Doug Kyed's Statistical Breakdown Of the Panthers Game

manxman2601 said:

And the OL

PASS PROTECTION
Nate Solder: three hurries
David Andrews: two hurries
Sebastian Vollmer: hurry
Josh Kline: hurry
Shaq Mason: hurry
Chris Martin: hurry

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/08/tarell-brown-dominique-easley-shine-in-patriots-defensive-passing-stats/

Solder's three hurries ties in with what I saw. Nothing for Cameron Fleming or Tre Jackson which is nice.

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supafly said:

Still don't want to come off as a possible overreaction, but I'm hoping that the return of Wendell will help to stabilize Solder on the outside.

We've seen issues there in the past, which are probably normal for most LTs, but it may be something to keep an eye on.

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manxman2601 said:

I'm not sure I'd be writing out his 5 year contract just yet. Maybe Wendell helps Stork but I'm half tempted to role with Mason. I think the problems lie more with Andrews who will be improved by Stork and then the additions of Gronk and Edelman will give more defenses more to think about than pressuring the OL and the run game. But Wendell at LG does make sense for experience reasons.

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supafly said:

We've seen him play down to the lesser talent level at LG before, which makes sense since the two mesh with each other.

That said, I am strongly against Shaq Mason as a day one starter at LG for multiple reasons, including the aforementioned capacity to bring out Solder's weaknesses, or at least cancel out some of his strengths.

I'm excited about the youth and potential for the future, but I disagree with those who have already given either of the rookies a day one starting spot. We may be able to get away with Jackson at RG right now, but anything else is pushing it in my opinion.

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manxman2601 said:

I'm not sure I'd be writing out his 5 year contract just yet. Maybe Wendell helps Stork but I'm half tempted to role with Mason. I think the problems lie more with Andrews who will be improved by Stork and then the additions of Gronk and Edelman will give more defenses more to think about than pressuring the OL and the run game. But Wendell at LG does make sense for experience reasons.

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supafly said:

That said, I am strongly against Shaq Mason as a day one starter at LG for multiple reasons, including the aforementioned capacity to bring out Solder's weaknesses, or at least cancel out some of his strengths.

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DarrylS said:

If you do not want to give Solder a contract, what would be the plan??..no first round pick and even if, there are few starting LT's available that late in the round.. gamble on a FA??

He has also missed some of TC, so he might not be up to speed..

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manxman2601 said:

Well I didn't say I don't want to give him a contract, I'm just not completely convinced that it's the best use of what will be a significant amount of cap space as things stand right now. But as you say,the options are very limited unless you hit in the draft, and the lack of a first round pick will make that doubly hard. Re-signing Solder may very well be the better option, I'd just like to be a little more sure of him is all. Hopefully we'll get that this year.

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manxman2601 said:

I'm not sure I'd be writing out his 5 year contract just yet. Maybe Wendell helps Stork but I'm half tempted to role with Mason. I think the problems lie more with Andrews who will be improved by Stork and then the additions of Gronk and Edelman will give more defenses more to think about than pressuring the OL and the run game. But Wendell at LG does make sense for experience reasons.

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patfanken said:

Please!
Haven't we been through all this before with Matt Light, another former LT who fans tried to upgrade for like a decade, and who coincidentally had his best "individual" stats the year he retired.

Nate Solder has been a slightly less than elite LT for a while now. And just like with Light, he's been undervalued by a number of fans here who tend to forget that the OL succeeds or fails as a UNIT. Right now the "unit" is in a state of flux. We need to cool our jets here, and wait for the dust to settle before we start making wholesale judgments. IMO Solder has done enough to earn that second contract if he wants to stay here in the $8-9MM/yr range for the next 5 years

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robertweathers said:

No he hasn't. $9m AAV is elite money. He is not elite.

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patfanken said:

Well I stand by my original point, except for the money part, bob. I was under the impression that elite LT's were getting over $10MM/yr.

At any rate, what ever the elite money is for a LT going into his 2nd contract, The Pats should offer Solder slightly less. IIRC that was where Light was in the LT pay scale for most of his career, just slight less than what the top guys got.

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manxman2601 said:

Nothing for Cameron Fleming

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patfanken said:

Please!
Haven't we been through all this before with Matt Light, another former LT who fans tried to upgrade for like a decade, and who coincidentally had his best "individual" stats the year he retired.

Nate Solder has been a slightly less than elite LT for a while now. And just like with Light, he's been undervalued by a number of fans here who tend to forget that the OL succeeds or fails as a UNIT. Right now the "unit" is in a state of flux. We need to cool our jets here, and wait for the dust to settle before we start making wholesale judgments. IMO Solder has done enough to earn that second contract if he wants to stay here in the $8-9MM/yr range for the next 5 years

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Re-signing Solder may very well be the better option,

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patsinthesnow said:

So Butler finished the preseason 1/7, 10 yards, 2 PBUs, vs. Rodgers/Brees/Newton?

EXCITED

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manxman2601 said:

You may well be right, I'm just more bullish on Mason than most.

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captain stone said:

I'm more bullish on Mason at LG than I am on Tre Jackson, who has been really unimpressive so far, at RG. In fact, had Bill done the smart thing and signed Evan Mathis, I would've been interested in seeing Mason switch back to RG instead of Jackson.

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