Leon Washington released; CB Justin Green promoted from PS to active roster

[Deus Irae]

Agreed.

The solution is to not sign players who will be injured.

They could sign better free agents than the likes of Jenkins, Jones and company (or, gasp!, they could have kept their own players). Shocking notion, signing good players instead of crap, I realize. Belichick's screwups were easy to see coming, which makes it even worse. Signing Amendola was an injury waiting to happen, and it didn't take long. That could have been ameliorated had they not decided to play games with Welker and just paid him. They could also have kept Lloyd to allow the rookies to develop at a more normal pace, even if they decided to cut him later on in the season, once the rookies were more ready to play. They could have spent the money they blew on Wilson in another direction (coverage LB, perhaps), and drafted Swearinger instead of the hybrid who was nowhere near ready.


But BB's never wrong.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

Washington gone?

They could sign better free agents than the likes of Jenkins, Jones and company (or, gasp!, they could have kept their own players). Shocking notion, signing good players instead of crap, I realize. Belichick's screwups were easy to see coming, which makes it even worse. Signing Amendola was an injury waiting to happen, and it didn't take long. That could have been ameliorated had they not decided to play games with Welker and just paid him They could also have kept Lloyd to allow the rookies to develop at a more normal pace.


But BB's never wrong.

Welker could have stayed in NE. He chose to leave. We gave him 2 chances, and offers that nailed his value and he didn't take them. The pats moved on, that's what we have to do as fans, move on.

 

[Deus Irae]

Welker could have stayed in NE. He chose to leave. We gave him 2 chances, and offers that nailed his value and he didn't take them. The pats moved on, that's what we have to do as fans, move on.

This has been gone over multiple times. The Patriots could have kept him, and had several years to give him a more appropriate contract. Instead, they decided to franchise him and then low-ball him in a year where they knew the salary numbers would be down. Even after they did that, he gave them a chance to match the Broncos offer and they chose not to.

This is going to shock you, but it's true: Sometimes the Patriots do really stupid things, just like every other team. They did a lot of it this year, and it's come back to bite them in the ass.

 

[supafly]

That + Hernandez + 2005 level of injuries = 11-5/12-4 season. Unbelievable.

Not to mention the fact of losing all of Welker, Llyod, Woodhead, and Donald Thomas to free agency also.

Did we do really do badly on re-signs?

Belichick re-signed Vollmer, Talib, Arrington, Edelman and Cole

I don't that Belichick lost anyone that he really expected to keep..

Belichick had ready replacements for Woodhead and Welker in Vereen and Amendola.
Belichick also had replacements for Lloyd until Thompkins them out and Edelman stepped up.

I think you mistook my point entirely.

It was simply in response to the post where patsinthesnow stated that 11-5 or 12-4 was remarkable considering the poor free agent class, the Hernandez situation, and the injuries. I simply added the key players that we also lost from free agency to the list; agreeing with him that it has been remarkable.

 

[supafly]

Kelly was very good until he tore his ACL, and Amendola's been okay. Wilson and Washington were the only actual misses on that list, the rest were just low-risk flyers who were outperformed in TC. No shame in that.

The biggest problem, IMO, is what they didn't sign: interior offensive line talent.

agreed, every team cuts 37 players every off season

I agree that we have no gotten much production from free agents other than Kelly and Thompkins. Surely these were fine signings.

However, the primary reason for that has been injuries. Perhaps Belichick should be better at anticipating injuries.

Is it really bad to sign several free agents at WR, only to have others beat them out in camp?
========

I'm not "blaming" anyone for the misfortunes of the free agency period, simply pointing out the fact that I don't remember seeing anything like this before.

Basically, by week 4 or 5 of the season we had zero production from any of the players signed in free agency. Once Amendola came back he has helped, but nothing like the level that many (including myself) expected. Hopefully that will change moving forward.

I think you mistook my post as being one of those who tends to place blame, and that simply isn't the case. The purpose of the comment was to point out the insane misfortune that our 2013 free agency class has brought. Some are failures, while others are due to injury. Either way I don't remember having a free agency period as poor as this one.

 

[patsinthesnow]

IMHO, Amendola is a disappointment, even when healthy, compared to what we hoped for.

While we need more time to see if this proves true, it's a good point that not too many patriot fans want to admit.

Typical pats fan stance on Amendola: "While he may be made of glass, a healthy Amendola is just as good as Welker"

This just hasn't been true. Hell, 6 million a year can buy you a pretty good WR. It remains to be seen if a HEALTHY amendola is worth his contract.

 

[captain stone]

The front office made a mistake? I'm shocked.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'm not "blaming" anyone for the misfortunes of the free agency period, simply pointing out the fact that I don't remember seeing anything like this before.

Basically, by week 4 or 5 of the season we had zero production from any of the players signed in free agency. Once Amendola came back he has helped, but nothing like the level that many (including myself) expected. Hopefully that will change moving forward.

I think you mistook my post as being one of those who tends to place blame, and that simply isn't the case. The purpose of the comment was to point out the insane misfortune that our 2013 free agency class has brought. Some are failures, while others are due to injury. Either way I don't remember having a free agency period as poor as this one.

Think of it this way: Jenkins, Jones and Hawkins were signed as insurance against the possibility that none of the rookie WRs would be ready to contribute this season. Dobson and Thompkins proved to be good enough to render them expendable. Does that mean that they were misses in free agency? I don't think so- they fulfilled their purpose, which was to provide a viable alternative. It just ended up being an alternative that the team didn't need.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Think of it this way: Jenkins, Jones and Hawkins were signed as insurance against the possibility that none of the rookie WRs would be ready to contribute this season. Dobson and Thompkins proved to be good enough to render them expendable. Does that mean that they were misses in free agency? I don't think so- they fulfilled their purpose, which was to provide a viable alternative. It just ended up being an alternative that the team didn't need.

