Starting with defense

The Pats have just about finished their free agent shopping. The draft is now over. Except for a few undrafted free agents and training camp veteran signings the 2012 version of the New England Patriots is pretty much set. When you have gone 27-5 in the last two seasons there's not too many battles in camp.

The offense is loaded again and will threaten the records the team set in '07. The defense was where reinforcements were needed. Reinforcements have arrived.

I'm guessing the Pats will return to playing a 3-4 more this year since they now have four potentially very good linebackers. Here's what the starters in the 3-4 could look like if everyone stays healthy and the new guys reach their potential quickly:

DEFENSIVE LINE

          LEFT END                          NOSE TACKLE                              RIGHT END

     Jonathan Fanene                     Vince Wilfork                              Chandler Jones

LINEBACKERS

    LEFT OUTSIDE              MIDDLE                  MIDDLE                RIGHT OUTSIDE

   Dont'a Hightower         Brandon Spikes         Jerod Mayo              Rob Ninkovich

DEFENSIVE BACKS

  CORNERBACK              SAFETY                   SAFETY                   CORNERBACK
   Ras-I Dowling             Patrick Chung         Devin McCourty             Kyle Arrington          

I'm counting on a few things. Jonathan Fanene is this year's Andre Carter. Chandler Jones and Dont'a Hightower earn starting jobs and make impacts like McCourty and Mayo did in their rookie years. Ras-I-Dowling gets healthy and lives up to his draft position.

If those things happen then the transition from the Bruschi-Willie-Rodney-Vrabel-Law-Seymour years to the next championship-caliber defense is in the final stage. Big Vince is one of the dominant forces in the game. Brandon Spikes and Mayo came together at the end of last year to show just how good they can be as a duo in the middle of the field. Chung and a relocated McCourty could be one of the best young safety tandems in the game by mid-season.

It's a very athletic, young, and skilled group of starters with some serious playoff experience and confidence.  And as good as the starters look (on paper), the depth of the defense is just as good and experienced. I don't think this defense will be near the bottom in yards allowed next year. No way.

Jedi mind tricks

Bill Belichick was either at his most evil-genius on the second and third nights of the NFL Draft... or he's just been wearing his hood a little too tight around his head.

After grabbing two very likely starters on defense in Dont'a Hightower and Chandler Jones, the Patriots had only two more picks left in the final six rounds. Both of those picks had to be defensive backfield. The first pick was the 16th in the second round, 48th overall. There were still lots of solid defensive backs available. Casey Hayward of Vandy. Trumaine Johnson of Montana. Jamell Fleming of Oklahoma. All would have been good picks. Belichick went with safety Tavon Wilson of Illinois. I had been doing some pre-draft studying this year, something I rarely do. I couldn't remember Wilson. I went to NFL.com and clicked on his name. Each player up to that point had a profile discussing strengths and weakness. When I clicked on Wilson's name there was his photo ... and nothing else. NFL.com hadn't heard of him either. Turns out he is big and fast and never misses a snap. But at the 48th pick? At least it was another defensive guy.

The Pats' next pick was the 62nd overall. Belichick hadn't traded down yet. You knew he must have been getting itchy to start stockpiling picks all over the draft. And so he did. He sent the pick to Green Bay for a third and fifth-rounder. The Pats finished out the second day of the draft by using that third-rounder on Arkansas end Jake Bequette. Another 6-5 defender. He's a four-year starter and had 10 sacks last season. Four picks used on a linebacker, a safety, and two D linemen. So far so good.

Day three looked to be a very brief one for the Patriots, owning just a single pick in the fifth round. When the pick arrived it was announced that Belichick had traded it -- the 163rd pick -- to Green Bay (again) for three picks. A sixth-rounder and two in the seventh. Can any other GM turn one pick into three that late in the draft? It has to be a Jedi mind trick. "You do want the 163rd pick in the draft. You want it so bad that you will give me all your other picks. Move along."

