It's Time Time Cut Both Kline and Dobson

[RobertWeathers]

I would want to see both Kline and Dobson compete in camp before cutting them now.

Of course. Injures happen and there is little to be gained by sending them packing now.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Of course. Injures happen and there is little to be gained by sending them packing now.

Also, player improvements also can transpire which the coaches would want to consider in any final decision.

The talk of roster projections at this stage of the game is premature for many of the noted players.

 

[DaBruinz]

Vaughters and Melvin were released.. No surprise there..

 

[DaBruinz]

5) I agree with you, Mason is safe. My mistake. But they wont carry 10 OL IMO. With 3 QB plus 6 or 7 guys that only play in ST they will need to be creative the whole year.

6)They can not switch the whole defense in one year. The reason they took a CB is beacuse they lack depth there and Ryan and Butler are FA in 2017. Next year they can select 2 LB with the first two picks with a couple of FA and voilà they can switch for a 3-4 defense.

smh.. Except that "next year" they have just Brown and Valentine signed for DTs. Branch, Knighton, Kearse, etc, are all on 1 year deals. Ninkovich and Sheard are also in the last year of their deals. I think that Ninkovich retires and Sheard, Collins, Hightower, Butler are all extended.. This team is structured for the 4-3 for the next few years.

 

[Ross12]

Vaughters and Melvin were released.. No surprise there..

Speaking of Melvin, that just reminded me - WTF ever happened with that situation in Miami where the Ravens player died in an auto accident? The "big news" was that police were looking for an unidentified Patriots player... then we never heard anything about it again.

 

[ATippett56]

Or is one underpaid? I've always said their contracts should be flipped (because the total amount NE pays for the two of them is reasonable, just misapplied) but whether you look at base salary, cap hit, or AAV for the two of them, Edelman's contract numbers are low more than Amendola's are high when you compare them to league norms.

Cannon....yeah. I got nothing.

The New England Patriots are more likely in need of shedding salaries not adding.

 

[JMC00]

Speaking of Melvin, that just reminded me - WTF ever happened with that situation in Miami where the Ravens player died in an auto accident? The "big news" was that police were looking for an unidentified Patriots player... then we never heard anything about it again.

It was pretty clear someone falsely put that out there. Not sure if it was the reporter who said it or her source at the police. But it was miami so i'm guessing she is either a lolphins fan or her police source is

 

[Ross12]

It was pretty clear someone falsely put that out there. Not sure if it was the reporter who said it or her source at the police. But it was miami so i'm guessing she is either a lolphins fan or her police source is

Really f***ed up if so - oh, this person is in critical condition and at risk of dying, let's take this opportunity to spread some s*** about the Pats.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Do people really think that Matthew Slater isn't going to make the roster as the 6th WR? Hes a pro bowl special teamer and team captain.. They basically only ever carry 5 WRs, and he takes the spot as the 6th WR that plays special teams

I'd be absolutely SHOCKED if he didn't make the team

 

[Flash]

Literally no point to cut either of them. You save more money if you cut them after June 1st anyways. Let them battle it out during TC, doesn't hurt at all. None of these rookies are guaranteed to be better than either Dobson or Kline.

 

[strngplyr]

I agree with your thoughts at OL and even at WR, with one major difference: I could not imagine a scenario where a rookie (Mitchell) beats out vets who know the system (Washington, Dobson, Martin) in his first year here.

I think the spot is Washington's to lose. He's the proven vet coming from a system that mimics ours. The only ways I see Martin beating him for that spot would be if Martin excels or Washington just sucks.

I'd have Edelman, Amendola, Hogan, Washington, and Mitchell (WR5). Dobson is a goner and Martin is a tough cut, since he at least knew the system and produced enough to justify his spot.

Next year, in a perfect world, Mitchell has the playbook down and shows enough to take that WR3 spot you're talking about. Fingers crossed.

As always, tough to argue with your takes.

Lets also not forget that Martin got himself a contract extension last season too. It could definitely be Washington on the way out due to age/being the new guy, which would suck, I like him as a player.

 

[Gronk]

The New England Patriots are more likely in need of shedding salaries not adding.

I wouldn't disagree with that at all, yes they are more likely to need to shed salary because they're close to the cap. But just because some think Amendola or Cannon make "too much" relatively speaking is not a reason to get rid of them as a reason unto itself. It will happen if/when they need the money for some purpose (i.e. cap room for another veteran pickup/trade, or an extension for an existing player). The other side of that coin is that the roster could very well be set minus a vet minimum pickup or two, and they may already know that relevant extensions that would require cap space - Butler, Collins - aren't going to happen, ergo if you're not replacing DA/MC with better players while eating the dead money then saving a few bucks doesn't get you anything.

Personally I think Cannon's $4.7m cap hit is a lot harder to justify than Danny's $6.8m, but I also think that objectively thus far they've increased the competition and median competency level at WR/KR/PR to a more significant degree than they have on the OL.

 

[ATippett56]

I wouldn't disagree with that at all, yes they are more likely to need to shed salary because they're close to the cap. But just because some think Amendola or Cannon make "too much" relatively speaking is not a reason to get rid of them as a reason unto itself. It will happen if/when they need the money for some purpose (i.e. cap room for another veteran pickup/trade, or an extension for an existing player). The other side of that coin is that the roster could very well be set minus a vet minimum pickup or two, and they may already know that relevant extensions that would require cap space - Butler, Collins - aren't going to happen, ergo if you're not replacing DA/MC with better players while eating the dead money then saving a few bucks doesn't get you anything.

