It's the NFL Draft's great debate: do you take the best player available? Or the guy that best fits your team need? The question has plagued draft experts for years, and been the source of some of the internet's dorkiest fights. In some ways, it was a precursor to the ongoing war between analytics nerds and ball-knowing boomers. And the best part? There will never be a definitive answer. We're just going to stay stuck spinning in this washing machine forever, and then the sun will explode.
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But while we wait for that to happen, it probably doesn't hurt to ask Mike Vrabel's opinion. It's a particularly topical question for him right now, as he prepares to run his first draft as the Patriots head coach. Plus, he's probably going to have to face that exact dilemma, like, 25 minutes into the first night. Earlier this week, a Patriots reporter asked him just that, and his answer ... kinda went in a different direction.
Mike Vrabel's comment on draft strategy sure feels like a warning to current Pats players
"Would love for them to align," he said. "Having a need and having the best player be there, that doesn't always happen. And we certainly want to pick the best player as many times as we can. The player that we think at that point is the best player. And then we'll figure it out. Maybe you look at one position where we may have some returning starters, or we feel like are starters, or we feel like there's depth at that position. To add premium players, when available, is something that you should always try to do."
The first part of this answer is pretty boilerplate. I have no doubt that the Patriots would prefer that the best player available to them always fits their specific team need – they probably wouldn't be picking 4th overall this year if that was the case. It's almost, dare I say it, Belichickian.
The second part, though, is where things get interesting. ("Interesting.") Vrabel's known to be a competitive guy, and it's probably not all that surprising to hear him publicly talk about how most positions are still a competition. Even if he wasn't trying to just play some Coach Mind Games with his players, he's definitely not wrong – it's not like the Patriots have studs at every level of the field. And we'll just pretend he was talking about everyone, and not specifically the offensive line.