Once again, Pats win; Jets, Dolphins, Bills all lose

PatsWickedPissah said:

Great stuff. Good post.
Bears repeating...
"Patriots beat writer Doug Kyed pointed out to me that the Patriots structured the deals of their free-agents-to-be in a way that would qualify for draft pick compensation. Because the Patriots technically declined the options of Revis, Brandon Browner, and Vince Wilfork, all three should be eligible for draft pick compensation. Revis’s hefty deal with the Jets will likely qualify the Patriots for another third-round pick.

If the Patriots had structured those deals in a more traditional way, they would have had to release Browner and Wilfork (if not Revis as well), which would have prevented New England from claiming any compensation when those players signed elsewhere."

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i smell another rule change coming. this just isnt fair to the other teams.

The Jets declined an option on Chris Johnson's deal
The Cowboys declined an option on Henry Melton's deal

Satchboogie3 said:

And people think BB was crazy for letting Revis walk. We got an affordable 1 year rental, won the SB, and get a 3rd round pick to boot. He was never coming back.

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Belichick and the front office have certainly shown patterns to their dealings, which is exactly why anyone could plainly see that guys like Vereen and Ayers were long gone.

To take it one step further, once McCourty signed it was fairly apparent that Belichick knew something about Revis and that the odds of keeping both were very slim (despite someone actually starting a thread on how much our secondary would cost in 2017 with McCourty, Revis, Browner, and company).

Deus Irae said:

No, I'm under the common sense belief that the Patriots haven't violated the rules and aren't subject to punishment. Because that's the fact, Jack.

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Yes common sense would seem to say those two statements are connected. But in reality there's no reason to believe that is true. If Kommisar Goodell decides to punish the Pats for Deflategate it won't matter that they did nothing wrong, it will be politically palatable to the public and that's all that matters.

DaBronxPats14 said:

Yes perfect trifecta, 1 yr rental, SB win, 3rd round pick and Revis wanted out so Thank You.

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Quad-fecta really(does that word exist?), ...all you mentioned....plus the benefit of our arch-nemesis using up a premier QB's worth of cap space every year for 5 years on a guy who at best will touch the ball 4-5 times a SEASON! ( ok, count defended passes and I'll give you 15 times).

patchick said:

Shhhh! Don't repeat it! As soon as the competition committee hears that the Patriots have been succeeding by doing something smart, they'll change the rules!

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Honestly, when I read that bit about the contract structures, my first thought was the league is going to make this illegal. And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced they will.

The NFL is a knee-jerk operation run by a dumb jerk. They're so far behind the times, they're never proactive, but reactive to every situation that comes up. The constant bungling of investigations is proof of this. They don't know what to do until everyone gets outraged and yells, then they do what the mobs are yelling for without actually thinking it through, then get whiplash trying to snap the other way after everyone turns against them.

The NFL owners were quick to ban the unconventional ineligible receiver sets, but as BB pointed out, it would impact lots of other plays, including spread punt formations. I bet 3/4 of the NFL's owners and head office read that and thought, "OMG, WHAT IS THAT?" They've now created a new set of problems because they didn't take sufficient time to actually understand what was going on.

BB is miles ahead of these clowns, and they can't keep up, so they go out of their way to slow him down. This contract structure is just another way BB is ahead of everyone else, and rather than let him run circles around everyone else, they'll just make it illegal.

I used to joke around about this kind of stuff, but I really do believe it now. Maybe this is how conspiracy nuts start. I don't know. But there's nobody in the NFL head office that deserves to be paid more than minimum wage, and the fact Goodell earns more than $1/hour as the worst commissioner in sports is a travesty.

Satchboogie3 said:

And people think BB was crazy for letting Revis walk. We got an affordable 1 year rental, won the SB, and get a 3rd round pick to boot. He was never coming back.

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AND a Jets pick for the tampering... So we 2 picks for that player

convertedpatsfan said:

Honestly, when I read that bit about the contract structures, my first thought was the league is going to make this illegal. And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced they will.

The NFL is a knee-jerk operation run by a dumb jerk. They're so far behind the times, they're never proactive, but reactive to every situation that comes up. The constant bungling of investigations is proof of this. They don't know what to do until everyone gets outraged and yells, then they do what the mobs are yelling for without actually thinking it through, then get whiplash trying to snap the other way after everyone turns against them.

The NFL owners were quick to ban the unconventional ineligible receiver sets, but as BB pointed out, it would impact lots of other plays, including spread punt formations. I bet 3/4 of the NFL's owners and head office read that and thought, "OMG, WHAT IS THAT?" They've now created a new set of problems because they didn't take sufficient time to actually understand what was going on.

BB is miles ahead of these clowns, and they can't keep up, so they go out of their way to slow him down. This contract structure is just another way BB is ahead of everyone else, and rather than let him run circles around everyone else, they'll just make it illegal.

I used to joke around about this kind of stuff, but I really do believe it now. Maybe this is how conspiracy nuts start. I don't know. But there's nobody in the NFL head office that deserves to be paid more than minimum wage, and the fact Goodell earns more than $1/hour as the worst commissioner in sports is a travesty.

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Can NFL make a civil contract illegal? Wow. At the end of the day, they can rule that specific clause is not valid for additional choices. But the NFL dictate how a contract will be structured does not exceed its essence ?

