Since Pioli was not completely in charge of Pro Personnel with New England until 2001 we will start there with the analysis.

2001 Draft
Round 1    Richard Seymour    Defensive Tackle    Georgia
Round 2    Matt Light    Offensive Tackle    Purdue
Round 4    Kenyatta Jones    Offensive Guard    South Florida
Round 4    Jabari Holloway    Tight End    Notre Dame
Round 5    Hakim Akbar    Safety    Washington
Round 6    Arthur Love     Tight End    S. Carolina State
Round 6    Leonard Myers    Cornerback    Miami (FL)
Round 7    Owen Pochman    Kicker    BYU
Round 7    TJ Turner    Linebacker    Michigan State

2001 Notable Offseason Moves
Pioli signed Bryan Cox, Mike Vrabel, David Patten and Larry Izzo in 2001.  He also resigned Drew Bledsoe to a restructured long term deal that became a non factor after Bledsoe was hurt and Tom Brady stepped in.

2002

2002 Draft
Round 1    Daniel Graham    Tight End    Colorado
Round 2    Deion Branch    Wide Receiver    Louisville
Round 4    Rohan Davey    Quarterback     LSU
Round 4    Jarvis Green    Defensive End    LSU
Round 7    Antwoine Womack    Running Back    Virginia
Round 7    David Givens    Wide Receiver    Notre Dame

2002 Notable Offseason Moves
In 2002 Piloi did his best to bolster the Patriots defense by signing Rosevelt Colvin from the Chicago Bears.  Pioli also made a splash by signing safety Rodney Harrison who has become an emotional leader on the defense.  This was also the year the he traded Drew Bledsoe to the Buffalo Bills for a 2003 draft pick, officially giving the reigns to Tom Brady.

2003

2003 Draft
Round 1    Ty Warren     Defensive Tackle    Texas A&M
Round 2    Eugene Wilson    Cornerback    Illinois
Round 2    Bethel Johnson    Wide Receiever    Texas A&M
Round 4    Dan Klecko    Defensive Tackle    Temple
Round 4    Asante Samuel    Cornerback    Central Florida
Round 5    Dan Koppen    Center    Boston College
Round 6    Kliff Kingsbury    Quarterback    Texas Tech
Round 7    Spencer Nead    Tight End    BYU
Round 7    Tully Banta-Cain    Linebacker    California
Round 7    Ethan Kelley    Defensive Tackle    Baylor

2003 Notable Offseason Moves
Pioli made one notable trade in 2003 by trading a second round pick to the Bengals for running back Corey Dillon.  This was interesting because Dillon was considered to be a locker room cancer and a malcontent. However, he worked out in the Patriots culture for two seasons.

2004

2004 Draft
Round 1    Vince Wilfork    Defensive Tackle    Miami (FL)
Round 1    Ben Watson    Tight End    Georgia
Round 2    Marquise Hill    Defensive End    LSU
Round 3    Guss Scott    Safety     Florida
Round 4    Dexter Reid     Safety    North Carolina
Round 4    Cedric Cobbs    Running Back    Arkansas
Round 5    P.K. Sam    Wide Reciever    Florida State
Round 7    Christian Morton    Cornerback    Florida State

2004 Notable Offseason Moves
Pioli was not very busy in 2004.  The only notable signing was the resigning of Kevin Faulk

2005

2005 Draft
Round 1    Logan Mankins    Offensive Guard    Fresno State
Round 3    Ellis Hobbs    Cornerback    Iowa State
Round 3    Nick Kaczur    Offensive Tackle     Toledo
Round 4    James Sanders     Safety     Fresno State
Round 5    Ryan Claridge    Linebacker    UNLV
Round 7    Matt Cassel    Quarterback    USC
Round 7    Andy Stokes     Tight End    William Penn

2005 Notable Offseason Moves
Pioli made very few notable offseason moves in 2005.  Coming off of a Super Bowl victory in 2004 there were very few holes to fill.  Pioli stayed pat with the team and resigned almost all of the key players including Troy Brown, Adam Vinatieri and David Givens.  He also made moves to cut cap space by cutting Ty Law and letting Joe Andruzzi walk away in free agency.  Pioli also gave Tom Brady and Richard Seymour contract extensions.

