Gaffney Released

[ATippett56]

Any suggestions?

Dustin Waldron = scrub offensive lineman

 

[ATippett56]

Any suggestions?

Matt Kopa = banged up offensive lineman.

 

[Deus Irae]

Well, sure. But when you have to trim 18 players off your roster, you're going to lose a little depth.

Things the Patriots don't need as much as that extra receiver that spring quickly to mind:

5th RB
4th TE

You really don't have to. What's known, right now, is that Gaffney hasn't been able to practice for the last couple weeks. The Pats need receivers who aren't Lloyd, Branch or Welker to play the majority of snaps in the last preseason game.

Yes, but that offers no insight to a Gaffney return any more than a Stallworth return, or a T.O. signing for that matter.

Meanwhile, receiver isn't the only place where the Pats lack depth - so if the pats don't want to lose Gaffney, they've got to cut someone else -- preferably a veteran who doesn't have to clear waivers, and better yet, an injured veteran who isn't likely to get signed anywhere else until healthy. Any suggestions?

I don't accept the premise of your argument, so there's really nothing here to follow up with. The team will still have 75 spots available. I'm not buying the notion that they couldn't have fielded a 74 man roster + the added Taylor because of the need for a soon-to-be-cut player getting more time to replace a veteran in a meaningless exhibition game.

Now, if they've given Gaffney the wink/nod about bringing him back, that'll be a horse of a different color.

 

[MoneyFX]

I'm hoping the Pats can bring him back when he gets healthy.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I look at this as us keeping 4 TEs in this year.

For the added blocking alone, given what we've seen from the OL thus far, you'll be seeing a lot of that - and some actual 3 TE sets.

In hindsight the Gaffney and Stallworth releases seems apparent.

This is one of those "early releases" that Belichick grants veterans who have earned his respect, so that they may have more time to catch on with another team. If he was going to be one of the last cuts, no need not to make him among the first.

This is part of the reason these guys like to play for Belichick.

 

[lamafist]

Dustin Waldron = scrub offensive lineman

Matt Kopa = banged up offensive lineman.

Not sure if you've noticed, but we're not exactly brimming with offensive tackles at the moment. In fact, we've got our two starters, and one halfway decent backup. So Waldron and Kopa figure to play a lot in next week's preseason game.

Furthermore, they can't be cut, just waived, where they're apt to be claimed by some other team (as Kopa was by the Pats when waived by the Dolphins) who are also in need of extra bodies to put on the field in their last preseason game.

 

[manxman2601]

Two things:

1. We don't know what we've got in Brandon Lloyd yet. Yes he works well with McDaniels but there's little game evidence to suggest he works well with Brady.

2. Last years draft was chock full of quality WR2 and lower types. Instead of waiting for the draft to get at least one WR, we signed three WR free agents prior to the draft all of whom are no longer on the team. There's a lot to like about the Pats, but they have an incredible blindspot when it comes to receivers. That's just awful planning and if it had been the Jets or dolphins we'd be rightfully laughing at their stupidity.

Marvin Jones, WR from Cal was one of my binkies. A quality no2 type receiver. He was picked 166th overall. CBSsports call him a breakout star of pre-season:

For the third straight game the fifth-round pick out of Cal made an impact, this time hauling in a 15-yard back-shoulder pass from Bruce Gradkowski for a touchdown. Jones caught two passes of more than 40 yards entering the game.

Bengals' Marvin Jones becoming breakout star of preseason - CBSSports

Juron Criner (168th overall) too has had an "impressive pre-season". This isn't hindsight, both these receivers were identified as ideal Pats fits (intelligent, good routes etc). Yes it's just pre-season, yes, hindsight is 20/20 and yes, Gaffney & Stallworth may just be stashed on the shadow roster but right now, signing Gaffney, Stallworth and Gonzalez seems like a dreadful waste of money and time when we could have a quality rookie learning to run McDaniels' routes and preparing to be on the Pats roster for the next four years.

 

[Frezo]

The way some in here treat the mysterious shadow roster/swamp zombie thing, it seems that pretty soon there'll be an entire squad of leprosy ridden, club foot misfits sporting Pat Patriot tattoos on their foreheads like it's a Scarlet Letter as they ramble around broken down city streets mumbling words from DIO's "The Last In Line". Can't we just put them on the Good Ol' Boys Porch or something less sinister?

 

[Joker]

holy chit...I just found out we blew the draft...I never suspected....this board is a tremendous asset to BB, I hope he appreciates it...

 

[ATippett56]

Furthermore, they can't be cut, just waived, where they're apt to be claimed by some other team (as Kopa was by the Pats when waived by the Dolphins) who are also in need of extra bodies to put on the field in their last preseason game.

Kopa is injured and has not been practicing which no different than Gaffney. Kopa won't even play against the NY Giants.

 

[lamafist]

Things the Patriots don't need as much as that extra receiver that spring quickly to mind:

5th RB
4th TE

So which RB are you cutting? Obviously not Ridley. Vereen, Bolden and Demps would all be snapped up off waivers in a heartbeat, and Woodhead would be signed just as quickly. So which of those five are you happy to part with forever?

As for the 4th TE -- Fells, at present, is the only healthy backup to Gronk + Hernandez, so he's not going anywhere. I suppose you could argue for Shiancoe, but really, you'd rather cut one of two backup tight-ends, vs one of five back-up receivers? Now that would be highly suspect.

