My offseason plan for the 2016 New England Patriots

Miguel said:

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.

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Fair point, and I agree both that Edelman should make more and Amendola need to redo his deal to a more reasonable number I just think that can be done without going below 2 million, which I think he would reject and sign elsewhere, which I really would hate to see.

If they want to make a real impact signing them Danny Trevathan would be an interesting move and would give them the best LB corps in football imo. I don't they would do it because it would make the unit cost really high with Hightower and Collins on the verge of big deals but it would give them an exceptional front 7.

Flash said:

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.

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I agree. I wouldn't include them on a must-do list before March 9th. I don't think that the amount freed
up is significant or needed that early.

Perhaps, the team is really done with Dobson.

With regard to Bostic, I see no reason not to bring him to camp. The cost is small. IMHO, if he was that bad, he would have been gone already.

mgteich said:

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.

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My point is that the pick should be a Shaq Mason, Brian Stork-type lineman who has experience at more than one position. I agree that the #2 needn't be a Center/Guard, but should be able to play both Tackle or Guard.

With Solder and Vollmer both proving to be susceptible to season-ending injuries, a player who can take over Cannon's role as the top back-up at Tackle is needed. I'd still like the Pats to grab a veteran free agent like T Kelvin Beachum.

Looking at the Walter Football rankings of offensive linemen, there are a number of guys who played both in BCS programs who might be on the board at 60.

WalterFootball.com: 2016 NFL Draft: Offensive Tackle Rankings

Joe Dahl out of Washington State is a possibility, as is Vadal Alexander out of LSU. Belichick always finds some obscure guys as well that don't make the traditional draft boards.

A SUBSET OF THESE CHOICES
1) Start with $5.6M
2) Don't pick Mayo's option brings us to $12M.
3) Cut LaFell and Chandler brings us to $15M.
Cannon, Dobson and Bostic can wait.

EARLY BUDGET OF $15M
4) Sign or tender Brown, Waddle, Ebner, Develin, Tyms, Siliga and whatever EFRA's we want.
Let's budget $8M, which might be a bit high.

EXTENSIONS
I agree with all of Miguel's proposed extensions. In general, these save cap room (except for Collins).

FREE AGENTS
OG, TE, WR or RB is a reasonable wish list.

goheels22002 said:

My point is that the pick should be a Shaq Mason, Brian Stork-type lineman who has experience at more than one position. I agree that the #2 needn't be a Center/Guard, but should be able to play both Tackle or Guard.

With Solder and Vollmer both proving to be susceptible to season-ending injuries, a player who can take over Cannon's role as the top back-up at Tackle is needed. I'd still like the Pats to grab a veteran free agent like T Kelvin Beachum.

Looking at the Walter Football rankings of offensive linemen, there are a number of guys who played both in BCS programs who might be on the board at 60.

WalterFootball.com: 2016 NFL Draft: Offensive Tackle Rankings

Joe Dahl out of Washington State is a possibility, as is Vadal Alexander out of LSU. Belichick always finds some obscure guys as well that don't make the traditional draft boards.

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Almost every top college OT can play OG. I agree that Belichick considers such experience as being important. Mason is a guard. Jackson is a guard. Kline is a guard. Cannon is a tackle. Any experience at other positions is overrated.

Top centers can usually play OG.

SOME REALITY
We have two centers: Stork and Andrews
We have three guards: Mason, Kline, Jackson (and Barker)
We have four tackles: Solder, Vollmer, Cannon, Fleming

BOTTOM LINE - NEEDS
1) We need an OT who is a potential replacement for Vollmer. This is our #1 draft need. I don't care whether Vollmer can play OG. And I don't care whether his potential replacement plays OG.
2) Upgrade at backup OT - Waddle could be the answer.
3) Upgrade at OG - It is likely that we'll pick up a veteran. We don't know the value of what we have.
Belichick might like what we have, in which case the case the veteran needn't be a starter. The choice could be our relatively young SB starter who did very well last year.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

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.

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Has to with what they are scheduled to get in 2016. (7.751m versus 917,685). I go back and forth over who will get the most money. Can understand arguments for both.

mgteich said:

I'm not sure of how much you want to pay these players. Your article calls for $1M each.

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My article says less than 1m each. Anticipating that the scheduled RFAs will agree to deals before March 9th but not at the low RFA tender level.

goheels22002 said:

My point is that the pick should be a Shaq Mason, Brian Stork-type lineman who has experience at more than one position. I agree that the #2 needn't be a Center/Guard, but should be able to play both Tackle or Guard.

With Solder and Vollmer both proving to be susceptible to season-ending injuries, a player who can take over Cannon's role as the top back-up at Tackle is needed. I'd still like the Pats to grab a veteran free agent like T Kelvin Beachum.

