Contracts to deal with

[Fencer]

Edit: Miguel has some corrections below.

Per http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/.../full_breakdown_each_patriots_contract_length, the list of guys who are going into FA in this offseason is:

LS Danny Aiken Replace him, please.
DE Akeem Ayers I'd love to bring him back. And maybe he's still accomplished little enough that he's affordable. We REALLY need an edge rusher besides Jones and Ninkovich.
DT Alan Branch It would be great to re-sign him. Perhaps he'd be pretty cheap.
LB Jonathan Casillas. He's a depth guy. Nice to have if he's cheap.
OL Dan Connolly. I think he should and will be kept on a short deal.
FB James Develin (restricted). McDaniels seems to like him. He's cheap.
K Stephen Gostkowski. Deserves to be paid. But can he be replaced on the cheap?
S Devin McCourty. Expensive and worth it.
LB James Morris. Who?
WR Greg Orton. Who?
RB Stevan Ridley. Worth more to another team that doesn't have Blount and Gray.
DT Sealver Siliga (restricted). We NEED one of Siliga and Branch. Having both would be nice.
WR Brian Tyms (restricted). Meh.
RB Shane Vereen. His position is a crucial one on the Pats. James White hasn't proved much.
LB Chris White. Meh.

Guys who it is often suggested should be restructured or cut include:

Revis. I think he now understands enough about building a championship team that a deal can be worked out.
Wilfork. The players want him to stay. I think something will be worked out.
Mayo. The argument against keeping him is that at >50% sub, who needs 3 top LBs? But Hightower and Collins both seem versatile enough to make me disregard that. I want him kept.
Arrington. Tough call.
Amendola. I think he'll be worth more to other teams.
Browner. Some people think his pay should be cut; I don't understand why.

Other guys who I'd like to see upgraded for reasons of talent are:

Devey. We need new interior OL blood, and he's the weakest link.
Boyce. Maybe he finally gets it. But I don't assume that Dobson/Boyce/Tyms is enough after Edelman/LaFell/the TEs.
Vellano. But we have Easley.
Hooman. But he's pretty decent.

 

[notex]

Per http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/.../full_breakdown_each_patriots_contract_length, the list of guys who are going into FA in this offseason is:

LS Danny Aiken Replace him, please.
DE Akeem Ayers I'd love to bring him back. And maybe he's still accomplished little enough that he's affordable. We REALLY need an edge rusher besides Jones and Ninkovich.
DT Alan Branch It would be great to re-sign him. Perhaps he'd be pretty cheap.
LB Jonathan Casillas. He's a depth guy. Nice to have if he's cheap.
OL Dan Connolly. I think he should and will be kept on a short deal.
FB James Develin (restricted). McDaniels seems to like him. He's cheap.
K Stephen Gostkowski. Deserves to be paid. But can he be replaced on the cheap?
S Devin McCourty. Expensive and worth it.
LB James Morris. Who?
WR Greg Orton. Who?
RB Stevan Ridley. Worth more to another team that doesn't have Blount and Gray.
DT Sealver Siliga (restricted). We NEED one of Siliga and Branch. Having both would be nice.
WR Brian Tyms (restricted). Meh.
RB Shane Vereen. His position is a crucial one on the Pats. James White hasn't proved much.
LB Chris White. Meh.

Guys who it is often suggested should be restructured or cut include:

Revis. I think he now understands enough about building a championship team that a deal can be worked out.
Wilfork. The players want him to stay. I think something will be worked out.
Mayo. The argument against keeping him is that at >50% sub, who needs 3 top LBs? But Hightower and Collins both seem versatile enough to make me disregard that. I want him kept.
Arrington. Tough call.
Amendola. I think he'll be worth more to other teams.
Browner. Some people think his pay should be cut; I don't understand why.

Other guys who I'd like to see upgraded for reasons of talent are:

Devey. We need new interior OL blood, and he's the weakest link.
Boyce. Maybe he finally gets it. But I don't assume that Dobson/Boyce/Tyms is enough after Edelman/LaFell/the TEs.
Vellano. But we have Easley.
Hooman. But he's pretty decent.

Ill give this a shot:

Here are the areas that I think are replaceable or can be upgraded..
Arrington - I like the guy, but we have Butler/Dennard in the wings and I believe his # is pretty high
Amendola - Sorry, I like the guy but I think from a 'value' perspective his cap # is too high for his contribution - possible restructure candidate
Branch - Keep Siligia, Easley instead
Ridley - Although maybe he stays on a cheap deal - he absolutely destroyed his knee...
Gostkowski - he's been fantastic... but is he worth 3-4 million?
Chris White / Casillas - cheaper options out there?
Boyce - I've seen enough
Dobson - I could see him get cut..


