Patriots claim RB Tyler Gaffney for 2015

scott99 said:

I think Gaffney might not get IR'ed in the , end of the season type, but he may get the IR where he can come back this season. A torn meniscus only takes 3-4 months. he may be fully healthy in October or November. He hasn't had surgery yet as far as I know.

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I would be surprised if they use the designation on a RB who has never practiced nor played a down in the NFL. They will stick a guy like Houston on the PS for insurance.

Koma said:

A little postscript to this story:

Seattle waived injured OT Michael Bowie on Saturday with the intention of putting him on IR. Yesterday, he was claimed by the Browns.

Unlike Gaffney, Bowie is somewhat of a known quantity in the league, having started 8 games last year. He may not be great, but, when healthy, he could add depth for Cleveland, at a minimum. I'm just curious is there is an angry 20 page thread about this on a Seahawks board since the Browns trangressed the unwritten law.

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Per PFT, the Pats (and others) also put in a claim for Bowie. He was awarded to Cleveland because the waiver claims are awarded in the same order as the last draft.

Four teams made waiver claims for Michael Bowie | ProFootballTalk

FreeTedWilliams said:

Per POFT, the Pats (and others) also put in a claim for Bowie. He was awarded to Cleveland because the waiver claims are awarded in the same order as the last draft.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/04/four-teams-made-waivers-claim-for-michael-bowie/

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F-four teams violated this sacred, unwritten rule? <faints>

Mack Herron said:

I would be surprised if they use the designation on a RB who has never practiced nor played a down in the NFL. They will stick a guy like Houston on the PS for insurance.

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Why? The Pats completely wasted that designation in 2012. Thankfully, they seemed to have learned their lesson in 2013, but still. Not saying they will use it on Gaffney, just saying to never say never.

We basically got a 6th round pick for free. So that's nice but remember he must have dropped to round 6 for a reason. So no need to anoint this kid yet. ;-) But hopefully he can contribute to our RB depth next year.

KontradictioN said:

Why? The Pats completely wasted that designation in 2012. Thankfully, they seemed to have learned their lesson in 2013, but still. Not saying they will use it on Gaffney, just saying to never say never.

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I would see the decision to pick up Gaffney as a move for next year, myself. It reeks of the kind of choice for the future that we've seen from this club in the past.

Isn't it already going to be a tad crowded in the backfield as is? Ridley, Vereen, Bolden, White, Devlin makes 5. That's also having Finch and Houston (hopefully) on the practice squad, or in the mix for a starting role. That's 7 backs right there, and I'm forgetting about the FB who saw work today, which would make at least 8.

If you're talking about a "wasted designation" in 2012 for the IR-exempt choice, I couldn't imagine any choice that would be more wasted than the decision to take an 8th-9th RB who was a late round pick. He won't have played, practiced, nor had any experience in their system. Not meaning to sound argumentative, b/c as you said--anything's possible, but the scenario would seem to be even worse than 2012 (in my opinion).

I like the decision to bring him in for next year on the cheap, but I don't see it as having anything to do with this season. Just my 2 cents.

KontradictioN said:

Why? The Pats completely wasted that designation in 2012. Thankfully, they seemed to have learned their lesson in 2013, but still. Not saying they will use it on Gaffney, just saying to never say never.

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Are you talking about Shiancoe? If so, I would not equate him with someone who has neither played nor practiced in the NFL. Even so, it was still too high a price to pay as you mentioned, so further lowering the chances of using it on someone like Gaffney, though Bill always has a surprise. I think this designation should be reserved for key (instead of fringe) members of the team (e.g., Gronk, Edelman, etc.).

@caplannfl: #49ers waived/injured RB Kendall Hunter. Goes on IR if not claimed tomorrow.

Will Bill strike?

ausbacker said:

I have no idea why people cry about using the rules to your advantage.

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Honestly, I don't even have any idea why this is considered a "rules loophole." They just claimed a player off waivers.

If the Carolina fans think their team should have kept Gaffney, the only people to be mad at are THE ONES WHO CUT HIM. Duh.

patchick said:

Honestly, I don't even have any idea why this is considered a "rules loophole." They just claimed a player off waivers.

If the Carolina fans think their team should have kept Gaffney, the only people to be mad at are THE ONES WHO CUT HIM. Duh.

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I'm really surprised at how little virtually the entire forum there knows about the NFL. One after another thought that a player can be placed on IR during the offseason, and the only one that wrote that was not the case knew that only after doing an internet search and finding info on one of the most unreliable sources of information, wikipedia. On top of that the incorrect consensus was that the move was made in order to save salary cap space, and that losing the paltry $96k signing bonus had a significant impact on the cap.

I certainly understand that most people that watch football on Sunday are not going to know details about injured reserve rules or the intricacies of the salary cap, but for the most part people that spend a lot of time on message boards are not casual fans. Spending that much time on one subject normally results in one becoming more knowledgeable (though yes, we can all attest to a few people that spend a lot of time on a football forum and still have a low football IQ). However, you would think that there would be a few people that do know what they're talking about, to set the record straight - and there were none.

The team has been around for almost twenty years now. I would have thought that the pro football IQ in Charlotte would have evolved by now, but that is apparently not the case.

VJCPatriot said:

We basically got a 6th round pick for free. So that's nice but remember he must have dropped to round 6 for a reason. So no need to anoint this kid yet. ;-) But hopefully he can contribute to our RB depth next year.

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I agree, no need to crown the kid. Then again, not everyone who drops to the 6th did so for a good reason...