Camp Battle at WR - Kenbrell Thompkins vs Josh Boyce

[Kontradiction]

LaFell is not a lock in my book, LaFell/Thompkins/Boyce could all be fighting for 2 rosters spots.

I'll go ahead and disagree here. The only way LaFell is not a lock is if he simply doesn't pick up the offense. Since I think he will, my locks are LaFell, Edelman, Amendola, and Dobson. The rest will be in a heated battle for a limited amount of roster spots.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Like others have said i see/think Lafell is a virtual lock

 

[Bonzo]

BB doesn't often give up on 2nd-year players having zero production (and certainly not his homeboy/personal binky Bequette), and I can't recall offhand him ever dumping a 2nd-year guy who actually had at least a modicum of production. I, for one, would be surprised to see any of Dobson/Boyce/Thompkins go - young dudes who are being groomed in the system.

The absolute locks for me are Dobson & Edelman, but I predict all of DA, KT, Boyce, and LaFell make the team. I had hoped Harrison would make a charge, keep things interesting, but his departure obviously cleans things up a bit. Probably a long-shot, but perhaps Gallon becomes the wild card?

 

[Ring 6]

…but not unexpected.

Of course it is unexpected. There is no reason he should not be recovered by the start of the season.

 

[Ring 6]

I will confess that this years camp battles has me feeling a lot more empathy for Rex Ryan being in the position to have to let Woodhead go.

Between Gallon, Thompkins, Finch or even Boyce there seems like there might be the potential we might be forced to nake a similiar decision/mistake.

Except Ryan didn't let Woodhead go because he had too many talented players. He let him go to keep stiffs because he mis-evaluated Woodhead.

 

[Ring 6]

People are too hung up on money invested in LaFell. The Patriots will cut him if he cannot beat out any of the other guys and there is no real evidence to say he can, except that the Patriots thought he could based on their review of his film. However, we all know how great the Patriots are at figuring out how well a WR will pick up the system.

Thompkins can get open, Brady just was not throwing him the ball. We know Brady has been locking onto one receiver more often than not in the last 5 years. I call it Wes Welker disease.

Brady locks onto receivers and Thompkins is great but his QB holds him back.
Bizzarro post of the week.

 

[Hael]

I cannot even begin to describe how much I disagree with your assessment of his "strengths," although we all have different opinions and I surely respect yours.

Aside from the DEN game, Thompkins was totally invisible from mid-October through mid-January. As a matter of fact, if you take out the one game where he actually contributed (DEN), then he had a total of FIVE catches in the Patriots last 12 games of the season......

You can say the same about Dobson. KT, like so many of our rookies was injured for a large portion of the season so its not really fair to compare his production before and after.

And yea, we will strongly disagree. KT torched man coverage all year, and was consistently open when healthy. The problem was he was often in the wrong spot (bad routes/reads) would lose speed when he caught the ball and so didn't have a good yac b/c of it. His hands aren't great and he wasn't good against zone, but consistently beat press coverage by showing excellent moves and explosion off the los.

The reason people are very high about this kid, is that the latter is the hardest thing to find in the NFL. Most perenial 2 and 3 wrs are stuffed at the LOS like Boyce. They can never get going and so all the measurables in the world makes no difference at all.

 

[jmt57]

The Patriots gave LaFell a $3,000,000 signing bonus. Cutting him not only offers no cap savings, it creates a cost to the cap of $1,495,000.

Unless he totally fubars during training camp, he's a lock - okay, near-lock - to make the week one roster.

 

[Nunchucks]

Brady locks onto receivers and Thompkins is great but his QB holds him back.
Bizzarro post of the week.

How else do you explain the lopsided catches? Nevermind the number of balls that are forced to Edelperson or to Welker over the years. Sitting at the game, I can see who is open and who isn't when he throws the ball.

 

[Nunchucks]

The Patriots gave LaFell a $3,000,000 signing bonus. Cutting him not only offers no cap savings, it creates a cost to the cap of $1,495,000.

