Equivalent player replacements

[InRodWeRust]

The "Jakobi vs JuJu" thread inspired me to make this one. This is about how the Patriots let one good player go and tried to replace them with an approximate level of talent. This should be a discussion about examples of this and what were the short (the season on which it happened) and long term (after one season) impacts of such a move.

For example in the 2013 season we let Wes Welker go and replaced him with Danny Amendola.

Short Term:
Wes Welker had a significant drop in yards and receptions compared to his previous year (73 rec and 778 yards) but had a career high of 10 TD in 13 games.

Danny Amendola had some lower numbers with one less game played but delivered around what he had in previous seasons (54 rec and 633 yards and 2 TD).

Long Term:
Wes continued to deteriorate from here over the next two years; one with Denver and one with St. Louis where he couldn't hang on to Denver and missed out on a ring. His brain turned to scrambled eggs with too many concussions and had to retire.

Danny had some roller coaster seasons stats wise due to injuries and his peak was always in the 600 yards range and never got close to Welker's peak season numbers however he shined in the playoffs and scored himself two Super Bowl rings in 2014 and 2016

Overall verdict: This was a smart move by the Patriots and it worked out nicely.

Feel free to add to this example or come up with your own and go crazy with details including trade value.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Now we're talking. Good thread. There are many examples, but I'll try to go with the most recent and/or most important.

Revis replaces Aqib Talib. Hindsight keeping Talib was the better move, but Talib had said he thinks Bill didn't attempt to re-sign him in 2014 because he was unreliable. You don't pass up getting Revis.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

The "Jakobi vs JuJu" thread inspired me to make this one. This is about how the Patriots let one good player go and tried to replace them with an approximate level of talent. This should be a discussion about examples of this and what were the short (the season on which it happened) and long term (after one season) impacts of such a move.

For example in the 2013 season we let Wes Welker go and replaced him with Danny Amendola.

Short Term:
Wes Welker had a significant drop in yards and receptions compared to his previous year (73 rec and 778 yards) but had a career high of 10 TD in 13 games.

Danny Amendola had some lower numbers with one less game played but delivered around what he had in previous seasons (54 rec and 633 yards and 2 TD).

Long Term:
Wes continued to deteriorate from here over the next two years; one with Denver and one with St. Louis where he couldn't hang on to Denver and missed out on a ring. His brain turned to scrambled eggs with too many concussions and had to retire.

Danny had some roller coaster seasons stats wise due to injuries and his peak was always in the 600 yards range and never got close to Welker's peak season numbers however he shined in the playoffs and scored himself two Super Bowl rings in 2014 and 2016

Overall verdict: This was a smart move by the Patriots and it worked out nicely.

Feel free to add to this example or come up with your own and go crazy with details including trade value.

Great thread. You should probably ban Cam Newton replacing Tom Brady if you want the thread to be readable.

 

[Dingleberry]

Exit Lawyer Milloy. Enter Rodney.

Good move even though "they hated their coach".

 

[Joker]

Exit Lawyer Milloy. Enter Rodney.

Good move even though "they hated their coach".

please use the appropriate .gif to illustrate your point...thanx...Joe "Azzole" Kerr

 

[Hyped]

The "Jakobi vs JuJu" thread inspired me to make this one. This is about how the Patriots let one good player go and tried to replace them with an approximate level of talent. This should be a discussion about examples of this and what were the short (the season on which it happened) and long term (after one season) impacts of such a move.

For example in the 2013 season we let Wes Welker go and replaced him with Danny Amendola.

Short Term:
Wes Welker had a significant drop in yards and receptions compared to his previous year (73 rec and 778 yards) but had a career high of 10 TD in 13 games.

Danny Amendola had some lower numbers with one less game played but delivered around what he had in previous seasons (54 rec and 633 yards and 2 TD).

Long Term:
Wes continued to deteriorate from here over the next two years; one with Denver and one with St. Louis where he couldn't hang on to Denver and missed out on a ring. His brain turned to scrambled eggs with too many concussions and had to retire.

Danny had some roller coaster seasons stats wise due to injuries and his peak was always in the 600 yards range and never got close to Welker's peak season numbers however he shined in the playoffs and scored himself two Super Bowl rings in 2014 and 2016

Overall verdict: This was a smart move by the Patriots and it worked out nicely.

Feel free to add to this example or come up with your own and go crazy with details including trade value.

Also, Edelman started to come on and over took Amendola.

 

[Triumph]

Exit Gostowski enter Folk.

Folk has saved the day IMO.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Also, Edelman started to come on and over took Amendola.

The plan was for DA to take over for Wes. In actually JE took over for Wes.

