Akiem Hicks market just got set

Nonentity said:

Cedric Thornton? Corbin Bryant?

I just think Akeem Hicks is going to get overpaid, and that BB won't want any part of that. We'll offer Hicks $2m-2.5m/year or so, and a team with lots of cap space will pay way more in the hope that he can be a full-time starter.

Click to expand...

I tend to agree.

I'm ok with Guion money for Hicks but with the cap going up some asshat GM might go 3/$15m for Hicks I'm not sure the Pats step up to that. He and Brown would be an outstanding tackle tandem though...ugh

Part of me thinks thats why they signed Kitchen.

THink Hicks will be gone..as much as i would love him to stay. FA is all about those bottom basement teams that have the cash (cough MIA cough) that love to give out those horrendous contracts.

Hicks really got better as he got more reps and got adjusted. I can only imagine what he'd be like with a full off season in the system. At 26 he still has another contract left, so maybe he would take a slightly less deal with the Pats to be on a SB contender and the go for the big bucks in about 3 years.

Nonentity said:

Cedric Thornton? Corbin Bryant?

I just think Akeem Hicks is going to get overpaid, and that BB won't want any part of that. We'll offer Hicks $2m-2.5m/year or so, and a team with lots of cap space will pay way more in the hope that he can be a full-time starter.

Click to expand...

This sounds about right to me. We've seen it many times...guy makes a bit of a name for himself with the Pats, some GM will pay big money for it because it's safe to them--he played for the Patriots. Pats will only write the big checks for a few guys, and while the numbers discussed here aren't huge, I think they're bigger than the Pats will want to pay Hicks.

Id pay Hicks 4million a season 2 year deal

JMC00 said:

Not really, Pats had a player in mind that was an upgrade over Ayers, his name is Jabaal Sheard.

If the Pats let Hicks go then they are going to have to go sign another DT. So unless the Pats are going to be in for Wilkerson, Malik Jackson or Damon Harison (which the Pats won't be) then I don't really see anyone else that is worth bringing in. Maybe Nick Fairley..

Need 3 -man DT rotation that can play against the pass and rush (Brown, Branch, ?). While Easley can play against the rush I think for his longevity and effectiveness he is better utilized in a pass rush specialist role.

Click to expand...

DT's: Brown, Branch, Siliga (RFA), Easley, Chris Jones, Kitchen

I'm all for re-signing Hicks. I suspect that Siliga will be re-signed. The question regarding Hicks is whether we would offer him enough in a part-time role to get him to sign.

Sciz said:

We saw how beneficial great depth can be, but things get tricky if your 45% snap player is getting an offer from a team that wants him to play 70% of the snaps and pays him accordingly.

Click to expand...

According to the snap counts, Hicks played in just 27 percent of our reps this season.

There's no way in HELL that Belichick is going to pay him almost 4m dollars a year as a rotational player--at least in my opinion.

People here will overreact just like they did last season with Akeem Ayers, or a few seasons ago with Mark Anderson. The truth is that DT shouldn't be a problem for us, whether Siligia returns or not. There are always cheap players in FA, and we'll still have Brown, Branch, Easley, and maybe even Siligia. That's not bringing up Chris Jones, Chandler moving inside, or Geno Grissom.

If they can get Hicks to stay on something in the 2.5--2.75m dollar range, I'd be happy; otherwise, I don't see how anyone can justify paying that much money to a player seeing 1/4 of the snaps.

I think Hicks should be a priority. Him and Malcolm Brown can pair to be the best DT tandem in the NFL, and Easley can be used in sub packages.

JMC00 said:

Click to expand...

No it didn't Hicks is not a 3-4 NT and Guion is. Hicks plays DT in a 4-3 and DE in a 3-4.

supafly said:

According to the snap counts, Hicks played in just 27 percent of our reps this season.

There's no way in HELL that Belichick is going to pay him almost 4m dollars a year as a rotational player--at least in my opinion.

People here will overreact just like they did last season with Akeem Ayers, or a few seasons ago with Mark Anderson. The truth is that DT shouldn't be a problem for us, whether Siligia returns or not. There are always cheap players in FA, and we'll still have Brown, Branch, Easley, and maybe even Siligia. That's not bringing up Chris Jones, Chandler moving inside, or Geno Grissom.

If they can get Hicks to stay on something in the 2.5--2.75m dollar range, I'd be happy; otherwise, I don't see how anyone can justify paying that much money to a player seeing 1/4 of the snaps.

Click to expand...

And it's Sup for the win.
I realize this is the time of year for the "we need him! Just sign him!" mode, however, that is not how the Patriots do business. Think about it: 27% of the snaps at 4M per year? That's steep. Those 27% plays better be approaching monstrous to justify 4m Patriot dollars. Now if the deal is he is going to play WAY more snaps? Now we are talking.

I was surprised how much the inside of the line appeared to suffer when Easley went out. IF he can stay healthy and his development trajectory remains true, I'm seriously interested in seeing what he does this season. Also, if Brown's trajectory is on track too I am not displeased with our DTs. Very nice to see Hicks back but we have some important pieces coming up in 2017 which may include certain LBs and a certain CB who may be had cheaper than his market value if signed before UFA.

Brady6 said:

I think Hicks should be a priority. Him and Malcolm Brown can pair to be the best DT tandem in the NFL, and Easley can be used in sub packages.

Click to expand...

