Bill Belichick held his annual pre-draft press conference this morning, and boy was he enlightening.

The Patriots normally secretive coach openly discussed draft strategy, broke down the strength’s and weaknesses of specific players and ran down a list of trades available to the team should they decide to move up or down a few spots.

In case my sarcasm didn’t give it away, this is one yearly Patriots tradition I don’t mind skipping out on. Reporters poke and prod, looking for the slightest hint about who the Pats will select in the first round, questions which the Pats coach dodges more artfully than a Charles Dickens character. Belichick and Scott Pioli then pull a Logan Mankins, Ben Watson or Daniel Graham out of the hat, leaving every New England draft watcher wondering; who dat?

Still, there were a couple of interesting thoughts about this particular draft class. For one, Belichick thinks the players at the top of the board are less accomplished or have had less opportunity to prove themselves than guys from years past. This is surprising when you consider big names like Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Vince Young are atop most boards. I doubt he's talking about them, so I think this shows how much BB thinks of the non-skill position players available.

He does think this class of linebackers is pretty deep for the type of player the Pats require in their system. He also doesn’t think an injury like the one LenDale White is battling affects where he’s taken, provided it’s not a Willis McGahee type injury that forces one to miss a significant amount of time. And when asked about his preference for “big� running backs, BB said; “I wouldn’t rule out anybody. Reggie Bush, I think he could play for us.�

So with all that valuable info now available to you Mel Kiper wannabes, what do you think the Patriots should do with their first round pick? Trade up? Down? Out? Stay where they are? Any specific players you’d like to see?