So suddenly the Pats were going to be very busy in the final hours of the draft. A draft in which they were already one of the dominant stories. Belichick used the next two picks on ... defense. First he took Ohio St. defensive back Nate Ebner. Another guy NFL.com had never heard of. Seems he didn't play much defense. But he projects as a solid special teams guy. I think Belichick was just having fun with all the experts on ESPN and the NFL Network. There was more fun to come. With their first pick in the seventh and final round (#224), Belichick did it again. He took Nebraska corner Alfonzo Dennard. The same Alfonzo Dennard who was recently charged with assaulting a police officer. Dennard was projected as a possible second-rounder. Punching the man in the face will send your value plummeting. No team wanted to touch him. Not even the Bengals. So there was a talented defensive back with a slightly-troubled past sitting there in round seven. It's a no-brainer. And a possible coup.

The Pats started the draft with six picks and to me the only way to go was defense, defense, defense, defense, defense, and defense. After much wheeling and dealing the Pats had made six picks ... all on defense. Thanks.

But the Pats had added one more pick, the 235th. One more chance at a defender. Then the pick came in. Wide receiver Jeremy Ebert of Northwestern.

A wide receiver? My all-defense draft was spoiled. But wait. A wide receiver? Maybe he can play defensive back like Julian Edelman or Troy Brown.

Maybe it was another defensive pick.

Only the hooded one knows for sure.

Two for one

When you think Bill Belichick and the NFL Draft one word comes to mind... unpredictable.

The first round of the 2012 draft was no different. Pats fans always go into the night with dreams of linebackers dancing in their heads but braced for the coach/GM to trade away most of the picks for more picks the following year and the year after that and the year after that and the...

Turns out the year after that is 2012. The Pats traded up twice in the first round. That's right. Belichick and co. traded up to go get a player. Twice. I'm not sure if he did it to help me get over the Super Bowl loss, but I think the drafting of two defensive studs finally did the trick. I've moved on. (Although I'm still pissed at Brady).

So who did the Pats get? Two guys I had hoped for in my mockest of drafts. The Pats were sitting at #27 when the night started and I hoped Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower would slide his way down the board to them. I also wanted Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones but thought he would hang around till the second round. Apparently the Pats were interested in both players too, but had no interest in waiting around to see if they would be there when the team got its turn on the clock.

First Belichick traded the 27th pick and the team's third-round choice to Cincy to slide into the 21st spot and grab Jones. I think the Steelers were going to grab him two spots later and I think Belichick thought that too. Jones is a 6-5, 250 end out of Syracuse who can get after the quarterback. I thought he was a bit of a reach at the 62nd pick so it seems like a huge reach at 21. But Jones was one of the hotter names rising up the board leading up to draft day. Hot enough to get Belichick to move on him early. NFL Network's Mike Mayock said that in a few years Jones will be considered the best defensive player to come out of the draft.

The Pats were then sitting at #31 when they decided to make a move again ... this time for Alabama monster linebacker Dont'a Hightower. I thought it was worth moving down in front of the Jets at 16 to stop them from getting Hightower. Somewhat surprisingly the Jets passed on the 6-5 linebacker in favor of defensive end Quinton Coples of North Carolina. A Tar Heel lineman instead of a Nick Saban bred Crimson Tide linebacker? Rex is having quite an offseason so far. Hightower was sliding to the Pats but the Texans at #26 were not going to let him get past them. So, for a second time in the same night, Belichick traded up, this time costing the Pats a fourth-rounder to get Denver's #25 spot. Hello Dont'a. Meet Ninko, Mayo, and Spikes.

The Pats didn't get Harrison Smith, the safety from Notre Dame. He was the guy I wanted after Hightower. The secondary will have to be addressed in the remaining rounds. Jones and Hightower may finally solve what has been the team's biggest weakness for years. A mediocre pass rush.

The draft is only one round in and for the Pats it's already a success.