Patriots claim TE Jake Ballard

[PatsWickedPissah]

He won't play in 2012. In 2013 he is an Exclusive Rights Free Agent. For other people like me who don't know the details of the ERFA it means the Pats can offer him the veteran minimum and he has to accept it....or quit the NFL. Now that I know that it seems like a decent risk.

(I didn't read all the posts so sorry if this is a repeat of what someone else said.)

Time to change your name to Gronkandezball?

 

[mayoclinic]

So BB really is serious about creating the magic TE offense!

Three Tight End Offensive Formation magic 3

If Daniel Fells lives up to expectations, then keeping 4 TEs on the roster next year may not be that big a stretch. With only WRs Lloyd, Gaffney, Ebner and Slater currently signed past 2012 it doesn't hurt to have depth and options at tight end.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Slightly different scenario with him being injured. There was an article a couple of years ago when someone got claimed off of waiver and some GM or HC spoke out about it in anger....it's just not the done thing.

Ironically that was Belichick himself. The story is basically that the Patriots were about to place Garrett Mills on waivers. According to then-Vikings HC Brad Childress BB called him and asked him to not put a claim on Mills, and also offered to do the same for some player Minnesota might want to waive and place on the PS. The only reason anybody knew of the alleged incident was because Childress decided to go public with it, implying that it was unprofessional and unethical. The Vikings went ahead and claimed Mills, and Childress says that BB was quite upset with them for doing that. The Patriots then put in a waiver claim for a Vikings player, David Herron.

Childress went on to escalate the feud in later years by bringing up on his own stories about the Pats stealing the Eagles signals when he was a coordinator there, and crowing about how he had pulled one over on the Pats by selecting Percy Harvin in the draft one pick before the Pats draft pick. The final chapter in the saga between the two was the Pats trading Randy Moss to the Vikings. Childress thought he had pulled a coup, but instead it led to his being fired.




Back to the original question: is there a tacit agreement that teams do not put in waiver claims for other teams players? I don't know, but based on the fact that waiver claims are made all the time I doubt it. Looking at some of the examples that mayoclinic listed (Will Yeatman, Ted Larsen, Nick McDonald) and there's enough anecdotal evidence to believe that this cannot be the case.

Is it considered to be hands-off if a coach calls and requests that you don't put in a claim? If that was the case, then I can't see BB telling Coughlin that he would not put in a waiver claim for Ballard, and then turning around and doing just that.

 

[patfanken]

OK pardon me for being slow here and not reading the entire thread. I have just one yes or no question, because I'm worried we will eventually have to use one of our 53 roster spots in order to keep Ballard from being exposed to waivers.

I understand that one way is we can keep him on the PUP list until the middle of the season, but its my understanding that if he can't play we'd have to release him at that point, and he'd be exposed to waivers.

So, in all this, is there a mechanism where now that we have him, we can keep him for 2013 WITHOUT having to carry him on the roster during the regular season.

 

[Ron Sellers]

So BB really is serious about creating the magic TE offense!

Three Tight End Offensive Formation magic 3

If Daniel Fells lives up to expectations, then keeping 4 TEs on the roster next year may not be that big a stretch. With only WRs Lloyd, Gaffney, Ebner and Slater currently signed past 2012 it doesn't hurt to have depth and options at tight end.

Green Bay had four tight ends on their roster last year (Jermichael Finley, Tom Crabtree, D.J. Williams, Andrew Quarless), so it is not unprecedented for a very pass-oriented offense to operate efficiently with that much roster space dedicated to the TE position.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Hmmmmm.......

So if Welker continues to be unwilling to sign a longer deal at terms acceptable to the Pats, maybe in 2013 Hernandez takes Welker's role and the Pats go to two more traditional TEs who can both catch and block.

Pats have Welker for 2012 and his "replacement" already on the roster in Ballard.

Yup, that's what I think. Hernandez would make a hell of a slot WR, his size, his moves, and deceiving speed.

