Free Agent Signings around the League

[Deus Irae]

Not a FA signing, but a significant development:

Oakland Raiders now are expected to trade a 2014 late-round pick to Houston Texans in exchange for QB Matt Schaub, per league source.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/446989398341480449

 

[patsinthesnow]

@FieldYates: Beyond the draft pick, trading Matt Schaub to Oakland creates $4M in cap space for Houston and saves them $11M in cash.

Nice trade by Houston.

So will Fitzpatrick be backing up Bortles, Bridgewater, Manziel, or Mallett next year?

 

[Rob0729]

Damn.
Bill is once again ignoring the DE position, at our peril.

You complaining the Pats didn't sign Corey Wootton?

And when did the DE position become this huge area of need. I don't get why people make it such a big deal. The Pats have two solid starters at DE. All they need is a rotational guy to give them breathers and let Chandler Jones kick inside on certain packages. They need a pass rush specialist and Wootton is not that guy.

Personally, I find two areas on defense far more of a priority for the Pats - DT and SS (or split safety next to McCourty). If the Pats were to add say Chris Clemmons and Pat Sims in the next week or two, I could care less if they add a DE in free agency and let them gamble on Buchanon taking a second season jump (he showed flashes early of being a solid rotational guy) or drafting a situational pass rusher in the third or fourth round.

 

[Ring 6]

Have you heard of Sheldon Richardson and Damon Harrison?

Yes, which is why I said what I did.

 

[mgteich]

If we re-sign Carter after the draft, as seems likely, we will be in the same position as 2013, hoping that that Jones and Ninkovich can play over 90% of the reps.

Some (most?) of us think that we need an improvement over the situation in 2013. We need better than Bequette and Carter. A msjor addition would have allowed Ninkovich to play some linebacker, or at least be available in case of injury. After all, we are counting on Collins to start. Our backups is Beauharnais and White. We needed 2 backups last year.

2013 AT ROTATIONAL DEFENSIVE END
Jones and Ninkovich played over 90% of the defensive reps. Ninkovich was not available as a backup linebacker. The 3rd DE was Bequette.

2013 AT PASS-RUSHING DEFENSE END
We had Carter and Buchanan.

2013 AT LINEBACKER
We had Spikes and Fletcher. Collins has moved from back to starter. We need two backups.
========
DT AND SS FAR MORE OF A PRIORITY?

At DT, we will add Kelly and Armstead to last year's defense. Siliga, Chris Jones and even Vellano will know the defense better. We may even have the services of Wilfork. Even at 65%, Wilfork is a serious addition. At DT, we have starters and depth. I'm fine with adding a free agent or a draftee since we need an eventual replacement for Kelly, but the NEED is not critical.

At SS, Belichick has chosen A. Wilson over Gregory. He obviously hopes Harmon will continue to improve. He might add another. I agree with adding Clemmons (or someone else and/or a draftee), but again the issues is nowhere near the problem at DE, or even at LB. After all, one of the corners could start at safety if Wilson AND Harmon AND T Wilson were to fail.

You complaining the Pats didn't sign Corey Wootton?

And when did the DE position become this huge area of need. I don't get why people make it such a big deal. The Pats have two solid starters at DE. All they need is a rotational guy to give them breathers and let Chandler Jones kick inside on certain packages. They need a pass rush specialist and Wootton is not that guy.

Personally, I find two areas on defense far more of a priority for the Pats - DT and SS (or split safety next to McCourty). If the Pats were to add say Chris Clemmons and Pat Sims in the next week or two, I could care less if they add a DE in free agency and let them gamble on Buchanon taking a second season jump (he showed flashes early of being a solid rotational guy) or drafting a situational pass rusher in the third or fourth round.

 

[mayoclinic]

You complaining the Pats didn't sign Corey Wootton?

And when did the DE position become this huge area of need. I don't get why people make it such a big deal. The Pats have two solid starters at DE. All they need is a rotational guy to give them breathers and let Chandler Jones kick inside on certain packages. They need a pass rush specialist and Wootton is not that guy.

