Pats ahead of the curve on recruiting UDFAs?

[ctpatsfan77]

A tidbit from Reiss:

9. Heard in the Gillette press box Thursday night among scouts: In the competition for rookie free agents, the Patriots took the aggressive step of guaranteeing parts of base salaries for them. Linebacker Jeff Tarpinian (Iowa), defensive end/outside linebacker Aaron Lavarias (Idaho) and offensive lineman Mike Berry (Auburn) apparently fell into that category. One of the risks is when a player gets injured, as happened with Berry, who opened camp on the non-football injury list and was later waived.

Not sure if it's just against injury, or against skill and injury, but that's rather interesting.

FWIW, the new CBA limits what teams can do with UDFAs in two ways: the UDFA rookie contract must be exactly three years long, and each team is limited to an aggregate of $75,000 in signing bonuses for UDFAs.

 

[jmt57]

In the past few years I got the distinct impression that the Patriots paid their UDFA and Practice Squad players a bit more than most other NFL teams; part of Belichick's roster-building philosophy of our now #20 player being better than your #20 player; our #40 > your #40, our #53 > your #53, etc.

At first I thought the new rule of a maximum of $75k to UDFAs may be an impediment, but that doesn't appear to be the case at this point in time. I really don't understand what the rationale was in implementing that rule, especially when you consider what a relatively small amount of money that is relative to an NFL team's entire operating budget.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Dane Fletcher
Gary Guyton
Kyle Arrington
BJGE

There's 4 UDFA's that should have a significant role on our team this year.

so yeah, I'd say we're ahead of the curve in recruiting UDFA.

 

[doesntmatter1]

I feel that we are ahead of the curve when it comes to finding special teams players. For the most part I feel that great special team players correlate to great players overall.

Special teams is an underated part of the game(ask Chargers,Steelers, Dolphins) but it is the easiest way to see if a player is disciplined in doing their job with lane assignments and their physical abilities are shown because you have to use proper blocking techniques or its going to get flagged etc and all of this is happening at full speed.

If a rookie or free agent can do this at a high level then most of the time they can be used in some other capacity. The perfect example is kyle arrington. He made the squad by his st ability alone. His solid ST play translated to the defense and now he is seeing time as a db and occasional rusher.

 

[Urgent]

I feel that we are ahead of the curve when it comes to finding special teams players. For the most part I feel that great special team players correlate to great players overall.

Special teams is an underated part of the game(ask Chargers,Steelers, Dolphins) but it is the easiest way to see if a player is disciplined in doing their job with lane assignments and their physical abilities are shown because you have to use proper blocking techniques or its going to get flagged etc and all of this is happening at full speed.

If a rookie or free agent can do this at a high level then most of the time they can be used in some other capacity. The perfect example is kyle arrington. He made the squad by his st ability alone. His solid ST play translated to the defense and now he is seeing time as a db and occasional rusher.

While Arrington is a good example of special teams players making the jump to offense or defense, there have probably been more Larry Izzo, Matthew Slater, JeRod Cherry, Tracy White, Eric Alexander types. Often the Patriots find players who can play ST at a high level, but cannot succeed in some other capacity. And value them.

 

[BlitzFritz]

and mike wright.

-- FRITZ

Dane Fletcher
Gary Guyton
Kyle Arrington
BJGE

There's 4 UDFA's that should have a significant role on our team this year.

so yeah, I'd say we're ahead of the curve in recruiting UDFA.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

In the past few years I got the distinct impression that the Patriots paid their UDFA and Practice Squad players a bit more than most other NFL teams; part of Belichick's roster-building philosophy of our now #20 player being better than your #20 player; our #40 > your #40, our #53 > your #53, etc.

In years past, they have gone so far as to pay full salary to players on the PS (Billy Yates comes to mind).

At first I thought the new rule of a maximum of $75k to UDFAs may be an impediment, but that doesn't appear to be the case at this point in time. I really don't understand what the rationale was in implementing that rule, especially when you consider what a relatively small amount of money that is relative to an NFL team's entire operating budget.

I think it was to prevent ridiculous bidding wars for UDFAs; to be honest, I can't see a good reason for it, either.

 

[nnmnmmnn]

Dane Fletcher
Gary Guyton
Kyle Arrington
BJGE

There's 4 UDFA's that should have a significant role on our team this year.

so yeah, I'd say we're ahead of the curve in recruiting UDFA.

How does that compare to other teams? I honestly do not know... How do we compare?

 

[Bill B.]

Dane Fletcher
Gary Guyton
Kyle Arrington
BJGE

There's 4 UDFA's that should have a significant role on our team this year.

so yeah, I'd say we're ahead of the curve in recruiting UDFA.

And Brian Hoyer.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

And Brian Hoyer.

With all due respect to Mr. Hoyer, I think pretty much all of us on this board hope he doesn't play a significant role on the 2011 Patriots.

 

[Joker]

as long as we stay ahead of the curve, which is the lip of the event horizon mouth that leads to the Wrecks black hole...all will be well

 

[ralmat55]

Including guaranteed salary in UDFA's contracts also increases the odds these players will pass through waivers allowing the Pats to sign them to their practice squad to continue their development.

Liike the Pats did last year with Steve Maneri, teams routinely claim players after final cutdown to give them a look-see, keep them on the active roster for a week or two, and then cut them before adding them to their practice squad. Teams will be far less likely to claim a player when they have to assume guaranteed salary as part of it.

The Patriots have never been big bidders UDFAs, so my guess is their including guaranteed money in these contracts might have more to do with their increasing the odds that they'll be able to continue working with these players beyond training camp. I wouldn't be surprised if they did this in the contracts of other unmentioned UDFAs (Will Yeatman?) and lower draft picks as well.

It makes perfect business sense. Say, you include $60k of guaranteed salary to 6 or 7 UDFAs or draftees. They'll make all the investment back if just one or two of those players makes the roster in their second season taking the place of a higher paid veterans.

I keep being amazed by how savvy management of this franchise can be.

 

[Fencer]

FWIW, the new CBA limits what teams can do with UDFAs in two ways: the UDFA rookie contract must be exactly three years long, and each team is limited to an aggregate of $75,000 in signing bonuses for UDFAs.

So guarantees are the new signing bonuses?

 

[Fencer]

Dane Fletcher
Gary Guyton
Kyle Arrington
BJGE

There's 4 UDFA's that should have a significant role on our team this year.

so yeah, I'd say we're ahead of the curve in recruiting UDFA.

Many more than that. Bodden, Welker, Woodhead and Wright were all UDFAs, although only Wright was a Patriots find.

A list from last April, per Mike Reiss, is:

Kyle Arrington, Thomas Austin, Leigh Bodden, Sergio Brown, Carson Butler, Tony Carter, Dan Connolly, Buddy Farnham, Marlon Favorite, Dane Fletcher, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Gary Guyton, Brian Hoyer, Darnell Jenkins, Matt Katula, Mark LeVoir, Bret Lockett, Kyle Love, Steve Maneri, Marques Murrell, Thad Turner, Ross Ventrone, Wes Welker, Ryan Wendell, Danny Woodhead, Mike Wright

I bolded 17 guys who feature prominently in roster projections for this year; it's conceivable that up to 15 make it, plus whichever new ones get added. Up to 9 would be guys that were UDFAs with the Pats. The Pats could have 4 UDFA starters (Bodden, BJGE, Connolly, Welker) plus 3 regular "nickel" players in Arrington, Woodhead, and Wright.