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.... God this off season just gets better and better.
1. I almost didn't listen to BB's interview on weei the other day, because I didn't think I was in the mood to listen to a half hour of world class obsfucation. However I was pleasantly surprised at how forthcoming he was about the Cassel and Peppers situations. Here is my interpretation of what he said.
Cassel - Clearly the Pats were constrained by their cap situation, so the had to move Matt sometime within the first 2 or 3 days of FA or they would be completely hamstrung to accomplish the rest of what they needed to do to improve the team. One of the things I don't think that people understand is that ANYTHING we got for Matt Cassel was a bonus, since he was in the last year of his contract. The good news is that the Pats has a shot at getting at least something was using the Franchise Tag. The bad news is that THIS particular year using that tag brought us right up to the cap, so we could only keep Cassel on the team for a few days, IF we were going to make some of the other moves that would improve the team. Teams KNEW this well before the draft. They all knew that the Pats HAD to make a quick deal, and that's not good for the Pats negotiating stance.
Bottom line KC was ready with a deal. The 34th pick most likely gives the Pats a guy with a first round Grade, and KC picks up the risk of signing Cassel to a long term contract, and paying him a GUARATEED $14.6MM. None of the other teams came close to that deal. BB was clear that at the time they had KC's offer in hand there were NO OTHER DEALS on the table. All there was were vague inuendos and rumors of "possible" deals. Bottom line a bird in the hand.....
PEPPERS - The thing I got was that there CANNOT be a trade for Peppers....to any team... until he signs his Franchise Tender. I'm SURE that most of us didn't know that little fact. The Bottom Line here is that it is kind of useless to even SPECULATE about a possible Peppers trade until we see a new wire announcement that Peppers has signed his Tender. IF that happens before the Draft......THEN I would bet that within 24-48 hrs, Peppers will be dealt....maybe even to the Pats, but I have already made myself clear on how I would feel about that.
2. I don't see any scenerio where the Pats keep more than 5 rookies on the final 53 man roster, so it will be very interesting to see how Bill uses those 12 picks to get those 5 players. One of the interesting things he said in his interview was the the difference between picking at 23 over 34 is NOT that you will get a better athlete, but that you have more OPTIONS on who that athlete IS. A nice subtle BB observation. Personally I'd LOVE to see him use those bottom 6 picks to move up in the draft to insure they not only get 5-6 great athletes, but they get the guys they want the most.
3. This is day 17 of the Jason Taylor watch. Somehow I think this may go right up to training camp. Jason usually works out on his own in the off season, so he might want to avoid signing with a team early, so he can avoid all the off season workout programs and mini camps. If he signed now he may feel obligated to participate.
4. Its not the speed, but the ACCELERATION that is what I'm looking for in our draft picks. I think the 40 yd dash is the most OVERRATED stat. Its not how fast you can run 40 yds, its how fast you can get to your TOP speed. Thats what made Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice so good. ACCELERATION = SEPARATION, both on the offense AND defense. No discussion of a draft pick should be made WITHOUT looking at a players 10 yd split, and cone drill times. Speed is nice, ACCELERATION is nicer.
5. Could someone put a list of all the best Safety prospects for me. I think I read about a 6'4" 200+ CB who might make an awesome S.
6. The more I think on it, the more I think the Pats might use one of their first 4 picks on a WR - a big one (Harbin, from MD comes to mind)
7. I heard that the NFL was looking into changing the draft order, so that teams that made the playoffs wouldn't be drafting before teams that didn't. If it comes to pass I think it would mean the Pats would draft at #20 instead of 23. What are the chances of that happening for this draft.
1. I almost didn't listen to BB's interview on weei the other day, because I didn't think I was in the mood to listen to a half hour of world class obsfucation. However I was pleasantly surprised at how forthcoming he was about the Cassel and Peppers situations. Here is my interpretation of what he said.
Cassel - Clearly the Pats were constrained by their cap situation, so the had to move Matt sometime within the first 2 or 3 days of FA or they would be completely hamstrung to accomplish the rest of what they needed to do to improve the team. One of the things I don't think that people understand is that ANYTHING we got for Matt Cassel was a bonus, since he was in the last year of his contract. The good news is that the Pats has a shot at getting at least something was using the Franchise Tag. The bad news is that THIS particular year using that tag brought us right up to the cap, so we could only keep Cassel on the team for a few days, IF we were going to make some of the other moves that would improve the team. Teams KNEW this well before the draft. They all knew that the Pats HAD to make a quick deal, and that's not good for the Pats negotiating stance.
Bottom line KC was ready with a deal. The 34th pick most likely gives the Pats a guy with a first round Grade, and KC picks up the risk of signing Cassel to a long term contract, and paying him a GUARATEED $14.6MM. None of the other teams came close to that deal. BB was clear that at the time they had KC's offer in hand there were NO OTHER DEALS on the table. All there was were vague inuendos and rumors of "possible" deals. Bottom line a bird in the hand.....
PEPPERS - The thing I got was that there CANNOT be a trade for Peppers....to any team... until he signs his Franchise Tender. I'm SURE that most of us didn't know that little fact. The Bottom Line here is that it is kind of useless to even SPECULATE about a possible Peppers trade until we see a new wire announcement that Peppers has signed his Tender. IF that happens before the Draft......THEN I would bet that within 24-48 hrs, Peppers will be dealt....maybe even to the Pats, but I have already made myself clear on how I would feel about that.
2. I don't see any scenerio where the Pats keep more than 5 rookies on the final 53 man roster, so it will be very interesting to see how Bill uses those 12 picks to get those 5 players. One of the interesting things he said in his interview was the the difference between picking at 23 over 34 is NOT that you will get a better athlete, but that you have more OPTIONS on who that athlete IS. A nice subtle BB observation. Personally I'd LOVE to see him use those bottom 6 picks to move up in the draft to insure they not only get 5-6 great athletes, but they get the guys they want the most.
3. This is day 17 of the Jason Taylor watch. Somehow I think this may go right up to training camp. Jason usually works out on his own in the off season, so he might want to avoid signing with a team early, so he can avoid all the off season workout programs and mini camps. If he signed now he may feel obligated to participate.
4. Its not the speed, but the ACCELERATION that is what I'm looking for in our draft picks. I think the 40 yd dash is the most OVERRATED stat. Its not how fast you can run 40 yds, its how fast you can get to your TOP speed. Thats what made Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice so good. ACCELERATION = SEPARATION, both on the offense AND defense. No discussion of a draft pick should be made WITHOUT looking at a players 10 yd split, and cone drill times. Speed is nice, ACCELERATION is nicer.
5. Could someone put a list of all the best Safety prospects for me. I think I read about a 6'4" 200+ CB who might make an awesome S.
6. The more I think on it, the more I think the Pats might use one of their first 4 picks on a WR - a big one (Harbin, from MD comes to mind)
7. I heard that the NFL was looking into changing the draft order, so that teams that made the playoffs wouldn't be drafting before teams that didn't. If it comes to pass I think it would mean the Pats would draft at #20 instead of 23. What are the chances of that happening for this draft.
