Aiken was injured; Ayers and Casillas were pretty much free

Mike Reiss: Quick hit thoughts around Patriots, NFL

Always enjoy reading Reiss's Sunday post. Of particular interest were items 9 and 10.

Apparently Aiken broke his finger mid-December but played through it. I wasn't a big fan of our long snapper this year, but some newfound respect for some of those scary snaps.

Reiss also mentions that due to winning the Super Bowl, the in-season trades for Ayers and Casillas were pretty much free.

convertedpatsfan said:

Mike Reiss: Quick hit thoughts around Patriots, NFL

Always enjoy reading Reiss's Sunday post. Of particular interest were items 9 and 10.

Apparently Aiken broke his finger mid-December but played through it. I wasn't a big fan of our long snapper this year, but some newfound respect for some of those scary snaps.

Reiss also mentions that due to winning the Super Bowl, the in-season trades for Ayers and Casillas were pretty much free.

Two in-season trades that the Patriots made look even better now that the team won the Super Bowl, and the clubs they dealt with bottomed out. New England dealt a fifth-round pick to Tampa Bay in exchange for linebacker Jonathan Casillas and a sixth-round pick. Casillas gave the Patriots strong special-teams play and quality linebacker depth, and consider that with the Patriots picking 32nd in each round and the Buccaneers first, they hardly gave up anything (there will be a minor gap after compensatory picks are awarded next month). Then there was the deal with Tennessee in which the Patriots gave up a sixth-round pick in exchange for linebacker Akeem Ayers and a seventh-rounder. Ayers was impressive in a sub-rushing role and added linebacker depth, and consider that with the Patriots picking 32nd in each round and the Titans second, they again hardly gave up anything. A team can’t really draw up two trades better than that.​

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Let me get this straight, Aiken improved because he had a broken finger? Did BB break it?

I am not kidding, by the way. His horrible streak of awful snaps was way before December.

Ryan Allen has become so adept at saving these screwballs you hardly notice when, in the super Bowl, he almost snapped it high and wide over the left shoulder.

Like a baseball catcher framing a pitch.

RayClay said:

Let me get this straight, Aiken improved because he had a broken finger? Did BB break it?

I am not kidding, by the way. His horrible streak of awful snaps was way before December.

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Breakgate

There were some early issues, but then again, the entire team struggled the first month or so. But I remember being afraid of every long snap in critical moments for a while there, and there were a few iffy ones in the play-offs that Ryan Allen did a good job with.

RayClay said:

Let me get this straight, Aiken improved because he had a broken finger? Did BB break it?

I am not kidding, by the way. His horrible streak of awful snaps was way before December.

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convertedpatsfan said:

Breakgate

There were some early issues, but then again, the entire team struggled the first month or so. But I remember being afraid of every long snap in critical moments for a while there, and there were a few iffy ones in the play-offs that Ryan Allen did a good job with.

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Most other players have more than one thing to do, though.

when the biggest issue this team has is longsnapper, the team is pretty solid.

chasa said:

when the biggest issue this team has is longsnapper, the team is pretty solid.

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Indeed. There's an awful lot of teams that would LOVE to have New England's problems instead of their own.

I think Ayers & Casillas were both thankful being trade from loser teams (Titans, Bucs) to a top-caliber team. They also got a ring, as well.

My guess is that they want to stay. Why not? They know how it feels to play for crappy teams.
Hope both stays. IMO.

convertedpatsfan said:

Mike Reiss: Quick hit thoughts around Patriots, NFL

Always enjoy reading Reiss's Sunday post. Of particular interest were items 9 and 10.

Apparently Aiken broke his finger mid-December but played through it. I wasn't a big fan of our long snapper this year, but some newfound respect for some of those scary snaps.

Reiss also mentions that due to winning the Super Bowl, the in-season trades for Ayers and Casillas were pretty much free.

Two in-season trades that the Patriots made look even better now that the team won the Super Bowl, and the clubs they dealt with bottomed out. New England dealt a fifth-round pick to Tampa Bay in exchange for linebacker Jonathan Casillas and a sixth-round pick. Casillas gave the Patriots strong special-teams play and quality linebacker depth, and consider that with the Patriots picking 32nd in each round and the Buccaneers first, they hardly gave up anything (there will be a minor gap after compensatory picks are awarded next month). Then there was the deal with Tennessee in which the Patriots gave up a sixth-round pick in exchange for linebacker Akeem Ayers and a seventh-rounder. Ayers was impressive in a sub-rushing role and added linebacker depth, and consider that with the Patriots picking 32nd in each round and the Titans second, they again hardly gave up anything. A team can’t really draw up two trades better than that.​

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Great article. I would have started a thread about it if you hadn't first.

