The 07 draft is Bill Bellichick's biggest failure as a coach and the release of Brandon Meriweather (who immediately signed with the Bears) closes that door. Beyond Meriweather’s 64 regular-season and five postseason games, the Patriots got a grand total of 10 games of service out of eight players from a draft that was held just a presidential term ago.
To be fair they did use the 2,4,7th picks to acquire Randy Moss and Wes Welker, but Kareem Brown (defensive lineman, Miami), Clint Oldenburg (offensive tackle, Colorado State), Justin Rogers (linebacker, Southern Methodist University), Mike Richardson, Justise Hairston (running back, Central Connecticut), Corey Hilliard (offensive tackle, Oklahoma State), and Oscar Lua (linebacker, University of Southern California linebacker) and Mike Elgin (guard-center, Iowa) all failed to do squat.
Meriweather was a good player but he was his worst enemy out there. He tried to free lance, he would do something great then follow it up by 2 boneheaded plays. Remember that BS hit on Todd Heap or when Devin McCourty was chasing a guy and he came flying in and knocked both of them out of the play.
Meriweather was an OK player and it's a joke he was a pro bowler for 2 years, the Patriots now have a serious lack of depth at the safety position. In this one for you Patriots fans, you are just going to have to trust Belichick on this one.