JSn

I believe the technical term is "aftcognisance."

It's true, they seem to be winning the off-season "awesome" award.

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VJCPatriot

This year's free agent signings has been very, very impressive for the Pats. It's pretty obvious that this is maybe their best offseason since 2001. And that's BEFORE we even get to the draft. These are exciting times for Pats fans.

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carolinatony

"Also, the FO doesn't seem to have missed a beat w/o Pioli. Reese seems to have slipped right in."



This is the really good news! The BB ..I mean beat goes on:-)

ausbacker

I agree with the sentiments of posters around here in that the past few weeks have been a barrage of commentary trying to explain the perceived lack of value for Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel the Patriots got, the value I stress once more. This is on the back of the Broncos-Buccaneers-Patriots 3 way proposal too.

By no means was this obvious at the point in time, but astute posters mentioned early that the Patriots were going to go on a spree this off-season, more likely targeting big name free agents, rather than the savvy and lewd targeted needs acquisition spree we've gone on.

So no.. the OP hasn't pointed out anything obvious and in fact probably done the opposite.

Deus Irae

Had the deal been done 24-36 hours later, the "spree" would have been the same. The only possible loss, assuming reports regarding dates of signing are correct, would be Baker. I'm not going to wade into the whole "But...." thing again, I'm just pointing out the signing dates.

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PatsWickedPissah

And some VERY astute posters (not me) pointed out that this yr Kraft/BB would make several FA plays and then use the uncapped year 2010 to spend money on proven vets for re-signing. I have NO problem with the pick for Cassel and the recent signings, even if some don't make the 53.

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mayoclinic

Only a few weeks ago, many on this board were essentially taking the opinion that we couldn't afford to go after any signings in FA, but merely needed to address our own FAs and go after extensions. A few weeks before that, many were debating whether we would actually franchise Matt Cassel. So we've gone from tremendous uncertainty to a nearly complete roster in about 5 weeks. Very impressive. Of course we have failed to extend any of our major players, but I think you have to give the FO the benefit of the doubt and assume that they would never sacrifice the core of the team without a solid long-term plan.

There are very few major holes in the prospective roster at this time. Safety could use a bit more depth and possibly an upgrade over Sanders. LB could still use some attention. But we have essentially gone from a team with no cap space and a number of big holes to a team which is stronger than 2008 in almost every area extremely quickly.

I hope Scott Pioli is doing as well in Kansas City.

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ausbacker

Agreed Deus, i was more giving rise to the fact that some people flew off the bush saying the Patriots pulled the trigger to early and could have gotten more for Cassel + Vrabel (which we may have) and that the Patriots looked silly. The move the Patriots made didn't bother me in the slightest for several reasons mentioned elsewhere.

That's right. The barrage of negative commentary was amazing and given the Patriots past performances in the offseason, some people still failed to recognize that we have the best FO and there was a plan from the beginning.

eom

I believe the rumor is that the pats had bodden in on the first day of free agency and offered him 4m/yr --- how does that happen w/o the cassel deal?

I don't even know why people are crying about that deal.
I have a feeling all the people saying kc ripped us off will be saying we ripped kc off by the end of the year.

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JoeSixPat

It is interesting - especially considering how quiet some other teams have been in free agency.... none of these are blockbuster moves, but they all seem to have a high quality, low risk quotient in terms of salary.

Now the question is, whether they'll move on to extend Wilfork - I'd think even after this spending spree there might be some ability to restructure contracts to work in the space this season - but I'm unclear how the expiration of the CBA affects such flexibility