Bradley Fletcher signing with Pats

I confess I never watched film on him before, don't watch too many Eagles games, but there's a lot of memes and bad film on him and analysts pointing out his awfulness , this says a lot.

The problem about losing Mevis was not just losing but losing him in a weak FA for CBs. I really expected BB to mask that deficiency going deep in other areas like defensive line but not many moves so far and we also lost Wilfork, I'm ok with this move but it needs a replacement. I don't trust rookies to have an immediate impact and BB never rushed a rookie, the first year is a red shirt year in most cases sometimes even 1st rounders. I expect our defense to have a huge drop in quality from last year, I hope the offense can make up for though, but they missed a few interesting free agents. This year is weird, let's see what the draft gives us.

Brady_to_Moss said:

bend..then hopefully don't break D once again...

Are there any stud CBs we can trade up for?

Click to expand...

Thought someone would never ask!

Hey. I was as upset as anyone when we signed some trash for CB. But...I thought and hopefully you agree, one of the things it seems like BB takes pride in is "project reclamations". I have stepped off the ledge.

As far as what is left on the FA market:

There are two CBs out there that still have value:
Tarrell Brown who they have visited with and Zachary Bowman

Bowman "played well over the past two seasons at Giants , would've started at corner this year if he wasn't stuck behind two talented players". I think the Pats had interest in him in 2008 out of Nebraska. He is a bigger DB at 6'1" or 6'2" the roster could use. Headscratcher there as a forgotten man in FA.

As far as our "selections" at CB yesterday:

We got two CBs off the scrap heap yesterday......"project reclamations". They could be camp fodder or just seeing what sticks for Vets. But the interesting thing is BB can go to Chip on Fletcher and Dimiroff on McClain. I did not think of that in my "rage" at these two..."signings". He did well with Vrabel, Nink, Moss, Dillon, Anderson and more.

I would assume that Bill would call Chip for the skinny on this Fletcher kid. He was the Eagles starting CB and they won 10 games. I am not saying he wasn't awful, but maybe Chip gave BB a green light on him.

McClain has been serviceable as a nickle/slot. Perhaps competition for Arrington at way less money and CAP ???? and Kyle did not have a stellar playoff. But McClain does not solve our starting CB needs. Nor Fletcher.

Bills got some idea in mind on those two.

As far as Trades and who might be available?:

I have done some study on CAP and Team needs of possible Trade partners.

SAINTS-
Saints have redone the Lewis contract. His reconstruct put them $1.7 mm under CAP. His salary and CAP are now manageable. But that does still not help them enough CAP wise even (Draft dollars) after some major reconstructions like Lewis , Ellerbe, Byrd and Galette, they are still in CAP hell. They need picks , players and CAP relief.

Here is my thought. Correct me where I am wrong. You have to give something to get something. This is not Madden.

We all agree Lewis might not be a bad pick up. His new deal is:
$10.45 million in guaranteed money, including a $3.9 million signing bonus (Paid by Saints).

"The new deal includes base salaries of $850,000, $2.7 million and $4.75 million over the next three seasons. Previously, he was due to have base salaries of $1.8 million in 2015 and $4.25 million in 2016. His base salary for 2017 remains the same.

Lewis’ 2015 base salary is guaranteed, as well as $2.7 million of his salary in 2016 and $3 million in 2017."

To entice the Saints you might have to take on another high salary player. We lost two Team concept changing CBs to FA . How about changing the way our back end plays to compensate?

Jarius Byrd is a Pro Bowl Safety and playmaker and still only 28. He was signed last year by the Saints in FA and lost most of the season to IR. Healthy now he still is a high number for them

His reconstruct cut $10.3 million to $5.5 million. The money will be pushed into the remaining four years of the six-year, $54 million deal. Roughly McCourty price the next three years as the CAP still rises (a good thing).

The Saints started youngster Pierre Warren (cheaper!!!) at Safety and like him a lot to pair with the as-expensive Vacarro.

The Saints are not through cutting!

They need an O Lineman, Younger big WR and will need a respectable CB to slot in.

THOUGHTS-Lewis and Byrd for a package of a high pick (32??) and a player such as Cannon* who can start at RT and they have a dire need and or Dobson or Dennard/Ryan (either or). Cannon and #32 for those two? It's our advantage. Am I wrong here? Byrd and McCourty change the Pats defensive backfield dynamics yet once again.

It costs us a few dollars but still less than Revis.

*Cannon is a good player but Flemming has the edge on him as of now at the same position. Cannon did not respond well at Guard.

BROWNS-
Justin Gilbert is a CB who was Drafted top ten by the Browns last year. He has talent! They are not going to be patient with his development across form Joe Haden and some in the organization feels he is a bust because he is not dedicated to his craft (late meetings etc.). They are so antsie they went and signed Tramon Williams who is a good stable CB to play opposite Haden. Gilbert?

