One of the things fans often loose sight of when looking to draft players is whether or not the player is actually better than the players currently starting for the team at a given position; or even the backups for that matter.

Players in black are current rostered players.

Players in RED are mostly players NE drafted but are no longer with the team for varied reasons. Also a couple noteworthy FA’s, marked with a *, that are no longer here.

Players in Blue are 2012 draft eligible players we are predicting to have a shot at being on the Patriots “real” radar.

The DAG is the players individual talent grade. The grade has no bearing on position or year in which the player came out. It’s a pure talent grade. The talent grade is based on one websites “opinion”, Draft Ace.com, and not 100% accurate or fact. No talent evaluator is.

NA = Not Applicable meaning the website only started doing grades in 2007 and no consistent data is available prior to that.

NR = The player was drafted during the years in which grades were being given but the player was not even on the websites radar to garner enough attention to merit a grade at all.

This exercise simply gives you a general guideline to think about  when evaluating the overall talent level NE has at a given position regardless of the number of players, their age or their contract status.

When doing your own mocks you should consider whether a player you are mocking at a draft slot is really going to make the team at all. It might be a position with plenty of talent and you would need to draft a player VERY high to make the team. Also bear in mind drafting someone for a position that would have only a slightly higher grade than the young talent that is already at the position. Are you really ready to cut ties so quickly with a 1st or 2nd year player that has proven he can play or shown improvement for only a marginally projected upgrade? Even if you did not cut ties you would possibly be stunting that currently rostered players growth.

Finally, a few defensive players are listed under different positions than they played in college as to represent where most project them to play in a 3-4 defense.

OK, let’s go! Have fun with it!