New England Patriots: Revisiting and Grading the Draft: 2008

4th Round #129: Jonathan Wilhite

January 25, 2013; Ko Olina, HI, USA; NFC guard Josh Sitton of the Green Bay Packers (71) poses during the team photo at NFC media day for the 2013 Pro Bowl at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Wilhite, in his defense, was a better player than Terrence Wheatley while both were in New England, which is not saying much.  As a rookie, the aging Deltha O’Neal beat out Wilhite for playing time at cornerback until Wilhite won out at the end of the season. While Wilhite got regular playing time in 2009, his play did not improve much. After missing half the season in 2010 with injuries, Wilhite was released at cutdowns in 2011. He spent time with the Broncos and Bears but is out of the league.

While not a great player, he was a solid backup-level cornerback and special teams contributor for three seasons.  At #129 overall, it is hard to find better value. To put it a better way, picks #130-#134 were worse and contributed even less than Wilhite.

SHOULD HAVE DRAFTED:

Green Bay snagged guard Josh Sitton at #135 who had developed into an excellent interior offensive lineman for the Packers and was in the Pro Bowl last year and is a second-team All-Pro this year.  At defensive back, current Dallas Cowboys cornerback and former Kansas City Chief Brandon Carr went at #140 overall. Granted, these are outliers, not the usual pick at this point of the draft as most are in the Wilhite or John David Booty caliber. Remember wide receiver Kenny Moore out of Wake Forest? Neither do I, but no one rips Detroit for taking him at #136 with Stevie Johnson still on the draft board. Unfortunately, it is like playing the lottery and when you scratch off the college player there are wins and losses.

GRADE: B-