You spend the money
 

We like to talk about how great the team will be with another good draft and year of experience. This is a list of the players on the roster but unsigned for 2011. Who would you try and extend now? Who would you wait and compete for later?

Keep in mind that money you spend on these guys is money you don't have for other players. Everybody we sign is instead of someone else.

Offense
LT Matt Light
LG Logan Mankins
RB Sammy Morris
C Ryan Wendell
OT Rich Ohrnberger
OT Quinn Ojinnaka
RB Kevin Faulk
RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis
RB Fred Taylor
RB Danny Woodhead


Defense
DE Gerard Warren
DT Darryl Richard
DT Kade Weston
CB Kyle Arrington
LB Tracy White
S Josh Barrett
S Sergio Brown
S Bret Lockett
S Brandon McGowan
S Jarrod Page

Re: You spend the money
 

This is one of the reasons that the whole rookie pay scale needs to be redone. No one should enter the league as a rookie, regardless of the number of their selection, and be making more than a veteran player. No one.

Put a standard pay scale into place that gives, for example, a $100,000 signing bonus for every rookie, and if they survive the cut and/or get signed to a teams roster and are present on opening day, they earn a guaranteed $500,000 base salary. Teams could offer incentive clauses for each year based upon production, participation, etc, but the rookies ought to be paying their dues.

Leave the big contracts for those who are proven commodities. Guys who have shown how to play and show up for work, not cause distractions, keep in shape, be a part of the team, etc.

V/R

Re: You spend the money
 

1. Light
2. Mankins
3. Green-Ellis
4. Woodhead
5. Arrington

We can afford all of them. The rest are cheap if we want to keep any of them. Like the OL and S's. Not much of a demand for them.

Re: You spend the money
 

I like spending other perople's money :D. I'll play along...

Offense
LT Matt Light 2 yr deal
LG Logan Mankins multi years deal
RB Sammy Morris gone
C Ryan Wendell who knows
OT Rich Ohrnberger who knows
OT Quinn Ojinnaka sure
RB Kevin Faulk just dont know.....
RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis yes. servicable runner and St guy
RB Fred Taylor No.
RB Danny Woodhead YES!!


Defense
DE Gerard Warren 1 yr deal
DT Darryl Richard who knows
DT Kade Weston sure
CB Kyle Arrington sure
LB Tracy White who knows
S Josh Barrett who knows
S Sergio Brown i thought he had a 2 yr deal?
S Bret Lockett who cares
S Brandon McGowan who cares
S Jarrod Page i think this guy can do something, but he has Chung and Sanders ahead of him.

Re: You spend the money
 

There is something to be said for rewarding the top few picks—after all, their "reward" for being the best players in the draft is that generally they go to play for the worst teams in the league.

The problem is that the compensation for those top 10 or so players is so out of whack.

Personally, I'd set the first-round contracts at something like the current #17 pick, scaling up/down 2% or so per pick (e.g., #1 gets about 30% more, #32 about 30% less).

Re: You spend the money
 

Offense
LT Matt Light - 3 year deal
LG Logan Mankins - 5 year deal
RB Sammy Morris
C Ryan Wendell
OT Rich Ohrnberger
OT Quinn Ojinnaka
RB Kevin Faulk
RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis - RFA tender
RB Fred Taylor
RB Danny Woodhead - 5 year deal


Defense
DE Gerard Warren - consider if cheap
DT Darryl Richard
DT Kade Weston
CB Kyle Arrington - RFA Tender
LB Tracy White - consider if cheap
S Josh Barrett - RFA Tender
S Sergio Brown - RFA Tender
S Bret Lockett - consider if cheap
S Brandon McGowan - consider if cheap
S Jarrod Page - consider if cheap

And take some of the young OL/DL to training camp assuming nobody offers them a raise

Re: You spend the money
 

*I'd want to be sure Faulk could pass a physical, and was certain that he wanted to play another year, first. It would be interesting to see if the Patriots would try using a backfield of Faulk/Woodhead on some passing downs.

**I'm not particularly a fan of his but, with Morris and Taylor moving on, if BJGE will come back at backup money and accept a backup role, he'll have a role on the team. I expect the team to look for at least 2 runners to bring in, to battle for the RB1 spot.

I'd consider the other O-linemen as nothing more than camp fodder/backup possibilities/completely replaceable.


*If Warren is willing to be solely a situational rushing DL, and to be paid accordingly, I could see bringing him back. Outside of that, I'd let him walk.

I'd bring back either McGowan or Page, but not both. My safety core would be Meriweather/Chung/Sanders, so the other player would be coming back with the understanding that he's #4 on the depth chart.

Re: You spend the money
 

Yeah, I was just throwing out numbers. It's still amazing that only in professional sports do folks get those kinds of contracts without having to work themselves up through the ranks, or show that they can perform at that level on a consistent basis.

Re: You spend the money
 

That's probably the least scary list of free agents I've ever seen. There are only a few key players but nobody they can't live without. They'll be able to bring back anybody they want except for maybe Mankins if another team is willing to overpay for him. The Patriots are in such a great position right now. The future is bright.

Re: You spend the money
 

The vast majority of those guys will take pennies to re-sign, or they will get an ERFA/RFA tender. Of the few who won't, Morris and Mankins can go, Faulk likely will retire (and he can walk if he wants to play with another team). The older backups are mostly JAGs, the younger backups get tags.

The ONLY veteran on that list that I try to re-sign who will cost any significant money is Light. Light isn't great, but he is pretty good, and we don't have a replacement ready.