Patriots and OL drafting

You'd trade Solder because he has a high cost and is soon to be a FA. Put Vollmer at LT and put one of the CAnnon or Fleming at RT or a draftee.

mayoclinic said:

I agree with you. The only reason you would trade Solder is (1) if you think his cost will put you in a bad long-term cap situation, and (2) you can get very good value for him. If you can afford him, you keep him. If you can't get good value for him, you keep him. But if it's going to come down to keeping him long term vs. keeping another all-pro caliber player (such as Jones or Hightower), then you have to consider the relative value and replacement cost.

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We don't have to make that decision this year. Consider this too before plugging Sea Bass in at LT for the next few years. Vollmer has been injured quite a bit and isn't a sure thing medically going forward. I think he is the best RT in football. A recipe for disaster would be trading your pretty good, durable LT. Sliding your older, health riskier RT to LT. What's the plan if Sea Bass down? Not for you Mayo. Just the deal Solder militia. You might need 2 tackles sooner than you think.

patsfaninpa said:

Vollmer might be the best RT in football. WhY on earth would you want to move him? Solder is easily in the 5-10 area for left tackles. Why would you want to move him too? You cut non-producers to save money. Not a pro-bowl RT and a near pro-bowl LT.

There is not one LT in this draft you can expect to be better than Solder. Come on guys.

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It's one of the downfalls of being a Super Bowl champion - it means the team has good players and very few non-producers. Who had cap charges over $5m in 2014? Brady, Revis, Mayo, Wilfork, Gronk, McCourty. Plus AHern residuals. In 2015, you're looking at the same group (less Hernandez) plus Solder, Amendola, and Vollmer. In 2016 you're adding Edelman, Arrington, Chandler Jones and Hightower to the list while removing no one.

There is some basic restructuring that can be done to help in 2015 such that everyone can be retained. But it may not work in 2016.

The team prefers a spread-the-wealth approach versus a top-heavy approach. Given that, it may not be possible to pay for everyone even after removing all the non-producers. So they may be forced to let a good player go, if they think they could get reasonable (certainly not the same) production at a fraction of the cost. Solder might fit that bill if he shoots for the moon in his payday request. I don't *want* to lose him, just thinking of how the team may view it.

You get rid of Arrington and Amendola before the thought of getting rid of a starting T even enters your mind. Then, you look at guys who may not be earning their salary like Mayo and Wilfork.

patsfaninpa said:

We don't have to make that decision this year. Consider this too before plugging Sea Bass in at LT for the next few years. Vollmer has been injured quite a bit and isn't a sure thing medically going forward. I think he is the best RT in football. A recipe for disaster would be trading your pretty good, durable LT. Sliding your older, health riskier RT to LT. What's the plan if Sea Bass down? Not for you Mayo. Just the deal Solder militia. You might need 2 tackles sooner than you think.

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I agree we don't have to make the decision. I'm not looking to make a move with Solder. But if someone offers a 1st, I'd strongly consider it in terms of the long-term picture. What if I don't think I can afford to keep all of Solder/Jones/Hightower/Collins, and I could get a 1st for Solder and draft someone like TJ Clemmings or DJ Humphries and plug them in? It would weaken the OL in the short term, but might be a good long term move.

Again, I'm not advocating it. I've been in the Solder camp even when he was struggling at the beginning of the year. But I'd think about the big picture, and consider it.

I'd cut Mayo to free-up money to keep Hightower and Collins. Honestly, don't really need 3 highly paid lb's in today's NFL. Nobody on the DL is making money besides Chandler Jones if you release VW. I see the 4 you mentioned as core players. I make cuts in other areas. Guys like Arrington and Browner won't be around much longer. Maybe, not even Vollmer. If Sea Bass and Solder were the same age and both healthy. I'd consider trading Solder. That's not the case. We have quite a few other cap casualites before I cut my LT.

patsfaninpa said:

I'd cut Mayo to free-up money to keep Hightower and Collins. Honestly, don't really need 3 highly paid lb's in today's NFL. Nobody on the DL is making money besides Chandler Jones if you release VW. I see the 4 you mentioned as core players. I make cuts in other areas. Guys like Arrington and Browner won't be around much longer. Maybe, not even Vollmer. If Sea Bass and Solder were the same age and both healthy. I'd consider trading Solder. That's not the case. We have quite a few other cap casualites before I cut my LT.

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Again, just to be clear, I would personally never consider cutting Solder. I'd only consider trading him if I really good offer was made, and looking at the long term cap situation (beyond this year).

I'd really not spend a single thought on trading solder! Sorry but even a mid-first isn't going to do it for me...there's just so much uncertainty involved in drafting a new LT, even if the draft class is strong! I prefer having a solid, but unspectacular player, rather then trading him for something completely uncertain! This seems to be the Matt-Light-situation all over again, when a lot of people wanted to continually cut or trade an average to solid starter on the second most important position on a SB winning team; we could do much much worse than solder. Simply not worth all the risk imo.

Even though I am for keeping Solder I still don't view him as highly as some on this board. I find him to be a very average starter overall. He has good streaks and bad streaks. Also his play far to often depends on who is to his right. He is really good against bigger stronger DEs but has too many issues with speed guys.

The Pats cover for this (not just him but the whole OL) by simply passing quickly. It is pretty hard to grade how well the Pats OL pass blocking did against the Seahawks as they were often not asked to block more than 3 seconds.

Someone here said they view Solder as a 5-10 LT. The thing is sometimes he absolutely plays like it. It is maddening really. However the fact he i a bit inconsistent could be the key to keeping him. Hopefully he is healthy and playing well when this years playoffs come again.

Are there any potential LT in later rounds? Last year we picked Fleming, before him we picked Cannon, but both look like right tackle. Do you think we can create a pipeline at the opposite spot? A project with minimal capital spent. I'm not talking about Clemmings or Fisher.

KevinFaulk-33 said:

Are there any potential LT in later rounds? Last year we picked Fleming, before him we picked Cannon, but both look like right tackle. Do you think we can create a pipeline at the opposite spot? A project with minimal capital spent. I'm not talking about Clemmings or Fisher.

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Not really. There are some guys with length: Eric Lefeld of Cincinnati and Rob Crisp of NC State and there are guys with experience like Jamil Douglas of ASU and Takoby Cofield of Duke, but all are too much of a projection to be considered a sure fire LT of the future. The better bet for drafting a value LT would be Jake Fisher in the 2nd or Donovan Smith or Ty Sambrailo in the 2nd to 3rd rounds.

They need a huge moose to block Suh. A small athletic guy will get eaten up.

What about Tre' Jackson and AJ Cann?