Personally, I find two areas on defense far more of a priority for the Pats - DT and SS (or split safety next to McCourty). If the Pats were to add say Chris Clemmons and Pat Sims in the next week or two, I could care less if they add a DE in free agency and let them gamble on Buchanon taking a second season jump (he showed flashes early of being a solid rotational guy) or drafting a situational pass rusher in the third or fourth round.

Since our 2 DEs played way too many snaps and wore down, and we had no depth behind them.

I don't agree with you. DE is a huge area of need, IMO, and lots of people have noted that. For example, Mike Loyko of NEPatriotsDraft.com noted today:

Prior to the start of free agency the three biggest needs on the Patriots roster were Defensive Tackle, Tight End, and Pass Rusher. Now that the initial rush of free agency is over and the smoke has cleared those three positions remain the most likely areas to be targeted early in the draft.

Thoughts on the NFL Draft and Patriots Free Agency | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2014 NFL Draft

The Pats need a sub rusher and also a rotational base DE. They can't count on Rob Ninkovich and Chandler Jones playing 95.6% and 98.1% of the defensive snap counts, and that's really not a terribly effective approach anyway, as it just wears down our best outside pass rushers by the end of the season. Wootton would have been a nice fit at reasonable cost. His wasn't a critical signing by a long shot, but he would have filled a need, and I think that it is fairly critical that the Pats have more at this position than Jones, Ninkovich, Buchanan and Bequette.

 

[mayoclinic]

At SS, Belichick has chosen A. Wilson over Gregory.

I don't know how you can possibly make this statement at this time.

 

[Ring 6]

Since our 2 DEs played way too many snaps and wore down, and we had no depth behind them.

I don't agree with you. DE is a huge area of need, IMO, and lots of people have noted that. For example, Mike Loyko of NEPatriotsDraft.com noted today:

Prior to the start of free agency the three biggest needs on the Patriots roster were Defensive Tackle, Tight End, and Pass Rusher. Now that the initial rush of free agency is over and the smoke has cleared those three positions remain the most likely areas to be targeted early in the draft.

Thoughts on the NFL Draft and Patriots Free Agency | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2014 NFL Draft

The Pats need a sub rusher and also a rotational base DE. They can't count on Rob Ninkovich and Chandler Jones playing 95.6% and 98.1% of the defensive snap counts, and that's really not a terribly effective approach anyway, as it just wears down our best outside pass rushers by the end of the season. Wootton would have been a nice fit at reasonable cost. His wasn't a critical signing by a long shot, but he would have filled a need, and I think that it is fairly critical that the Pats have more at this position than Jones, Ninkovich, Buchanan and Bequette.

Depth at DE is a need. A starting DE so we can have 3 of them to rotate is a wish.
There are many ways to develop depth.

One reason the DEs played so many snaps is because Jones moved inside on obvious passing downs. If we get a better inside pass rush with a healthy DT rotation, that could change too.

Playing Michael Buchanan 10 snaps a game to give the DEs a break is not a disaster.

 

[goheels22002]

Since our 2 DEs played way too many snaps and wore down, and we had no depth behind them.

I don't agree with you. DE is a huge area of need, IMO, and lots of people have noted that. For example, Mike Loyko of NEPatriotsDraft.com noted today:

Prior to the start of free agency the three biggest needs on the Patriots roster were Defensive Tackle, Tight End, and Pass Rusher. Now that the initial rush of free agency is over and the smoke has cleared those three positions remain the most likely areas to be targeted early in the draft.

Thoughts on the NFL Draft and Patriots Free Agency | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2014 NFL Draft

The Pats need a sub rusher and also a rotational base DE. They can't count on Rob Ninkovich and Chandler Jones playing 95.6% and 98.1% of the defensive snap counts, and that's really not a terribly effective approach anyway, as it just wears down our best outside pass rushers by the end of the season. Wootton would have been a nice fit at reasonable cost. His wasn't a critical signing by a long shot, but he would have filled a need, and I think that it is fairly critical that the Pats have more at this position than Jones, Ninkovich, Buchanan and Bequette.

You are both right. They need a DE for depth, but not as much as they need a DT in the draft to get younger and faster. My feeling is that the draft is where OL, DT, TE and another hybrid LB are needed. I like Sam out of Missouri who is showing well in his pro day, and who could replace Spikes as a run stopper, or be a situational DE.