2006

2006 Draft
Round 1    Lawrence Maroney    Running Back    Minnesota
Round 2    Chad Jackson    Wide Reciever     Florida
Round 3    David Thomas     Tight End     Texas
Round 4    Garrett Mills     Tight End    Tulsa
Round 4    Stephen Gostkowski    Kicker    Memphis
Round 5    Ryan O’Callaghan    Offensive Tackle    California
Round 6    Jeremy Mincey    Defensive End    Florida
Round 6    Dan Stevenson    Offensive Guard    Notre Dame
Round 6    Le Kevin Smith    Defensive Tackle     Nebraska
Round 7    Willie Andrews    Cornerback    Baylor

2006 Notable Offseason Moves
In 2006 Pioli signed free agents Reche Caldwell and Junior Seau.  He neglected to resign Adam Vinatieri  and David Givens.  He also cut aging linebacker Willie McGinest.  The most notable move was trading former second round pick Dieon Branch to the Seattle Seahawks for a first round selection in the 2007 draft.

2007

2007 Draft
Round 1    Brandon Meriweather    Safety    Miami (FL)
Round 4    Kareem Brown    Defensive End    Miami (FL)
Round 5    Clint Oldenburg    Offensive Tackle     Colorado State
Round 6    Justin Rogers    Linebacker     SMU
Round 6    Mike Richardson    Cornerback    Notre Dame
Round 6    Justise Harrison    Running Back    Central Connecticut ST
Round 6    Corey Hilliard    Offensive Guard    Oklahoma State
Round 7    Oscar Lua    Linebacker    USC
Round 7    Mike Elgin    Center    Iowa

2007 Notable Offseason Moves
2007 was a big offseason year for Pioli.  He traded a 2007 second and seventh round picks to the Miami Dolphins for Wes Welker and then signed him a five-year deal.   He then traded a 2008 fourth round pick to the Oakland Raiders for Randy Moss and convinced Moss to take a $6 million pay cut to sign a long term deal with the Patriots.  Pioli also added Donte Stallworth, Sammy Morris and Adalius Thomas through free agency.  For all his hard work the Patriots finished 16-0 and were the most productive offense in NFL history.

2008

2008 Draft
Round 1    Jared Mayo    Linebacker    Tennessee
Round 1    Selection Forfeited    **********    **********
Round 2    Terrence Wheatley    Cornerback    Colorado
Round 3    Shawn Crable     Linebacker    Michigan
Round 3    Kevin O’Connell    Quarterback    San Diego State
Round 4    Jonathan Wilhite    Cornerback    Auburn
Round 5    Matthew Slater    Safety     UCLA
Round 6    Bo Ruud    Linebacker    Nebraska

2008 Notable Offseason Moves
Pioli was very quiet after a busy 2007 offseason.  He refused to resign Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel for the huge contract he was looking for and let him walk away to the Philadelphia Eagles.  He also resigned Teddy Bruschi.

Looking at this objectively, Pioli comes from a great organization and I am sure he is a very influential person in shaping the culture of the Patriots.  However, is you are strictly looking at his drafts and offseason moves he has not been outstanding in getting Pro Bowl caliber players.  First, he has always been picking toward the end of each round because the Patriots have been successful.   So, many casual football fans can’t really see the genius behind what Pioli has actually accomplished. 

If you think of a football team in like a machine with 22 different parts and each part does its job to make the machine work you can see his impact.  On offense seven of the 11 starters from this year were either drafted or acquired in trades by Pioli.  Obviously, the entire roster has his imprint on it because he has been there for seven years. 

What says a lot about how Pioli operates is his terms of talent evaluation and realizing simply throwing money at a player in free agency isn't the best way to go about things. 

On defense it is the same thing, six of the 11 starters were drafted.  In fact, their entire defensive line starters and back ups were drafted by Pioli.  You can probably say the same thing with a lot of personnel executives, but the difference with Pioli is that he gets the RIGHT guy.

He has been working at getting the right players for the 3-4 defense for seven years.  As we have seen in Cleveland, you have to have the right guys in place to make this work.  Much of what the Patriots have done right — drafting lineman on both sides of the ball that fit the system — the Browns have done wrong.  The Browns scrambled in the offseason to find talent on defense and gave up players and picks to get it.  Pioli has simply taken what he has been given and made the picks that fit as parts in his machine.

Also, Piloi has only once had less than seven picks in the draft and four times he has had nine or more picks.  He doesn’t mortgage the future for unproven players or people that he thinks he can replace for a cheaper price at the same output.  Asante Samuel is a great example. He could have thrown money at him, but instead decided to let him go and draft a player that is less expensive and almost as effective.  If the Patriots are a Ferrari, Asante Samuel was the leather seats that he liked, but he knew cloth seats would do just fine.

Lastly, if the Browns do sign Pioli, we will most certainly end up with Josh McDaniels as the head coach.  I am comfortable with that because they have worked together and two people with the same beliefs in how to build a winner is always better than one.  They are both young and ready for a new challenge and I believe that is exactly what this Browns team needs — hard work and an indentity.