Swingline747

Here's why . . .

Patriots are a team that attracts players that want to win a ring. Veteran players from on the team itself as well as from the league have demonstrated they are willing to play for for the Patriots for less than market value.

So now the Patriots have a system in place where they are attracting top talent yet do not have to pay what others would need to pay for it by offering a non-salary cap fringe benefit of having a solid chance at a championship. This reminds me of Microsoft back in the mid '90's and google of today. Those companies didn't pay top dollar in salaries but they gave you stock options that could make you very successful. The Pats don't give you options instead they give you a solid chance of a trophy every year.

So while there will always be a few players that have their 'rings' and now want to get some cash elsewhere they will leave; but the flip side is there is basically an equivalent amount of players with talent that already made their cash and want a trophy. Hence they look towards playing for the Patriots. These are the players that want to win and are required to check their attitude at the door and do exactly as the coach tells them to. And oh yes, Bill much prefers veteran players over younger ones who are smart and can play in his complex schemes.

The only way this formula does not work is if the Patriots don't make a serious push to the championship. Last year they were one play away from another trophy. Even look at the Colts, obviously they won the championship last season, but they lost people and no one really took a big pay cut to go play for them; they came to NE instead.

Kraft is running this organization like a company aspiring to be a monopoly in its industry. Best yet is no other team can even copy this strategy if they don't win the Super Bowl and show consistently each year they are making a deep push.

After another successful season and after we lose a few players to retirement and free agency look carefully at the quality veteran players knocking at the Patriots door. If the veteran players come in and at less then market value . . . a NFL monopoly will have been born with no stopping it in sight.

oldskool138

Who that was on the Colts last year plays for the Pats now?

Interesting point but the Colts are paying the 1A QB in the league and the top WR and TE. Their cap can't support the kind of depth that the Pats have right now. The Pats (usually) don't look for big name players...just roll-players.

BTW, the Pats will be coming up on some cap issues here in the near future.

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BelichickFan

It's no different than it has been. Veterans without a ring like Rodney and Seau will play here at a cheap price - but veterans with rings, like Asante, will leave with their rings and a shrug. It helps bring cheap veterans in but makes it easy for guys like Givens, Branch and Graham to leave.

BionicPatriot

Dude, do you really think all the good vets are gonna come here and ignore all the money? No goddamn way, it didn't happen when we won 3 superbowls, it wont happen now. However, the way some homers on this board can be, just about anyone who walks through the door will be a great vet.

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Defense, defense, defense

ALP

i believe there is something to the theory....and that yes, it can selfsustain...

it is a very brilliant idea....but happens when we need the vet, elite, expensive playmakers?


well have to wait and see eh?

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Last time I lived in New England the Pats became a Dynasty

Then I moved away and they haven't won since

...now I'm moving back, and a Lombardi I predict

PatsFanInVa

All in all we'll have some choices to make between now and '010.

I would not assume that Asante will be one of those choices, though his value to the team may be exceeded by his value on the free market. Last off-season, I was one who very much doubted Asante's worth. He's a proven commodity now, moreso than at the end of 06. That has a value in and of itself. It may be that we make do with a comparatively porous secondary based on what others will pay to bring him on-board. It may also be that the team opens the piggy-bank and Asante's guys come down in their demands (or at least hold even,) to the point where we hire him on long-term, in the "exceptional player" category. We'll have to wait and see what the offseason negotiations bring. We clearly have to get Moss done as well, unless all the happy smiles go away once the season is over and the off-field side begins, and he becomes dead set on an exorbitant deal.

Success did breed success in this off-season, but so did savvy risk-management. We could also phrase this as "guessing right." We indemnified ourselves against the possibility of the Bad Randy, while making the Good Randy an incredible bargain on a one-year basis. Randy got his career jump-started, after he was written off by the league. The Pats half-got and half-made the league's best receiver. Randy will get his ring. All indications are that he and the team will be able to both give a little to get a lot, and keep him on-board.

We can afford both. What we can't afford is both of these guys plus every other luxury out there. Tellya what else: Stallworth will be asked to restructure to stay with the team. Washington will have to do likewise if we even retain him. Gaffney will have to stay relatively cheap. We've locked in Welker to a brilliant deal, from the team's point of view. He's cheap for the long haul.

The sky's not falling, and we're not going into some kind of endless feedback loop of super bowls either. Last season was a perfect storm. Everybody suddenly wanted to join the team and get us another ring. The previous season, people were making snide remarks like "sure I could play for the Patriots for five dollars." Fashionable attitudinal trends are not going to be a panacea for the Patriots.

We've all talked about how the Pats replenish linebackers through free agency. Well, as free agency options get constrained, it becomes that much more incumbent on the Belichick/Pioli FA brain trust to get FA bargains especially at LB. It will be great if drafted linebacker talent ever becomes a big part of the mix, but so far no good (unless you go back to Parcell/Grier.)

It is what it is, to coin a phrase

PFnV

oldskool138

Wow! '010 is like in 1,000 years! That is a long time.

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PatsFanInVa

Blink of an eye, m'boy, blink of an eye... same period of time since our last Lombardi Trophy. I still have trouble when someone refers to the Colts as the "champs"... sounds weird LOL

oldskool138

No it really! 10010 or 20010 (abbreviated '010) is a long ways from now. They probably won't have football that far in the future.

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"You're all a bunch yahoos, hero worshipers and gutless suck-ups." - Tony Massarotti

KoolAidDrinker

I've thought the same thing, but could not have put it in words as well as this. This is a masterful salary-cap strategy and the Pats appear to be the only team capable of executing it in this era.

I'm shocked that the illustrious "mediots" haven't figured this out yet!

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"It Is What It Is!"