 

[Ron Sellers]

OK pardon me for being slow here and not reading the entire thread. I have just one yes or no question, because I'm worried we will eventually have to use one of our 53 roster spots in order to keep Ballard from being exposed to waivers.

I understand that one way is we can keep him on the PUP list until the middle of the season, but its my understanding that if he can't play we'd have to release him at that point, and he'd be exposed to waivers.

So, in all this, is there a mechanism where now that we have him, we can keep him for 2013 WITHOUT having to carry him on the roster during the regular season.

One scenario would be that if you place a player on PUP and do no activate him to the 53-man roster, he stays on PUP for the remainder of the season. I believe that happens at week 13. In that case he never gets placed on waivers.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

OK pardon me for being slow here and not reading the entire thread. I have just one yes or no question, because I'm worried we will eventually have to use one of our 53 roster spots in order to keep Ballard from being exposed to waivers.

I understand that one way is we can keep him on the PUP list until the middle of the season, but its my understanding that if he can't play we'd have to release him at that point, and he'd be exposed to waivers.

So, in all this, is there a mechanism where now that we have him, we can keep him for 2013 WITHOUT having to carry him on the roster during the regular season.

He can be put on IR without waivers on the final roster cutdown to 53 (or anytime after that) and he won't take up a roster spot in the regular season if they do that.

 

[Gronkandez]

Time to change your name to Gronkandezball?

GronkandezBallsFell

 

[patfanken]

He can be put on IR without waivers on the final roster cutdown to 53 (or anytime after that) and he won't take up a roster spot in the regular season if they do that.

Thanks, now this makes sense, and is legitimate no risk transaction that adds a starting quality TE to a team that runs an offense where the TE is a key component. It also makes in unnecessary to draft a TE next season

Ballard's 2nd year numbers are nothing to sneeze at. If you look at it one way, you can say he only accumulated around 40 fewer yds than Jets #1 receiver Sanatonio Holmes. Not bad for a TE whose primary strength is his blocking.

I wouldn't be surprised to see 4 TE''s on the roster THIS season. I will be surprised, however, if we DON'T have 4 next year.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

So BB really is serious about creating the magic TE offense!

Three Tight End Offensive Formation magic 3

If Daniel Fells lives up to expectations, then keeping 4 TEs on the roster next year may not be that big a stretch. With only WRs Lloyd, Gaffney, Ebner and Slater currently signed past 2012 it doesn't hurt to have depth and options at tight end.

Jeremy Ebert was the WR the Pats selected in the 7th round who went to HS in Hilliard, OH.

Nate Ebner was the S the Pats selected in the 6th round who went to HS in Hilliard, OH.

 

[The Gr8est]

Jarrett Bell reports that DeMaurice Smith is a special visitor at Day #2 of Mini camp.

I suspect Omissioner Ratdell has him there looking for any possibly irregularity in the Ballard claim so that he can strip picks from the Pats.

 

[patchick]

Jeremy Ebert was the WR the Pats selected in the 7th round who went to HS in Hilliard, OH.

Nate Ebner was the S the Pats selected in the 6th round who went to HS in Hilliard, OH.

If they really care about the fans, they'll have the decency to converge on Natemy Ebnert.

 

[Ring 6]

OK pardon me for being slow here and not reading the entire thread. I have just one yes or no question, because I'm worried we will eventually have to use one of our 53 roster spots in order to keep Ballard from being exposed to waivers.

I understand that one way is we can keep him on the PUP list until the middle of the season, but its my understanding that if he can't play we'd have to release him at that point, and he'd be exposed to waivers.

So, in all this, is there a mechanism where now that we have him, we can keep him for 2013 WITHOUT having to carry him on the roster during the regular season.

If i am not mistaken you can IR him during camp, or after puping him withuot exposing him to waivers.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

GronkandezBallsFell

Gronkballdezfell

 

[Ring 6]

Hmmmmm.......

