers and running backs in both the 3-cone and short shuttle drills at the combine. He’s also a team leader, an absolutely-no-problems-off-the-field type of guy.

Awesome.

Nate Ebner, SS, Ohio State, Pick No. 197, 6’1" 205 pounds

Another of Belichick’s bizarre picks, who’s very similar in size to Tavon Wilson. Again, not sure of Belchick’s angle on this one.

Alfonzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska, Pick #224, 5’10 204 pounds

Dennard was the other surprisingly awesome pick taken in the later rounds. This guy was projected as a late-first or second-round pick, but fell dramatically because he was arrested last week. Almost everybody cites this guy’s talent, as he shut down many of the best receivers in college football this year—most of whom were selected much higher than he was. This is a personality-flaw pick, but if anyone can control him, it’s Belichick.

Jeremy Ebert, WR, Northwestern, Pick No. 235, 5’11" 200 pounds

Wide receiver is not a position of need by any stretch of the imagination for the Pats, but this was a great pick as well. With his size and a 4.4-40 under his belt, he’s both bigger and faster than Wes Welker. He’ll compete primarily with Julian Edelman and Anthony Gonzalez, which is a nice problem to have at the backup slot receiver position.

I have big expectations for these guys, and I think that Jones, Hightower and Bequette (in particular) have a chance to transform this team defensively. So here it is, my prediction that you can trace back to May 1, 2012 at next year’s Super Bowl: If Tom Brady is healthy throughout the playoffs next season, the Patriots will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy.

Geoff Roberts is the Founder & Managing Editor of howiGit.com, a Boston sports blog.