Patriots to Release Alfonzo Dennard

There can be only one explanation for this: the fortuitous rise of Chimdi Chekwa.

Sciz said:

I don't know how much is his speculation vs having a source, but Howe replied to somebody on Twitter saying this wasn't the plan.

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If right so much for that crappy theory.

signbabybrady said:

I am not going to say Harmon can be as good as DMac but the real point here is what is better on the field Harmon at Safety or Ryan at Corner. DMac stays on the field.

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That's a good way to put it, and it feels to me like Belichick prefers to have the "strongest weakest link" rather than starting with someone's best position and figuring out the rest with whatever is left. So if Harmon is playing better than Ryan (and no one else steps up to start at CB), he might choose to move D-Mac back to CB just to avoid having a liability on the field. It won't be McCourty's optimal use, but it would be the "safer" secondary in that scenario.

Butler/Roberts. Our CB duo by midseason

I was a little surprised at first but all in all I'm not that surprised... He wasn't "doing his job", and his release saves $1.5 million in cap space. I think Bill will take that every time regardless of position.

patsinthesnow said:

Butler/Roberts. Our CB duo by midseason

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What a coup that would be: A second year UDFA and a rookie 7th round pick, starting at corner for a contending team.

Chiuba E. Obele said:

Mike Petraglia ‏@Trags 9m9 minutes ago
On Dennard,,. aside from character issues, keep in mind his cap hit was just $500,000 and Pats need roster spots for UFAs

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That's just incorrect. They're saving around $1.5M with this move. His salary is $1.542M with a dead cap hit of $14,462 (signing bonus).

Nunchucks said:

This is why you have to always be a little bit skeptical of a guys ability to come back from injury.

Patriots starters:
CB1: Butler
CB2: Ryan
CB3: Arrington

The other guys will battle it out.

I really like Butler, but Ryan really struggled last year and I am not sure he will be good enough.

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If people think Dennard regressed, Ryan should terrify them. He hasn't shown any improvement whatsoever in his game. Still can't get his head turned around when in trail. If anything, Ryan would make the perfect canidate to move back to safety.

I'm guessing they move McCourty back to CB. They must really like Harmon back there playing FS. It's hard to believe it'll be Butler and Ryan as our CB1 and CB2.

Once we lost Revis and Browner in consequence, I knew the secondary would be nowhere near what it was last season, and they felt there was nothing they could do, free agency or draft wise, to replace that.

Let's not forget that Belichick doesn't plan for only one season. The actions so far indicate that he wanted to focus on the DL. 3 simple reasons that I see:
1 - It was needed
2 - The draft was better for rushers and interior linemen
3 - It gives our best chance this upcoming season

So the DLine looks all set for the near future or close to it after a few tweaks during the season. And there will be money to keep Jones and Hightower. Maybe next off season Bill will focus totally on the secondary again, and maybe in 2 years we will have the best defense in the NFL or at least a top 3, in all positions. If the price for that is one season with a bad secondary BB might take it, and as I said, he's not putting the season at stake by maximizing our chances this year doing a good job up front.

This season the secondary will be a lousy one, relax, low your expectations to not break TV's, it's going to be bad again, but if this theory is correct, is planned, I mean, not planned, but it's a risk taken.

Mike Petraglia ‏@Trags 3m3 minutes ago
Clarification on Dennard... Cap savings for this season $1.542 million... since it's pre-June 1 it's a no-brainer.

Jeff Howe @jeffphowe
Dennard's work ethic and commitment to the game were routinely questioned by those in the building during his tenure.

We don't need corners. Belichick will uncover a rule allowing him to make the other team's receivers ineligible.

McCourty is not moving back to CB, people. He's a top FS in the league and quarterbacks had figured out his game by 2012 and were targeting him a lot on deep routes because he either could not or would not turn his head around. Moving him back to CB while cutting Dennard essentially weakens two positions in the secondary and Belichick is not going to do that. Look for a trade for a veteran CB by midseason at the very latest.

At least one of our starting CBs this year is on another team right now.

If you can't have good work ethic with this SB winning and championship team....there's the door buddy

Butler and Fletcher are going to be the starting corners on opening day. I am terrified.

I would try to wrangle a trade for Sean Smith with Andy Reid and the Chiefs, if the price were reasonable. Smith is going into a contract year and has a $7.5M cap hit. The Chiefs drafted Marcus Peters, and have Phillip Gaines and Marcus Cooper.

Brady_to_Moss said:

If true and he didn't want to buy in..then ya they had to do it...but if they knew this before the Revis situation. Then go harder after Revis no?

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No

I am surprised we did this so late but perhaps this was a disciplinary action that caused it to be so. It will be interesting to see how Belichick handles this. It promises to be challenging but there will still be CBs to pick up before game 1. And our current CB situation isn't really that horrible, its just a shocking drop off from last year's CB situation.

Regarding McCourty, I find it more plausible that some of the new draftees could be switching over to CB than McCourty switching back to CB.