So if Welker continues to be unwilling to sign a longer deal at terms acceptable to the Pats, maybe in 2013 Hernandez takes Welker's role and the Pats go to two more traditional TEs who can both catch and block.

Pats have Welker for 2012 and his "replacement" already on the roster in Ballard.

Hernandez is good as a TE because he is quick and fast for a TE. As a WR he would be slow, negating a lot of his talent.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin responds to questions about the Patriots claiming TE Jake Ballard

Coughlin irked at losing Ballard to Pats - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

“Discouraged is a minor description,” Coughlin said when asked how discouraging the news was when he learned of it during minicamp practice on Tuesday afternoon. “Very disappointing. I am not going to have a lot to say about that one, just the fact that we are disappointed. We are very disappointed.”

Coughlin was then asked why the Giants didn’t just keep Ballard on the 90-man roster and not risk losing Ballard on waivers.

“Don’t ask me those questions,” Coughlin responded. “I don’t have the answers for you. We are all disappointed. That’s all.”

The team expected Ballard to return healthy and make an impact in 2013.

“I certainly thought so, for sure,” Coughlin said. “So did everybody, the whole building thought that way. Everyone did. It is obvious it was a calculated risk and it didn’t work.”

Coughlin was asked if he was surprised that the Patriots claimed Ballard despite not needing a tight end.

“I don’t have any comment on that one,” the Giants head coach said. “Nature of the business.”

Coughlin said he does not think that other teams need to show a certain amount of professional courtesy knowing that the Giants were trying to make a roster move with an injured player who is not expected to play this season.

“I don’t think there is any question about that part of it,” Coughlin explained. “Whatever the options are based on what the rules are, based on the procedural circumstance, all is fair.”​

 

[patchick]

Wow...based on those comments from Coughlin, I guess it really does just come down to "boy were the Giants stupid."

You simply do not waive any player you think has a future with your team while the roster limit is at 90! For heavens sake, that's a big part of what the new expanded off-season roster is about.

 

[Avenger]

Hernandez is good as a TE because he is quick and fast for a TE. As a WR he would be slow, negating a lot of his talent.

Hernandez is essentially a big slot receiver already, not much in the way of blocking, he is used almost exclusively as a receiver.

 

[Jackson 2]

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin responds to questions about the Patriots claiming TE Jake Ballard

Coughlin irked at losing Ballard to Pats - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

“Discouraged is a minor description,” Coughlin said when asked how discouraging the news was when he learned of it during minicamp practice on Tuesday afternoon. “Very disappointing. I am not going to have a lot to say about that one, just the fact that we are disappointed. We are very disappointed.”

Coughlin was then asked why the Giants didn’t just keep Ballard on the 90-man roster and not risk losing Ballard on waivers.

“Don’t ask me those questions,” Coughlin responded. “I don’t have the answers for you. We are all disappointed. That’s all.”

The team expected Ballard to return healthy and make an impact in 2013.

“I certainly thought so, for sure,” Coughlin said. “So did everybody, the whole building thought that way. Everyone did. It is obvious it was a calculated risk and it didn’t work.”

Coughlin was asked if he was surprised that the Patriots claimed Ballard despite not needing a tight end.

“I don’t have any comment on that one,” the Giants head coach said. “Nature of the business.”

Coughlin said he does not think that other teams need to show a certain amount of professional courtesy knowing that the Giants were trying to make a roster move with an injured player who is not expected to play this season.

“I don’t think there is any question about that part of it,” Coughlin explained. “Whatever the options are based on what the rules are, based on the procedural circumstance, all is fair.”​

Anything and everything that pisses off the New Jersey teams make me deliriously happy. In my view, despite the inexplicable, undeserved lofty reputation the Giants enjoy, there is little difference between the two in the way their players comport themselves. They both makes the play-offs about once every 4 years and everyone, including themselves, thinks they invented football.