Patriots almost picked Sopoaga in 2004 draft
Minutes before Tuesday's trading deadline, the Patriots added defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga to address concerns with their interior line and ability to stop the run without Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo. According to Bill Belichick, Sopoaga was almost a Patriot nearly a decade ago coming out of college (Quote from NESN.com):
Bill went on to state that based on how his career has unfolded, Sopoaga has proven to be a first round talent. It's tough to say what the team is getting in Sopoaga, who was labeled by some in Philadelphia as an underachiever. The Patriots have struck out in recent history trying to add older, talented defensive line pieces (Fanene, Haynesworth). This past off-season, there were media reports that they were getting a "first-round pick" in Armond Armstead from the CFL. He is yet to see the field.
On the bright side, Tommy Kelly has proven to be a nice pick-up for the team at that position, although he is dealing with a knee injury right now, and will miss this Sunday's game vs. Pittsburgh. Sopoaga is a similar player, and can hopefully help shore up a unit that has struggled in recent weeks, despite valiant efforts from rookies Chris Vellano and Chris Jones.
@LiamPCunningham
@PatriotsLife
“Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. We talked about taking him and we were going to take him and we were just a round late,” Belichick said. “But we’d already taken Vince [Wilfork] obviously. But you can never have too many defensive linemen. That was kind of the conversation. He was right there. We were ready to take him. We said, ‘Well, you know, we can get him one round earlier.’ We’d already taken a couple guys and we probably waited a little bit too long on that one.”
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| Getty Images via ESPN.com |
Bill went on to state that based on how his career has unfolded, Sopoaga has proven to be a first round talent. It's tough to say what the team is getting in Sopoaga, who was labeled by some in Philadelphia as an underachiever. The Patriots have struck out in recent history trying to add older, talented defensive line pieces (Fanene, Haynesworth). This past off-season, there were media reports that they were getting a "first-round pick" in Armond Armstead from the CFL. He is yet to see the field.
On the bright side, Tommy Kelly has proven to be a nice pick-up for the team at that position, although he is dealing with a knee injury right now, and will miss this Sunday's game vs. Pittsburgh. Sopoaga is a similar player, and can hopefully help shore up a unit that has struggled in recent weeks, despite valiant efforts from rookies Chris Vellano and Chris Jones.
@LiamPCunningham
@PatriotsLife