The Vereen part is interesting too, but it probably fits into the Vereen thread.

It's amazing that teams even still trade with us mid season...we ALWAYS...ALWAYS get the better end of the deal by far and it usually turns out to be dirt cheap

1)Interesting that he sees the starting point of the Vereen negotiations at 3/10.5--which is about 3.5m AAV a year. I can't possibly see how the Patriots could even entertain something like that, as much as we all want him to stay. As a matter of fact, Reiss predicts that Vereen's starting point should be above that, so it's quite possible that he'll be looking at 3/12 right from the get go.

2) Also interesting that he brings up the Mike Wallace example of bringing in an "outsider" for a high priced free agent deal that results in a major failure. We all knew that Wallace had talent, but the locker room/attitude issues that he had in Pittsburgh, along with the ridiculous money that he demanded made it a no-brainer for many of the respected franchises in the NFL. Players like that go to the usual suspects with lots of cap room and poor track records, and it's no surprise that the Dolphins are considering the possibility of walking away.

I didn't think many receivers would be worth that kind of money then, and I still feel the same way now--as much as a nice speedster and downfield threat would help at times. I think you've got to be careful about the allure of raw talent (Percy Harvin comes to mind), and attempting to balance that out with the salary cap situation. This all said, I still want to see the WR3/WR4 position improved upon, which hopefully means having Amendola continue to grow in this offense, along with someone else stepping up (not sure about Dobson, but I've felt that way the whole time). It sure would be nice for a downfield threat to emerge, but those players just don't grow on trees, particularly in a more complicated system such as the one in place. I can appreciate Belichick's attempts to find low round/UDFA pickups, as well as "bargain bin shopping." We just don't know if these kinds of players will ever work out, and unless it's one of the top 3-5 receivers in the NFL, I couldn't imagine paying them double digits per year.

Brady_to_Moss said:

It's amazing that teams even still trade with us mid season...we ALWAYS...ALWAYS get the better end of the deal by far and it usually turns out to be dirt cheap

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Thanks. Now that you said this GMs will never trade with us. You screwed us.

Brady_to_Moss said:

It's amazing that teams even still trade with us mid season...we ALWAYS...ALWAYS get the better end of the deal by far and it usually turns out to be dirt cheap

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These were players the teams wanted to dump, so getting anything made the trades worthwhile from their perspective. The amazing part to me is that no other team was interested in Ayers.

patchick said:

These were players the teams wanted to dump, so getting anything made the trades worthwhile from their perspective. The amazing part to me is that no other team was interested in Ayers.

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Not sure which is more surprising: that, or that nobody else wanted to claim Blount off waivers.

Brady_to_Moss said:

It's amazing that teams even still trade with us mid season...we ALWAYS...ALWAYS get the better end of the deal by far and it usually turns out to be dirt cheap

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?????


You mean, like with Isaac Sopoaga?

ctpatsfan77 said:

Not sure which is more surprising: that, or that nobody else wanted to claim Blount off waivers.

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I think it's the latter, personally.

The fact that 3 teams put in waiver claims for Ben Tate, who happened to be released at the same time, really seemed to benefit us greatly.

Deus Irae said:

?????


You mean, like with Isaac Sopoaga?

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Hey now!

Sopoaga had both a solo tackle AND an assisted tackle here in N.England.

patchick said:

These were players the teams wanted to dump, so getting anything made the trades worthwhile from their perspective. The amazing part to me is that no other team was interested in Ayers.

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I know..he had so much left in the tank

Since we all can't seem to abide any hyperbole being used in describing Belichick's positive trades, lets just pretend that Sapoaga costing us the difference between a 5th round and a 6th round pick somehow makes the core point that Belichick has had an incredible record with midseason acquisitions a mockable piece of rhetoric.

How good is nick Caserio and the scouting group? This is such an underrated aspect of this team. BB is not playing madden and looking through numbers. He actually has to rely on evaluation made by human beings. It seems like our network is much greater than other teams.

zipster9 said:

I think Ayers & Casillas were both thankful being trade from loser teams (Titans, Bucs) to a top-caliber team. They also got a ring, as well.

My guess is that they want to stay. Why not? They know how it feels to play for crappy teams.
Hope both stays. IMO.

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I'm sure they'd like to say, but I assume someone will offer Ayers significantly more than we're willing to pay for him. Maybe not, but if that's the case I would expect Ayers to follow the money. Between coming off of a rookie contract and having iffy knees that may shorten his career, I wouldn't blame him a bit.