Free Agency - Taking Care Of Business - New England Patriots Forums

***mgteich*** · 08-10-2011, 10:50 PM

We've had the draft. We're about 2 week into free agency. Let's summarize.

FREE AGENCY PHASE ONE - RE-SIGN OF EXTEND OUR OWN - CHECK!!
Mankins
Light
Green-Elllis
White
G. Warren
Faulk
Morris
McGowan
===========================
PHASE TWO - THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS - SOME QUICK HELP CHECK!!
wide receiver help - Ochocinco
front seven help - Haynsworth, Ellis, A. Carter, Anderson
===========================
CURRENT SITUATION
$11.5M under the cap, not counting Mankins restructure!
We still could use additional front seven and OL help.

farn · 08-10-2011, 11:16 PM

I might be mistaken, but hasn't McGowan been released ?

I agree with your assessment of signing our own - especially in a season where (1) there is limited time and (2) the team is among the favorites to achieve.

To me, the key ones were Light and Mankins. Light came back at limited years and sane money. Some say he may be overrated and whatnot, but I value his play and I think 2010 was more than a solid year for him. As for Mankins : upon his arrival last year, everything changed. Worth the cash.

***jmt57*** · 08-11-2011, 10:42 AM

These aren't random acts, but rather part of a well-executed plan - despite the dire sounds of alarm from some of the folks here.

Kraft credits pre-lockout planning for signings | Tom E. Curran | CSNNE

Quote:

There's no question the looming lockout and the uncapped year had been major considerations for the Patriots front office going back to 2008. Long-term deals taking players through the lockout weren't really executed until last summer when the team signed Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork and Stephen Gostkowski. And once the lockout was settled, it was clear the time was perfect to get Mankins' deal done.

The relative buying spree the team's been on in the past two weeks is, if Kraft is being interpreted correctly, part of a bigger plan.

"Like I tried to explain to you, you can’t sign everyone you want, so you need to plan and I think we did our planning knowing the kind of environment we were coming into and we tried to position ourselves so we had our core veterans and we could continue to sign the people we want to sign," Kraft stated. We very much think that Logan is among the best there is at his position. We drafted him and we want him here."

***MoLewisrocks*** · 08-11-2011, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgteich

We've had the draft. We're about 2 week into free agency. Let's summarize.

FREE AGENCY PHASE ONE - RE-SIGN OF EXTEND OUR OWN - CHECK!!
Mankins
Light
Green-Elllis
White
G. Warren
Faulk
Morris
McGowan
===========================
PHASE TWO - THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS - SOME QUICK HELP CHECK!!
wide receiver help - Ochocinco
front seven help - Haynsworth, Ellis, A. Carter, Anderson
===========================
CURRENT SITUATION
$11.5M under the cap, not counting Mankins restructure!
We still could use additional front seven and OL help.

Mg...please stop perpetuating the faulty cap space baloney. It's been debunked and I'm sure once he gets a minute Miguel will be updating his earlier guesstimate based on new information.

***Gwedd*** · 08-11-2011, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmt57

These aren't random acts, but rather part of a well-executed plan - despite the dire sounds of alarm from some of the folks here.

Kraft credits pre-lockout planning for signings | Tom E. Curran | CSNNE

I missed that article. Thanks for the link and quote!

DaBronxPats14 · 08-11-2011, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farn

I might be mistaken, but hasn't McGowan been released ?

I agree with your assessment of signing our own - especially in a season where (1) there is limited time and (2) the team is among the favorites to achieve.

To me, the key ones were Light and Mankins. Light came back at limited years and sane money. Some say he may be overrated and whatnot, but I value his play and I think 2010 was more than a solid year for him. As for Mankins : upon his arrival last year, everything changed. Worth the cash.

Last time I checked McGowan was released. If we are significately under cap that much GREAT JOB! How is our Safety/Free Players? Should we look into Safety area now on D?

patriot lifer · 08-11-2011, 11:21 AM

In retrospect, I think a lot of us pictured the free agency period featuring a bunch of headless chickens for front offices running amok while the better front offices kept their composure once free agency kicked off and remain relatively quiet. The way it transpired, however, included us making one of the bigger splashes (via trades and not FA albeit) along with the Eagles, while the Jets did their best to retain their own.

It seemed like most teams' goals were to retain their own while many were timid with free agency. Business as usual I suppose.