New England Patriots: Grading the 2011 Draft Class
By Luke O'Brien
The New England Patriots have done very well in the NFL Draft. What grade did they receive for their effort in the 2011 Draft?
With just under a few days to the NFL draft, we will finish our series that reviews the New England Patriots drafts from the 1st to 7th round and will apportion a grade to each pick and then an overall grade. Each player will be judged on their value for the round they were picked in.
2011 was the draft that added elite Pro Bowl talent on both offense and defense. It also added a less than savory guy with character issues that wouldn’t be discovered until later. Let’s take a look into the detail of each of the 12 picks.
1 Nate Solder OT Colorado Grade: B
Solder was drafted in the first round to be the man to replace “the man” in Matt Light. While Solder has not yet achieved Pro-Bowl levels of play, he has been a solid left tackle over the course of his six years. Along with Vollmer, the Patriots now had two monster offfensive tackles both standing at 6’8”. He has managed to stay healthy throughout his career so far (apart from 2015) he even played the entire 2014 season later to discover he had testicular cancer. Solder has never really dominated at the position but he has played at an above average level to the point where the Patriots never have to worry about one of the most important positions in football.