Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

Should the Patriots swing for the fences and try to grab Mario Williams? or try for a bunch of doubles.

For about the same cost as Williams the Patriots could likely sign 3 or 4 of the following.

Connolly, BJGE, Robert Meachem, Jason Jones, Adam Carriker, Jarrett Johnson, Nate Washington, Ronald Bartell, etc.

Somehow I think the Patriots will go for plan B.

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

I think the Pats will more likely go with plan B too, but I hope the list of plan B players are better than the ones you listed.

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

Some won't agree, but ever since the Adalius Thomas debacle I truly believe that Belichick may hesitate on signing the biggest prized defensive Free Agent in the offseason.

Ever since that happened the team has gone for the older type players and lower profile guys; it seems safer and if they don't work out it does not cripple the cap...

Belichick seems to like to play it safe and I expect a bunch of Joe WTFs to be on the payroll by training camp, not the flashy players that fans want and Belichick could care less what we think anyway.

I think he will definately sign Conolly, BJGE back...then maybe even look at Koppen again and work on the middle part of FA shopping and the draft to complete his team for 2012.

I would be totally surprised if Wallace,Williams,Jackson ect: come here...A player like Reggie Wayne who will come pretty cheap and has back pedigree and experience is what Belichick usually seeks in a player.

I would expect guys like Reggie Wayne as offensive players and Matt Roth type defensive players to be looked at more seriously than the expensive ones.

This team went all out on a frenzied shopping spree in 2007 and it appears to be a rarity when this team does that.

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

After Adalius Thomas and Moss definitely plan B.

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

After Len Bias and Adalius Thomas I am forever shy on tying up all your marbles in a marquis player..

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

Your analogy reminds me of a George Carlin joke. I never F'ed a 10 but one night I F'ed 5 2s and I think that ought to count for something.



That said I tend to lean toward plan B.

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

I'm fine with spending for top end talent. I'm just not sold on Williams.

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

What could possibly be your reasoning for not being sold on Williams?

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

I think people overstate the Adalius Thomas impact on Belichick going after high priced free agents.

First, Belichick did pursue Julius Peppers. The money quickly got into the ridiculous range and the Pats dropped out, but if Belichick wasn't going to spend in free agency he wouldn't have even made the call.

Second, free agency has been pretty devoid of most of the top players worth spending big bucks on. Prior few years to the uncapped year, teams were able to retain most of their best players because the constantly growing cap. The uncapped year kept most of the best would be free agents stuck with their teams because they became RFAs with the poison pill. Last year there wasn't much of a free agency.

Since the Pats signed Thomas in 2007, name the top free agents the Pats passes on. I guarantee you they were mostly non-elite players getting elite player money. I think the Pats will be willing top pay top dollar to an elite player as long as it isn't stupid money (see Peppers), but they are not going to pay top dollar to the marquee free agents in a year where the marquee free agents are nothing more than second tier players. The only truly elite player who has hit free agency other than Peppers that I can think of since the Pats signed Thomas was Nmandi Asomougha and the Pats thought they were set at CB when he was a free agent.

I firmly believe the biggest reason Belichick hasn't gone after high priced free agents since Adalius Thomas is because most of the high priced free agents were overpaid because the free agent pool in that year sucked.

Re: Five Nickels or a Quarter
 

I question his ability to cover as an OLB in the BB 3-4. At 290, he's big for the position, but you don't want him playing a 3-4 DE in the 2 gap system, either. So, in order to bring him in, the Patriots are either gambling on him as an oversized OLB or they're scrapping the return to the 3-4, which means that Williams would be hurting Spikes' future prospects.