 

[Sicilian]

One possibility too is if we add depth to the linebacking corp, it frees up Hightower and Collins for more pass rush responsibilities. Hightower had 4 sacks as a rookie in limited playing time, mostly because they had Mayo there to do the more traditional LB assignments. If Mayo is healthy, Collins makes a 2nd year leap, and they add one more decent guy for depth, I could see Hightower taking some of those rotational DE snaps.

 

[Rob0729]

Since our 2 DEs played way too many snaps and wore down, and we had no depth behind them.

I don't agree with you. DE is a huge area of need, IMO, and lots of people have noted that. For example, Mike Loyko of NEPatriotsDraft.com noted today:

Prior to the start of free agency the three biggest needs on the Patriots roster were Defensive Tackle, Tight End, and Pass Rusher. Now that the initial rush of free agency is over and the smoke has cleared those three positions remain the most likely areas to be targeted early in the draft.

Thoughts on the NFL Draft and Patriots Free Agency | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2014 NFL Draft

The Pats need a sub rusher and also a rotational base DE. They can't count on Rob Ninkovich and Chandler Jones playing 95.6% and 98.1% of the defensive snap counts, and that's really not a terribly effective approach anyway, as it just wears down our best outside pass rushers by the end of the season. Wootton would have been a nice fit at reasonable cost. His wasn't a critical signing by a long shot, but he would have filled a need, and I think that it is fairly critical that the Pats have more at this position than Jones, Ninkovich, Buchanan and Bequette.

Depth at one position is not a huge area of need. I agree the Pats need to add more depth at the position, but the Pats don't NEED a starter quality guy. Again, we don't know for sure that the Pats have a starter at safety next to McCourty or two starting DTs, yet people act like getting a DE who can play 20-30% (maybe 35-40%) of the snaps is the biggest need on defense.

Personally, I think at most, a sub DE is the Pats' third biggest need on defense. The Pats have had some success in the past picking up guys for that role in the bargain basement.

 

[Deus Irae]

The need level at DE is pretty well established. They need at least one other player capable of getting pressure on the QB.

The need level at DT is a variable, which depends largely on the Wilfork situation, the Armstead situation, and the question of how much, if any, 3-4 they want to use going forward.

DE
DT
S
IOL
TE
WR
RB
LB

All still areas that either need, or could use, improvement. There's plenty more work to be done.

 

[Ring 6]

If we re-sign Carter after the draft, as seems likely, we will be in the same position as 2013, hoping that that Jones and Ninkovich can play over 90% of the reps.

That is not really true.

Part of the reason they played so many snaps is that Jones moved inside on 3rd downs, so we played 3 DEs.


If Armstead, Jones, Kelly are able to do that in a healthy DT corps (remember the DTs were playing too many snaps too because a lack of depth) that reduces the burden on DEs.

If they played 85% of the snaps that would be fine, and very normal. We are talking about 100 snaps a piece. That is about 13 a game. I think we can get away with Buchanan, Carter(or whoever replaces him) and the DTs on 3rd down playing 13 more snaps a game without the world ending.

The issue is being able to give the DEs a break, not finding someone to replace them.


Of course, in a perfect world, Ninkovich would be 3rd DE and 4th LB and we would obtain a starting DE, but in a capped league, that would be asking to open a hole elsewhere that would ultimately hurt us more.

We added the corners that will make Nink's specialties, the coverage sack, and the scramble/flushed out sack, more valuable.

 

[mayoclinic]

Of course, in a perfect world, Ninkovich would be 3rd DE and 4th LB and we would obtain a starting DE, but in a capped league, that would be asking to open a hole elsewhere that would ultimately hurt us more.

That was my hope going into FA. It would help solve 2 problems - DE and LB depth - and it would allow the Pats' to take advantage of Ninkovich's versatility more easily.

It's quite possible that someone like Armond Armstead could step up and become a significant rotational piece at either DE or DT, or that Michael Buchanan could make a huge second year leap. But I personally hoped to see this position addressed in free agency. The draft is not particularly deep in terms of base DE prospects. As for opening a hole that would ultimately hurt us more, I'm not sure. It's unclear if Wilfork can come back to an effective level - using his cap space to get someone like Lamarr Houston could have solved a lot of problems. But that's water under the bridge at this point.

