Nate Solder? Why not?

FAIRFAX, VA - The first round of the NFL draft has come and gone, the laptop stealing Cam Newton (Quarterback, Auburn) went first and Roger Goodell was booed.  There were some predictable picks, like A.J. Green (Wide Receiver, Georgia) going fourth to the Cincinnati Bengals, and there were some stunners.  The Atlanta Falcons traded picks with the Cleveland Browns to acquire Julio Jones (Wide Receiver, Alabama) at six overall and the Minnesota Vikings took the fourth quarterback at pick twelve, but it was Christian Ponder (Quarterback, Florida St.).

But what did our New England Patriots do? Did coach Bill Belichick take my advice and go defensive end then running back? Nope.

The 17th pick came around and surprisingly Cameron Jordan (Defensive End, California) was still on the board and so was Da'Quan Bowers (Defensive End, Clemson).  I thought it was a coin flip between these two guys, but Belichick had different ideas.  He went with the giant 6'8" 315 pound offensive tackle Nate Solder from Colorado.  I think all Patriots fans reacted the same, "What the...?".  The most confusing part was that Boston College offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo was still on the board, along with Gabe Carimi, offensive tackle from Southern California.  I really believe Belichick threw these three names in a hat and pulled out Solder, probably put the name back in and tried again.  When he picked Solder's little slip of paper the second time he just went with it.  Nobody thought our 17 pick was going to be an O-Lineman, but like I said in the Draft Preview Belichick will surprise us.

Ok, so the 17 pick was sort of a bust, but we still had the 28th pick and guess who was still available.  Both Da'Quan Bowers and Mark Ingram (Running Back, Alabama).  So after the Ravens had passed on their 26th and were picking at 27, Chris Berman announced that our Patriots had traded their pick. Again, "What the..?" but this time the reaction was much more angry.  We thought we had Ingram all wrapped up and we would finally have a big name running back.  We traded the pick to the New Orleans Saints who four picks before at 24 took, yup, Cameron Jordan.  The Saints took all of two of their ten minutes to submit their pick and it was, of course, Mark Ingram.  The Saints gave us their 56th overall pick this draft and their 2010 next year, which will almost definitely be 25 or higher since the Saints, with Drew Brees, will almost definitely make the playoffs.  Way to go Belichick.

So in review, Belichick surprised us all, again.  All we got with two picks was a giant and a couple other picks.  We should have taken notes from the Saints because they picked the perfect draft for us.

Well hopefully Belichick will use the 33rd pick, the first pick in the second round today, to pick someone we need.  Maybe, Da'Quan Bowers!! If anyone who reads this knows Belichick's number, call him up and let him know who to take.