Branch clearly outplayed Hicks this season, judging by the fact that he was the starter in 18/19 games, and was paired with Brown where he saw much more time than Hicks did.

It's cool to think that Hicks is a nice piece to have moving forward as a rotational player and even someone who can step in and start in a pinch, but I think we're throwing the word "priority" out a little too loosely here.

TheBostonStraggler said:

And it's Sup for the win.
I realize this is the time of year for the "we need him! Just sign him!" mode, however, that is not how the Patriots do business. Think about it: 27% of the snaps at 4M per year? That's steep. Those 27% plays better be approaching monstrous to justify 4m Patriot dollars. Now if the deal is he is going to play WAY more snaps? Now we are talking.

I was surprised how much the inside of the line appeared to suffer when Easley went out. IF he can stay healthy and his development trajectory remains true, I'm seriously interested in seeing what he does this season. Also, if Brown's trajectory is on track too I am not displeased with our DTs. Very nice to see Hicks back but we have some important pieces coming up in 2017 which may include certain LBs and a certain CB who may be had cheaper than his market value if signed before UFA.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it'd be great to see Hicks stay. He ended up proving to be a nice rotational player, no doubt. That said, the value/cost of the player has to justify the bigger plan, as you've stated. Since we don't know what that plan is, it's a bit difficult to predict his future, but if we're comparing him to this new deal signed by Guiton, we can get a good feel based on how Belichick has handled these situations in the past.

Perhaps if Belichick sees some guys like Chris Jones, Sealver Siligia, etc expendable, he'll be willing to overpay a bit to lock him up, although I still can't imagine it being at 4m dollars per year. As we know, if he ends up seeing free agency he's likely gone. Like we've seen a million times, another team may be more willing to offer both more money and more playing time.

mgteich said:

DT's: Brown, Branch, Siliga (RFA), Easley, Chris Jones, Kitchen

I'm all for re-signing Hicks. I suspect that Siliga will be re-signed. The question regarding Hicks is whether we would offer him enough in a part-time role to get him to sign.

Click to expand...

Im not so sure Siliga will be re signed. As the season progressed his playing time diminished. And that was with Easley going on IR.

TheBostonStraggler said:

And it's Sup for the win.
I realize this is the time of year for the "we need him! Just sign him!" mode, however, that is not how the Patriots do business. Think about it: 27% of the snaps at 4M per year? That's steep. Those 27% plays better be approaching monstrous to justify 4m Patriot dollars. Now if the deal is he is going to play WAY more snaps? Now we are talking.

I was surprised how much the inside of the line appeared to suffer when Easley went out. IF he can stay healthy and his development trajectory remains true, I'm seriously interested in seeing what he does this season. Also, if Brown's trajectory is on track too I am not displeased with our DTs. Very nice to see Hicks back but we have some important pieces coming up in 2017 which may include certain LBs and a certain CB who may be had cheaper than his market value if signed before UFA.

Click to expand...

I know Easley finished off on IR (again) but from all reports, his injury wasnt considered that serious. We were just in a dire situation and were running out of bodies to play. We needed the roster spot.

Easley was a force on passing downs this year. There is reason to be highly optimistic with him. Getting that type of pass rush up the middle is like gold in todays NFL.

AzorianPats said:

Im not so sure Siliga will be re signed. As the season progressed his playing time diminished. And that was with Easley going on IR.

Click to expand...

He was a healthy scratch at least several times this year, and had a bit of a down year in my opinion. He was coming off of some type of surgery, but that happened right after the SB. I didn't expect him to be ready for mini camp, but he was, so it's hard to say whether it was injury related or not.

I agree that he's no lock to be retained, although that may go hand in hand with the Hicks decision. Belichick could always go cheaper and keep Siligia, who knows?

supafly said:

He was a healthy scratch at least several times this year, and had a bit of a down year in my opinion. He was coming off of some type of surgery, but that happened right after the SB. I didn't expect him to be ready for mini camp, but he was, so it's hard to say whether it was injury related or not.

I agree that he's no lock to be retained, although that may go hand in hand with the Hicks decision. Belichick could always go cheaper and keep Siligia, who knows?

Click to expand...

Siliga was behind Hicks in the depth chart. I see Siliga signing for about $1M a year. Siliga is worth having in camp, whether or not we re-sign Hicks. Linemen do get injured in camp and the pre-season.

The team also needs to consider what to do about Chris Jones who is scheduled to be paid $1.7M.

supafly said:

He was a healthy scratch at least several times this year, and had a bit of a down year in my opinion. He was coming off of some type of surgery, but that happened right after the SB. I didn't expect him to be ready for mini camp, but he was, so it's hard to say whether it was injury related or not.

I agree that he's no lock to be retained, although that may go hand in hand with the Hicks decision. Belichick could always go cheaper and keep Siligia, who knows?

Click to expand...

I think Seal played less than 100% last year. He had foot/leg surgery in the offseason and seemed like he just didn't have that burst like he did in 2013 and a little bit of 2014.

With that said I think Hicks is a superior talent and player

3 years and 11mill would be a great contract for him and the pats. He will more likely only want two years though at 3-4mill each to forgo FA. He puts pressure and Easley can't stay on the field. To me he is a perfect guy to team with Malcom for the next three years.

Hicks is a must resign to me. Branch is getting up there in age and Hicks could easily win a starting job with Brown in TC next year.

2 years, $3.3m per, with incentives to make it $4m