Crazy - The DEPTH of This team!!!!!!!!!

[goheels22002]

Brady is playing for under $10M per year.

No he's not. Brady is being paid $8 million salary plus $6 million signing bonus in 2015 with increases for next two years. He can opt to become a UFA in 2018 at age 41.

But, he's still well under the market and makes it possible for the Patriots to have greater depth than other QBs who are gluttonous and think team-second.

In Miguel we trust: http://patscap.com/
http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/1163/tom-brady

 

[Wheelman]

And interestingly, the only guy anyone considered poaching is Coleman.

He wasn't poached. He chose to sign with the Seahawks practice squad.

 

[shmessy]

BB does not have divine powers, and so he has made plenty of personnel mistakes, just as all other coaches and GM's do.

However, he has really been on a roll the last two off-seasons. I did a thread a while back where I compared the Pats at the before the 2014 draft compared to now, and the Pats front office has done extremely well. A promising new back-up quarterback, great new TE depth, a completely re-vamped promising interior OL, two promising 1st round DL prospects, the addition of Sheard plus two promising new prospects at DE, a safety position that looks like a real strength of the team, and an UDFA that looks like a future shutdown corner (and at least one other semi-decent looking free agent corner). If you assume that there is no way he could have paid the price for Revis without financially crippling the team in the future (which seems clear to me, although perhaps it is arguable), then virtually everything he has done the last two seasons has worked out remarkably well. They are really on a roll.

Great point, Chris. We keep on praising Belichick here, but I wonder how much February 20, 2014 helped this all along.........

http://www.patriots.com/news/2014/02/20/michael-lombardi-joins-patriots-assistant-coaching-staff


.

 

[Oswlek]

He wasn't poached. He chose to sign with the Seahawks practice squad.

I know, but that distinction doesn't influence my point.

 

[aluminum seats]

You didn't even mention special teams, which I would argue is near flawless at every position. Best gunner, kicker, top shelf punter and long snapper, and high end pieces that surround them.

Excellent point. BB & the Pats preach it all the time, but special teams can still sometimes be forgotten, or at least not be as top of mind. Great line-up there.

 

[mgteich]

His cap hit is $14 million. He already received much of his money in signing bonus and the rest is guaranteed. The average of his 3 year extension I believe was $9 milllion/year before he restructured his contract which raised it to almost $10 million. Essentially that is a hair under half of his market value. No matter which number you use, saying he's making a third his value is misleading.

Agreed. As you say 1/2 not 1/3 is a more reasonable assessment.

 

[shmessy]

Here's a question who goes when LaFell and Stork comes back? Also does Wendell currently count among our roster now?

Yes, Wendell is on our current active week to week roster.d

Reagrding who goes when Stork and LaFell come back (and if Dana Fletcher does also) I have no earthly clue. Bradley Fletcher definitely if they feel Coleman can now do the job. Perhaps Hooman (if they think Asante Cleveland on the PS could do some of the same things)? I don't think Keyshaun Martin has PS eligibility. Josh Kline has been playing too well to move him off.

 

[shmessy]

I strongly agree with your conclusions. However, there is no reason to overstate. We do NOT have great depth at WR, CB or RB.

WIDE RECEIVER
Martin stepped right it. Great. What does that say about Amendola and Dobson? We have Edelman and out at wide receiver. You mention Thompkins and Harper. Understand that NO OTHER team has any use for them. Let us understand "depth". If Edelman were to be out for a couple of games, we'd have one of the worst set of wide receivers in the NFL, certainly among passing teams hoping for the playoffs.

1) "Martin stepped right it. What does that say about Amendola and Dobson?"

OK, Dobson is still a question mark, but Amendola you have a problem with??? Really? Regarding the last game, you DO understand that BB was emptying the bench to get new guys and youngesters some valuable real game experience. Was he judging Devin McCourty as being "done" because he was playing Jordan Richards so much?

C'mon, the fact that Keyshaun was playing says NOTHING about what Bb thinks regarding Amendola and Dobson. It's important to understand the context of the situation.


2) "Understand that NO OTHER team has any use for them." hmmmm.

Two years ago, Julian Edelman went hat in hand out on the open market and no other team had any use for him (except PERHAPS the Giants who let him have a visit).

I'm not going to overrate the other 31 teams front offices.


.

 

[nabwong]

I think there's too much depth at punter.

 

[shmessy]

RUNNING BACK
Kudos to Lewis! BTW, you talk about our depth. Who is our backup at power back? Bolden? Bolden is great depth?

I agree with you here. I think the one misstep was Jonas Gray at $510,0000. All the guy does is get 4.5+ yds per carry when given a chance - - he did it again last weekend. He would have been important ground and pound depth at a cheap price for the Pats. They evidently loved Cadet.

 

[Tom_Montana12]

WIDE RECEIVER
Martin stepped right it. Great. What does that say about Amendola and Dobson? We have Edelman and out at wide receiver. You mention Thompkins and Harper. Understand that NO OTHER team has any use for them. Let us understand "depth". If Edelman were to be out for a couple of games, we'd have one of the worst set of wide receivers in the NFL, certainly among passing teams hoping for the playoffs.

Will LaFell be back in three weeks playing at 100%? Maybe, maybe not.

That being said, Brady has more than enough to have the best offense in the NFL.

CORNER
Ryan was considered a terrible outside corner. Many of us thought that he had no future at corner at all. Ryan started this week at outside corner. Coleman came in and was an immediate improvement at nickel. Depth? Without Butler, we would have the worst set of corners among playoff teams.

