Buck up, Pats fans

[hwc]

Yeah, it sucks that we might lose a player or two, but if you want to see cap jail, take a look the Saints. $22 million over the cap. And they can't cut anybody because the dead money hits are more than the cap hits for a whole bunch of their players:

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/cap/

Brees: Cap hit $26 m. Dead money $34 m

Gallette: Cap hit $16 m. Dead money $15 m

Graham: Cap hit $11 m. Dead money $16 m.

Byrd: Cap hit $10 m. Dead money $15 m.

Vacarro: Cap hit $2.6 m. Dead money $5.6 m.

Go down the list. It's a complete train wreck. Yikes.

 

[Froob]

Holy hell. How are they even going to get under?

 

[Patriots1364life]

I still feel dmac and revis will sign here. I feel vince will be out. This is all business. How can you let these guys go and bring vince back at 8.5. Makes no sense.

 

[hwc]

Holy hell. How are they even going to get under?

I don't know. You should hear Kirwin. Saints' fans keep calling asking if they should target this free agent or that free agent and he's basically saying they have to go straight to cap jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. No choice but to completely wipe out the team to get under the cap.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Heck we were in cap hell our version this year with the Hernandez cap hit ... and we still won it all.

Miguel has us at $4.6 million dead money with most all of that Mankins at $4 million.
we were around $8.5 million this year with most of that Hernandez at $7.5 million.

Cannot imagine $22 million over the cap and they sucked this year ...

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Saints are F'ed

 

[hwc]

Saints are F'ed

Yep. That's what happens when you keep doing simple restructures replacing salary with amortized bonus. You eventually reach a point where you are boxed into a corner. It's going to be really interesting to watch the moves the Saints make. They may have to do some more credit card restrutures just to get to the point where they can blow it up next year.

When you see teams with $40 million in cap space (like the Raiders and the Colts), it's usually because they've had to blow it up. They have the cap space because they don't have any players that are worth a darn.

So, let's not get too down in the dumps because Vince has to retire or whatever. It's an inevitable part of managing the cap. At least you can see ways the Pats can get the cap room they need.

 

[fnordcircle]

It would take an imbecile with no ability to remember the past 14 years to not have faith in this team's ability to field a competitive team. If Revis and McCourty are both wearing other jerseys next year it will be because the club made the best call given all factors.

But it will still suck.

 

[Patriots1364life]

It would take an imbecile with no ability to remember the past 14 years to not have faith in this team's ability to field a competitive team. If Revis and McCourty are both wearing other jerseys next year it will be because the club made the best call given all factors.

But it will still suck.

True but brady is not getting younger. How many years has it taken bill to field a secondary? Now they are going to break it up? I just dont know about that.

 

[Gronkowski123]

I still feel dmac and revis will sign here. I feel vince will be out. This is all business. How can you let these guys go and bring vince back at 8.5. Makes no sense.

yup, let vince go. he isn't worth half that amount on the open market.
i guy like kevin williams was making around 2 million last year. cut big vince/try to break him back on a smaller salary.

 

[Joker]

Tebow will save us!

 

[fnordcircle]

True but brady is not getting younger. How many years has it taken bill to field a secondary? Now they are going to break it up? I just dont know about that.

Everything I've ever heard from Belichick et al indicates that they don't deal with unknowns. They don't coach with the possibility injuries in mind, they don't GM with the possibility of retirement in mind.

They'll never go 'all in'. Also, how many times does going 'all in' work? Ask Denver about it...

 

[patsfan-1982]

the pats are not in cap hell all they have to do is cut Revis and his 20 million dollar cap hit. rework wilfork and or Mayo and you can bring back everyone but 30 year old revis from a SB winning team puls draft picks

 

[Patriots1364life]

Idk how u replace a guy like revis. You can try though and we have seen that before. If they had a strong d line then they could get away with this. Our d line is ok but not great.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

It would take an imbecile with no ability to remember the past 14 years to not have faith in this team's ability to field a competitive team. If Revis and McCourty are both wearing other jerseys next year it will be because the club made the best call given all factors.

But it will still suck.

Agreed on both fronts.

Kraft has always said that his objective every season is to field a team that is competitive to win the Division and be a factor in the Playoffs. What happens after that is a function as much of the talent on the Roster as it is of injuries, weather, officials' calls, opponents who get hot in January and, yes, luck. He makes decisions with this end in mind with which we sometimes agree and that sometimes leave us scratching our heads.

Clearly the team has met his objective, not only winning the Division constantly but getting to the AFCCG eight times and the SB six times in 15 years.

The flip side of that coin is that 10 years passed between SB wins three and four. Brady has a lot of game left in him, but not even he would say he has another 10 years.

The bottom line is that the Krafts are going to approach this offseason as they have every other offseason in the BB/TB era. If that means that McCourty and Revis are playing elsewhere...well, that's what it will mean.

All we can be sure of is that the team the Patriots field will be put together with an eye towards being strong and competitive next season and over the next several seasons. Will it have the remarkable combination of strengths on the D side of the ball that allowed it to lose a Mayo and still win the SB? We'll have to wait and see.

 

[hwc]

BTW, the Saints dead money and cap problems are the result of massive (already guaranteed) roster bonuses for several players -- roster bonuses that were activate back in February. To get out of cap jail for another year, they will convert these to signing bonus, spreading the cap charges and dead money hits into the future.

They dodged a major bullet when Junior Galette ($16 million dead money hit) got his domestic violence charges dropped.

 

[micronin127]

http://overthecap.com/navigating-saints-2015-salary-cap/

They have some ways to get under the cap, but their situation blows.

The author recommends:
1. Restructure Junior Gallette (convert 12.5 million roster bonus to signing bonus): +10 million
2. Release Jahri Evans: +6 million
3. Release Curtis Lofton: +4 million
4. Release Broderick Bunkley: +2.88 million

These four moves bring them under. But let's face it, they can't really pursue anybody except veteran minimum and street free agents. Will have to add via draft.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Idk how u replace a guy like revis. You can try though and we have seen that before. If they had a strong d line then they could get away with this. Our d line is ok but not great.

You just answered your question. You fortify other aspects of your defense. Pass rush. Safety. etc.

Not sure how much more they can improve on offense. Maybe more balance and improve the running game.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

I'm starting to come around to the realization that we could lose both players.
I know Belichick has the value system and it hasn't necessarily failed him here yet.
He draws a line in the sand and says this is what I'm willing to pay you do you want to be a part of this team or not?
No player is irreplaceable to Belichick and he has proven it time after time and won't mortgage the future for riches now.
That being said losing Revis and Mccourty still hurts this D in monumental ways.
Belichick must have a plan if they walk and I'm confident he does.
That being said its hard for us to swallow just the same and every blown coverage and every missed tackle will he heavily scrutinized and put under a microscope.
I don't foresee Big Vince making that salary if we draw a line In the sand to Devin and Darelle.
On the other hand if we are going to let Revis walk and take the 5 million loss on the cap why even have the placeholder second season anyhow?
The level of quote in quote legal tampering is ridiculous its really gross.
In BB I trust even when I have to walk out the room when its third and long and we need a stop.

 

[Patriots1364life]

I trust BB but its a huge gamble. Gotta wait for the weekend. I wanna see what the pats offered these guys should they hit free agency.