Way too early thoughts going into the 2015/2016 season

I am not done celebrating yet and don't plan to really get into this till later but Just a few thoughts on how the Pats should attack this off season to prepare for the regular season.

My very first thought is you want to build the best team you can WHILE ALSO building to beat teams you feel you are likely to face in the playoffs.

To me the teams i want to build to beat are Ravens, Seahawks, Dallas, GB.

I think Denver is on a down slope. Colts have a lot of team building left, Bengals = Bengals, KC could be a wild card but i am wait and see on them.

On the NFC side... Detroit to me does not have it. Arizona needs to prove it can do something on O,

Obviously we don't know how these teams will look next year for sure but going by the info we have we can assume fairly similar teams.

I think first and foremost you worry about the AFC so to me the Pats #1 priority is "build to counter the Ravens". I think they have a lot of players already in place to do this but is something that should be on the Pats mind as the off season unfolds.

Concentrating on shoring up both lines will be important. The guard positions need upgrades. On the defensive side, VW isn't getting any younger. We have some depth there assuming branch stays but not a marquee guy.

We're already built to beat... anyone. Continue to draft for depth elsewhere.

Either way you look at it, whether were building to counter the ravens, or just building the team. I think the two biggest needs are the O/D line (assuming Revis and Mccourtey) are back

BB is always thinking two steps ahead which is obvious from him resigning Cannon, he may be thinking that they might not be able to keep Solder and then they would move Vollmer to the left side. My point is simply that the pats are going to have to resign Hightower and Jones after next season and we are assuming they are going to spend money to keep Revis, McCourty and ghost. This makes me think they will have to let pieces like Ayers and Branch go in order to keep their more valuable pieces and they will simply have to draft replacements.

Last time BB had two star defensive players, he wound up getting a first rounder from Oakland. Wonder if we're blindsided by a trade of one of them of he feels he can't resign both?

jboston19 said:

Last time BB had two star defensive players, he wound up getting a first rounder from Oakland. Wonder if we're blindsided by a trade of one of them of he feels he can't resign both?

Click to expand...

A year ago I would have never expect to say it but in case we give away one of Hightower/Jones for an early draft pick I really want it to be Ch. Jones.

From my perspective Hightower had an amazing, eye-opening year. Chandler seems like the eternal "breakout year" candidate. That being said, since he never quite had the breakout year as pass rusher I wonder if we aren't overestimating the contract range for Jones.

You don't trade players on their rookie contracts. Richard Seymour was here for eight years before he got traded. I don't think Chandler Jones was quite as explosive after he hurt his hip. We need to get better on the DL, not subtract.

I don't expect to trade them. Just throwing it out there.

I would go
1- DL
2-CB
3-DE
3- G/T
4-OL
4-OL

I'd rather see Brady stick with his offensive weapons for 2 more years ... maybe dobson gets his **** together ... if anything bring in some FA WR's.

1. Defensive End
2. Offensive Guard (especially if Dan Connolly departs via unrestricted free agency)
3. Running Back (especially if Shane Vereen departs via unrestricted free agency)
4. Tight End
5. Wide Receiver (especially if Danny Amendola becomes a salary cap casualty)
6. Offensive Guard (Jordan Devey sucks)

Bill hedged with all three of his signings during the later part of the year, for different types of contract situations

Cannon: recognizing that Solder could be looking at maximum dollars, this contract helps to gain back some leverage, while giving the pats and out before the league year starts, if they want to save the non-guaranteed contract for next season.

Bolden: he will never be mistaken for Vereen, but he is also the only other back who could block for Brady. He will never catch 50+ balls, but at a 1/3 of the cost at least, it at least gives the team some extra options with the roster

chung: another decent but not great player, chung gives some strong character and veteran leadership at a position that young players have always struggled. McCourty and chung play very different positions, but again, the dollars out for Chung will end up significantly lower than McCourtys, and provides some very solid depth.

Now, I dont expect the team to walk away from all three players, but with a few players in place to protect, they dont have to feel locked in to any of the three, and need to overpay when they may not feel it necessary.

Oh yeah interested to see what we do with Solder. Held up nicely for the most part vs Baltimore. We all thought Suggs was going to eat him alive and he only got half a sack and not a whole lot of pressure. Whole line was fantastic vs the Colts and so-so vs the Seahawks.

I would say our needs are as follows.... Still early without knowing what free agency brings but I would hope we focus on the following:

1- Offensive Guard
2- Defensive Line
3- Tight End