Patriots Release Dominique Easley

old 55 said:

I asked the question about drafting Ealy rather than taking Easley who went to IR 2 years in a row on this forum and got attacked like I was an idiot. Just want to remind some of you who are so sure they know everything.

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If you think that's a problem here you should take a walk on the wild side and visit the political forum.

Joey007 said:

Still isn't as bad of a pick as Dowling. At least Easley showed that he could play.

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Dowling is on the Panthers' roster and may not be done yet.

sb1 said:

Agreed but picking on low risk-high reward and "upside" is best served for later rounds. Nobody would be calling this guy a bust if the Pats picked him in round 3 or later. This guy was a first round pick and being such, his inability to stay with the team more than 2 years makes him a textbook bust.

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He would have been gone at the end of the first. To Seattle.

Marqui said:

Really? That's interesting considering there's a 14 page thread on this forum advocating to acquire Josh Gordon.

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Who is posting in that thread?

sb1 said:

Agreed but picking on low risk-high reward and "upside" is best served for later rounds.

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It seems you are projecting yet another absolute about first round picks. What if you feel your team is pretty well stocked and you can justify taking a gamble on a player late in the first round with a lot of potential upside? Do you squelch that urge just because a bunch of people are going to label it a 'bust' if the gamble doesn't pay off?

letekro said:

You are courting an ultimately fruitless discussion without an agreed upon definition of "bust"

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I totally appreciate where you're coming from. Ultimately it's about terminology. I just think labeling a complicated situation as being a 'bust' is way too simplistic.

Think of other complicated things like personal relationships. On one hand all divorces are 'busts' because we can safely presume everyone involved wanted a long and fruitful relationship. Yet so many don't end up being that, usually for some pretty complicated reasons.

I'm just not in the camp that would say something like every marriage that doesn't last two years can be labeled as 'a bust', reality is much more complicated than that.

AtomicDawg said:

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What an A-hole that guy is. Absolutely can't have him around

Marqui said:

What an A-hole that guy is. Absolutely can't have him around

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You think an Instagram post thanking fans after being cut for detrimental actions that were 100% his fault somehow indicates he's an upstanding, if misunderstood, guy?

If anything, it's insulting.

Marqui said:

What an A-hole that guy is. Absolutely can't have him around

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Let's not forget Bill comes from a military environment. Easley may be a nice guy, and may just have a problem taking orders or submitting to an authoritarian system. That doesnt make him a bad person, it just makes him an Ex-Patriot.

letekro said:

Let's not forget Bill comes from a military environment. Easley may be a nice guy, and may just have a problem taking orders or submitting to an authoritarian system. That doesnt make him a bad person, it just makes him an Ex-Patriot.

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Let's not forget Gronk...

ForThoseAboutToRock said:

It matters in the sense that I'm a follower and fan of the team and am interested in how this situation unfolded. The Volin piece apparently lays out some of what happened, I'm pointing out what aspects of this issue I'm still curious about.

Why does it matter to you if I have questions? Why are you in a thread or even on a message board, since obviously none of us are decision makers on the Patriots?

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it was a rhetorical question....just this whole notion of needing to know why is pretty silly....the guy is gone and at this point makes no difference why unless you are planning on changing your status as a fan of the team because of it

don't sweat it

JackBauer said:

You think an Instagram post thanking fans after being cut for detrimental actions that were 100% his fault somehow indicates he's an upstanding, if misunderstood, guy?

If anything, it's insulting.

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I just don't really see what he did that's so bad at this point. And I don't really want to hear anything about Volin's piece, when has he ever been right about anything? I need a much better source of info than that.

Clonamery said:

Let's not forget Gronk...

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Wut?

Marqui said:

I just don't really see what he did that's so bad at this point. And I don't really want to hear anything about Volin's piece, when has he ever been right about anything? I need a much better source of info than that.

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Has anyone, even Easley, disputed what Volin wrote?

I think the team's actions make it quite likely that Volin's scoop is more or less accurate: You'd have to be a real piece of work to get cut outright like he was. As many have observed, the team essentially opted to pay Easley to go away.

JackBauer said:

Has anyone, even Easley, disputed what Volin wrote?

I think the team's actions make it quite likely that Volin's scoop is more or less accurate: You'd have to be a real piece of work to get cut outright like he was. As many have observed, the team essentially opted to pay Easley to go away.

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It's interesting how little comes out in the press about the Pats' locker room stuff. Tight ship, obviously.

Hammer of Thor said:

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.

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Buckley wasn't drafted by the Pats

Not unusual for NE to take a calculated risk. What is unusual is that in addition to the health issues, there were concerns about Easley's dedication to football and his character. Maybe having Wilfork, Mayo, McCourty etc. in the locker room is part of the calculation, but BB went against his own philosophy in this instance. Best case was that the player was an unusual talent that could have been a potent defensive weapon. Did BB feel the upside merited the gamble? Apparently he did.

Call it what you will - bust, mistake, whatever. This time it didn't work out. My guess is that BB is highly introspective and thinks a lot about decisions that didn't pan out with the intent of making better decisions going forward. At the same time, he doesn't beat himself up to the point of being afraid to take a risk. It's also worth noting (once again) that Bill doesn't fall in love with his mistakes, so when it's time to cut his losses and move on, that's what he does.

What's pretty clear in this case is that the player repeatedly pissed off the big guy a lot, to the point where Easley not only got fired, but is getting his all of dirty laundry rather explicitly aired on TV, radio and the internet on his way out of town.

I wish the whole thing had never happened, but good riddance.

Ivan said:

The Patriots are in so much trouble that they are favored to win it all. Un****ingbelievable.

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I think the poster has a valid point about being near the end of the Brady window and losing first round picks for whatever reason hurting our chances.
As great a coach as Belichick is, he's still just a coach in a game that even he says is a player's league.

We don't get ANYTHING in return? C'mon... *someone* in the NFL would take a chance...

archstanton543 said:

What about Dale's voice? He's got the worst voice on the Boston airwaves but has hung around for years (and, yes, he beats out Mazz but only just barely).

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Nobody has a worse voice than Scott Zolack. Every time I hear him speak I start clearing my throat.