Patriots trade for TE Martellus Bennett!

patman12 said:

The Bears soured on Bennett pretty early on when he complained and then they felt he was a locker room distraction. Fox obviously wanted no part of him.

I think he'll be fine in NE as long as he buys into being a team player.

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One thing about him coming to New England is that there will be no question about who's the top dog, be it at TE (Gronk) overall team (Brady) or organization (BB). That should keep Bennett in check for at least a season. If the Patriots were able to trade for his million dollar body while leaving his five cent head in Chicago, this is a superior alternative to the FA tight ends that were on the market, and at very little cost in future capital.

Rhodey said:

Let's play which TE is getting the ball. NOPE! that was the WR. You lose!

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Seriously, we were almost unstoppable with a healthy Gronk, Edelman, Lewis, Amendola (LaFell was out) - add Hogan and Bennett to that. Still hope for another RB though.

Deus Irae said:

Oh..... Can he rush the passer?*








*Obligatory, sorry.

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The new mantra should be "can he protect the passer?".

robertweathers said:

I don't think you are seeing the situation Bennett is faced with and how little leverage he has.

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Patriots aren't going to cut him, so he has that for leverage. I'd bet the Patriots are completely comfortable with his salary, and I'm almost certain he's not willing to do a pay cut.

Fantastic pick-up. Bennett is the real deal - will be a GREAT compliment to Gronk, provided he stays healthy.
As others mentioned, he truly can both catch and block, doing both well, so our two tight end sets will give us great flexibility in running or passing. Lots of toys for McDaniels and Brady to get multiple with.

I'm VERY happy with free agency so far.

I'd love to get some inside scoop on this. Did it come after BB wasn't able to snag a top WR in free agency, or was is something brewing independently because of either a distaste for, or inability to get, the FA TEs on the market?

We'll have to wait for the tell-all presser that's sure to come.

Man if we had Forte as well...

BelichickFan said:

Seriously, we were almost unstoppable with a healthy Gronk, Edelman, Lewis, Amendola (LaFell was out) - add Hogan and Bennett to that. Still hope for another RB though.

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This (trade) was just one of those....think I'll check the sports headlines...am I reading this right...type moments. This morning most were chatting about Cooper and Long. Now, it's the offense and Bennett.

Very nice pick up, pretty savvy free agency so far...

Deus Irae said:

Still gotta get the RB1.

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Bring Arian Foster on a year prove it deal

Draft
Kenneth Dixon
or
Alex Collins
or
Jordan Howard

I don't think he does or should he redo his contract to take less money. His deal is fine. I can see him reworking it though to add a fake option year similar to Revis. This way the pats can spread it out over two years. But I don't see why the pats would do that.

I am surprised that the bears traded him for a 5th rd value. But then again that is what they traded Marshall for last year.

Deus Irae said:

Still gotta get the RB1.

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I'm good with Lewis there, but need more quality behind him.

robertweathers said:

I don't think you are seeing the situation Bennett is faced with and how little leverage he has.

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What leverage do the Pats have? If they cut him he will just sign elsewhere for more $$ than you are suggest he restructure for.

Not to be a wet blanket but our last really good TE not name Gronkowski killed at least 3 people... So yeah I'm pumped about this but I'm not going near this Bennett guy if he is holding a drink..

Armchair Quarterback said:

Patriots aren't going to cut him, so he has that for leverage. I'd bet the Patriots are completely comfortable with his salary, and I'm almost certain he's not willing to do a pay cut.

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They should extend him

I was excited about Chandler at TE last year. I'm hoping this TE works out. By all accounts, he's unafraid to mix it up in the running game, so there should be improvement there. On paper : this makes sense for NE. Interested to see how he deals with BB's style - both on field and re contract.

Brady6 said:

Not to be a wet blanket but our last really good TE not name Gronkowski killed at least 3 people...

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Allegedly.

BelichickFan said:

I'm good with Lewis there, but need more quality behind him.

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Lewis is an injury prone player who's coming back from ACL surgery as a RB. This is not AdP we're talking about here. This is more like Dominique Easley. Lewis simply cannot be counted on.

Deus Irae said:

Lewis is an injury prone player who's coming back from ACL surgery as a RB. This is not AdP we're talking about here. This is more like Dominique Easley. Lewis simply cannot be counted on.

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Which is why we need significantly better depth. But there's almost no RB who would beat him out when healthy.

My only concern with this trade is that Bennett was vocal about his role in Chicago. I don't know if he is going to be behind Gronk on the TE depth chart.

Otherwise a great pick up! The guy's got talent and the Pats didn't give up much.