Sign the Beast VIII: Patriots interested in WR Brian Hartline

[BadMoFo]

Depends how much of a discount he's willing to take to catch passes from Brady. If he comes in dirt cheap then no reason to not keep Amendola into camp too and have some depth. Ideally Amendola would take a pay cut too though.

Well, if they both take less money then I would keep them both at least for competition in TC. Dobson still hasn't done anything to make us think he'll be special.

 

[BradyManny]

Even with Tyms, a larger and speedy receiver, we saw it. He was beating people downfield and then looking like a drunken sailor as he tried to adjust to the throw.

People severely underestimate how much the success of a deep game is on the receivers involved.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Anyone know why he had such a down season? As much as I love what Dola did for us in the playoffs Hartline has had numerous better seasons and is about the same age. If he can come cheap then I think it's a no brainer.

Landry ended up replacing him as WR2 (and Wallace as WR1) midway through the season.

Landry had 5 receptions or more in every game from week 9-17. Hartline was phased out of his possession WR role.

 

[meatface]

Reportedly he is willing to take less to play with the pats
https://twitter.com/MaryKayCabot/status/573589195324833793

 

[Ivan]

I actually don't want them making any moves for free agent, especially on offense, until they sign Revis and hopefully McCourty.

 

[hwc]

Reportedly he is willing to take less to play with the pats
https://twitter.com/MaryKayCabot/status/573589195324833793

Reportedly he is telling the Browns he's willing to take less to play with the Pats so that the Browns increase their offer....

It's always important to remember that all of these "reports" come from agents. Agents whose lips are moving....

And, on the other side of the coin, the Pats are probably OK with "word" getting to Amendola that Hartline is interested. Capwise, the Pats really don't want to part with Amendola, but a salary cut would be nice. Hartline chatter = leverage.

Miami took a dead-money beating releasing Hartline. $4.2 million to have him NOT play for the Dolphins this year.

 

[Love The Drake]

I don't see it

Reportedly he is telling the Browns he's willing to take less to play with the Pats so that the Browns increase their offer....

It's always important to remember that all of these "reports" come from agents. Agents whose lips are moving....

And, on the other side of the coin, the Pats are probably OK with "word" getting to Amendola that Hartline is interested. Capwise, the Pats really don't want to part with Amendola, but a salary cut would be nice. Hartline chatter = leverage.

Miami took a dead-money beating releasing Hartline. $4.2 million to have him NOT play for the Dolphins this year.

I had a dog and his name was BINGO!

 

[BobDigital]

I actually don't want them making any moves for free agent, especially on offense, until they sign Revis and hopefully McCourty.

I agree when it comes to big FA offensive signings but a guy like Hartline on a discount should not and will not stop you from signing Revis and McCourty. Not to say I think we should go out of our way to sign Hartline just if it happens it happens.

 

[Patriots1364life]

I rather go after johnson if he is willing to take less money.

 

[BobDigital]

I rather go after johnson if he is willing to take less money.

Doubt it. When it comes to bringing a WR in here I would say it needs to be at least cap neutral with cutting Amendola if not save money. If it does not pass that test I don't do it.

 

[Tunescribe]

What's Brady's record for hitting a "deep" receiver? Hell, he almost overthrew a wide open Vereen on one long TD pass ......maybe it's just my perception that he's not a long ball thrower but his short to medium pass is fine.....

Am I wrong?

You need a receiver that can run long routes reliably. Brady's long ball to Moss never was a problem.

 

[Oswlek]

It is hardly an overrated aspect of an offense

The fact that it is useful doesn't mean it isn't overrated. Very few things are overrated because they are really valueless, it's all about perspective.

 

[OhExaulted1]

People severely underestimate how much the success of a deep game is on the receivers involved.

Especially when you have an offense that doesn't operate by depending on the home run long ball all the time.

 

[Gronkowski123]

i dont care if amendola's released. hartline/someone else can match his production of 200 yards.
that unknown player will also be much cheaper

 

[Brady6]

Doubt it. When it comes to bringing a WR in here I would say it needs to be at least cap neutral with cutting Amendola if not save money. If it does not pass that test I don't do it.

The money owed to Amendola is a sunk cost. The only way you don't take a dead money hit on Amendola is to restructure him for all the next 3 years and pay him that restructured salary or to keep him as is and give him $4.5M in new money this year, $5.5M in new money in 2016 and $6.5M in new money in 2017.