The Browns have need for a young big WR (better than Hartline in the future) and also a RT. They might give up on Gilbert now? They also have Pierre Desir (I like him better)

THOUGHTS-Perhaps Cannon (Dobson? ) plus a pick (3rd round? ) for Gilbert? Am I wrong here?

RAMS-
This is going to get some death threats from the "cool kids" on this forum ie. haters. The Rams have badly mismanaged what they are doing or want to do with WR Tavon Austin. Some say bust but how are you using the kid? Some would rather see Stedman Bailey and they had a good year out of Britt and resigned him..

Some think that CB Janoris Jenkings is a huge talent but gambles too much (Asante Samuel?) . He is on the last year of his Rookie Deal and some feel he might bolt anyway. They also have two youngsters at CB who have played well (Johnson and Robertson) and some think they might suit the Rams D better. We did well with Samuel.

The Rams need a RT as Barksdale left for FA, to protect Foles

THOUGHTS-Blockuster>I bring for your consideration with all due respect? WR Tavon Austin and CB Janoris Jenkins for T/G Marcus Cannon and our first #32 and our third #96(we should have a comp a few picks after anyway).

We thought of Percy Harvin in this forum but this kid is a talented receiver who also ran for a 6.2 average. I think McDaniels could figure what to do with him!

Jenkins has talent but we know about gamblers.

With signings this week the Rams CAP is creeping up.

Am I wrong here?

Again, I like Cannon. He has some starting ability. You have to give something up. Picks are gold but these two are young.

Raiders? Hayden?

Again this is for fun so it eliminates many such as forum bully JB from weighing in.
DW Toys

DW Toys said:

Again this is for fun so it eliminates many such as forum bully JB from weighing in.
DW Toys

Click to expand...

Forum bully? Hah.

JackBauer said:

Forum bully? Hah.

Click to expand...

Cousin...If the shoe fits....I never said Jack B. now did i?
DW Toys

DW Toys said:

Thought someone would never ask!

Hey. I was as upset as anyone when we signed some trash for CB. But...I thought and hopefully you agree, one of the things it seems like BB takes pride in is "project reclamations". I have stepped off the ledge.

As far as what is left on the FA market:

There are two CBs out there that still have value:
Tarrell Brown who they have visited with and Zachary Bowman

Bowman "played well over the past two seasons at Giants , would've started at corner this year if he wasn't stuck behind two talented players". I think the Pats had interest in him in 2008 out of Nebraska. He is a bigger DB at 6'1" or 6'2" the roster could use. Headscratcher there as a forgotten man in FA.

As far as our "selections" at CB yesterday:

We got two CBs off the scrap heap yesterday......"project reclamations". They could be camp fodder or just seeing what sticks for Vets. But the interesting thing is BB can go to Chip on Fletcher and Dimiroff on McClain. I did not think of that in my "rage" at these two..."signings". He did well with Vrabel, Nink, Moss, Dillon, Anderson and more.

I would assume that Bill would call Chip for the skinny on this Fletcher kid. He was the Eagles starting CB and they won 10 games. I am not saying he wasn't awful, but maybe Chip gave BB a green light on him.

McClain has been serviceable as a nickle/slot. Perhaps competition for Arrington at way less money and CAP ???? and Kyle did not have a stellar playoff. But McClain does not solve our starting CB needs. Nor Fletcher.

Bills got some idea in mind on those two.

As far as Trades and who might be available?:

I have done some study on CAP and Team needs of possible Trade partners.

SAINTS-
Saints have redone the Lewis contract. His reconstruct put them $1.7 mm under CAP. His salary and CAP are now manageable. But that does still not help them enough CAP wise even (Draft dollars) after some major reconstructions like Lewis , Ellerbe, Byrd and Galette, they are still in CAP hell. They need picks , players and CAP relief.

Here is my thought. Correct me where I am wrong. You have to give something to get something. This is not Madden.

We all agree Lewis might not be a bad pick up. His new deal is:
$10.45 million in guaranteed money, including a $3.9 million signing bonus (Paid by Saints).

"The new deal includes base salaries of $850,000, $2.7 million and $4.75 million over the next three seasons. Previously, he was due to have base salaries of $1.8 million in 2015 and $4.25 million in 2016. His base salary for 2017 remains the same.

Lewis’ 2015 base salary is guaranteed, as well as $2.7 million of his salary in 2016 and $3 million in 2017."

To entice the Saints you might have to take on another high salary player. We lost two Team concept changing CBs to FA . How about changing the way our back end plays to compensate?

Jarius Byrd is a Pro Bowl Safety and playmaker and still only 28. He was signed last year by the Saints in FA and lost most of the season to IR. Healthy now he still is a high number for them

His reconstruct cut $10.3 million to $5.5 million. The money will be pushed into the remaining four years of the six-year, $54 million deal. Roughly McCourty price the next three years as the CAP still rises (a good thing).

