Bedard: Even if Cole Strange is Hall of Famer, hard to justify Patriots taking that position in 1st round of modern NFL

I like to give things space. Even in this day of INSTANT REACTION, I'm decidedly old school. I'm not giving you a take if I don't have one. It's better to be better informed than first. And the stranger the decision, the more oxygen I try to give it so I feel confident I've looked at it from just about every angle.

It's served me well over the balance of my career. I've been far from perfect, especially in the crapshoot that is the NFL Draft, but I think I've gotten better with experience. Always trying to learn. Like NFL players, us hacks are never static. We're either getting better or getting worse. I'm hopeful I've gotten better. I think I have. Who knows?

So after the Patriots' actions and inactions during Thursday night's draft — namely the pick of guard/center Cole Strange — I was fairly stunned at first, to say the least. Then I let it sit for a while. Sent out some league texts to take the temperature. Watched any film I could see. Listened to Bill Belichick talk about the player, asked a couple of questions, including why Belichick picked Strange there instead of 54.

"Yeah, he wouldn't have lasted much longer," Belichick said.

Then I slept on it. Thought about it more. Sent out more texts. Watched more film.

And this is where I am right now...

To start, I'm taking the player completely out of this.

I really like Strange's film, and everyone I've talked to loves the player, thinks he's going to be a starter soon, if not immediately. Frankly, I think he could be an elite, if not all-time, center. Strange's quickness and movement is as good or better than some elite interior players I've studied over the years. His ability on the second level and down the field reminds me of Alex Mack — they're almost the same size — and I LOVED Alex Mack in his prime.

Also for the sake of argument, I'm going to set aside the most In Bill We Trust argument out the mix — I'm conceding that Belichick knocked the pick out of the park and Cole Strange goes on to have a Hall of Fame career, or is at least Logan Mankins.

I'm going to ignore the discussion about what the Patriots need to compete against the Bills, Dolphins and the contenders in the AFC, and that the Patriots should be throwing more assets in the secondary, pass rush and into weapons for Mac Jones. That may happen tonight with multiple picks. I can already hear the argument, "Who cares who we picked first?! If we picked Travis Jones in the first round and picked Strange next, nobody would be sayin' nuttin!"

That could be true.

But setting all of those arguments aside and conceding Strange is on the fast track to Canton ... picking Strange — or any guard/center — in the first round in the modern NFL ... is completely unjustified.

Let me explain, but with multiple examples from your Super Bowl-winning teams:

• I've studied a list of the first-round guards and centers taken since 2005 (posted below), when the Patriots surprised some by taking Logan Mankins at 23 — a somewhat similar selection, but Mankins was more polished and projected higher. According to Stathead's wAV (Weighted Career Approximate Value), Mankins had the best career out of all of them (some, like Zack Martin and Quenton Nelson are still going and could surpass Mankins). 

Mankins, the best guard Belichick ever had, was never part of a Super Bowl-winning team with the Patriots. In fact, they broke through for the first time in 10 years by winning a Super Bowl the same year they ticked off Tom Brady by trading Mankins to Brady's future team.

Mankins was a no-doubt, great player who will be considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Was having a player as great as Mankins a difference-maker for the Patriots?

• When the Patriots hoisted the Lombardi Trophy after the 2014 season — by beating the Legion of Boom Seahawks, by the way — the starters on the interior were LG Dan Connolly (undrafted), C Bryan Stork (rookie, 4th round) and RG Ryan Wendell (undrafted).

• Joe Thuney (third round), Shaq Mason (fourth round) and David Andrews (undrafted) anchored the next two Super Bowl-winning Patriots. 

• Mankins not winning a title was not a one-off among first-round guards and centers. Of those 35 players taken in the past 17 drafts, I'm fairly certain not one of those players won a Super Bowl for his drafted team. I thought Ben Grubbs (Ravens) did in 2012 ... but he actually left the Ravens and signed with the Saints ... so he watched his former team win without him, like Mankins.

Cam Erving won one with the Chiefs.

The Steelers had two players on the same teams — Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro (phenomenal players) — and never won a Super Bowl.

• Bucs G Ali Marpet, a true comp in terms of being from a small school (Hobart) and showing out at the Senior Bowl, won a Super Bowl but was taken 61st overall.

• I certainly have more thoughts on the state of the team and how they do or don't measure up to the other teams they have to compete with. I have some feelings about how this was prime Belichick and was a further illustration that nothing has changed in Foxborough in terms of personnel moves, and in fact things might be worse with the people that surround him.

But I want to see how tonight goes. Belichick could have a plan.

• To me, there is no basis, in terms of modern team-building, to justify taking this position in the first round of the draft. And I'll just leave it there for now.