Dion Lewis signed to two year, $2.6M (+ incentives) extension

We have him for two more seasons? For that amount of money?

PatsFan2 said:

What a discount knowing Dion Lewis could have gotten a heck of alot more in the offseason. Lewis is a player that is just not all about the $$$$ think about the endorsements that comes with being a Patriot. The Tom Brady/DionLewis combo reminds me of the Jim Kelley/Thurman Thomas combo lethal!

Click to expand...

There was NO discount. Lewis has played well for 3 games and has an injury history. The patriots are willing to take the injury risk and sign Lewis now. OBVIOUSLY, if Lewis performs well for 16 games, this will be a bargain for the patriots.

Brady: 14 million
Lewis: 2 million (max)
Gronk: 8 million
Chandler: 2.3 million
Edelman: 4.75 million
Lafell: 3 million

This offense will go down as one of the best in league history and is all signed for 2016. Every player besides Chandler is at a bargain price.

Belichick has made a point of early extensions of players who are to be UFA's the next season. As a side issue, he has also sign players to extensions who might be considered insurance against another player leaving in the next offseason (extension of Freeny and signing of Bostic).

This is a really good signing.

Fantastic ! BB must be really high on this kid to get an extension done so quickly.

mgteich said:

Belichick has made a point of early extensions of players who are to be UFA's the next season. As a side issue, he has also sign players to extensions who might be considered insurance against another player leaving in the next offseason (extension of Freeny and signing of Bostic).

This is a really good signing.

Click to expand...

Yes, but when was the last time he signed a player to an extension after three games? Even Woodhead wasn't extended until around Thanksgiving.

This signing is so good in so many ways. To many it will see like he sold himself cheap, but BOTH sides got value on that deal. For the first time in his career, Lewis has what accounts to some stability now, and a low 7 figure salary for the next 2 years.

The thing is that Lewis might just be that rare smart kid who realizes that it's not just about him. A kid who knows that he could just as easily be hanging on to the back of a roster or PS instead of averaging more than 100 yds/scrimmage in one of the highest most prolific offenses in the league. Maybe he's a kid who can see that if he weren't there, someone else would be doing the job. Maybe not as good, but good enough that the sticks would move

Maybe it was Lewis, his agent, his Dad or all three, but they made a great decision and everyone will be happy. BTW- IIRC, Danny Woodhead also signed a very quick extension after he arrived, so this isn't a first time for the Pats. If they want you around, they will at least try and get something done. They aren't going to try and squeeze you for the last dollar before your big contract.

Just for the record, I happened to see one of the NFLN writers do a one quarter All Pro list. As usual not much from the Pats. Brady, McCourty and Collins were all "also mentioned", but only ONE made the "first team" Dion Lewis (as the "satellite RB")

Smart move by Lewis. He gets some guaranteed money and the security that comes with it, and he'll only be 27 when he gets his next chance to cash in. Really a no-brainer for a guy who was fighting for his NFL life a few months ago.

BelichickFan said:

CapSpace=$3,329,763 ‏@patscap 22s23 seconds ago
Wendell, Blount, Gibson, Ebner, Tarell Brown, Tavon Wilson, Dane Fletcher are the only Patriots scheduled to be UFAs after this season.

Click to expand...

...not looking good for the annual compensatory pick bounty.

Urgent said:

...not looking good for the annual compensatory pick bounty.

Click to expand...

Any players with a decent sized bonus that might not be paid? Mayo maybe?

shmessy said:

I agree with your general point, but regarding that 2012 draft, Jones was the physical freak with the unknowable ceiling and Hightower was the steadier known commodity.

Click to expand...

Agreed, Hightower was hardly an unpolished player. Highly recruited linebacker at Alabama, started as a true freshman, 4 games as a sophomore (until a season ending knee injury), and as a junior and senior. Alabama was National Champion twice during his career. Coached by Nick Saban. It is hard to have a more polished, more known commodity coming out of college.

patfanken said:

Just for the record, I happened to see one of the NFLN writers do a one quarter All Pro list. As usual not much from the Pats. Brady, McCourty and Collins were all "also mentioned", but only ONE made the "first team" Dion Lewis (as the "satellite RB")

Click to expand...

If Brady and Gronk aren't All-Pro so far I have no idea what it would look like.

BelichickFan said:

CapSpace=$3,329,763 ‏@patscap 22s23 seconds ago
Wendell, Blount, Gibson, Ebner, Tarell Brown, Tavon Wilson, Dane Fletcher are the only Patriots scheduled to be UFAs after this season.

Click to expand...

They really should've locked up Ebner before Louis. Just kidding.

varjao said:

Looks like they found the perfect replacement for Vereen, this kid makes the catches, is very elusive after the catch gaining more yards and he can run. And James White is still on cheap rookie contract for a few years.

#3rd down back - Checked

As for the money, seems ok to me, he was out of the league a couple months ago and it's not like Belichick found gold, he is, as usual, taking the most out of a player knowing his strengths and weakness, if Dion is smart he knows he would have a hard time finding a job around the league if not for this opportunity and even after a good season, he is working in this system. It's not certain it would work in different teams and he most likely would be another RB rotating around the league for a back end of a roster.

Click to expand...

Sort of disagree. First, I think Belichick did really find gold here. But to your broader point, while the Pats gave him this initial opportunity, I think he would definitely find success on other teams at this point. It's fantastic the Pats locked him up.

Joey007 said:

I'd like to ask @Miguel , I'm sure he's talked about this in other threads, but what does the cap outlook look like for next offseason?

Click to expand...

Relatively tight.
Miguel has the Patriots at $147mm. Big asterisk on Mayo, as he has an $11mm cap charge, and a lot of guaranteed money. He could restructure, or the Patriots could save over $7mm with a straight release (if after June 1 - over $5mm if they need the space to get to their cap limit in March).

The 2015 league cap is $143mm.

Joey007 said:

Chandlers last on the list to me IMO. He's a very good player, but I think the hope is that Flowers develops into being his replacement. At least let him play out his five years, though. Wouldn't trade him off early or anything.

Click to expand...

It's hard to win a championship if you overspend on DE. Bye bye Chandler ;-(

VrabelJr said:

It's hard to win a championship if you overspend on DE. Bye bye Chandler ;-(

Click to expand...

Yeah, if Chandler goes off this year someone will want the shiny new toy.

Great deal, why did Dion do it? I know some extra security but look what Vereen just got.

zydecochris said:

Agreed, Hightower was hardly an unpolished player. Highly recruited linebacker at Alabama, started as a true freshman, 4 games as a sophomore (until a season ending knee injury), and as a junior and senior. Alabama was National Champion twice during his career. Coached by Nick Saban. It is hard to have a more polished, more known commodity coming out of college.

Click to expand...

And yet it still took him three years to develop into a top shelf player. You just never know.

Great signing. I don't know who said it earlier in his thread, but we cannot afford to lose chandler jones. Massive potential still to be a 15 sack a year type guy. He's our best pass rusher by far. We need to pay him too.