Restructure:
May0 - Hopefully we can get him restructure to free up some cap space for Revis... No way he leaves the team.. lots of reports surfacing that he was a big part of the team even while injured.
Wilfork - Dare I?

Re-sign:
Revis - Duh
McCourty - No way he leaves.. hometown discount?
Ayers: He will be cheap
Shane Vereen - unsung hero of superbowl IMO
Tyms - I actually think he is the only one of these guys that adds something different to the mix

 

[Miguel]

Develin, Tyms, and Siliga will be ERFAs, not restricted free agents

 

[Miguel]

Orton and Morris will also be ERFAs

 

[Patriots1364life]

Revis and McCourty obviously need to be resign.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

I want Akeem Ayers back.

he was awesome this year. I would cut Mayo and sign Ayers for half the price.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Someone mentioned in the other thread that Arrington's savings if cut is less than $1M, if true it wouldn't make sense to release him. Restructuring could be an option there if he's willing .

Amendola, Wilfork, Mayo seem like restructure or release candidates but it depends on how vital BB feels they are to next season.

Ridley could come back on a cheap, prove it deal, but if not I'm more than satisfied with Bluount and Gray as our primary ball carriers. I think Vereen needs to be re-signed especially after his super bowl performance.

Ghostkowski, Connolly, DMC must be retained IMO. Revis must be extended preferably a 3 year deal. Most of the others would be nice to have on the cheap but I think we could do without if not the right price.

 

[rochrist]

Ill give this a shot:

Here are the areas that I think are replaceable or can be upgraded..
Arrington - I like the guy, but we have Butler/Dennard in the wings and I believe his # is pretty high
Amendola - Sorry, I like the guy but I think from a 'value' perspective his cap # is too high for his contribution - possible restructure candidate
Branch - Keep Siligia, Easley instead
Ridley - Although maybe he stays on a cheap deal - he absolutely destroyed his knee...
Gostkowski - he's been fantastic... but is he worth 3-4 million?
Chris White / Casillas - cheaper options out there?
Boyce - I've seen enough
Dobson - I could see him get cut..


Restructure:
May0 - Hopefully we can get him restructure to free up some cap space for Revis... No way he leaves the team.. lots of reports surfacing that he was a big part of the team even while injured.
Wilfork - Dare I?

Re-sign:
Revis - Duh
McCourty - No way he leaves.. hometown discount?
Ayers: He will be cheap
Shane Vereen - unsung hero of superbowl IMO
Tyms - I actually think he is the only one of these guys that adds something different to the mix

Gostkowski is worth anything short of a silly deal offered by another team. I watched too many teams bitten in the ass by kickers this year. This guy is a weapon.

 

[BobDigital]

I like depth as much as the next guy but you need to prioritize starters and guys who get the snaps.

Casillas, Ayers, Branch are all quality depth guys, but if it keeps you from keeping Vereen - who is crucial to our passing offense when the run game gets shut down - 1 or 2 of them might have to go.

Arrington is getting a lot of hate on here and I think a lot of it is unfair.

Arrington is a nickle CB and has had a very good year for us in that role. Before going into this game people had a very high opinion of his play this season.

Then he gets matched up on a 6'5 WR and has a few jump balls thrown on him and now he needs to be replaced? He should not have been matched on him in the first place. BB and Patricia were caught asleep at the wheel there.

For all the due accolades of how well the Pats coached this game in all phases you must say this was a huge blunder. The second that first big catch happened I thought "he's too big for Arrington or Ryan; put Browner on him" but it took a few more huge catches before they did that.

The thing is they should have done it BEFORE that first big catch happened. They should have noticed how exploitable that match up was.

Sorry got off track a bit.

I will also say the OP post does not include restructures which I think will happen.

 

[BradyManny]

Cut Brady. He's washed up. Put in that Garapolo kid.

Seriously though. That is a long list. Pats have some work to do this offseason. But their focus should be on retaining as many guys as they can reasonably. There are some tough decisions for guys like Mayo, Wilfork, Amendola, Ridley - and you hope something incentive laden can be worked out. They have a great team, no reason to try and re-invent the wheel.

 

[Patriots1364life]

I like Wilfork but he needs to restructure. There are some free agent tackles out there.

 

[notex]

Gostkowski is worth anything short of a silly deal offered by another team. I watched too many teams bitten in the ass by kickers this year. This guy is a weapon.

Detroit!

Anyways, I realize his value...he's lights out. BUT - avg cap hit for a top 5 kicker in NFL is $3.5-4 Million / year.. Is that worth it over drafting someone in 6th/7th round? I have no idea, but in a year where we have some major contracts (DMC, Revis) - it has got to be on the table...