And, it's worth noting, that essentially all of their offseason moves assumed that they would have a certain TE who is no longer in the NFL available to them. I'm sure that if that disaster had unfolded before the start of free agency, things would have turned out exactly the same way. . . .

 

[IcyPatriot]

The amount of injuries we have is embarrassing. How is Washington still not healthy!?!?

He is obviously a Dog-Faker.

 

[Deus Irae]

Think of it this way: Jenkins, Jones and Hawkins were signed as insurance against the possibility that none of the rookie WRs would be ready to contribute this season. Dobson and Thompkins proved to be good enough to render them expendable. Does that mean that they were misses in free agency? I don't think so- they fulfilled their purpose, which was to provide a viable alternative. It just ended up being an alternative that the team didn't need.

Yeah, the plan, all along, was to have a UDFA WR be able to beat out NFL veterans. :bricks:


They screwed up, and yes, those players were FA misses.

 

[mgteich]

Yes, they were misses in that they didn't make the team.

If the team knew that Edelman, Thompkins and Dobson would be better than any of them by the time the season started, then they wouldn't have been signed. I'm not sure I understand the conclusion that because they turned out to be beaten out, they shouldn't have been signed.

And yes, I will certainly agree that you indicated at the time that we should expect little or nothing from Jones, Jenkings, Hawkins or Smith.

Yeah, the plan, all along, was to have a UDFA WR be able to beat out NFL veterans. :bricks:


They screwed up, and yes, those players were FA misses.

 

[Deus Irae]

Yes, they were misses in that they didn't make the team.

If the team knew that Edelman, Thompkins and Dobson would be better than any of them by the time the season started, then they wouldn't have been signed. I'm not sure I understand the conclusion that because they turned out to be beaten out, they shouldn't have been signed.

And yes, I will certainly agree that you indicated at the time that we should expect little or nothing from Jones, Jenkings, Hawkins or Smith.

They were misses because they were bad signings from day one. The Patriots made a lot of bad, big and obvious mistakes this past offseason, and that includes a lot of the free agent signings. I don't know why this site has become so sensitive that something that obvious can't just be admitted.

 

[stcjones]

I see from tweets above he's been released.

Was he Ever REALLY here???

 

[patsfan-1982]

the injuries are what Is killing this team as for the FA signings that's the pats MO every season they sign a few vets and jags some times they work most of the time they don't

 

[supafly]

Think of it this way: Jenkins, Jones and Hawkins were signed as insurance against the possibility that none of the rookie WRs would be ready to contribute this season. Dobson and Thompkins proved to be good enough to render them expendable. Does that mean that they were misses in free agency? I don't think so- they fulfilled their purpose, which was to provide a viable alternative. It just ended up being an alternative that the team didn't need.

I'm somewhat in agreement with you in thinking that these specific WRs were fine in not making the team, especially since the other rookies/UDFAs stepped up enough.

Again..I'm hardly placing blame anywhere (I think that is a misconception that some don't understand judging by their comments), but it's hard to argue with the fact that this specific year of 2013 produced an insanely low amount of players who ended up being worth a damn; whether due to poor choices, injury, or other younger players stepping up. That's really my only point in making the list. Bad luck with injury situations certainly came into play.

 

[DarrylS]

This has been gone over multiple times. The Patriots could have kept him, and had several years to give him a more appropriate contract. Instead, they decided to franchise him and then low-ball him in a year where they knew the salary numbers would be down. Even after they did that, he gave them a chance to match the Broncos offer and they chose not to.

This is going to shock you, but it's true: Sometimes the Patriots do really stupid things, just like every other team. They did a lot of it this year, and it's come back to bite them in the ass.

Revisionist history at its finest, 3 years ago they offered WW 24 million for three years which he rejected, then came the franchise tag which he gratefully accepted after all it was a "meager" 9+ million dollar payday, then after the end the Pats offered him a "take it or leave it" package with incentives worth up to 15 million something like 10 million guaranteed, he left it and they moved on.

His agent overestimated his value, so he went to Denver and got two years for 10 million with 5 guaranteed...

All week long have had to turn off talk radio as it has been WW talk all day all of the time... time to move on, his agent overestimated his value and rejected a pretty good offer from the Pats...

 

[Triumph]

We hardly knew him.

 

[Triumph]

This has been gone over multiple times. The Patriots could have kept him, and had several years to give him a more appropriate contract. Instead, they decided to franchise him and then low-ball him in a year where they knew the salary numbers would be down. Even after they did that, he gave them a chance to match the Broncos offer and they chose not to.

This is going to shock you, but it's true: Sometimes the Patriots do really stupid things, just like every other team. They did a lot of it this year, and it's come back to bite them in the ass.

 

[Rob0729]

I love how a guy the Pats signed to be a kick return specialist and not much else has sparked a debate about the entire free agent class especially Welker.

It is time for people to get over it. Welker is no longer here. The Pats would still probably be 7-3 with him. At best, 8-2 but that is debatable.

Right now, the loss of Mayo, Kelly, Wilfork, and short term losses of guys like Talib has hurt the Pats more than anyone they lost. It is the loss of guys they actually paid that has hurt this team.

If the Pats win the Super Bowl this year, will we still be talking about how the Pats "screwed up" with Welker?