Bradley Fletcher signing with Pats

JackBauer said:

The Pats homer reaction that not a single poster has made. Keep fighting the good fight, bud.

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I aas just going to say that. God, the Pink Hats are in full force. They just dont get it.

SeanBruschi54 said:

Trust in Belichick BUT
This guy was one of the worst cornerbacks in all of football last year. Hate this move for now.

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He wasn't one of the worst CBs in the NFL. He's an adequate-ish #2, who was miscast as a #1 because he's better than Cary Williams (which is a pretty low bar to clear). The Philly braintrust then decided to put him on an island against the other team's best receiver every week, which had predictably disastrous consequences. As a result, he was absolutely the most overmatched CB in the NFL. It's like a much, much worse version of when the Pats used Ellis Hobbs as their CB1 for a year.

Context like this is one of the main reasons why PFF is basically useless. As long as he's working in a role that he can handle with a coaching staff that isn't deadset on jamming square pegs into round holes, he can be a competent player.

lead the NFL in pass def but that's just because he was thrown at so much

The Eagles entire secondary sucked last year, so BB must have a sense that he's a lot better when well-coached and surrounded by better players.

Don_the_patfan said:

Eagles fan losing it over Bradley Fletcher's play and possible resigning which he doesnt want happen.

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It's obvious that the articulate Eagles fan knows a lot more about NFL player evaluation than Bill Belichick.

Heck, forget Belichick... the Eagles fan probably even knows more about NFL player evaluation than Mike Felger.

8:43 mark, Stephen A destroys Fletcher.

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Oh, well that seals it then. I always turn to Stephen A. Smith over Bill Belichick for in-depth player analysis....

Its pretty clear to me that one of Bill's core philosophies is to get more "shots on goal" so to speak. This is why he tends to sign more low end guys (hoping that he can find a diamond in the rough) rather than making a big splash in free agency.

Its the same reason he tends to trade down in the draft. He would rather have 3 players each with a 30% chance of succeeding rather than 1 player with a 50% chance of succeeding.

The upside is that you'll find guys that werent highly regarded but can be an important player on the team David Givens, a Randall Gay, a Danny Woodhead, etc. The downside is that you once in a while will lose out on a key player (losing Deion Branch in 2006). Overall, though, I would say that Bill's philosophy is working out well.

Anteros said:

Sigh. I just got redirected to an adult website when I first clicked on this thread on my phone. This is why I use an ad blocker on my PC. gonna have to find one for my phone.

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Same happened to me. Please advise what ad blocker you wind up using

I only read the first 2 pages and last 2 pages of this thread, so if this was mentioned earlier, sorry for the redundancy.

Had to drive back and forth to Stockbridge this morning. (and yes I brought my James Taylor CD with me ) So I was forced to listen to EEI mid day show. Benz was rabid about the Pats should have done what it took to resign Revis. He was mini-Felger like in his disregard for the realities of the Cap system, but I digress. I was just about to turn to music when the had a writer from Philly who covers the Eagles come on to discuss Bradley Fletcher....and what he said was very interesting.....and hopeful

The first thing he mentioned was that he hasn't seen a DB look that bad since Pat Chung was with the Eagles. Then he went on to say that the Pat Chung who played for the Pats last year was infinitely better than the one that played and failed in Philly. He attributed to better coaching and being surrounded by better players.

He stated that Fletcher has had some good years with the Eagles before the disaster of last year. He attributed a lot of his problems to the following 3 reasons

a. The guys playing around him were not good, especially the safeties.
b. Bad coaching. That coach was fired, and it was an open secret the players hated him
c. He was OK at the start of the season, but ran into a bad stretch and he started getting picked on. Then he completely lost his confidence, and it went down hill from there, to the point he was benched. He lost confidence in himself, and the coaching staff lost confidence in him as well.

He then went on to say a couple of more things that I liked. He stated that Fletcher is a physical corner who will do better with big bodied WR's than small quick guys. At 6' and over 200lbs, he's not the ideal size I'd like (6'2 or above), but he has a skill set we don't currently have on roster. The fact the 5'9 Dennard is the most physical CB we have right now. So its a skill set that's badly needed

In another remark I found interesting was that he alluded to the fact Fletcher played better than Cary William last year. I found that interesting because William is even bigger than Fletcher and was a guy I hoped the Pats would grab, but he went to the Seahawks before Revis went to NYC. This was almost a throw in remark and he didn't elaborate.

