JMC00
Pro Bowl Player
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- Feb 19, 2012
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.If you need to go back to 02-03, times were different, and that's kind of making my point anyway, which is there haven't been many.
Yes there have been impactful 1st year players under BB, but not many I can recall that were inserted with the starters from the first day of camp and never left.
I went back to 02 & 03 to show it's gone on almost from the beginning of the Belichick era. If you want more recent (as well as being on the O-line) there's Shaq Mason and David Andrews. Not that anyone in this conversation is saying it but I get sick of hearing how New England doesn't draft well. They just draft some areas better than others. The Pats draft O-lineman the way Pitt drafts receivers. In no way does that diminish Thuney, he plays at/near an All Pro level and I want him here.
I went back to 02 & 03 to show it's gone on almost from the beginning of the Belichick era. If you want more recent (as well as being on the O-line) there's Shaq Mason and David Andrews. Not that anyone in this conversation is saying it but I get sick of hearing how New England doesn't draft well. They just draft some areas better than others. The Pats draft O-lineman the way Pitt drafts receivers. In no way does that diminish Thuney, he plays at/near an All Pro level and I want him here.
Could that be because BB & co. don't want to insert a rookie in the starting lineup on the first day of camp, and would only do so if there's a gaping hole in the lineup and no alternative? And they take pains to avoid being in that situation?
Thuney probably won't demand top free agents dollars.
What makes you think that ? If he hits FA he can easily get a 10M APY contract. Hell Zack Martin and Andrew Norwell are making 14M and 13.3M, respectively.
There was a post here not too long ago that showed that the "Pittsburgh drafts WR exceptionally well" is a fallacy. Their hit rate is very slightly above the League average. I can't recall who posted it, but it should be a sticky.
Martin and Norwell are All-Pros.
I was thinking if the Pats locked him up now. But yes Thuney will demand money, just IMO not first tier.
Unless they trade Mason I am not sure there will be space to pay two guards.
The team is already paying Shaq Mason and Marcus Cannon a lot of money. IOL is one of the easier positions to replace and it is not good money management to give two guards sizeable contracts. Unless Thuney takes a significant pay cut to stay in Massachusetts (he won't), he's gone. Hjalte Froholdt will be the starting LG after the end of this season.
Out of Devin Lucien, Malcolm Mitchell, Jeremy Gallon, Aaron Dobson, Josh Boyce, Jeremy Ebert and Taylor Price only Dobson had so much as a 500 yd season.