It took Richard Sherman 154 picks to get selected in the 2011 NFL Draft.
A decade ago, the Stanford product was a fifth-round pick and turned out to be a steal for the Seattle Seahawks. He turned into one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL and helped power the Seahawks' "Legion of Boom" to a Super Bowl title.
But if things had gone differently, he could have landed with the New England Patriots. At least, that's what Sherman was told.
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In a recent piece by Dominique Foxworth of The Undefeated, Foxworth wrote that Sherman's agent told Sherman that the Patriots were deciding between him and another cornerback prospect.
If the Patriots were, in fact, considering Sherman in 2011 but went with Dowling, that ended up being a massive mistake.
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Dowling was, arguably, the most disappointing second-round pick of Bill Belichick's tenure with the team. He was considered to be a potential first-round prospect, but he struggled with injuries during his NFL career and played just 12 games over three NFL years. He had just 10 tackles and one pass breakup with the Patriots.
Meanwhile, Sherman racked up 139 tackles, 20 interceptions, 57 pass defenses, and two First-Team All-Pro awards during the first three years of his career. He has remained an NFL-level starter over the course of the whole decade, and was only interrupted by a couple of pesky injuries.
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Safe to say that if Belichick and the Patriots could do it again, they'd go with Sherman over Dowling. It just goes to show you, there's quite a lot of guesswork and projecting involved when scouting the NFL Draft.
And the Patriots certainly weren't the only team that missed an opportunity to draft Sherman.