 

[Rob0729]

That is not really true.
Part of the reason they played so many snaps is that Jones moved inside on 3rd downs, so we played 3 DEs.

If Armstead, Jones, Kelly are able to do that in a healthy DT corps (remember the DTs were playing too many snaps too because a lack of depth) that reduces the burden on DEs.
If they played 85% of the snaps that would be fine, and very normal. We are talking about 100 snaps a piece. That is about 13 a game. I think we can get away with Buchanan, Carter(or whoever replaces him) and the DTs on 3rd down playing 13 more snaps a game without the world ending.
The issue is being able to give the DEs a break, not finding someone to replace them.

Of course, in a perfect world, Ninkovich would be 3rd DE and 4th LB and we would obtain a starting DE, but in a capped league, that would be asking to open a hole elsewhere that would ultimately hurt us more.
We added the corners that will make Ninks specialites, the coverage sack, and the scramble/flushed out sack, more valuable.

That is a point many people are missing. I would like to see the percentages of defensive plays that Jones played at DE vs. DT to determine the real need for a sub DE. I would guess that at least 10-15% of Jones' snaps were at DT and not DE. so if he wasn't kicked inside and taken off the field instead on plays he didn't play DE, I bet he would have only been of the field 80-85% of the time.

 

[JackBauer]

That was my hope going into FA. It would help solve 2 problems - DE and LB depth - and it would allow the Pats' to take advantage of Ninkovich's versatility more easily.

It's quite possible that someone like Armond Armstead could step up and become a significant rotational piece at either DE or DT, or that Michael Buchanan could make a huge second year leap. But I personally hoped to see this position addressed in free agency. The draft is not particularly deep in terms of base DE prospects. As for opening a hole that would ultimately hurt us more, I'm not sure. It's unclear if Wilfork can come back to an effective level - using his cap space to get someone like Lamarr Houston could have solved a lot of problems. But that's water under the bridge at this point.

Has it really been established whether Armstead will primarily be a DT or LDE?

 

[mayoclinic]

Has it really been established whether Armstead will primarily be a DT or LDE?

Not at all. Personally, I expect him to spend time at both positions.

 

[Ring 6]

That was my hope going into FA. It would help solve 2 problems - DE and LB depth - and it would allow the Pats' to take advantage of Ninkovich's versatility more easily.

It's quite possible that someone like Armond Armstead could step up and become a significant rotational piece at either DE or DT, or that Michael Buchanan could make a huge second year leap. But I personally hoped to see this position addressed in free agency. The draft is not particularly deep in terms of base DE prospects. As for opening a hole that would ultimately hurt us more, I'm not sure. It's unclear if Wilfork can come back to an effective level - using his cap space to get someone like Lamarr Houston could have solved a lot of problems. But that's water under the bridge at this point.

Again though, the need is a backup. That can still be addressed in Free Agency.

There are many players that can play 10-15 snaps a game as a DE without the walls falling down.

I think there are other areas to use the cap space that will help the team more. I'm happy with a 60 snap a game interior OL, or a 40 snap a game receiving TE, starting safety, etc, than to fill a need for 10-15 snaps by signing a guy that demotes a starter who is much better than what we have at those positions.

 

[Ring 6]

That is a point many people are missing. I would like to see the percentages of defensive plays that Jones played at DE vs. DT to determine the real need for a sub DE. I would guess that at least 10-15% of Jones' snaps were at DT and not DE. so if he wasn't kicked inside and taken off the field instead on plays he didn't play DE, I bet he would have only been of the field 80-85% of the time.

Just look at the snaps played by Carter and Buchanan. Virtually every one of those had Jones inside.

 

[Ring 6]

Not at all. Personally, I expect him to spend time at both positions.

We haven't used a guy that size at DE in 2 years, so I think DT is more likely.

My hope for him is a sub package DT who plays up to 50% of the snaps and is an effective and disruptive inside pass rusher. Anything else is a bonus to me.