Billy Yates Deal

[MoLewisrocks]

The highest paid PS player in the history of the league according to Peter King on WEEI with Dale and Holley. $425,000. He surmises they really liked him in camp and he almost made the team and it reinforces that they want the best possible quality 45-53+ because they believe they will need these guys at some point in the season.

Pioli was negotiating this deal while also dealing with the Branch situation. Peter says of that if you gave Brady sodium pentathol and asked him if he felt the offer the Patriots made for Deion was a fair one, his answer would be yes. Branch wanted to be the exception to the rule that has been applied to Brady and Seymour and Bruschi and all the other key players who are asked to take a little less than the most they might get as a FA so that this team can continue to maintain the quality and caliber of players they will have available to play along side them. Does the loss of Branch hurt the team from a WR standpoint today? Yup. But it doesn't undermine the entire system for the long haul.

 

[TNPatsFan]

Is this a Deion Branch thread disguised as a Billy Yates thread?

 

[patchick]

The highest paid PS player in the history of the league according to Peter King on WEEI with Dale and Holley. $425,000. He surmises they really liked him in camp and he almost made the team and it reinforces that they want the best possible quality 45-53+ because they believe they will need these guys at some point in the season.

Congrats to Yates. I love the strategy of paying "high" for the top PS prospects. Great bang for your buck...the extra couple of hundred grand barely affects the cap at all.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I like seeing journeyman players make a good wage. They put their bodies on the line unlike us in the non-contact dreaded private sector. Too bad the NFLPA mostly ignores old NFL retirees who have health problems and did not ever have the big paydays.

 

[14thDragon]

With Dante running the O-line show. I can see why they would pay a bit high for developmental guy. If he has got the stuff, it can and will be brought out.

Mruc might be joining Gorin and Tucker as conditional draft picks come next year.

 

[TomBrady'sGoat]

What does offering someone a good practice squad salary do? Would Yates have said no thanks to a regular deal and been out of football? Could he have signed onto someone else's practice squad instead?

If another team decides it wants Yates, they can sign him off of our practice squad as long as he stays on the roster for 3 weeks, correct?

I guess what I'm getting at is, does the increased salary give the patriots any protection in keeping Yates? I don't understand the practice squad well and just want to know what's behind this.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Billy looked pretty good in preseason, though I also liked Stevenson and Steitz, and thought Hand did well at T. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and who will be brought in if Billy moves back up to the roster.

The other day I noticed that Cory Mays is listed at 245, I hadn't realized he was that big. I really liked him in the Hula Bowl, always around the play. I have to wonder if he or Alexander are being groomed at all for ILB, or if they are niche specialists for BB...you would think Woicik and Nash could pack another 5 lbs. onto Mays before next summer...watching this unfold will be entertaining.

You have to love the depth available on the practice squad.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

What does offering someone a good practice squad salary do? Would Yates have said no thanks to a regular deal and been out of football? Could he have signed onto someone else's practice squad instead?

If another team decides it wants Yates, they can sign him off of our practice squad as long as he stays on the roster for 3 weeks, correct?

I guess what I'm getting at is, does the increased salary give the patriots any protection in keeping Yates? I don't understand the practice squad well and just want to know what's behind this.

Yates is making the league minimum for a 3rd year player. Most clubs looking to sign him off the squad will be forced to offer a substantial signing bonus and a guarantee of some sort in order to lure him away. At the moment, he knows he is wanted here for depth and is being paid good money, he's survived two full years on the Practice Squad so he knows it is unlikely that the Pats will waive him. Another club could sign him to the 53, pay him his three weeks salary and cut him.

This is the same as putting a heavy lock on a door, someone who wants in can get in, but they have to work that much harder to do it, so why bother when there is an open door in the house next door?

 

[brady2brown]

I guess what I'm getting at is, does the increased salary give the patriots any protection in keeping Yates? I don't understand the practice squad well and just want to know what's behind this.

Just because another team wants Yates doesn't mean he has to sign with them. He can stay with the Pats if he wants. Paying him that much makes it unlikely Yates would sign with another team.

