Projo Pats Blog

Who's dumber?

Is it Brandon Tate, the wide receiver from North Carolina who, even though he wasn't going to be able to work out at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in late February because he was recovering from a season-ending knee injury, showed up for interviews and, more importantly, drug testing -- which he reportedly failed, testing positive for marijuana?

Really, how stupid do you have to be, knowing you're going to be tested, yet show up with drugs in your system?

Or is the Patriots, who took him anyway, with what turned out to be their first pick in the third round this morning, who are the truly stupid ones?

The Pats were supposed to pick ninth in the third round, 73rd overall, but dealt that choice to Jacksonville, in exchange for the Jags' seventh-round pick this year and -- in what was the key to the deal -- a second-round choice in 2010.

Or perhaps the Patriots were smart.

If they can keep Tate on the straight-and-narrow, he's a fine football player. Or was, until he tore an anterior cruciate ligament and missed the final seven games of his senior season.

Despite missing so many games, he is the NCAA career leader in combined return yards (kickoffs and punts) with 3,523. In 2006, against Duke, he returned both a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns.

As a receiver, Tate averaged 23.5 yards a catch on 16 receptions, 3 of them for touchdowns. He averaged 19.2 as a junior, when he had 25 catches, 5 of them for TDs.

A positive test at the combine didn't deter the Vikings from selecting wide receiver Percy Harvin, of Florida, with the 22nd pick in the first round Saturday.

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