If Amendola is as great as some people on this board like to suggest I cannot understand why he would restructure and take a pay cut? Heck reading this board over the past month the guy should probably hold out and demand more money.

 

[OhExaulted1]

i dont care if amendola's released. hartline/someone else can match his production of 200 yards.
that unknown player will also be much cheaper

True, but who's feilding the kicking game. DA may not have great production there but he doesn't cough it up.

Sounds trivial until the other team scores a TD, new guy muffs the kick-off and the other team recovers and has it first-and-ten on our 14. Then all of a sudden it becomes important.

 

[BobDigital]

The money owed to Amendola is a sunk cost. The only way you don't take a dead money hit on Amendola is to restructure him for all the next 3 years and pay him that restructured salary or to keep him as is and give him $4.5M in new money this year, $5.5M in new money in 2016 and $6.5M in new money in 2017.

If Amendola is as great as some people on this board like to suggest I cannot understand why he would restructure and take a pay cut? Heck reading this board over the past month the guy should probably hold out and demand more money.

I know he has dead money. Nothing you can do about that. But there is money you can save if you think it is worth doing. I think you look at Amendola and ask is he willy to take a pay cut (I will not use the term restructure cause I don't want to just continually put it off.

If he is then find out how much. That is the number you start with IMO. You should not spend any more than that to bring another option in here. I don't pull my hair out about dead money. Just the cost of doing business.

 

[Bruins29]

True, but who's feilding the kicking game. DA may not have great production there but he doesn't cough it up.

Sounds trivial until the other team scores a TD, new guy muffs the kick-off and the other team recovers and has it first-and-ten on our 14. Then all of a sudden it becomes important.

Remember, you live in reality not in a Madden game.

 

[Ivan]

The money owed to Amendola is a sunk cost. The only way you don't take a dead money hit on Amendola is to restructure him for all the next 3 years and pay him that restructured salary or to keep him as is and give him $4.5M in new money this year, $5.5M in new money in 2016 and $6.5M in new money in 2017.

If Amendola is as great as some people on this board like to suggest I cannot understand why he would restructure and take a pay cut? Heck reading this board over the past month the guy should probably hold out and demand more money.

Show us those posts?

 

[BradyFTW!]

So who's fielding kick-offs and backing up JE as the PR (he fielded like half the punts last year) Who's catching passes out of the backfield when our running game gets no traction? Not going to be Hartline, I'll tell you that.

We go out last year and sign a 6-3 27 year old (Now 28) WR who gets 74 grabs, 953 yards, 7 TD's and oh yeah, he's as good a blocking WR as you're going to find and is only 3.2 mil on the cap this year, we've got as good a slot receiver you can have in Edelman and the best TE in the game along with 6-4 T. Wright who may yet blossom. We might loose Vereen and his 52 catches out of the backfeild, still have a 2nd Rder on the roster and the answer is cut our return guy for a possesion receiver.

A. Johnson doesn't make sense to me either. He had 80+ catches last year from garbage QB's. He's going to command good coin. If he get 5-6 mil that wouldn't surprise me.

I just grow tired of the "next Randy Moss" desperate perceived need of the Madden offense approach. Loose an excellent Safety? Sign a tall WR. Loose a NG/Run-Stuffer? Sign a tall WR. Loose a solid interior Guard? Sign a tall WR.

Ugh. SMFH.

All the worry about losing Vereen is overblown. The same people that are panicking now were panicking when Woodhead left. As much as I like Vereen, and think he would be worth a couple million per year, he's not the kind of guy that you pay $5M per year for. Just like Woodhead wasn't, which is why the Pats let him walk too and replaced him with Vereen in the first place. The Pats have repeatedly shown that they can find these guys when they need them without paying FA premiums. If James White isn't the guy, then the FA market and draft class are pretty deep at exactly this type of RB.

As for kickoff returns, that isn't really on my radar, to put it bluntly. The Pats put Blount back there in 2013. They'll find someone on the roster who's capable of returning kicks, regardless of whether or not Amendola's on the team.

As for the last couple paragraphs of your post, I'm not really sure who you're arguing with. I'm pretty sure that nobody in history has mentioned Brian Hartline and Randy Moss in the same sentence until you did. And I don't think anyone thinks signing a tall WR will replace McCourty and Wilfork. The closest thing that anyone's given to a Hartline endorsement is "if he comes cheap, he could be a nice addition to the offense".