My way too early 2016 team building thread

patman52 said:

I would not sign Hightower till the end of next year. The guy is a wonderful player but is dinged up constantly. 10 mill for a guy with shoulder issues is not comforting.

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Given his position and how he is primarily right in the epicenter of the war in the trenches it shouldnt be a surprised that he is dinged up often. But none of those injuries have taken him out for a long time so far. Don't think you can ask for more than that..

meatface said:

I just cannot see Lafell getting cut, Brady isnt an idiot and he built a great repor with jojo last year; I dont think he will just ignore that because of this season considering his recovery from the foot injury. Then again I didnt think that the Pats would possibly cut Arrington because they only saved $1 million but they did it anyway

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We shall see. I am just telling you my impression of what I think Brady's mind set is. Every pass he has thrown to Lafell recently has been a designed play for him pretty much. When he has to go through progressions he rarely passes to him. I think that might be telling. But will have to wait and see.

LaFell's cap hit isn't outrageous, so unless at least 2 new WRs clearly out-perform him in TC and during the pre-season, I think he'll stick around to finish his contract.

Aaron Drop,son on the other hand...

luuked said:

Given his position and how he is primarily right in the epicenter of the war in the trenches it shouldnt be a surprised that he is dinged up often. But none of those injuries have taken him out for a long time so far. Don't think you can ask for more than that..

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For ten mill a year I want to count on the guy playing 14 games a year. To me he has not shown that, If he would take a 5 mill deal with a 250,000 per game bonus I would be fine with that. he plays 16 games give him a 1 mill bonus. on top of that. I am afraid of a Mayo situation with the shoulder becoming chronic.

I.M. Fletcher said:

Butler is going to be a really interesting case study for the other NFL teams. His leverage is his level of play, but holds none in regards to his contract situation. He could play on a lowered value for the next 3 seasons, and wouldnt be able to do anything about it.

In another thread I alluded to the idea of a contract styled after Gronks, with almost two deals being signed in one. That may be the best case scenario for Butler, where the number and promise of more is present, but the risk on the patriots for injury is negated.

I think you could float a 7yr 42-49mil and it could have some promise.
first three seasons: 9mil total. 3 mill per
final 4 seasons: 32-40 totatl. 8-10mil per

It has worked in Gronks case, as this is the longest contract any pat has played under a second contract. We will see if the team holds Butler in similar light. If not, we could see them just play hard ball with him and watch him play out his current options.

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When Gronk signed his deal he became the highest paid TE in the NFL and the cap was 117 mill, Irt is now going to be 153mill a 25% increase. At the time of Gronk's signing TE was not "glory" position it is now. CB was and remains a preeminent position and the best players make 12-15 mill a year. He is not going to sign a contract (his only high value one) for 6-7 mill a year which is 50% of what the top guys are playing for. My proposal of locking him up for 5 years till he is 30 years old gives him hope that like Revis, he can still get another payday. But puts a 10-15 mill SB in his pocket so that at least his long term financial needs are addressed.

patman52 said:

When Gronk signed his deal he became the highest paid TE in the NFL and the cap was 117 mill, Irt is now going to be 153mill a 25% increase. At the time of Gronk's signing TE was not "glory" position it is now. CB was and remains a preeminent position and the best players make 12-15 mill a year. He is not going to sign a contract (his only high value one) for 6-7 mill a year which is 50% of what the top guys are playing for. My proposal of locking him up for 5 years till he is 30 years old gives him hope that like Revis, he can still get another payday. But puts a 10-15 mill SB in his pocket so that at least his long term financial needs are addressed.

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Gronk was also coming off the single greatest tight end season in the history of football, and a top 10 receiving season, so yes there are some differences.

The Gronk contract also didnt make him the highest paid TE, but one of. It looked like more when first reported as a new contract, but with it actually an extension, the 2 years left on the original contract drove the contract down.

His deal was split into two smaller deals.
8mil signing bonus up front
first 4 years: 14mil-3.5 per avg
10mil guarantee kicks in 2015
last 4 years: 37 mill- 9.25 per avg

If Butler has a desire to get in to upper echelon dollars, I would bet heavily that those years will be in to his 30s, when Belichick has the option to walk away. If Butler wants his "revis rights", he will just have to grit his teeth on his 3 Pat controlled season and hope we can stay healthy.

