SammyBlueCat

He may get excited after winning a few games. No?

VJCPatriot

BB didn't think so.

Bruschi's base salary is only 1.9M. Whereas Vrabel costs more than double that. Bruschi plays inside lineback, where lack of speed hurts him less as well.

Vrabel brought lots to the team, 2 years ago. Going forward he's a 34 year old OLB who's lost that step he needs to get around the offensive linemen. That doesn't improve the team, and is certainly NOT cost effective at nearly 5M dollars.

The Pats will only be paying Burgess' 2M base salary in 2009. So the REAL question is - Does the Pats saving nearly 3M dollars in cap room and upgrading Vrabel with a younger 30 year old OLB justify the price of a 3rd round pick in 2010 and a 5th rounder in 2011? Only time will tell for sure, but initially this looks like a good pickup.

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patsfan-1982

winning all way's help's

that and aftter sapp and washington wher gone he's sack number's

went way down with the pats he has AD and seymour so he wont be the only passrusher

he is geting up there in age and would like one more big pay day

so he will play for the pats on a one year 2mil deal

and who knows he may get 7 or 8 sacks and play will

and maybe a uncaped year in 2010 he could get some good money from the pats or some outher team

JoeShmoe

Im not sure where the beef is

We have 4 first day picks next year and good ol' Bill will likely trade down and down, take a few he wants and stockpile for 2011 again

We have a legitimate SB chance as usual if TB stays healthy - the one thing we are missing is help with the pass rush. This addresses that so its all good

Dagg

Vrabel is way to slow and has been declining for a few years. Our lack of pressure lead to our fairly weak secondary getting exposed big time last year.

Burress is definatley an upgrade over Vrabel for the 2009 season as someone else mentioned. Stats dont tell the entire story how is burgress supposed to get sacks when teams are merely running out the c,lock on oakland. Here he will be pinning his ears back as team try to come from behind.

We needed help and we got it I am excited as this was the one glaring hole defensively as the secondary has already been improved via FA.

robertweathers

Check this out. Interesting stuff..

Pats O finished #1 in offensive plays last year, 1sts downs, 4th in rushing attempts and 3rd in time of possession.

The pass D finished 24th in YPP, 16th in comp %, 15th in INTs, 2nd in 40+ ypp 24 in 3rd down % allowed and 22nd in Qb rtng and

They acutally finished 7th in fewest 1st downs per-game.

My contention is that BB protected the D b/c he didn't trust it to make stops.
It was 2002 all over again.

My .02$

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“I'm not really concerned about the other 31 teams,” - Bill Belichick

"If a player has talent and doesn't succeed, that means that they either don't want to be successful or I have failed as a coach." - Bill Belichick

The 12th Man

BB didn't know who would replace Vrabel at the time.

Vrabel's BASE salary would have been only 2.2M, not much more than Bruschi's. Cap hit would have been about 4.2M, while Bruschi's is 2.6M, but by trading Vrabel, we still have 1M cap hit from his bonus money.

Like I said, the cap hit would have been 4.2M and 1M is was already commited. Plus, we get a guy in return who is only 3 years younger. Don't you think Burgess is on the decline too? Or is 34 much older than 31 for LBs.

THE PATS ONLY SAVED 1.2M DOLLARS, NOT 3M. And again, Vrabel turns 34 a couple days after Burgess turns 31. 3 years difference, 1 yr contract too.

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"If you never try, you'll never know."

Patriot_in_NY

Listen dude, I love Vrabs as much as anyone, and I'm a pretty well documented homer around these parts, and I gotta say.....

Your not doing much for your "credible arguement" by saying that. Much as the guy will be beloved around here, no fukcing chance he was worth 4.5 M to the cap. NONE.

Lets ask Randy Moss.

The 12th Man

Do you think Jarvis Green is worth the 5.4M cap he has this year? What about Seymour's 9.8M cap? Green is not even an every down linemen. Why didn't we trade Green or Seymour with 1 yr left on their contracts and make a push for Pepper or someone of that calibur? (I think it would actually be about 4.2M for Vrabel but I could be wrong).

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"If you never try, you'll never know."

patsfan-1982

will vrabel was to slow to be a passrusher any more

and to keep him around at 4million a year just to be a goalline TE make's no sence

and to trade seymour one of the best DL in the NFL for peppers and then pay him 17 million a year for a OLB who hes never even played OLB ?


peppers best year 51 tackels and 14.5 sacks at DE


burgess best year 57 tackels and 16 sacks at 3-4 OLB


im not saying he's better then peppers but at lest he played in a 3-4 at OLB

and we dont have to give up our best DL and draft picks and 17 million a year

and burgess is faster and a better passrusher and cost less then vrabel