5 Rings for Brady!!

First of all, the media really seems to underrate players while they are on the team, but when the players are sought after as free agents, the media decides that that player must be one of the 'star' players on the team. Why else would the player be so sought after by other teams? Why else would the Patriots player be so insulted by a value offer from Bioli? With a little whispering from the player's agent to the Borges types of the media, and bingo, we have a new 'pro-bowl' level guy leaving town. Obviously, that player must be a huge factor on our superbowl team.

Unfortunately for the media, this is not true. Most of our players are good but not great, and all are replaceable except for #12. Every one of them.

The draft is what will keep this team competitive and under the salary cap, along with the saintly players that stay in town for a value offer. Those are the guys that really help us win at the end of the day, by being long term Patriot players, instead of overpaid glamour boys on lesser teams.

ChockBlkr

I think what it comes down to is the organizational philosophy of the New England Patriots. They have a system that, from the top on down, is bought into and followed by every member of the management team. A big part of that system is to keep a solid football team on the field every year. To do that, the team cannot overpay for one player because that would compromise their ability to fill the roster with mid level players now and into the future. So in losing those "big name talents", the Patriots allow themselves to stack the roster with under rated mid level guys, which leads to the "being able to overcome injuries" and the "quality depth" terms being used so often. Whereas other teams may pay their "stars" too much and have their seasons ruined by one injury.

__________________
"He should have knocked him out" - Pepper Johnson, SB 36

alamo

Perhaps so, but he got $6M guaranteed from the Browns, it sounds like they didn't believe he's quite at the end of his career. Clearly they overpaid but don't dismiss McGinest as nothing -- he was put in the same catageory for the Pats years ago by some yet made important contributions recently. You can't say McGinest isn't valuable because of his age yet claim Seau is valuable (as many have done).

A "second string WR" is wrong, he was the #2 WR which is still a starter. And Branch was a #1 WR who others felt was one of the best WRs in the league.

What you described is a normal loss, but what you described is definitely not what we lost, you are not being honest with yourself. We lost more than is normal. (What we lost is normal for a recent SB winner with players looking to cash in, but that's not normal for everyone and has more often than not led to the downfall of those teams).

That doesn't mean I am saying we should have kept them all, I think the team has overall done a very good job of making these choices. But we definitely lost value, and time will tell if we have adequately replaced that value. Right now it looks good, but get back to me after the season for a final judgement.

arrellbee

I am confused about what point you are trying to make. You say they didn't believe he's at the end of his career, but then you say they clearly overpaid ?? ?? And what does how Willie was regarded in past years have anything to do with this year ? And don't forget that Willie's cap number was 65% higher last year than any other linebacker. And his salary portion of the cap was over double any other linebacker. Was he really that much more of a contributor than Bruschi, Vrabel, or Colvin ? I don't think so. So the point was, not that he couldn't very probably be a solid contributor, but that he was also more likely because of age to be less of an impact player than last year - that seems a pretty reasonable assumption. And the bottom line is, of course, that the Patriots simply didn't think his contribution was worth what he could get from the Brown's. Do you really disagree with that ??

But the very definition of 'second string' is that the WR is a #2 WR !! ?? !! And I don't think you can find any media source that says that Branch was one of the top 12 receivers in the league. So you may have a funny definition of 'one of the best' if that means in the neighborhood of 15th to 20th in ranking of WRs.

You really do need to look at what all of the teams lost:
http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/freeagents
and I don't see how you can make that statement. It was actually quite a 'normal' loss comparing to most teams in the league regardless of record.

Yes, we definitely lost 'value' and we definitely got new 'value'. I think your first thought that 'it looks good' would be appropriate. But why did you then copp out and take the cheap 'out' of electing to use hindsight at the end of the season ? Stand up and be counted. Do you think the team is weaker or stronger than last year ? And folks can agree or disagree with you. Personally, I disagree with what seems to be your tone that the team could well be weaker ... but maybe I just don't get your tone correctly.

alamo

I am disputing the original comment "So the team lost two players of real impact, another to pseudo-retirement, and another that was good for two big plays a year." Which clearly downplays what we lost.

If they thought he was at the end of his career they would have offered veteran minimum. Instead they offered $12M over 3 years, of which is guaranteed $7M even if they cut him today. They offered too much, but betterthanthealternative called McGinest's departure "pseudo retirement". We should all retire so well. My point is that clearly at least someone believes McGinest is still an impact player, as your comment "he was also more likely because of age to be less of an impact player than last year" shows you do too.
Not what this thread is about. This thread's point is we didn't lose more than the average team.

The dictionary definition of "second string" is: "Sports. the squad of players available either individually or as a team to replace or relieve those who start a game." Since normally 2 WRs start, by definition the #2 WR is first string. Again, my point is this thread is downplaying the losses to make it seem like we lost almost nothing, which is wrong.

I can find such a source - it's the list of largest WR contracts. Again, downplay him all you want but he was clearly a major loss.

I see the Patriots lost 5 starters (Vinatieri, Branch, Givens, Ashworth and McGinest) all of whom are now making more than $2.5M a year on other teams. Which teams on that free agent list did I miss which lost that many starters to $2.5M+ contracts? Please name them, I scanned the list and didn't see any, maybe I missed them or am just not as familiar with some of those players as you are?