Great piece on draft value and a wonderful chart. The New England Patriots can continue to get younger and faster while their three division rivals got older and slower.

On draft picks alone, the Patriots get to select as many as 9 players while the Jets and Bills only have 5 selections each, and the Dolphins have 7. The Patriots have far more flexibility to use their picks, move up or down to get players they want, or stockpile picks for the future.

As much carping about hits or misses in the draft as goes on here, it remains essential to continually infuse young and fast players in every position group. Older players lose a step, get injured, and need plays off to stay effective. The Patriots have a history of addressing a positional group every year in the draft - in 2014 they selected three offensive linemen, and one turned out to be a gem (Stork). In 2013 it was WR with the jury out on whether that yielded anything. This year, it looks like OL is again priority as well as CB, and DL.

convertedpatsfan said:

Honestly, when I read that bit about the contract structures, my first thought was the league is going to make this illegal. And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced they will.

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Love your rant and mostly agree but the fact that GB and the Ravens also seem to "game the comp picks system" may prevent the anti-Patriots league front office from making the practice illegal.

n6249c said:

Yes common sense would seem to say those two statements are connected. But in reality there's no reason to believe that is true. If Kommisar Goodell decides to punish the Pats for Deflategate it won't matter that they did nothing wrong, it will be politically palatable to the public and that's all that matters.

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Yes, there is. It's called the CBA.

Deus Irae said:

Yes, there is. It's called the CBA.

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You just love demeaning the new posters, dontcha?

Make 'em feel as unwanted and unintelligent as possible to make up for your own insecurities.

supafly said:

Belichick and the front office have certainly shown patterns to their dealings, which is exactly why anyone could plainly see that guys like Vereen and Ayers were long gone.

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The patriots chose to pay Sheard over Ayers. What does this have to do with pattern? Yes, many thought that the patriots would never pay $4M for a backup DE/OLB, based on past history. Those folks were WRONG. The team paid Sheard.

Gumby said:

Quad-fecta really(does that word exist?), .

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Sure it does. At the dog track, if you pick the first 4 winners its called a Quadfecta

n6249c said:

Yes common sense would seem to say those two statements are connected. But in reality there's no reason to believe that is true. If Kommisar Goodell decides to punish the Pats for Deflategate it won't matter that they did nothing wrong, it will be politically palatable to the public and that's all that matters.

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Dead on. Public perception is Goodells main focus and goal. What better way to do that then to tear down the top organization and villify them in an effort to strentghen your own position of authority.

mgteich said:

The patriots chose to pay Sheard over Ayers. What does this have to do with pattern? Yes, many thought that the patriots would never pay $4M for a backup DE/OLB, based on past history. Those folks were WRONG. The team paid Sheard.

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The amount of snaps that Ayers received once Chandler Jones was healthy showed a pretty clear pattern in my opinion. He was practically invisible, particularly in the postseason. Anyone who honestly felt that there was a good chance of Ayers coming back wasn't watching the last half of the season, where Ayers had 2 sacks, one of them coming in the meaningless BUF game when starters were played sparingly.

To take it one step further, why would you even attempt to make a comparison to a player who received 2/11 (Sheard) vs. a player who received 2/6 (Ayers)? In the eyes of Bill Belichick, Jabal Sheard was clearly worth TWICE the amount that they offered to Ayers--if they even offered him anything at all. And I'm not sure where the idea of "backup" comes from? That's certainly not the idea that comes to my mind when looking at one of the better defensive free agents on the market and a 5.5m dollar AAV pact.

And yes--both Vereen and Ayers were clearly role players who had outpriced themselves in the N.England market and some other team decided to overpay for them, such as guys like Mark Anderson (remember him...."how oh how, will we replace the 10 sacks from the great Mark Anderson?")

Agree, who expects 10+ sacks from Sheard this year? 60 tackles and 7.5 sacks, 3 fumbles caused, 2 recovered and a crazy good play on ST's when we have to have it. And i'm agreeing with the Brazilian kid'

We've got a guy from the Brazil, The Azores, Belize, Ausralia, England and my famalies natve homes of Ireland and Poland posting here. I'm thinking of starting an international thread we can keep going to include our international friends.

I know this seems absurd to the ultimate right-wing we want WW3 lets destroy the world crowd, but this to me seems to be an avenue to reach out to the other side. Sports can cure he world.

Right. I can't wait for ISIS to declare they're Pats fans!

patsbrasilpatriotas said:

Can NFL make a civil contract illegal? Wow. At the end of the day, they can rule that specific clause is not valid for additional choices. But the NFL dictate how a contract will be structured does not exceed its essence ?

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I'm not a lawyer, but it's happened before. I think there are some language issues and clauses they take exception to. This doesn't happen often, but it happened just last year:

Report: Sammy Watkins' deal reworked after being disallowed by NFL

Not sure what triggered it, other than some "language."

This even happens to coaches:

Sources: Sean Payton deal voided

Payton's deal contained a clause he could leave if GM Mickey Loomis was suspended, fired, or left. The League thought it would set a bad precedent.

I'm sure there's a link outlining these things but I am having trouble finding it. But seems like it happens enough that it's not a huge deal.

OhExaulted1 said:

I know this seems absurd to the ultimate right-wing we want WW3 lets destroy the world crowd

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give me a break