Pats are in a no lose position here. If they sign him early, they will surely have him locked up below market compared to other top CBs. If they cant strike a deal, they will have the best bargain in the league for the next 3 seasons.

Butler gets the short stick no matter what way he goes, but he can help himself by signing earlier and guaranteeing long term security.

I.M. Fletcher said:

Gronk was also coming off the single greatest tight end season in the history of football, and a top 10 receiving season, so yes there are some differences.

The Gronk contract also didnt make him the highest paid TE, but one of. It looked like more when first reported as a new contract, but with it actually an extension, the 2 years left on the original contract drove the contract down.

His deal was split into two smaller deals.
8mil signing bonus up front
first 4 years: 14mil-3.5 per avg
10mil guarantee kicks in 2015
last 4 years: 37 mill- 9.25 per avg

If Butler has a desire to get in to upper echelon dollars, I would bet heavily that those years will be in to his 30s, when Belichick has the option to walk away. If Butler wants his "revis rights", he will just have to grit his teeth on his 3 Pat controlled season and hope we can stay healthy.

Pats are in a no lose position here. If they sign him early, they will surely have him locked up below market compared to other top CBs. If they cant strike a deal, they will have the best bargain in the league for the next 3 seasons.

Butler gets the short stick no matter what way he goes, but he can help himself by signing earlier and guaranteeing long term security.

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I might be way off but the way I read Butler I think he really is aware how fast everything can be gone as an NFL player, so I would be shocked if he didn't agree to an early, team-favorable extension that sets him for life and gives him some security.

Especially after witnessing how players dropped like flies this year I would be surprised if security is not on his mind.

Here's a name I haven't seen mentioned yet. K. Osemele. He'll be 27 this summer. Our skill people won't matter if we can't run a little and protect TB12. Trade up for Spriggs and we will have improved the OL
quite a bit. Factor Solder's return in too.

patsfaninpa said:

Here's a name I haven't seen mentioned yet. K. Osemele. He'll be 27 this summer. Our skill people won't matter if we can't run a little and protect TB12. Trade up for Spriggs and we will have improved the OL
quite a bit. Factor Solder's return in too.

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Why would the Ravens trade him away ?

luuked said:

Why would the Ravens trade him away ?

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He's a FA I believe.

What do we think about RT Mitch Schwartz from Cleveland? I think he would be a great fit/top FA target. Cut Cannon/Restructure Vollmer for depth/swing OT.

Schwartz is 26 or 27 and has been very good for Cleveland, do you think we could get him for 4 years 28 million?

captain stone said:

LaFell's cap hit isn't outrageous, so unless at least 2 new WRs clearly out-perform him in TC and during the pre-season, I think he'll stick around to finish his contract.

Aaron Drop,son on the other hand...

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I think LaFell struggled this season from the foot injury. I don't think he every fully recovered and as you said, his cap hit is very manageable.

Dobson needs to have the training camp of his life to stay on this team

ripatsfan91 said:

What do we think about RT Mitch Schwartz from Cleveland? I think he would be a great fit/top FA target. Cut Cannon/Restructure Vollmer for depth/swing OT.

Schwartz is 26 or 27 and has been very good for Cleveland, do you think we could get him for 4 years 28 million?

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Not sure it is our MO to go full price for external tackles. That being said with DeGuglielmo gone it might be transitional year where we bring in external talent ?

ripatsfan91 said:

I think LaFell struggled this season from the foot injury. I don't think he every fully recovered and as you said, his cap hit is very manageable.

Dobson needs to have the training camp of his life to stay on this team

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Rabble, rabble, rabble cut lafell because he isn't a true deep threat. What a bunch of **** people keep spewing, dude was great in 2014 and people want to cut him and amendola because they want to trade a 6th for Megatron. I actually don't think Dobson is in that much peril, obviously he is on the bubble but he also has three seasons with the team and actually played very well when he had opportunities before he got hurt. Narratives are stupid