How can this thread still exist after the off-season signings thus far? Or was I sleeping on when the post first started?
Well, it is here in the Practice Squad
I think Revis and Browner were a considerable splash and are so considered league-wide. Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think those signings happened without a fair amount of planning, jumping when value presented itself, etc. I would love to have kept Blount but hey, good luck except when he faces the Pats. But hey, it was the pre-draft offseason. This thread will be replaced by 20 threads on how bad our draft was next week.
For the heck of it I started to go through some of the suggestions, and for the most part they seem to ignore the reality of the Salary Cap.
Per Miguel, as of April 28 the Patriots were $7,782,369 under the cap.
DW opined that the Pats should not have signed LaFell, Chung, or perhaps should not have extended Wilfork. That would add $6,140,000 of cap dollars: $2,000,000 for LaFell, $1,040,000 for Chung (that's assuming he makes the team; it will cost the Pats only $60k if he doesn't), and $3,100,000 for Wilfork (the difference between releasing him, which would have saved $8 million, and the extension, which saved $4.9 million).
That would hypothetically have given the Patriots $13,922,369 of cap space without those three, or $10,822,369 with Wilfork but without LaFell and Chung.
Now for some of the suggestions, in terms of cap dollars
Wide Receiver
- Austin Collie would likely sign for $730k but would qualify for the vet minimum rule for salary cap purposes, which would be $570k. The suggestion was to sign Collie rather than LaFeell, plus one of the following wide receivers:
- Andre Johnson: $11,200,000
- Larry Fitzgerald: would cost Arizona $8,600,000 against their cap, as opposed to paying him $4,250,000 this year. That's unrealistic for the Cardinals to trade him this year.
- Mike Williams: $1,800,000 in 2014, but next year's $5,200,000 salary is fully guaranteed; his 2015 cap figure is $6,800,000.
- DeSean Jackson: $4,250,000 in 2014, but $9,250,000 for each of the following three seasons.
Defensive Line
- Jared Allen in addition to Vince Wilfork. Allen's 2014 cap number is only $3,000,000, but next year it is $12,500,00 and fully guaranteed.
- Kamerion Wimbley: $4,500,000 in 2014 - for a player that may get a lot of snaps, but would not be penciled in as a starter.
- If Wilfork was to be released, another player at a comparable price would have needed to have been signed to replace him.
Linebacker
- Pat Angerer is still available. Just speculating here, but if he was healthy wouldn't somebody have signed him? Angerer still may be a very good value/high upside guy to sign, but the downside is that you usually want your backup linebackers to play special teams - and that's probably not a good idea with his knees.
Tight End
- Owen Daniels: $1,000,000 - probably would have been worth it to sign him for this price, as it is not guaranteed. Maybe Daniels simply liked his chances of making the roster in Baltimore better than in Foxborough, with Ed ****son departing and Dennis Pitta coming off surgery. Like Angerer, Daniels' injury history is a red flag.
Offensive Line
- No suggestions for additions, but whoever it is would presumably have cost more than Wendell ($850,000 cap number) or Connolly ($1,083,334 cap savings if released).
Running Back
- LaGarrette Blount - $1,375,000 in 2014, and $2,475,000 in 2015. Perhaps Blount should have been re-signed; the jury is still out on this decision.
- Dump Ridley or Vereen - no suggestions as to who their replacements should be, but considering that Ridley's cap number is $939,750 and Vereen's is $1,101,275, I'm not sure who in free agency should have been signed to replace them. Most of the starting running backs were getting $3-4 million per year, and with the theoretical signings above (Allen, Wimbley, Jackson, etc.) I don't see how the Patriots could have fit that under the cap.
Safety
- Again Chung's name is brought up, but I'm not convinced that he even makes the roster. Gregory is suggested as an alternative, but his 2014 cap number was $3,683,334 - again, how does the club keep him, sign those other free agents, and remain under the salary cap?
Bottom line to me is that while some of those suggestions would have been nice additions, I just don't see how they would have been feasible. Perhaps in some cases it could have worked for 2014, but then in 2015 there would be an unreasonably large guaranteed salary.
There are still some second tier players I wouldn't mind seeing added - e.g., DE Will Smith, DT Kevin Williams or Ryan Pickett, , OLB O'Brien Schofield, ILB Pat Angerer, S Steve Gregory or Mike Adams, RB Michael Bush, T Will Svitek or Eric Winston, G Travelle Wharton, C David Baas, TE Dustin Keller, etc. - but there just are not enough salary cap dollars to sign a top tier free agent at every position that could use an upgrade or additional depth.