[Amnorix]

Here's how the Patriots run their draft, generally.

1. they compile the usual, ridiculous list of all players coming out of college. They then SEVERELY whittle it down. Every player that doesn't fit their system gets kicked out, REGARDLESS of talent. They just ignore players that don't fit their system -- whether because they're a bad fit (that 285 lb DE that is too small for DE and too big/slow for OLB or whatever). It's my understanding that the Patriots "board" is much smaller than the average team.

2. Everyone left is graded. A point value is given.

3. Then they're sorted by grades.

4. Then adjustments are made and players are ranked based on team need and other factors. A CB and a OL might both have a hypothetical value of 6.8, but if we need CBs more than OLs, then the CB gets the higher ranking.

What is left is the draft board for the Patriots. It's VERY team specific. Player X, who was great at DE at College ABC, but projects at OLB for the Patriots, is graded AT OLB. They do not give a crap how good a DE he was. If they have serious concerns about him dropping back to cover, then he will get a lower grade. They do not give a rat's ass how he might do for some other team.

They obviously have some kind of system for figuring out what other team's needs/desires/draft history is, because that is important in trackign what other teams might do on draft day. They have moved up before to steal players that they thought might go very soon to a team one or two spots behind where they move up to.

On draft day, if the team has a number of players with very close grades left, and someone offers them a pick if they slide back a few slots, then they move back and say "well, out of all these 6.7 and 6.8 grades, we'll get one of them, and they're so even ti hardly matters."

If one guy is head and shoulders above the rest, and within a "few" ("few" being relative by round -- moving up 3 picks in the first half of the first orund might be more expensive than moving up by 10 picks in the third round) picks, then that guy is "sliding", according to their board. If they're worried another team might pick him up, then they will trade up to grab him, because he's much more valuable than whoever will be left at their original pick once it comes to them.