Patriots Release Dominique Easley

Marqui said:

Sucks that teams are not allowed to trade players and get value for them.

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Seems like you're assuming facts not in evidence.

JackBauer said:

Seems like you're assuming facts not in evidence.

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I feel like that's what you and a lot of other people here are doing. There's nothing to suggest other teams knew about his "issues" and wouldn't have traded something for him.

sb1 said:

Per Volin:

Unnamed Patriot player on his release: "Saw that coming..... Injuries and locker room cancer"

Sources: "He'll make an appointment for a massage and not show up. He's just very disrespectful and irresponsible".... "I think he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He comes across as an entitled kid. He reneges on everything. He thinks he's invincible".... The Patriots "never liked him from the get go and part of the problem was he would never listen to the medical advice".

And apparently he told people in 2014 he wanted to be traded.

Honestly... if this is all true then good riddance. They made a mistake drafting him, hopefully they learned their lessons from this.

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Given all of this, my question still remains timing. What was the straw that broke the organization's back?

If they knew this was likely, did that influence the other transactions on the DL (Jones, Knighton, Nicks, etc.)

I guess the caveat too is that I think Volin is a doo-doo reporter.

ForThoseAboutToRock said:

Given all of this, my question still remains timing. What was the straw that broke the organization's back?

If they knew this was likely, did that influence the other transactions on the DL (Jones, Knighton, Nicks, etc.)

I guess the caveat too is that I think Volin is a doo-doo reporter.

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why does it matter? will your next move depend on how your questions are answered?

Brady6 said:

Calling Easley a bust is foolish and shows a lack of knowledge. Easley was drafted as a calculated risk, he was not your everyday #29 overall pick he was a player similar to Jaylon Smith this year, he could end up being the steal of the draft or he could end up being a non factor. Easley was 50/50 from the start and that is the only reason he was on the board still.

For what is worth the same year we "wasted" a pick on Easley in round 1 we picked up a franchise #1 CB as an UDFA.

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They cut their first round pick two years into his rookie deal. If that's not a bust, nothing is.

strngplyr said:

Agreed. No such thing as a bad dog, only poor owners/situations create those animals. Some breeds will lean towards certain personalities easier than others but they all still need to be pushed to that point. Animals are pretty simple.

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As a lifelong dog-lover/owner, that's not always true. We just rescued a dog (Japanese Chin) who had severe behavioral issues - he goes nuts, as in Tasmanian Devil nuts. We he a bigger dog, he certainly would have been put down long ago...but he really can't do too much damage (Chins are probably the least dangerous dog out there and would lose by KO to a trained Guinea Pig).

In this case, it's not his fault - he was abused - and he's already gotten so much better. He's being cured, so to speak.

But some breeds have issues that are irrespective of the owner (Springer Rage, for example).

usually, yeah, it's the owner.

Marqui said:

I feel like that's what you and a lot of other people here are doing. There's nothing to suggest other teams knew about his "issues" and wouldn't have traded something for him.

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So you're saying a team attempting to trade a recent first-round pick who has showed signs of promise wouldn't have set off major red flags?

The fact that Ben freakin' Volin got that many team and league sources to dish on Easley suggests to me that other teams, in the course of performing due diligence, wouldn't have had a problem availing themselves to similar damaging information.

I would be curious to know what the last straw was, but I'm also inclined to trust - not just BB and the Pats but really any franchise - that to release a talented player on a rookie contract with negative cap implications, that this was a necessary move.

Why are we arguing over whether he was a bust or not? Who cares? Belichick has drafted a lot of players, more than anyone else still with an NFL job I would guess. Some of them are great, some are good, some suck. I'd even bet a couple of the good ones probably didn't love football as much as BB, but we never found out about it because they were professionals that were molded into competent players by their surroundings, which let him believe that was possible with this kid too. Oh well. I mean, I know that if BB had only listened to some of us on draft day the Pats would be going for a 16-peat this fall, but the revisionist history of "look who we could've gotten instead" after every pick that people don't like or doesn't turn into an all-pro is ridiculous.

