My offseason plan for the 2016 New England Patriots

My offseason plan for the 2016 New England Patriots

Miguel Benzan

As of January 29 I have the Patriots 2016 total cap commitment as

Continue reading...

PatsFans.com Article said:

My offseason plan for the 2016 New England Patriots

Miguel Benzan

As of January 29 I have the Patriots 2016 total cap commitment as

Continue reading...

Click to expand...

Really interesting stuff Miguel, thanks for your hard work. A couple quick questions:

* What do you think the real chances are for Amendola accepting such a drastic cut in pay?
* Why Matt Forte specifically?

Thanks again.

I think that Danny will get $2M more a year than indicated, but that doesn't matter much to me. It is important that he wants to stay and everyone wants to keep him. A deal will be struck.

I keep hearing Forte..but i still think someone will drastically overpay. ANd a lot of Pats fans are obsessed with Alshon now for some reason. Give me Sanu

Brady_to_Moss said:

I keep hearing Forte..but i still think someone will drastically overpay. ANd a lot of Pats fans are obsessed with Alshon now for some reason. Give me Sanu

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Jeffrey is a great athlete. He isn't just a vertical threat. Plus the Pats need a guy who can actually catch. Not hope they can catch but actually go up and grab a ball from a DB. Fight for the ball. Jeffrey will do that.

You forgot to resign Nate Ebner.

Great work as always, Miguel. Thanks.

ViperGTS said:

Jeffrey is a great athlete. He isn't just a vertical threat. Plus the Pats need a guy who can actually catch. Not hope they can catch but actually go up and grab a ball from a DB. Fight for the ball. Jeffrey will do that.

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Just don't see Alshon as a Pats WR. Great skills...but in this O...don't see it. I know a lot said the same about Moss but Moss was...well Moss and it showed quick

Tunescribe said:

* What do you think the real chances are for Amendola accepting such a drastic cut in pay?

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In 2015 his cash intake went from $4 million to $1.75m with a chance to earn $750K back.
Proposing that cash intake go from $5,437,500 to $2,937,500 with a chance to earn $750K.
Pay cut is only $250,000 more than it was in 2015 while increasing cash intake from 2015.

10:20 PM update - Please note that during the roster cutdowns cap space will be created as lower-salaried players beat out veterans for roster spots. Example, if Kevin Snyder were to beat out Jonathan Freeney for a roster spot that would create close to $800,000 in cap space.

11:30 PM update - Noted that the $12.3 million in cap space should be enough to sign Brian Tyms, James Develin, Sealver Siliga, and Nate Ebner to deals for the 2016 season.

ctpatsfan77 said:

You forgot to resign Nate Ebner.

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Fixed.

Good stuff as always.I honestly can't see the Patriots trading or *gasp!* cutting Chandler Jones, but then, I was gobsmacked when they parted with Big Sey.

Regardless, It's always a joy to read your stuff and I can't thank you enough for the work you put into all of this.

Mad respects, Miguel.

I hope BB won't waive Dobson or Bostic. I don't think it's worth cutting them when they can't even create cap space of $1 million. Dobson at least knows the playbook well and could have some value as a WR4 if he can stay healthy (I know, big if). Bostic is incredibly raw and has a lot of room to develop. I think it's better to keep them on the roster and see how they perform. If they don't pan out, doesn't matter anyways since they are just depth players and don't cost too much in terms of cap space.

Great work as always, Miguel. It's deeply appreciated.

I'd move on from Josh Kline as well which would save $1.7 million. That #2 pick should be the best G/OT on the board. Youth will be served and set up this team for the future.

Great article. I'm not in favor of cutting Amendola's pay by that amount, I don't think he would accept it and I think he would be gone to a competitor in a heartbeat and it would come back and bite them in the ass. I do want them to redo his deal to a lower number with incentives though. If they can get that deal with Forte they should jump at it, I think it will take a little more but he's high on my list of free agents. I'm guessing it will take 3/15/ 10 to get it done. I also like the idea of going after Dwayne Allen, I think he had a down year but would be the best 2nd TE option out there and is affordable. As receivers go I would go after Marvin Jones but his market may be higher than his production warrants, Cincy had free agent issues and I would take advantage of that. Same goes for Denver and I would look hard at Anderson and Trevathan. As for Dobson I would carry him, through camp because it doesn't hurt them, to, do so, and I would extend Sheard but only through 2018. I would not trade Chandler Jones but would prioritize deals with Hightower and Collins of possible, if Collins balked I would then, try to sign Jones and tag Collins when necessary. I think the overall priority has to be going into next season with the strongest team possible and would not trade important pieces for picks that may or may not pay off down the road.

I'm really looking forward to this offseason, thanks Miguel for the hard work you do for this site.

Another reason for the amount of Amendola's paycut is that I believe Edelman should get more cash than Amendola who is a lesser player.

There are two ways to address this imbalance.
1.) Increase Edelman's cash intake
2.) Decrease Amendola's cash intake

I think Option 2 is the more likely scenario this offseason.

PatsFans.com Article said:

My offseason plan for the 2016 New England Patriots

Miguel Benzan

As of January 29 I have the Patriots 2016 total cap commitment as

Continue reading...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the great article.

Why would Hightower get more money than Collins? Does it have to do with when their contracts expire? I think Collins has a greater value on the open market.

Miguel said:

In 2015 his cash intake went from $4 million to $1.75m with a chance to earn $750K back.
Proposing that cash intake go from $5,437,500 to $2,937,500 with a chance to earn $750K.
Pay cut is only $250,000 more than it was in 2015 while increasing cash intake from 2015.

Click to expand...

I misread a bit. IMHO, the most important understanding is that Danny is likely to stay and there will be some cap savings.

I do believe that Danny will get more than he received 2015. To reward his 2015 season by cutting even more makes little sense to me.

goheels22002 said:

Great work as always, Miguel. It's deeply appreciated.

I'd move on from Josh Kline as well which would save $1.7 million. That #2 pick should be the best G/OT on the board. Youth will be served and set up this team for the future.

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We will NOT use our#2 pick on a guard or even worse, an OG/OT. We already have 3 youngsters: Mason, Jackson and Kline. What we need an OT badly.

Miguel said:

11:30 PM update - Noted that the $12.3 million in cap space should be enough to sign Brian Tyms, James Develin, Sealver Siliga, and Nate Ebner to deals for the 2016 season.

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I'm not sure of how much you want to pay these players. Your article calls for $1M each. Three of these ar RFA's (all but Ebner) This would mean signings before March 9th. If that's true, the net cap effect is $1.6M. If any are paid as an RFA, we will probably be paid more.

I guess these are among the decisions that need to be made before March 9th.

BTW, if we are listing these four as a group, I would Waddle. Actually, I'm not sure why Ebner is included here rather than separately.