 

[crawhammer]

I've got one... exit Gronk enter Matt LaCosse... jk... let me clean this up... exit LaCosse enter Devin Asiasi. Oh wait jk again. Sorry.

Seriously though, I was pissed when Welker went to Denver, and he was a nice piece of their historic 2013 offense, but he was cooked by 2014. He took a beating over the middle for many productive seasons and it all finally caught up to him.

Welker obviously was a significant piece of many top ranked NE offenses, and imo he deserves NEP HOF induction, but the combination of Edelman and Amendola filled that gap and then some for the next handful of seasons. Both were especially key postseason contributors as well... 5 rings between the two.

In the end, the transition from Welker to Edelman / Amendola was very successful.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Now we're talking. Good thread. There are many examples, but I'll try to go with the most recent and/or most important.

Revis replaces Aqib Talib. Hindsight keeping Talib was the better move, but Talib had said he thinks Bill didn't attempt to re-sign him in 2014 because he was unreliable. You don't pass up getting Revis.

Talib has a selective memory. Bill wanted him back and is on record saying it but the Broncos came in and gave him 6y/$57m and $26m guaranteed.

Plan B was Revis

 

[RobertWeathers]

Antowain Smith in 2003

Corey Dillon in 2004

 

[crawhammer]

Does this qualify?...

MacPherson in 1992

Parcells in 1993

Also, I'm not a big Bledsoe fan but...

Hugh Mullen in 1992

Bledsoe in 1993

 

[UrbanCowboy]

@2015 James White replacing Shane Vereen. Vereen seemed poised for greatness after that great super bowl game, but never really panned out with the Giants, and this 4th rounder from Wisconsin comes along. Who? He had a pretty nice super bowl himself and a stellar career.

 

[n6249c]

Does this qualify?...

MacPherson in 1992

Parcells in 1993

Also, I'm not a big Bledsoe fan but...

Hugh Mullen in 1992

Bledsoe in 1993

Neither is at the level of these:

Pete Carroll in 1999
Bill Belichick in 2000

Wally Pipp, er, Drew Bledsoe in 2001
Tom Brady in 2001

and yes I love throwing gasoline on fires…

 

[TheRainMaker]

Talib has a selective memory. Bill wanted him back and is on record saying it but the Broncos came in and gave him 6y/$57m and $26m guaranteed.

Plan B was Revis

I'll have to do some research because I know he talked about his injury history a few years ago, but this article in 2014 mentions he was close to signing with the Pats.

Aqib Talib 'Definitely Came Close' To Re-Signing With Patriots In Offseason - NESN.com

The NFL offseason was close to playing out in an entirely different manner. Much of the league’s hot stove action was dictated by the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots. When the Broncos poached cornerback Aqib Talib from the Patriots via free agency, New England shot back by signing...

nesn.com

 

[Wozzy]

When the decision came to either give a max contract to Malcolm Butler or someone else, the decision to pay Stephon Gilmore (despite his poor PFF grade) turned out to be the correct one. Butler got benched in Tennessee for their slot CB Adoree Jackson and never replicated the kind of success he had in NE's system.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

@2015 James White replacing Shane Vereen. Vereen seemed poised for greatness after that great super bowl game, but never really panned out with the Giants, and this 4th rounder from Wisconsin comes along. Who? He had a pretty nice super bowl himself and a stellar career.

Third down back has been a key part of the Pats offense for a long time. The team has done a great job finding and developing players for that role until last year. Losing James White and Ty Montgomery was an underrated contributor to last years mess on offense. If the Pats offense is going to blossom this year, Ty Montgomery or Pierre Strong' ability to to step up in this role.

 

[goheels22002]

Probably the best Patriots replacement value of all time was the Billy Sullivan - Victor Kiam - James Orthwein - Robert Kraft progression. The next one will be Jonathan Kraft taking over for his Dad. Kraft got Belichick to "resign as HC of the NYJ." The rest, as they say,...

This thread is pretty impressive and really makes the case for Belichick the GM. His best moves have always been in free agency and trades for veterans with draft picks (See: Moss, Randy.)

 

[sb1]

Non player: Josh to BoB to Josh and back to BoB. I’ll pretend last season was just a bad dream and didn’t happen. Lol

Player other than those already mentioned: Stidham to Zappe. Victor Green to Eugene Wilson. Dunno if this really counts but Pleasant/Hamilton to big Ted?

 

[crawhammer]

Wally Pipp, er, Drew Bledsoe in 2001
Tom Brady in 2001

The obvious #1 upgrade in franchise history (if not league history).

A more equivalent QB replacement is Montana to Young.

Edit: Bledsoe had his strengths and some good (regular) seasons but he was really really bad in the postseason, which is where the historical upgrade of Brady really comes in.