Yes, but that offers no insight to a Gaffney return any more than a Stallworth return, or a T.O. signing for that matter.

I don't accept the premise of your argument, so there's really nothing here to follow up with. The team will still have 75 spots available. I'm not buying the notion that they couldn't have fielded a 74 man roster + the added Taylor because of the need for a soon-to-be-cut player getting more time to replace a veteran in a meaningless exhibition game.

Now, if they've given Gaffney the wink/nod about bringing him back, that'll be a horse of a different color.

The "premise of [my] argument" is that if the Pats kept Gaffney on the roster, they would have to have cut one of the 75 players remaining. So what do you mean you "don't accept" it? It's the rules.

So, my question stands -- who on the current roster would you cut to make room for Gaffney?

 

[manxman2601]

holy chit...I just found out we blew the draft...I never suspected....this board is a tremendous asset to BB, I hope he appreciates it...

I'm assuming that comment was directed at me which is amusing as I never said any such thing. What BB might have blown was signing three FA WR's prior to the WR strong draft that are no longer on the roster.

 

[ATippett56]

As for the 4th TE -- Fells, at present, is the only healthy backup to Gronk + Hernandez, so he's not going anywhere. I suppose you could argue for Shiancoe, but really, you'd rather cut one of two backup tight-ends, vs one of five back-up receivers? Now that would be highly suspect.

Shiancoe has not seen the practice field since the first week of training camp, has yet to play in a preseason game, and was not previously on any Patriots team prior to this year.

 

[Joker]

I'm assuming that comment was directed at me which is amusing as I never said any such thing. What BB might have blown was signing three FA WR's prior to the WR strong draft that are no longer on the roster.

that's great...you must be a professional, well versed in all things NFL like BB...hey, can you get me some field side seats???

 

[manxman2601]

that's great...you must be a professional, well versed in all things NFL like BB...hey, can you get me some field side seats???

O4FS

You're not very good at this reading comprehension thingymajig are you ("What BB might have blown"). So you think signing three WR's that occupied a roster spot just for the summer is a good thing. OK that's fair enough. By the way, BB has just dropped some more soap. Time to do your duty and bend over like the good little loyalist you are.

 

[Joker]

O4FS

You're not very good at this reading comprehension thingymajig are you ("What BB might have blown"). So you think signing three WR's that occupied a roster spot just for the summer is a good thing. OK that's fair enough. By the way, BB has just dropped some more soap. Time to do your duty and bend over like the good little loyalist you are.

The only thing I think is that YOU are an obsessed whackjob...and calling me an anal sex enthusiast because I happen to be a Patriots fan,a loyal one admittedly, is probably as clear cut a case of trolling as I've seen...this week...

 

[ATippett56]

Two things:

1. We don't know what we've got in Brandon Lloyd yet. Yes he works well with McDaniels but there's little game evidence to suggest he works well with Brady.

2. Last years draft was chock full of quality WR2 and lower types. Instead of waiting for the draft to get at least one WR, we signed three WR free agents prior to the draft all of whom are no longer on the team. There's a lot to like about the Pats, but they have an incredible blindspot when it comes to receivers. That's just awful planning and if it had been the Jets or dolphins we'd be rightfully laughing at their stupidity.

Marvin Jones, WR from Cal was one of my binkies. A quality no2 type receiver. He was picked 166th overall. CBSsports call him a breakout star of pre-season:



Bengals' Marvin Jones becoming breakout star of preseason - CBSSports

Marvin Jones was my binky wide receiver in the 2012 NFL Draft.

It's a case of "what might have been" where trading away future draft picks for Chad Ochostinko and Albert Haynesworth potentially hurt the future of the New England Patriots at the wide receiver position.

 

[manxman2601]

The only thing I think is that YOU are an obsessed whackjob...and calling me an anal sex enthusiast because I happen to be a Patriots fan,a loyal one admittedly, is probably as clear cut a case of trolling as I've seen...this week...

OK ok. You be a nice little Patriots fan and go on completely misrepresenting arguments because they might be mildly critical of Mr B. Now sorry, what was that you were saying about trolling?

 

[Joker]

I got it!!!..instead of using BB's to fight this raging "BB can't draft!!!" 11 Years War...let's break out the actual LEAD and start shooting from the hip...BB COULD HAVE DRAFTED PATRICK WILLIS!!!! HE BLEW IT!!! I KNEW IT...I...ALL KNOWING KNOWER OF THINGSMAN!!...there ya go...enough mud to sling up an entire village of adobe huts down in Tierra Del Insano...

 

[manxman2601]

Marvin Jones was my binky wide receiver in the 2012 NFL Draft.

It's a case of "what might have been" where trading away future draft picks for Chad Ochostinko and Albert Haynesworth potentially hurt the future of the New England Patriots at the wide receiver position.

I don't like playing the hindsight game when it comes to the draft because it serves no purpose. It would be nice to have Marvin Jones instead of Ebert, but hey-ho. Interestingly, it was the pick we traded for Ochostinko that the Bengals used for Jones. I would like to point out however that by saying that I am in no way being critical of BB because he is perfect and Chad Johnson was a marvellous use of $6m and two draft picks. Well worth the cost