Triumph said:

Sychopant sychopanting

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Quitter quitting.

You are right at the head of the class when, it comes to crying.

I would have loved to be drafted by an NFL team. It's amazing that some of these guys don't appreciate what they have while they have it and do what it takes to keep it.

I bet he has played his last down in the NFL.

That's way too much of a black and white view of things, IMHO (and no, I'm not referring to race). To label the choice as a 'bust' would suggest all the things that are leading to this separation were unknown, AND that he never performed at all on the field. Clearly the injury issues were known. I think it's safe to presume that the attitude issues were known. The great talent was known and the difficulty with getting such great talent at the end of the first round were also known. Calling this a bust is way too simplistic, IMHO.

Triumph said:

Sychopant sychopanting

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Yep. It's a good thing Belichick keeps proving those of us who believe in him right, otherwise we would look as stupid as those who cry at his every move.

I really wish Ian would unlock the threads from early October in 2014 when all the b.tches quit on this team.

Ian, please unlock those threads, there are those who really need to be reminded of just how bad they are as fans go.

Marqui said:

I feel like that's what you and a lot of other people here are doing. There's nothing to suggest other teams knew about his "issues" and wouldn't have traded something for him.

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And you don't think the first question another GM would BB would be why he is trying to unload his "awesome" player?

And if BB "forgets" to tell the other GM about DE's issues you don't think that would cause issues with BB trying to trade in the future?

archstanton543 said:

They cut their first round pick two years into his rookie deal. If that's not a bust, nothing is.

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It's definitely a bust it's just not the end of the world, as the crybaby b.tches would have us believe. Belichick made a mistake, sh.t happens.

Hammer of Thor said:

The Patriots had only 2 first round draft picks from 1996-2000 on their 2001 playoff roster. They managed to win that Super Bowl.

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Antowain Smith and Terrell Buckley were 1st round picks.

JackBauer said:

So you're saying a team attempting to trade a recent first-round pick who has showed signs of promise wouldn't have set off major red flags?

The fact that Ben freakin' Volin got that many team and league sources to dish on Easley suggests to me that other teams, in the course of performing due diligence, wouldn't have had a problem availing themselves to similar damaging information.

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Then just use him until he's cheap rookie contract runs out. Obviously nothing he does is that big of a deal or else they wouldn't have went 10-1 with him on the field every game last year. So the notion that the team would have imploded if he was on it one more day is complete BS. All releasing him does is hurt the team because Belichick didn't want to deal with a few issues even though he gets paid millions a year.

Triumph said:

Antowain Smith and Terrell Buckley were 1st round picks.

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Smith wasn't a Pats 1st round pick. Terrell Buckley was one that I included (other being Damian Woody). If we include Smith in that analysis on the earlier teams, it would be fair to include Jonathan Cooper in the 2013-2016 group.

Ivan said:

Quitter quitting.

You are right at the head of the class when, it comes to crying.

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You are the pivot man in the ***********.

Blowing a first round pick is disappointing, but it was a gamble from the start. As far as the defense goes...the pats won the super bowl with little help from easley, they made it to the afccg with little help from easley. I read over the last two years he only played a quarter of the defensive snaps. So in the end the affect of his loss should be minimal. But in a sense its like losing another first rnd pick.

Bill Lee said:

That's way too much of a black and white view of things, IMHO (and no, I'm not referring to race). To label the choice as a 'bust' would suggest all the things that are leading to this separation were unknown, AND that he never performed at all on the field. Clearly the injury issues were known. I think it's safe to presume that the attitude issues were known. The great talent was known and the difficulty with getting such great talent at the end of the first round were also known. Calling this a bust is way too simplistic, IMHO.

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Not really. It's all about the result. The dude was picked in the first round in 2014 and he didn't make it to his third year.

Can't bust much harder than that.