Unless you’re drafting in the top 10 it’s unlikely that any player is fully ready to make the jump to the NFL. And potential is a tough term to quantify – some guys have the perfect size and speed but never amount to anything. Others are small and slow and become the greatest slot receivers in NFL history.
So I think you just have to find guys who fit the program. Specifically for the Patriots you need guys who are essentially football nerds.
But there’s also an element of it that is just the great unknown. Imagine if you were to look at all the college accounting majors across the country and asked to project who would be at the top of their field in five years. Sounds kind of ridiculous and impossible, doesn’t it? Well, I don’t think the NFL is all that different, we just have more information to analyze, but at the end of the day, projecting which guys will understand what being a professional means is very tough.
When I look at guys with Pats potential I ask myself is this the kind of player who could play at Navy? Not talent-wise obviously, but that’s where Bill Belichick was raised and I think those kind of players – disciplined, tough, able to push through adversity – are usually the kind that together can form a great TEAM.
That’s what it’s all about ultimately. Making a great team. So whether you’re ready for the NFL right now or just seem to have a bunch of potential, you need to be the kind of teammate that everyone wants to play with, and one who will embrace their role, whatever it may be, and give everything they have.