The first-round pick would have been better for practical purposes, but the Patriots’ defiant stand and stare down with Roger Goodell almost made up for the lost pick. And it certainly made this NFL Draft a memorable one for New England, which picked up a well-schooled cornerback and a well-connected quarterback in between its spat with the commissioner.
The moment the draft began, 8 p.m. Thursday, the Patriots posted a picture of Tom Brady on their Instagram account. The post was a rebuttal to Brady’s reinstated four-game suspension and the lost pick, both penalties for the Deflategate nonsense. As a New England fan, I’m tired of the entire deflating saga, but not too tired to enjoy the Patriots’ social-media jab.
The defiance, and enjoyment, continued on Friday when former Patriot Kevin Faulk strutted to the draft podium in Chicago sporting a Brady jersey beneath his blazer. When Faulk took the mic he announced, “With the 78th pick in the 2016 NFL draft, the New England Patriots and Tom Brady select Joe Thuney, linebacker, North Carolina State.”
It was a moment of genuine emotion for a team, like the rest of us, tired of the persecution. Faulk was so fired up he got Thuney’s position wrong – he was a guard in college.
Only time will tell, but New England fans might also remember this draft for the players. Despite not picking in Thursday’s first round, or for the first 28 picks in Friday’s second round, the Patriots landed an intriguing cornerback prospect at No. 60 and Brady’s potential replacement at No. 91.
Cyrus Jones, the intriguing corner, has the physical tools to succeed in the NFL, where capable defensive backs are a precious commodity. He has a college pedigree from Alabama, where he was coached by Bill Belichick’s buddy, Nick Saban. Jones is NFL-ready as a punt returner, which should help keep Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola safe.
Jones feels like the kind of player who will someday make people say, “How did he slip to the third round?” And there is a recent example of Belichick unearthing a pretty good corner from that part of the country – Malcolm Butler was an undrafted free agent out of Division II West Alabama when he joined the Patriots in 2014.
Thirteen picks after they took Thuney, the Patriots went back to the Wolfpack for quarterback Jacoby Brissett. He has an NFL arm and great size (6-foot-4, 231 pounds), and Brissett threw for 43 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions and completed 60 percent of his passes during his two years as a starter at NC State.
With Brady’s suspension looming, the Patriots had to add a third quarterback. The fact they did so in the draft means that Jimmy Garoppolo, a free agent after 2017, has a challenger for the role of Brady’s successor.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about Brissett is his connections to former New England coaches. He started his college career at Florida, where his offensive coordinator was Charlie Weis, the Patriots offensive coordinator from 2000-2004. But before Brissett ever met Weis, he had a relationship with Bill Parcells, who lived near Brissett’s childhood home in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“It started in high school,” Brissett said on a conference call Friday night when asked about his relationship with Parcells. “He has a house out here and he comes around my high school a lot and him and my high school coach, Jack Daniels, are real good friends and I got the privilege to meet him and he’s been – I can’t even describe what type of person he is and what he’s meant to my life. Just him grooming me as a man and preparing me for tough times, hard times, good times. He’s been so helpful to me throughout this process and just keeping my steady and keeping a good head on my shoulders and you know I just can’t thank him enough.”
Losing to Atlanta in the first round in six games, and getting blown out in three of them, was a disappointing end to the Celtics’ 2016 season. But here’s the truth – the summer of 2016 was always going to be more important to Boston’s pursuit of another NBA title than what the Celtics did in the 2016 playoffs.
Admit it, after Boston ended Golden State’s 54-game home winning streak April 1, some of you had crazy dreams of Banner 18 coming this year. You thought, “Well, if they can sneak into the Eastern Conference Finals, and if someone else beats Cleveland, and if it’s the Warriors in the Finals, the Celtics match up with them and maybe, maybe if …”
But you knew in your heart it was too many ifs and maybes. These Celtics were never winning the title. But Danny Ainge could turn Boston into a legitimate title contender this summer.
Good fortune, willing players and willing trade partners will also be required for Boston to make the leap to contender. That will have to start on May 17 with the NBA Draft Lottery. The Celtics own Brooklyn’s pick, which has a 15.6-percent chance of being first overall, a 46.9-percent chance of being in the top three and can be no worse than No. 6.
After that pick, Boston has seven more in the upcoming draft – two more in the first round and five in the second round. Ainge could practically build an entire team on June 23 if he makes all those choices, but there’s no way he wants to do that.
Instead, Ainge would prefer to use some of those picks, plus his stockpile of future picks and some of Boston’s young talent, to trade for a star. Like Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, for example, whom the Celtics were reportedly after at the trade deadline.
If he can do that, Ainge’s chances of enticing a top-level free agent (Kevin Durant, anyone?) to Boston increases to “it’s not impossible.” If that strategy sounds familiar, it should. It’s the same one Ainge used to build the 2008 title team.
The sports viewing calendar is meaty this time of year – NBA playoffs, Stanley Cup playoffs, baseball before the season stretches into its interminable summer. But here’s some encouragement, or a reminder, to watch the UEFA Champions League semifinals on Tuesday and Wednesday. Or at least DVR them.
Interest in the World Cup seems to be growing exponentially, the European championships will probably seduce some of you this summer, and others of you may even attend some Copa America matches here in the States. These national team tournaments do stir the patriotic spirit, but they do not represent the best soccer in the world. That honor belongs to the Champions League.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Champions League is a tournament with the top teams from Europe’s top leagues. Teams qualified during their league play last season (the top four teams from England go, for example) and then play out the tournament during breaks in their league schedule this season.
It’s down to the semifinals, which is played in two legs. Spain’s Atletico Madrid, which claimed a 1-0 win in the first leg, travels to German power Bayern Munich on Tuesday (start time 2:45 on FS1). And England’s Manchester City travels to Real Madrid on Wednesday (2:45 on FS1 again) after the two teams had a scoreless draw last week.
I know, I know, the phrase “scoreless draw” makes a lot of American sports fans queasy. But give this a chance. There’s drama everywhere.
It’s already been announced that Manchester City’s manager, Manuel Pellegrini, will be replaced next year by Pep Guardiola … who manages Bayern Munich. Real Madrid has one of the top athletes in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo. And Atletico Madrid has the coolest manager in the world, Diego Simeone, whose nickname is “Cholo,” which translates to … Gangsta.
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341, or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)