A Clare Perspective: From ‘Draft Crush’ to ‘Draft Crushed’

And, just like that… I go from ‘Draft crush’ to ‘crushed.’ 

News flash. The Pittsburgh Steelers, STOLE Pat Freiermuth!!! (Gosh darn, Steelers.)

Patriots fans may have rolled their eyes at me as I gushed over my draft crush. Let’s face it…the Patriots (for once!) didn’t especially need a tight end. I would tend to argue that drafting Pat Freiermuth of Penn State would have been an epic investment into the future of Patriots tight endage. However, Coach Bill just didn’t see my reasoning this time. 

(It has been rumoured he and I haven’t been doing okay since he let Ryan Izzo go… but that’s just gossip.)

I mean, fellow fans feel me, right? Okay, not about Freiermuth, but I know for certain that many of you were crushing on Justin Fields. Don’t be shy; we all have a ‘Draft crush.’ In particular, the fantastic sports media people I have the honour of working with even admitted to ‘draft crushes.’ One lovely guy had multiple, but I’m not going to out him here.

As a fan, draft season can be turbulent, traumatic even, and the aftermath, ridiculously anticlimatic. The bottom of pints of ice cream have been found following the Patriots drafting, and let’s not even mention the undrafted free agent absence at the moment.

Now, we like to look at the positive over here at A Clare Perspective… okay it’s just me but you get my vibe, passionate.

Okay, they didn’t take the quarterback that you wanted. I can appreciate the desolate feeling sitting in the pit of your stomach right now. Yep, another year passes and Coach Bill vetoes on the well-stacked wide receiver core. Not only that, he takes defensive players when the offensive line could do with some additions, and well, he picks up a linebacker who will probably have to sit out for his first year due to injury.

However, glass half full (milk, water, ice tea, bourbon… you choose) the Patriots picked up some high quality players; they did what they always do. They went the route they wanted to, and be damned what you think.

And that’s awesome! Okay so the last couple of years have been kinda… off, but heck, how many other sports franchises have been consistently fabulous for not one, but two decades?

We have, dare I say it, a rebuild on our hands here people, and we could be witnessing the next big thing. Sure, maybe not, but I chose to believe the former. There’s a young kid chomping at the bit to be a New England Patriot (I mean who can blame him??) He may not be the mobile guy you were hoping for, but heck, this kid has me excited, and I just hope my enthusiasm comes through, and you feel a bit of it too!

The running back, Rhamondre Stevenson looks like he has the potential to be a beast, and Christian Barmore is a fabulous player at budget(ish) price! They addressed other needs such as offensive tackle with William Sherman, and wide receiver with Tre Nixon, so there’s some fresh young blood there too.

Sure, they might not be the ones you wanted, but hey, let’s not be jealous of the other kids toys, even if they may be better. However do keep in mind that the Patriots purchased themselves some nice new toys in free agency! So, let’s take the good, the bad and the darn right ugly and turn them into faith, hope, positivity and passion!

Bring me the 2021 season and everything that goes with it! Oh, and if you can see fit to send over Pat Freiermuth from the Steelers for some crazy reason… no? Okay, okay, it was worth a shot…or not. Anyways!… Go Pats!

-Clare L Cooper is a special contributor and columnist for Full Press Coverage Patriots and a writer for Pats Propoganda(.com). Her New England Patriots insight can be found @FPC_Patriots and her podcast ‘A Clare Perspective’ can be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker and most places from which you download your podcasts.