 

[mgteich]

Detroit!

Anyways, I realize his value...he's lights out. BUT - avg cap hit for a top 5 kicker in NFL is $3.5-4 Million / year.. Is that worth it over drafting someone in 6th/7th round? I have no idea, but in a year where we have some major contracts (DMC, Revis) - its got to be on the table...

He doesn't need to be on the table.

Let's be clear. If we sign Revis to a $14M a year contract and McCourty to an $8M a year contract, there will still significant SAVINGS over the current cap numbers.

 

[Fencer]

I will also say the OP post does not include restructures which i think will happen.

I'm sorry that my post was so long you couldn't stand to read to the end.

 

[mgteich]

Edit: Miguel has some corrections below.
LS Danny Aiken Replace him, please.
DE Akeem Ayers I'd love to bring him back. And maybe he's still accomplished little enough that he's affordable. We REALLY need an edge rusher besides Jones and Ninkovich.
DT Alan Branch It would be great to re-sign him. Perhaps he'd be pretty cheap.
LB Jonathan Casillas. He's a depth guy. Nice to have if he's cheap.
OL Dan Connolly. I think he should and will be kept on a short deal.
FB James Develin (restricted). McDaniels seems to like him. He's cheap.
K Stephen Gostkowski. Deserves to be paid. But can he be replaced on the cheap?
S Devin McCourty. Expensive and worth it.
LB James Morris. Who?
WR Greg Orton. Who?
RB Stevan Ridley. Worth more to another team that doesn't have Blount and Gray.
DT Sealver Siliga (restricted). We NEED one of Siliga and Branch. Having both would be nice.
WR Brian Tyms (restricted). Meh.
RB Shane Vereen. His position is a crucial one on the Pats. James White hasn't proved much.
LB Chris White. Meh.

Let's deal with this list of free agents.

1) The 5 ERFA's should be re-signed. The cost is low (Develin, Siliga, Tyms, Orton, Morris).

2) I think that competition should be brought in for AIKEN. I think it likely that he will be re-signed and that a couple of draftees or UDFA's will be brought in. Again the cost is low. A signing bonus to Aiken is not much of a cost for an insurance policy.

3) Of course, Gostkowski can be replaced on the cheap. However, the replacement would not be a pro-bowler. Gostkowski will be one of the top paid kickers in the league, presumably for the patriots. IMHO, a top kicker is worth $3.5M-$4M a year.

4) I agree with regard to the rest. The biggest biggest question marks are Ayers and Vereen. To me, both are important to the team. If Ayers goes, we'll be depending on Ninkovich and Jones to play over 90% of the reps yet again. If Vereen goes, we will need to replace him, probably in free agency AND in the draft.

 

[farn]

I hear what a poster was saying about frontline players. But the reason BB and the Patriots have been successful is that their middle class is competent, if not spectacular. You need Ninko. You need Arrington. Don't fault the fox for eating the hen if you place them both in the same cage. Arrington stopped TY Hilton. He scored on STs. He is what he is and, for the most part, he is good at what he does. Ask him to guard Megatron and you are the guilty party for putting him in a position to fail.

 

[mgteich]

Other guys who I'd like to see upgraded for reasons of talent are:

Devey. We need new interior OL blood, and he's the weakest link.
Boyce. Maybe he finally gets it. But I don't assume that Dobson/Boyce/Tyms is enough after Edelman/LaFell/the TEs.
Vellano. But we have Easley.
Hooman. But he's pretty decent.

Let's deal with talent upgrades.

Yes, we should add more help in the OL. I think that we can do better than Kline and Devey. Both are certainly upgradable. I would keep Connolly.

Dobson is the upgrade for Boyce. But yes, if Amendola is cut, we need to add a W. To me this isn't an upgrade. If Amendola goes, this is a position of need.

As you say, we have Vellano's replacement in Easley. However, we will need another player if branch goes.

I don't think that Belichick has any intention of replacing any of the TE's. IMHO, Wright is more likely to be beat out for a roster spot than Hooman. But that's irrelevant. We need three TE's. We have 3 TE's.

RECEIVERS
IMHO, we finally have a full set of receivers, and one of the very best passing games in the NFL. We will need to bring back or replace Amendola and Vereen. They were essential to the 2014-2015 passing game.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Revis and Mccourty are your #1 and #2 priorities

 

[BadMoFo]

Arrington had a bad Super Bowl, but other than that, I think he was our second best CB all year. No way we should cut him.

 

[Deus Irae]

This team let Woodhead walk so that Vereen could take on the Faulk role. We could probably dig up the thread weighing the pros and cons of that, or we can just figure that Vereen's not going anywhere due to the lack of even a semi-proven replacement.