Did BB & Kraft do it on the cheap?

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

When the cap space and the "cheap" discussion were brought up early in the season, I brought up this point. The Patriots tried to sign players. They tried to re-sign Branch, and gave him a very nice contract offer. They looked at bringing Ty Law back.

I think people have gotten the idea that since we have won and simply because we're the Patriots, every last single free agent is just breaking down the doors at Gillette Stadium to play for us, and if a free agent isn't signed, it's because we were cheap and didn't want to pay.

Again, we tried to spend the money, we just didn't get the guys worth the money. The example I used before is a guy going to a Dodge dealership with $100,000 cash looking to buy a Viper. The salesman tells him they don't have any Vipers but they have plenty of Chargers. The guy says sure and then hands the salesman all $100,000. Should we have given $3 million to Ray Mickens because we couldn't get Law? should we have paid Gaffney what we offered Branch?

NFL free agency is a lot like college recruiting. They save a scholarship for a certain player hoping he comes, and then he commits to a different school. Then you're stuck, it's too late to find another stud. We would not have won 3 Super Bowls, or at the very least, still be talking about getting back to Super Bowls, if we spent freely just to make sure we got who we wanted.

We're in good shape cap wise and with the draft and I think we can re-load nicely for next season.

 

[PonyExpress]

Briliant!! A well thought out reply so typical of the board this season . I must root for the redskins, or better yet, I must be a Jets troll!! yippee!

After reading Miguel's subsequent post it appears he is not in agreement with you. Or are you now going to accuse him of speaking from his "high horse"? You must be a Felger disciple. Or the man himself. The contempt you show the fans of this board is befitting that elitist a-hole.

 

[Miguel]

One more point.

The Colts ended up this year with the highest cash layout.

But they ended the year with 22 players on reserve lists so they had to spend money to replace those players. Should the Pats adopt the strategy of placing a lot of players on reserve lists so as to use cap space??I think not.

 

[patpatriot]

Of all the free agents available to the Pats, only Ty Law *might* have made a winning difference in Sunday's game. Even my binky Javon Walker proobably wouldn't have made a difference. Overall, the FO did a reasonably good job this season.

 

[upstater1]

Cheap cost them turnovers, dropped balls, poor execution and penalties.. as far as I know they spend to thelimit every year.

That's a ludicrous statement. Branch was under contract.

The NFL threatened the Patriots on the Branch issue. They had to trade him because of some nasty embroilment with Branch's agent.

 

[upstater1]

You guys are right, Reche is as clutch a #1 receiver as any we've ever had!

By the way, according to Miguel, who is far more knowledgable than any genius's who replied to this thread from their high horse, the Pats are 3-4 million under under the cap.

Were you here when the whole Branch thing was discussed? Why are you bringing it up again?

The Patriots spend to the cap each and every year. Their method is what allows us to keep depth on the team.

I bet you're not even aware that the Patriots agreed to pay Branch the full amlunt in the end, are you? Even though the guy had a year left on his contract.

 

[RayClay]

I love the whole "the Pat's are cheap" thing. Financial planning for the future is frowned upon, why wait to buy that hot new car when I can buy it now on credit? Conversely, why not pay free agents way more than they are worth to you when you've got cap room? I bet a lot of the same people who hate the pats "cheapness" are also in loads of debt themselves because they didn't want to think in the long term.

Great minds think alike.

Why wait for a bargain, when you can overpay for something you don't need now!