Looking at the Walter Football rankings of offensive linemen, there are a number of guys who played both in BCS programs who might be on the board at 60.

WalterFootball.com: 2016 NFL Draft: Offensive Tackle Rankings

Joe Dahl out of Washington State is a possibility, as is Vadal Alexander out of LSU. Belichick always finds some obscure guys as well that don't make the traditional draft boards.

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Joe Dahl is almost certainly going to be a guard in the NFL.

Miguel said:

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.

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I like your plan.

My only disagreement would be on the TE front. I don't think we need a guy like Ladarius Green, I feel others will see him as a potential number 1 TE option anyway, so I don't know why he'd take a backup role here. Not opposed to getting a vet TE, but would rather not spend much for one with the way we've been burned with them the last couple years.

Miguel said:

Has to with what they are scheduled to get in 2016. (7.751m versus 917,685). I go back and forth over who will get the most money. Can understand arguments for both.

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Collins is a tough one. There are incentives for both the team and Collins to wait. Collins can hope for another good year and much more compensation in the future (Jones and Hightower took this route). For the team, Collins is locked in for at two years: 2016 for $1M, and 2017 at the franchise number (lets say $12M)and 2018 at the franchise number plus (say $14M). That's $27M/3 years.

Given his injury history, I suspect that Collins would sign in heartbeat.

mgteich said:

Collins is a tough one. There are incentives for both the team and Collins to wait. Collins can hope for another good year and much more compensation in the future (Jones and Hightower took this route). For the team, Collins is locked in for at least two years: 2016 for low pay, 2017 for about $8M and 2018 at the franchise number.

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How is Collins locked in for 8 million next year?

Joey007 said:

How is Collins locked in for 8 million next year?

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Sorry, I forget that Collins was a second rounder.

What is the cost of Collins for 3 years if we franchise him twice? $1M, $13M, $15M? This is the approximate total of the "offer" over there first three years.

I'd love to see an extension of Collins. But it seems that the team can wait.

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...

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I don't really understand why you and others feel Hightower is worth more money than Jamie Collins. Collins is better than Hightower, and has a much higher ceiling.

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...

I don't really see any reason to waive Bostic who is less than $1M and Dobson who is making just over $1M prior to camp. They're 24 year old talented players who could turn out to be good for us. Edelman didn't exactly take the world by storm his first 3 years, Dion Lewis wasn't even on a roster, both of them got it going at around 25 years old.

I also see no reason to pay Brown who is old and coming off 3 straight injury filled seasons, and Forte has more mileage than any RB in the NFL.

I don't love this plan if I'm being honest, but I do like the cap information you shared as always.

Brady6 said:

I don't really understand why you and others feel Hightower is worth more money than Jamie Collins. Collins is better than Hightower, and has a much higher ceiling.

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Yes, Hightower's contract would be higher than Collins for the same number of years. That is because the patriots now have the rights to Collins for $1M for 2016.

Brady6 said:

I don't really see any reason to waive Bostic who is less than $1M and Dobson who is making just over $1M prior to camp. They're 24 year old talented players who could turn out to be good for us. Edelman didn't exactly take the world by storm his first 3 years, Dion Lewis wasn't even on a roster, both of them got it going at around 25 years old.

I also see no reason to pay Brown who is old and coming off 3 straight injury filled seasons, and Forte has more mileage than any RB in the NFL.

I don't love this plan if I'm being honest, but I do like the cap information you shared as always.

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OK, you don't think that Brown is worth $1.2M per year. You're entitled to that decision. That money is appropriate for our #4 or #5 CB. Depending on health, Brown could start or be the #5. That's well worth $1.2M plus incentives.

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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Because Alshon is a stud. He can high point a ball and is a big strong #1

I think Brown is worth $1.2 million. In his limited appearances this season he looked good. $1.2 million is nothing and worth a gamble since his upside is as high as a CB3 over Coleman. If he's IRed again then $1.2 million gone, no big deal. Hell we might be able to grab him for even less.

Also isn't Rashaan Melvin still on the practice squad? Similar to Jon Bostic, another really raw player who has a lot of room to improve. We could call him back up again as a CB5.

Flash said:

I think Brown is worth $1.2 million. In his limited appearances this season he looked good. $1.2 million is nothing and worth a gamble since his upside is as high as a CB3 over Coleman. If he's IRed again then $1.2 million gone, no big deal. Hell we might be able to grab him for even less.

Also isn't Rashaan Melvin still on the practice squad? Similar to Jon Bostic, another really raw player who has a lot of room to improve. We could call him back up again as a CB5.

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Melvin is now under contract.

Butler, Ryan, Brown, Coleman, Roberts, Melvin

is not a bad place to start.

I think the second TE is an important piece. Someone like L Green could be a sneaky pick up. While others have focused on the outside the numbers WR. I think having a second TE that you could move around and rely on to get open makes more sense.