The Patriots are probably the luckiest post-cap team in the NFL. They managed to fill the most expensive, hardest to fill, position by a sixth round draft pick that is unselfish. The biggest reason for the Patriot's dominance over the past seven years or so is Tom Brady. Don't give me the nonsense that Belichick is some sort of genius. If that is the case, he'd have draft Brady earlier than the sixth round to ensure that no one else got him. Being able to draft your starting quarterback in the six round is an advantage of epic propotions. Even if Brady were only good instead of great, it would still be a huge advantage. On top of that Brady is not (as) selfish. He should be the highest paid player in football and yet he realizes that in order to win Super Bowls he can't be. The worst possible situation is having to draft your starting quarterback #1 overall like the Raiders and Colts. Sure, Manning is great but the biggest reason for the Colts struggle is that they cannot consistently assemble a running game and now are lacking receivers and that is a direct result of having to pay an enormous chunk for Manning.
The NFL really must address rookie salaries. They need a one or two year set salary schedule for rookies based on draft position and play position. That would enable struggling teams to actually improve. As it is now, drafting in the top 10 is only good for every pick after the first round.
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