RUNNING BACK
Kudos to Lewis! BTW, you talk about our depth. Who is our backup at power back? Bolden? Bolden is great depth?[/QUOTE]



Let me first point out how contradictory the bolded part sounds.

Second, if Edelman were to go down, Amendola would be able to step right up and perform just fine in Edelman's role. The depth for Edelman's position could not be any better, realistically speaking.

Third, Lafell's backup just had an eight catch game against one of the better defenses in the league a week ago. He's no superstar, but he's certainly serviceable depth. He's pretty much the same exact player Lafell is, only he's more of a deep threat. BB said the best part of Dobson's game against Buffalo was his blocking.

Fourth, did you not notice Keyshawn Martin on Sunday? Did ANYONE expect him to have that kind of game? That's what I would refer to as depth.

And finally, let me point out that WR depth is so much less important than most other positions on this team. Having Rob Gronkowski at TE completely mitigates the need for great/ideal WR depth (ignoring the fact that I've just explained we have WR depth).


And one note on your opinion on our RB depth. Some would argue that our depth at that position is better than it was a year ago - the year we won a Super Bowl.

 

[zydecochris]

Great point, Chris. We keep on praising Belichick here, but I wonder how much February 20, 2014 helped this all along.........

http://www.patriots.com/news/2014/02/20/michael-lombardi-joins-patriots-assistant-coaching-staff


.

What a perceptive, great point. I haven't seen anybody else point this out. You are right, Lombardi joined the Patriots just before their two year streak of excellent personnel decisions, I hadn't noticed that. You have to judge a tree by its fruits, so evidently he is making a positive impact.

I always thought he got a bit of a raw deal with his 1-year Cleveland stint, he picked the Colts pocket by getting an extra first round draft pick for Trent Richardson but never got to use the extra draft pick, they fired him after only a year. Although happy for him, when he took the Cleveland job (followed by the Patriots job) I was a bit deflated because I enjoyed listening to Lombardi so much on Bill Simmons B.S. Report Podcasts on the NFL.

 

[shmessy]

What a perceptive, great point. I haven't seen anybody else point this out. You are right, Lombardi joined the Patriots just before their two year streak of excellent personnel decisions, I hadn't noticed that. You have to judge a tree by its fruits, so evidently he is making a positive impact.

I always thought he got a bit of a raw deal with his 1-year Cleveland stint, he picked the Colts pocket by getting an extra first round draft pick for Trent Richardson but never got to use the extra draft pick, they fired him after only a year. Although happy for him, when he took the Cleveland job (followed by the Patriots job) I was a bit deflated because I enjoyed listening to Lombardi so much on Bill Simmons B.S. Report Podcasts on the NFL.

Thanks. I may just start a Mike Lombardi Appreciation thread!

 

[The Brandon Five]

I agree with you here. I think the one misstep was Jonas Gray at $510,0000. All the guy does is get 4.5+ yds per carry when given a chance - - he did it again last weekend. He would have been important ground and pound depth at a cheap price for the Pats. They evidently loved Cadet.

Yeah, that move becomes more of a head-scratcher with Cadet's release.

 

[ivanvamp]

And before we fall all over ourselves praising the management for putting this team together (well deserved), none of this is possible without Brady playing for a third of his value.

No one player has meant more to a franchise because no one player has given more to his franchise.

This is a humongous point. When the Pats won SBs early on, Brady took up a small piece of the salary cap, and the Pats could spend elsewhere. But then his salary grew, and it became just a little harder to build around him, because of financial restraints. Now, his cap hit is so low relative to other teams' QBs, that the Pats have money to spend again.

Read here for more on this: http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/09/30/tom-brady-contract-nfl-patriots-salary-cap

 

[Oswlek]

Thanks. I may just start a Mike Lombardi Appreciation thread!

Just don't imply that Bill needed saving. That's a sore spot for some around these parts.

 

[shmessy]

Just don't imply that Bill needed saving. That's a sore spot for some around these parts.

Evidently!

(....still pissed off about letting James Sanders go a few years back when the secondary stunk)

 

[mgteich]

Edelman was injured when he went hat in hand. And just BTW, any team could have had him for very little. Also, Edelman was well-known to the patriots. The patriots ended up paying very little.

So, sure, Martin could be the next Edelman. More likely, he is competing with Dobson for a roster spot when LaFell comes back.

I did go overboard a bit with Amendola. I'm one of the few who expects him back next year.

1) "Martin stepped right it. What does that say about Amendola and Dobson?"

OK, Dobson is still a question mark, but Amendola you have a problem with??? Really? Regarding the last game, you DO understand that BB was emptying the bench to get new guys and youngesters some valuable real game experience. Was he judging Devin McCourty as being "done" because he was playing Jordan Richards so much?

C'mon, the fact that Keyshaun was playing says NOTHING about what Bb thinks regarding Amendola and Dobson. It's important to understand the context of the situation.


2) "Understand that NO OTHER team has any use for them." hmmmm.

Two years ago, Julian Edelman went hat in hand out on the open market and no other team had any use for him (except PERHAPS the Giants who let him have a visit).

I'm not going to overrate the other 31 teams front offices.


.

 

[upstater1]

I love Brady, but he's not worth $42 million. He's playing for a little more than half of his market value.

I'd say he's worth at least $50 million, maybe more.

 

[Fencer]

Kudos to Lewis! BTW, you talk about our depth. Who is our backup at power back? Bolden? Bolden is great depth?

Lewis is our backup at power back.