Personally I think Cannon's $4.7m cap hit is a lot harder to justify than Danny's $6.8m, but I also think that objectively thus far they've increased the competition and median competency level at WR/KR/PR to a more significant degree than they have on the OL.

I have a hard time justifying Amendola's base salary for a thirty year old wide receiver who never posted more than 689 receiving yards in a NFL season.

www.nfl.com/player/dannyamendola/2649/profile

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

smh.. Except that "next year" they have just Brown and Valentine signed for DTs. Branch, Knighton, Kearse, etc, are all on 1 year deals. Ninkovich and Sheard are also in the last year of their deals. I think that Ninkovich retires and Sheard, Collins, Hightower, Butler are all extended.. This team is structured for the 4-3 for the next few years.

I dont think thats gonna happen next year but .... They easily can replace Knighton for Valentine and bring back Knighton for a cheaper deal, same as Branch ... I dont believe Ninko will retire and Long will be upgraded next year...

Was Malcom Brown the Best College 3-Tech DT in Last Year's Draft?

3-4 base:

5T Brown (RE)
1T Knighton (NT)
3T Branch (LE)
7T Ninkovich (LOLB)
9T Long (ROLB)
WLB Hightower
MLB Collins

2-4 passing down:

4iT Brown (DT)
4iT Knighton (NT)
9T Sheard (LOLB)
9T Long (ROLB)
WLB Hightower
MLB Collins

 

[patriot nation]

There are better uses of cap money than having Dobson and Kline on the roster. There is no reason to risk either of them getting injured.

they could cut cannon too.

 

[mgteich]

they could cut cannon too.

They could. However, at this point he is the #3 OT on the squad, and we keep 3 or 4.

To compare, Dobson is arguably the #7 WR (not counting Slater who has a ST roster spot).

 

[Rhodey]

They seem to be on tape, but you never know - Dobson was touted as having good hands, but he couldn't catch a cold in Foxboro.

Many believed Dobson would excel in Foxboro. At draft time, his sure hands were accented. Unfortunately, he does not appear to have sure feet...always injured. And when he isn't, he just doesn't come across like that WR guy who intends to make good; show the league that he belongs...a see what you've been missing attitude. And he's had years of professional development to get him to that point.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Speaking of Melvin, that just reminded me - WTF ever happened with that situation in Miami where the Ravens player died in an auto accident? The "big news" was that police were looking for an unidentified Patriots player... then we never heard anything about it again.

I'm betting there was no Patriots player. Certain unscrupulous people in the media just realize that they can get exponentially more clicks if they imply that the Patriots are scumbags, and know they won't be held accountable for making stuff up.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Many believed Dobson would excel in Foxboro. At draft time, his sure hands were accented. Unfortunately, he does not appear to have sure feet...always injured. And when he isn't, he just doesn't come across like that WR guy who intends to make good; show the league that he belongs...a see what you've been missing attitude. And he's had years of professional development to get him to that point.

I think the turnaround in perception re: Dobson's hands is due to a few things.

1) the claim that he never dropped a ball in college. This wasn't true, but it was thrown around a lot, and it created an unreasonable expectation.
2) Small hands. Over the past few years, I've become increasingly convinced that--with glove technology where it is now--hand size is more important than ever. The gloves that receivers are using now make stickum look like a nonfactor by comparison. The bigger the hands, the larger the ball magnets on your hands.
3) Highlight reel catches. It's kinda the nature of judging players based on their highlight reel: we see the very best of them... and that's pretty much it. So we all saw Dobson do this, but for the most part we didn't see what kind of player he was on a snap-to-snap basis.
4) Injuries/mental block. I think being hurt and out of the game for as long as he was between his initial foot injury and now took a pretty big toll on him.

Anyway, I guess I'm saying all of this just to explain why, despite the consensus having been so wrong re: Dobson's hands, I'm not at all reluctant to project that Mitchell will be very surehanded. Partly because he isn't carrying huge expectations, partly because he has enormous hands, and partly because we have no reason to suspect that Dobson's other issues apply to him.

 

[BradyFTW!]

A few of issues..
1) Kearse is not a 4-3 DE. He's a 4-3 DT.
2) Kamu isn't a LB for the Pats.. He's a safety. Just like Chung.
3) The Pats aren't cutting Dave Andrews and Shaq Mason. Not after they played so well last year. Mason was better than Jackson. Also, no way the Pats only carry 1 center even with Thuney or Cooper potentially being able to play there.
4) You only have 53 players listed (24 offense, 23 defense, 6 ST). IF Brady suspension is upheld (still not a guarantee since he's appealing the ruling), then the Patriots get his spot for someone else for the first 4 weeks.
5) I don't know which mediot started this rumor of the 3-4, but the Pats just don't have the LBers for it.
6) Coleman and Roberts are not guaranteed anything. And don't sleep on the 3 UDFA CBs the Patriots are brining in..
7) Cooper has played 1 game at center and that was in college. I don't know if he's taken any practice snaps at center as a pro.

I think cutting Andrews is a possibility. I don't expect it, and I hope he's not, as I think he was really good last year. But if he ends up being the 'surprise' cut that we typically see one or two of each year, it won't even be all that big a surprise compared to past years.