Patriots allow Brandon Browner to explore value around the NFL

FreeTedWilliams said:

This is ridiculous!

They had Browner signed til 2016 on short money! I have no idea what the Pats are doing

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My best guess's are that the money is going to Revis or Belichick didn't think Browner was worth the money (event though his cap hit is low). I like Browner but his style of play isn't really suited for the new NFL rules.

Not giving him his small bonus was the most stupid move of the day. The Patriots parlayed the
loss of one player into two players lost.

My guess is the Pats need Brower's cap $ in order to get a deal with Revis done.

Jimke said:

Not giving him his small bonus was the most stupid move of the day. The Patriots parlayed the
loss of one player into two players lost.

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No players have been lost yet. There must be some good reason why he was allowed to test the market. Let's give the benefit of the doubt to the FO.

Let's see how it plays out. I too am praying for both Browner and Revis to return.

robertweathers said:

If there is one thing that you can be certain of besides death and taxes is that the Pats always have a plan for a plan.

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Unless they have some "plan" that involves a machine that can duplicate, or create players, I don't see another "plan" that is a very good one. For starters good CB's are already rare, you can't just expect them to have a solid backup when the players for a solid backup don't exist.

Alright, back to seeing Logan Ryan and Arrington get burned by mediocre 6' 4" receivers like in the Super Bowl

RI Patriots fan said:

When you say "he" do you mean Browner because he was under the Patriot's control for 2 years unless I'm missing something. Are you saying that he couldn't be traded? I'm pretty sure he could have been traded but if I'm wrong that's fine.

So if he can be traded why didn't any other team want him at his current compensation if he was a "steal"?

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It means teams knew the Pats were going to decline the option. Or strongly suspected as much.

rochrist said:

It means teams knew the Pats were going to decline the option. Or strongly suspected as much.

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Um yeah....but they didn't know if some other team would be willing to trade for him. This isn't just about the Patriots. This is about what the 31 other teams would do as well and not a single team wanted to trade for him at his current compensation level.

RI Patriots fan said:

Um yeah....but they didn't know if some other team would be willing to trade for him. This isn't just about the Patriots. This is about what the 31 other teams would do as well and not a single team wanted to trade for him at his current compensation level.

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We'll see. I highly doubt he's playing next year for LESS than the 2.95 mil he made this year.

Biffins said:

Alright, back to seeing Logan Ryan and Arrington get burned by mediocre 6' 4" receivers like in the Super Bowl

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Logan or Arrington are NOT LCB or RCB, capable!

Well, releasing Browner was a really godawful move that will end up either costing us the player or a ton more money just to get him back.

CB has become a top 3 need right with OG and DT

MrNathanDrake said:

You don't replace a hard hitting 6'4 CB that easily

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I hate seeing short runt CBs that patriots had in the past getting stepped on by 6'+ WRs...

But seriously, why did we not pick up Browner's option again?

VectorPrime said:

But seriously, why did we not pick up Browner's option again?

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Ridiculously stupid mistake. Although Revis could partly be blamed cause he dragged his ordeal out beyond the deadline for picking up Browner's option. It wasn't picked up likely to help sign Revis.

If we had Browner, we could sign Culliver or Cox and still play man to man pretty well.

Now we lost the key to our defense AND the attitude to it.

Fix it Jesus!

Browner is not very good at all. Revis made him look better then he was. He can't cover anyone

Browner has had the luxury of playing with two of the best CBs in football as well as getting the best safety help in the league. At the same time, the Patriots really have to find a big bodied CB and Browner seems like the best available.

edit: Schmo, are you going to dislike everything I post for now on?

A rumor that both Florio and Howe have mentioned is that the Pats cut off negotiations with Revis yesterday, which is also when they told Browner to start looking around. If that rumor is true, then letting Browner go was done intentionally with the goal of moving past Revis. If letting a guy go was part of the plan, then you have to imagine there's more of that plan yet to come.

zone defense. People we did play zone till week 5 of last year till it became clear that revis and browner sucked at it.

with both gone I see us back to zone which is what BB prefers