Unless he totally fubars during training camp, he's a lock - okay, near-lock - to make the week one roster.

There is more to building a team than managing cap money. Just saying.

 

[Sicilian]

There is more to building a team than managing cap money. Just saying.

Yup, but if cutting Lafell makes your cap hit go UP, he would have to be providing negative value for BB to cut him. Based on what I've seen/heard about Lafell, I don't see him being unable to contribute in enough areas to stay.

 

[Danger Zone]

Except Ryan didn't let Woodhead go because he had too many talented players. He let him go to keep stiffs because he mis-evaluated Woodhead.

That could be, I was thinking of him not having the room for Woodhead due to his hopes of McKnight's ceiling at the time.

 

[patsinthesnow]

You can say the same about Dobson. KT, like so many of our rookies was injured for a large portion of the season so its not really fair to compare his production before and after.

And yea, we will strongly disagree. KT torched man coverage all year, and was consistently open when healthy. The problem was he was often in the wrong spot (bad routes/reads) would lose speed when he caught the ball and so didn't have a good yac b/c of it. His hands aren't great and he wasn't good against zone, but consistently beat press coverage by showing excellent moves and explosion off the los.

The reason people are very high about this kid, is that the latter is the hardest thing to find in the NFL. Most perenial 2 and 3 wrs are stuffed at the LOS like Boyce. They can never get going and so all the measurables in the world makes no difference at all.

This is why I'm a fan of KT. You can't teach his release, which was the highlight of many training camp sessions. He was targeted plenty for a reason, he was open. Look at week 1 vs. BUF. KT got open plenty of times, it's just what happened after the ball left Tom's hand (Awareness, hands, wrong route-running). This is why the comp pct. his way was bad.

Make no mistake, KT showed awful awareness, suspect hands, and a lack of concentration many times last season. I see these as fixable problems. KT's strengths are tough to find in a WR. Also, I think people take KT's age and assume he's "maxed out" when in reality, he was as raw as any 20-21 year old WR in the NFL last year. He only had two years of D1 college football experience.

Also, KT's 2nd half doom season is overstated IMO. He kept repeating the same rookie mistakes, so BB benched him. He earned his way back on the field and made 6 2nd half catches vs. Denver. The following week back in the regular lineup he injured his hip vs. Houston in the first quarter if I recall and was essentially done for the year at that point.

If KT doesn't fix his problems then he's gone. If he does fix them, i think many fans will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[captain stone]

Of course it is unexpected. There is no reason he [Dobson] should not be recovered by the start of the season.

There is always a reason.

 

[Ring 6]

How else do you explain the lopsided catches? Nevermind the number of balls that are forced to Edelperson or to Welker over the years. Sitting at the game, I can see who is open and who isn't when he throws the ball.

Because some receivers get open more than others.
You need to understand what progressions are.
You need to get over the fact that you think you are a better judge of where to throw the ball than Tom Brady, because its comical.
You have to be kidding me with the last comment.

 

[Ring 6]

There is always a reason.

In other news water is wet. Do you have a point here?

 

[Ring 6]

That could be, I was thinking of him not having the room for Woodhead due to his hopes of McKnight's ceiling at the time.

It wasnt a Woodhead or McKnight decision. They could have kept both, but instead kept a scrub WR whose name escapes me that they cut a few weeks later.
Rex was also trying to convert Woodhead to WR.

 

[Danger Zone]

It wasnt a Woodhead or McKnight decision. They could have kept both, but instead kept a scrub WR whose name escapes me that they cut a few weeks later.
Rex was also trying to convert Woodhead to WR.

Okay, okay you've convinced me..

Belichick is a genius!

 

[SalemPats]

I think KT is in tough, barring injuries. Boyce is a better Special Teamer. I have Edelman/LAfell/Dobson/Amendola ahead of him which means he will have to outperform those guys to make the team

 

[Ring 6]

Okay, okay you've convinced me..

Belichick is a genius!

Not sure it says that, but Rex surely isnt.