Crazy Patriot Guy

I think it's a little bit of both but I think it's more of just getting the guys we wanted.

Unless I'm mistaken, we've signed everyone that has (reportedly) visited the team. We haven't spent insane money on any one player and we're still getting them.

People keep speculating that the Patriots are spending all this money for one last push. Well, when was the last time we could franchise a corner, sign 6 players for a first year cap hit of around $15 million and still have $7.5 million left over?

Why did we not do this in recent years? Because we had to restructure players to have $7.5 million total, let alone have that much left over after signing all these people.

People could then point to last year when we didn't make a splash even though we had the money. I think it's false though to assume that we just sat there and did nothing. We needed to save money for a new Branch deal. It didn't work out. We tried to bring Ty Law back but KC offered a little more.

It's a little like this year with teams like Green Bay and Tennessee getting blasted for having tons of cap room but not signing anyone. Did the Titans not have Donte Stallworth in for a visit just a couple of days ago? Right now they have Kevin Curtis in. I've just gotten so tired of the whole mindset that if a player doesn't sign in a certain place it's because the team didn't really try.

Again, I don't think the team has been pushing THAT much harder for free agents this offseason, I think it's simply that we have the money to sign the players we target and we've been fortunate enough to land the players we've targeted.

PATRIOT64

Lets see these guys play together as a team before we speculate that this was or was not a successful FA offseason wouldn't you say?.

Jumping the gun a bit about our expectations which apparently are high becase of the big $$ players can always lead to a downfall and dissapointment

I will get excited if/when we are 4-0 to start the season,then its time to think about Arizona.

Too many FA busts keep my mind in persective of how sometimes you can't put a square peg (player from another team who has done well) in a round hole (that same player on his new team)

BelichickFan

We have won this offseason by a fairly large margin so far IMO. The only team that's maybe close is Denver but their offseason is a little overrated because the trade for Bly just offseason the tragic death of Darrent Williams.

I actually have no idea how we did it. Why did Kelley Washington come here with so much competition ? I have no idea but I'm glad he did. In addition to the actual gains, I bet there's an extra buzz in the weight room starting next week even though the players realize these are only paper gains for now.

I do agree with those that think we overspent on the pick for Welker but even if he was an expensive treat for Belichick, he clearly improves the team - there's worse ways to spend a #2. And we still have the two #2s and comp picks. It's been quite an amazing couple of weeks and there's probably more to come as I expect at least one veteran LB to be signed.

PATRIOT64

Washington won the last several offseasons in FA waters...Where has it got them?

The coaches and F.O. can be as good or bad as they are but the players need to blend well to make it all come together...I don't give a ****** if you have 30 Urlacher type players on defense or 30 Brady like players on offense.

The Colts and Patriots never seem to be big in FA with high priced players but both teams have been in the SB hunt for years now and now because NE is FA crazy all of a sudden thats a cool thing to do?

All I am saying is wait till Adalius or Stallworth are pounding down the proverbial 'NFL Doors' before we assume we have the best team ever built in NFL history,I would not be surprised if a bust or an IR player come out of of our signings,you gotta expect at least 1 or 2 of the ones we signed to be dissapointing at least in 2007.

Crazy Patriot Guy

I didn't make any record predictions with my post. My point was that everyone is saying that we are much more active than in years past in free agency. My opinion is that we've had better success of landing the players we wanted to go along with the extra money we have to spend.

We've always tried to sign free agents. I think this is the first time though we've landed so many of the top targets. It's like major colleges and recruiting. A few prospects decide to go somewhere else, and suddenly your potentially top 5 recruiting class is simply a top 20. It doesn't mean you didn't try.

Thomas could have visted here and left to sign with the 49ers or someone else, with us offering the exact money he signed for. It's the same with Stallworth. Miami could have decided to be insane and match the offer for Welker, assuming they didn't agree to the trade. Then people wouldn't be talking about how active an offseason we've had, they'd be fussing about all the money we have and we're not doing anything with it.

That was my intent, saying that we're not just loading up for one push, we're not deviating from how we won Super Bowls, just that we finally have money to spend like this and unlike last season, are targets are coming here.