Dominique Easley: Approve or Disapprove?

I don't know if fans will approve of the Patriots drafting Dominique Easley, or disapprove. On the one hand the Patriots didn't trade down, and people seem to hate when they do that. They also drafted defense, which many fans wanted them to do.

On the other hand, Dominique Easley has injury problems. He might even be "injury prone." And he also went to school at the same place that some other unsuccessful Patriots draftees played (Aaron Hernandez, Brandon Spikes, Chad Jackson, and I'm sure people will include no-lose acquisitions like Tim Tebow and Olympic sprinter Jeff Demps).

I'll address the Florida Gator concern first. Do you really want the Patriots to avoid drafting players from one of the top programs in the top college football conference in the country? Just because their previous choices from that school haven't worked out? Do you really want Belichick and the Patriots personnel people to say "We like this guy... but he's a Gator... next?"

If Dominique Easley doesn't work out, it won't be because of where he went to school.

But he might not work out because of injury and his potential proneness to said injury. He's torn each of his ACLs. You tear one ACL and that's just football (see: Tom Brady, Wes Welker). You tear two and everyone takes a step back. You get that "injury prone" label. You fall from the top 10 to 29th, and projected by some to go even later.

I'm not a doctor. Most Patriots fans aren't doctors. I will say that ACL tears don't worry me as much as back issues. ACLs tear all the time in football, and it happening twice might be injury proneness, it might be horrible luck. Logan Mankins tore his ACL in college and he's played 14.4 games per season in the NFL. He even tore an ACL in 2012 and kept playing because he didn't realize it. Which is astounding. Mankins has torn an ACL twice, yet he isn't considered "injury prone."

Easley tore an ACL in November 2011. By September 2012 he was playing for Florida again. I'd be more concerned if he were one of those guys who came back from injury slowly (like Gronkowski). He evidently recovers at the expected rate. He played 13 games in 2012 and into 2013, then his other ACL tore. I'd be more concerned if the same ACL tore, because that would be another sign of possible recovery issues.

Despite the two tears, he managed to play 29 games for Florida.

He's still an unknown variable, just like any draft pick. Taking into consideration the "if healthy" tag does make him more of an unknown. What I like about this pick is that if he's good (and healthy), the Patriots can definitely use him. If he's not good, they don't depend on him. They can take a chance with a defensive lineman because they have some decent ones already. Signing Will Smith complements this pick very well.

The Patriots don't need Dominique Easley to be healthy to have a good defensive line. But if he is healthy, he can make that line significantly better, and younger. Wilfork, Kelly, Smith, Chandler Jones, Ninkovich, and then add Easley. Not too shabby. Then at linebacker you have Jerod Mayo back, Jamie Collins showed exciting sparks last year. Then the improved secondary with Revis and Browner...

It's not a bad defense. Easley can make it better. If he's injured or fails, the defense will still be good.

I Don't Know What the Patriots Will/Should Do In the NFL Draft Tonight

I love the NFL Draft, I hate Draft Day. I can't stand grown men acting like children the day before Christmas, hoping Santa Belichick comes down the chimney with a stud receiver, then getting all frustrated and whiny when they get socks (offensive linemen).

I can't stand people obsessively analyzing something that hasn't happened yet. It pisses me off when someone is pissed off that the Patriots might trade down, and the Draft is hours, even days away.

Sports are supposed to be enjoyable, not painful. But Patriots fans act like they've been constipated for 9 years, waiting to shit out another Lombardi Trophy, but mean old Ebeneezer Belichick keeps feeding them Imodium to keep Pats fans blocked up and prevent them from the relief that Super Bowl #4 would provide.

"I don't want the Patriots to trade down..."

"The Pats should trade down..."

"They should trade up..."

"They should draft a linebacker..."

"They need a receiver..."

"This kid Random Name from Some School State would be perfect..."

The demands of these whiny fans are relentless. And if they don't get what they want, you hear about it on Friday. You hear about it all year.

Amateur GMs who watch a few college games in the fall, then read a draft preview magazine while they're on the john, consider themselves to be Draft Day experts. There are people out there whose full-time job it is to evaluate the talent of these college players, and not only do they get it wrong sometimes, they frequently disagree with each other.

It's not a crapshoot, but there is an unpredictable element to it. Imagine if your workplace selected you based on how you performed at college. I know successful people that could barely pass a test, and I know unsuccessful people that were honor students.

And yet some of you people out there, who spend a handful of hours a year watching Alabama play Auburn and Michigan play Penn State think you can predict which players will succeed in the NFL and which won't.

It's one thing to have fun with it, have friendly arguments with your friends about it, speculate, guess, predict. That's all part of the fun of being a sports fan, second-guessing included. But the people who get emotional about it, that's just pathetic. The people who can't focus on their lives because the Patriots picked a tight-end and not a pass rusher, who grumble and groan about Belichick and the "Patriot Way." These people are emotionally scarred by the departures of Adam Vinatieri and Richard Seymour. I'd pity them if they didn't annoy me so much.

You don't know as much as you think you know. None of us do. And the people doing the selecting spend their entire year doing this, and even they screw up.

So I don't know what the Patriots will do. Nor do I know what they should do. I'll sit back and enjoy the Bruins game, occasionally catch a glimpse of the Draft. I probably won't cheer whoever the Patriots pick, nor will I boo them, the way Texans fans booed J.J. Watt in 2011 or Jets fans cheered Vernon Gholston in 2008.