You can draft well and still miss the point. The Patriots did plenty of tidy work and somehow never got around to edge rusher, which was the need that mattered most.

The cost of the Sturdivant reach is exactly the players who went right after him. McConkey at that cost is the sort of edge that compounds over a roster. Wide receiver is handled and the depth chart looks a good deal healthier for it.

Building through the lines is a philosophy, and they stuck to it.

Bottom line, more hits than misses and a roster nudged the right way.