Gostkowski? Re-sign? Franchise? Let-go?

kickers arent expensive but the Pats did let Vinatieri walk at 33 and Gost is 31

meatface said:

kickers arent expensive but the Pats did let Vinatieri walk at 33 and Gost is 31

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Kickers who make it to their early 30s tend to peak in their 30s, or even early 40s.

IOW, until his KOs start losing power, there's no good football reason to get rid of him.

I'm sorry guys I remember the last time we were tearing out our hair and rending our garments about a kicker. "No no not just a kicker, the most clutch kicker in the history of the NFL."

Okay this one is really good and makes teams get the ball at the 20 too. I just go w/whatever Bill says on this one. Hopefully, as in all cases, our binkie kicker retires as a Patriot.

Let's go with "hope we keep him, I'm done" on this one.

A kicker?

PatsFanInVa said:

I'm sorry guys I remember the last time we were tearing out our hair and rending our garments about a kicker. "No no not just a kicker, the most clutch kicker in the history of the NFL."

Okay this one is really good and makes teams get the ball at the 20 too. I just go w/whatever Bill says on this one. Hopefully, as in all cases, our binkie kicker retires as a Patriot.

Let's go with "hope we keep him, I'm done" on this one.

A kicker?

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Ask the Donkeys about that.

patsfan06 said:

Except he wasn't.

Welker was our #1 WR. Edelman was absolutely slotted into that role when he left.

Amedola was signed to give us more depth at that position because we lost one of our top WRs.

So your response was an epic fail.

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No, he clearly was. Kraft specifically noted it. Edelman was absolutely slotted into the Edelman role.

My response was fine. Your initial post was ignorant.

Football is gone but Walking Dead is back. Oh yeah and cap talk... Chris Hardwick needs to do a show at the end of every day of cap talk we should have him log on and talk us down...

Deus Irae said:

No, he clearly was. Kraft specifically noted it. Edelman was absolutely slotted into the Edelman role.

My response was fine. Your initial post was ignorant.

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As I recall, Amendola was signed the day after Welker was let go. All the press and comments made it clear that he was signed to have a role similar to that of Welker. Obviously, there was a lot of talk about whether Welker or the patriots were responsible for the split. There was never any question as to why Amendola was being signed to such a high salary.

For a month after Amendola was signed, Edelman was out looking for work. Almost no teams were interested, only the Giants and the Patriots. Edelman signed an incentive filled contract that even when everything was reached didn't amount to much.

Edelman was signed to be a backup WR. Amendola was already in house. An offer had just been made to Sanders.

mgteich said:

As I recall, Amendola was signed the day after Welker was let go. All the press and comments made it clear that he was signed to have a role similar to that of Welker. Obviously, there was a lot of talk about whether Welker or the patriots were responsible for the split. There was never any question as to why Amendola was being signed to such a high salary.

For a month after Amendola was signed, Edelman was out looking for work. Almost no teams were interested, only the Giants and the Patriots. Edelman signed an incentive filled contract that even when everything was reached didn't amount to much.

Edelman was signed to be a backup WR. Amendola was already in house. An offer had just been made to Sanders.

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Pretty much...

While I'm not sure they were projecting Edelman as a backup given what had gone down during the 2012 season,....

Amendola replaced Welker
Edelman replaced Edelman


Some people here get so desperate for a Patriots "win" about everything, that they just can't seem to admit when the Patriots make mistakes or get lucky. The Patriots screwed up the Welker situation. It's not the first time that sort of thing has happened, and it's not the last. Fortunately, every other team makes mistakes too. Also fortunately, BB/TB make for one hell of a mistake overcoming duo.

And also fortunately, Edelman's been able to stay on the field for the past two seasons.

Deus Irae said:

The Patriots screwed up the Welker situation.

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And Welker, although he may not have realized it at the time, screwed it up even worse.

ctpatsfan77 said:

And Welker, although he may not have realized it at the time, screwed it up even worse.

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I'd ask just how you figure such a notion, but it's irrelevant to the point about the Patriots actions there, which is already tangential to the OP.

After giving it some thought, Gostkowski is the MOST important signing at the moment. Nothing is more annoying than having a bad special teams unit.

He's a big part to our team. Having a reliable kicker is huge. Some people don't appreciate that until its gone. Our next SB or big playoff game could come down to a FG.... And Id love to have gostkowski kicking that FG.

doesntmatter1 said:

After giving it some thought, Gostkowski is the MOST important signing at the moment. Nothing is more annoying than having a bad special teams unit.

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If we need to choose to prioritize between a pro bowl quality player at K, CB or S, I would put kicker as the lowest priority of the three. Signing McCourty and Reivs is much more important than signing Gostkowski.

BTW, I favor franchising Gronkowski and paying him $4.4M. I just think that Revis and McCourty are more important.

Deus Irae said:

Prediction:

Gost will be re-signed.

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He's the leading scorer in the NFL three years running, averaging 9 points per game. This is a critical player to having championship-caliber special teams. They'll get this done.

The Gr8est said:

Ask Denver how important a reliable kicker is.

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Detroit too, remember how bad their kicking was? i don't want to go through that, franchise the ghost.

mgteich said:

If we need to choose to prioritize between a pro bowl quality player at K, CB or S, I would put kicker as the lowest priority of the three. Signing McCourty and Reivs is much more important than signing Gostkowski.

BTW, I favor franchising Gronkowski and paying him $4.4M. I just think that Revis and McCourty are more important.

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Yeah this.........

Correcting Gostkowski's 2015 cap no if tagged. I have to first thank @IanWhetstone
Gostkowski 's cap number if tagged would now be $4.59m
$4.44m salary
100K offseason workout bonus
50K Pro Bowl bonus

Could increase if his 150K NLTBE incentive is now classified for LTBE for 2015.

I bet BB offers 3/$12-13m -- and see what happens.. Otherwise there are 2-3 very solid kickers that could be had for a 5th/6th rounder... is it worth it? maybe, depends how strongly our scouts feel about these guys coming up.

Unfortunately, I see a team like Denver/Detriot saying "enough is enough" and offering up $4-5M per in order to fix kicking problems, so a low-ball deal won't cut it.

Although Matt Prater is a cheap option with his involvement in the substance-abuse program..no idea if he isa FA or not, but he was about as good as anyone during his run in Denver (yeah yeah I get it, thin air)

notex said:

I bet BB offers 3/$12-13m -- and see what happens.. Otherwise there are 2-3 very solid kickers that could be had for a 5th/6th rounder... is it worth it? maybe, depends how strongly our scouts feel about these guys coming up.

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Might as well offer $20M for 5. Again, it's not like they have imminent concerns about his leg strength the way they did with Vinatieri.

patsfaninpa said:

Because the kicks would be more difficult, teams would go for it more on 4th down and 2pt conversions.

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XP are irrelevant. Any kicker in the NFL will make, for all intents and purposes, every XP. What is not irrelevant is a kicker who can make clutch 50 yard FGs and consistently put his kickoffs through the endzone. We have that. I watched too many teams screwed by NOT having that this year. He stays.