The Saints started youngster Pierre Warren (cheaper!!!) at Safety and like him a lot to pair with the as-expensive Vacarro.

The Saints are not through cutting!

They need an O Lineman, Younger big WR and will need a respectable CB to slot in.

THOUGHTS-Lewis and Byrd for a package of a high pick (32??) and a player such as Cannon* who can start at RT and they have a dire need and or Dobson or Dennard/Ryan (either or). Cannon and #32 for those two? It's our advantage. Am I wrong here? Byrd and McCourty change the Pats defensive backfield dynamics yet once again.

It costs us a few dollars but still less than Revis.

*Cannon is a good player but Flemming has the edge on him as of now at the same position. Cannon did not respond well at Guard.

BROWNS-
Justin Gilbert is a CB who was Drafted top ten by the Browns last year. He has talent! They are not going to be patient with his development across form Joe Haden and some in the organization feels he is a bust because he is not dedicated to his craft (late meetings etc.). They are so antsie they went and signed Tramon Williams who is a good stable CB to play opposite Haden. Gilbert?

The Browns have need for a young big WR (better than Hartline in the future) and also a RT. They might give up on Gilbert now? They also have Pierre Desir (I like him better)

THOUGHTS-Perhaps Cannon (Dobson? ) plus a pick (3rd round? ) for Gilbert? Am I wrong here?

RAMS-
This is going to get some death threats from the "cool kids" on this forum ie. haters. The Rams have badly mismanaged what they are doing or want to do with WR Tavon Austin. Some say bust but how are you using the kid? Some would rather see Stedman Bailey and they had a good year out of Britt and resigned him..

Some think that CB Janoris Jenkings is a huge talent but gambles too much (Asante Samuel?) . He is on the last year of his Rookie Deal and some feel he might bolt anyway. They also have two youngsters at CB who have played well (Johnson and Robertson) and some think they might suit the Rams D better. We did well with Samuel.

The Rams need a RT as Barksdale left for FA, to protect Foles

THOUGHTS-Blockuster>I bring for your consideration with all due respect? WR Tavon Austin and CB Janoris Jenkins for T/G Marcus Cannon and our first #32 and our third #96(we should have a comp a few picks after anyway).

We thought of Percy Harvin in this forum but this kid is a talented receiver who also ran for a 6.2 average. I think McDaniels could figure what to do with him!

Jenkins has talent but we know about gamblers.

With signings this week the Rams CAP is creeping up.

Am I wrong here?

Again, I like Cannon. He has some starting ability. You have to give something up. Picks are gold but these two are young.

Raiders? Hayden?

Again this is for fun so it eliminates many such as forum bully JB from weighing in.
DW Toys

Click to expand...

Another possible CB to consider might be Leon Hall of Cinn. They might do something.
DW Toys

primetime said:

One problem I have with PFF is, aside from the obvious superstars, player grades never seem to track from season to season. This can happen, don't get me wrong, but it seems that a top-20 player one year will be a bottom-20 player the next, and this happens constantly. That strikes me as a lack of continuity with grading, since it seems far less likely that a player's skill level suddenly changed over the course of one 16 game sample to the next. Meanwhile, the superstars (or the players whom PFF has established through narrative are "underrated superstars") always are the top or among the top players at their position year to year, even during down years (see Revis in Tampa). To me, this seems to be grading to fit a narrative for certain players and total lack of any sort of a rationalized grading rubric for everyone else.

I think PFF can be useful if taken with a grain of salt but I see that year-to-year fluctuation with non-superstars constantly and it makes me think it's more about the people awarding the grades, which are of course just numeric stand-ins for qualitative analysis, than the players themselves.

Click to expand...

Fletcher had a bad year in Philly in 2014, no doubt about that. But he turned in a good year his last in St Louis, and had a good year his first year in Philly. He is young and good sized and was a third round draftee, attesting to his athletic ability, if nothing else.

In short, a reasonable reclamation/depth project.

As for McClain he appears to be a good ST player serving as a gunner with his former team. He may not be Slater but who is? But he should be a good ST who has even played a few snaps as a regular DB. Sounds like a nice pickup to me.

I don't know if anyone's linked this already, but it's an extremely interesting read from Football Outsiders. Guess which CB was rated highest out of all the FA CB's in regards to likeliness to outperform their contract?

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2015/free-agency-cost-benefit-analysis

That's right - Bradley Fletcher! You'll also see Robert McClain was the third most likely to outperform his contract... Looks like FO thinks the Pats made some good signings.

Meanwhile, Revis is rated as a bit overpaid, and Byron Maxwell is rated as grossly overpaid. Actually, all but 5 CBs were overpaid according to this chart. Pretty crap CB market.

My spirits have been raised somewhat by that article. Good find.