A couple years ago Brandon GOrin made $320K on the practice squad. Green Bay wanted to sign him, but Gorin said No Thanks.

 

[fillylabinga]

Congrats to Yates. I love the strategy of paying "high" for the top PS prospects. Great bang for your buck...the extra couple of hundred grand barely affects the cap at all.

Do practice squad players count against the cap? For some reason I thought they didn't.

 

[Isaac]

Do practice squad players count against the cap? For some reason I thought they didn't.

Yes they do.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

PS players are paid a flat rate of about $80K per year doled out weekly (around $5 grand) as long as you remain on the squad. Yates is making over 5 times the going rate or what he would have made on the roster in his 3rd NFL season as an enticement to stay the course on a team that believes he can, and probably will at some points in the season, play a role for them. He knows it indicates a leg up on a 53 man roster slot here going forward.

King was making the point that this system values every guy who may play a role over the course of the season. And one reason they will not overpay for talent is because they hope to utilize their allotted limited cap space more efficiently by spreading the wealth around the roster and acquiring or retaining a better quality 45-53+ for when they are needed, knowing they in all liklihood will be needed. God knows our track record seems to uphold that belief.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Excellent, informative thread. Thank you.

 

[captain stone]

Unless he is learning the Center position, I just don't see the value there. He was nothing special, at all, coming out of college either. If he ever plays significant snaps on the OLine, we are in deep doo-doo. Best case scenario: he is traded for a conditional 7th round draft pick, like the equally talentless "Let 'em in" Gorin.
How about investing the $425K on a legit ILB prospect, instead of a blown-up coverage OLB/STer like Mays?

Much ado about nothing, really.

 

[brady2brown]

Unless he is learning the Center position, I just don't see the value there. He was nothing special, at all, coming out of college either. If he ever plays significant snaps on the OLine, we are in deep doo-doo. Best case scenario: he is traded for a conditional 7th round draft pick, like the equally talentless "Let 'em in" Gorin.
How about investing the $425K on a legit ILB prospect, instead of a blown-up coverage OLB/STer like Mays?

Much ado about nothing, really.

Good points. You'd think with the scouting sytem the Pats have and all the tape they supposedly watch, Belichick and Pioli would have figured this out.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

This is the same as putting a heavy lock on a door, someone who wants in can get in, but they have to work that much harder to do it, so why bother when there is an open door in the house next door?

Well, that begs the question, what's so valuable in there that it needs that heavy lock? I know I can get it open!

Okay I say this in jest. But how long before teams start trying to pry open that lock on the premise that BB put it there, and what BB locks up, way too often, is worth unlocking?

PFnV

 

[flutie2phelan]

Originally Posted by captain stone
Unless he is learning the Center position, I just don't see the value there. He was nothing special, at all, coming out of college either. If he ever plays significant snaps on the OLine, we are in deep doo-doo. Best case scenario: he is traded for a conditional 7th round draft pick, like the equally talentless "Let 'em in" Gorin.
How about investing the $425K on a legit ILB prospect, instead of a blown-up coverage OLB/STer like Mays?

Much ado about nothing, really.

Good points. You'd think with the scouting sytem the Pats have and all the tape they supposedly watch, Belichick and Pioli would have figured this out.

We see that brady2brown wields a stiletto
like a carving knife!

Subtly ... artfully.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Well, that begs the question, what's so valuable in there that it needs that heavy lock? I know I can get it open!

Okay I say this in jest. But how long before teams start trying to pry open that lock on the premise that BB put it there, and what BB locks up, way too often, is worth unlocking?

PFnV

Pry away, you wonder if they might steal Yates because BB has placed an unusual value on his as a Practice Squad member, but if you want to find out what that value represents, you are being forced to spend more that it might be worth on YOUR mantle.

Another aspect that may have bearing here: This is Yates 3rd season on the Practice Squad, something unthinkable before the CBA change in August. Normally, Yates would have been cut and his agent would be shopping him to Green Bay, Miami, Dallas, NYJ, Oakhole, etc. where they have big questions about their O-lines. League minimum for the Practice Squad may just be a way of keeping the agent and player patiently hoping for one more shot at the Dynasty roster.