So given the situation, there seems to be a LOT more upside to this signing that originally meets the eye. And since there doesn't seem to be any downside, it COULD be another BB steal. At worst this guy could be a situational press man guy against bigger WR's. At best, he might be a shorter 2015 version of Brand0n Browner.

After here this writer's observations, you can't help but like this signing.

hwc said:

Right now, the Pats are Four deep with NFL caliber cornerbacks: Butler, Arrington, Dennard, Ryan...

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Fixed it for ya.

SyN65 said:

Forgive me for not being excited over the pats signing one of the worst corners in the NFL last year.

Here, I'll give the pats Homer reaction:

"Incredible signing! Did belichick do it again or did belichick do it again!"

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Here's another tired myth: "Bill's playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers."

eh, its not an exciting signing, but I don't see any downside.

1.best case scenario it was poor safety play and scheme fit in philly and Bill can coach him up to be a serviceable contributer.

2. Worst case scenario he still stinks and we go with some combination of rookie corner,butler, ryan, dennard as out outside CB

doesn't hurt to try though.

TBR said:

Was it a naked black woman for Adult Friend Finder? It happened to me as well except I'm on a computer (Mac). I use AdBlock as well and it still showed up.

I think it happened a few times before when trying to visit other websites.

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Honestly, I backpedaled so fast from that page I can't remember specifics. The only thing I remember is seeing a naked woman and the word Adult.

[EDIT] Is Ian accepting ads from Adult Friend Finder? That would suck.

this is a Leigh Bodden type of sign. a CB who has had a good season or two In the NFL has a bad year on a bad defense comes here and has a nice year for the pats. but just like Bodden he is a stop gap that should be resigned

Back to hoping we can get a stop.

dannydyn said:

The year is 2011 all over again...

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They nearly won the SB in 2011. I'll take it

hwc said:

Oh, well that seals it then. I always turn to Stephen A. Smith over Bill Belichick for in-depth player analysis....

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Just trying to add some perspective into the discussion. I didn't bring up coach Belichick, so don't get so defensive. I gave no opinions about how this will turn out. We all have eyes, and we saw what happened last season with Fletcher.

captain stone said:

Sadly for all of us, the money is not low, at all, according to Adam Caplan.
3rd-worst signing for Pats, so far, behind only the Branch & Cannon extensions, though worse - but not
by much - than the Scott (I'd rather have James Casey) Chandler deal.

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While this signing does nothing for me in terms of excitement or stimulation, and looks to be a camp body, I don't think it's fair to label it a bad signing until training camp starts and these guys start practicing in pads

I'm very skeptical of this guy.. but I also have no idea what kind of scheme he played in at Philly and what the context of the plays were where he gave up touchdowns. Doesn't always mean it's the CBs fault when a WR burns a defense, but im sure he owned quite a few of those 9 he gave up.

Does anyone know if the eagles played man or zone primarily?

Remember Darius Butler on the Pats was pretty bad, but he's having himself quite the career now on the Colts because he fit better in their scheme and how they used him. Who knows, maybe Fletcher just needs to be utilized better than he was in Philly and he could see his game improve... also that entire secondary was atrocious so when it rains it pours in those types of situations..

I won't get my hopes up about this guy, but I'll be watching closely when training camp rolls around

Saint Pat said:

Just trying to add some perspective into the discussion. I didn't bring up coach Belichick, so don't get so defensive. I gave no opinions about how this will turn out. We all have eyes, and we saw what happened last season with Fletcher.

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We also saw what happened with Moss in Oakland. There are plenty of examples where a change of scenery, a fresh start or a new coach or teammates turned a player around.

I dont even care about this guy, but anything can happen.

Bruins29 said:

We also saw what happened with Moss in Oakland. There are plenty of examples where a change of scenery, a fresh start or a new coach or teammates turned a player around.

I dont even care about this guy, but anything can happen.

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Hence

I gave no opinions about how this will turn out.

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