Key FA target?

[Box_O_Rocks]

Punters are a mystery to me. Not one punter drafted in the past 3 years ranked above 16th in the league in net average this year, and not one of the punters ranked #1 in the draft the past 3 years is still in the league. And BB, the master of field position and situational football, is constantly scraping around and re-signing Ken Walter over and over.

That said, a couple of this year's prospects seem to specialize in situational punting and downing the ball inside the 20. Perhaps the time has finally come for a rookie.

At the beginning of the season I was disgruntled with Hanson's touchbacks and kicks out of bounds. Certainly the parade of punters visiting lent some credance to that thinking, but before too long I reassessed that and pondered whether Hanson wasn't actually putting the ball where BB wanted it, no return. I can't call Hanson's season a failure. I do like those two kids, I just wonder how quickly they get the kicks off compared to NFL standards and if Gano in particular has any kicking experience to prepare him for NE weather?

 

[patchick]

At the beginning of the season I was disgruntled with Hanson's touchbacks and kicks out of bounds. Certainly the parade of punters visiting lent some credance to that thinking, but before too long I reassessed that and pondered whether Hanson wasn't actually putting the ball where BB wanted it, no return. I can't call Hanson's season a failure.

Good point, Hanson had only 22% of his punts returned, a mighty low number.

And heck, why are we even discussing punters when the Patriots had the #1 ranked punter in the league this year?
NFL Stats: by Player Category

 

[VJCPatriot]

Good thinking, agree Hansen has been OK - but that's a sure upgrade, and anytime you can upgrade a position cost efficiently, it's worth looking into.

Not that we're going to be punting much at all next year once Brady's back anyway

Hanson was 24th in net punt yardage and 20th in kicks within the 20, aka coffin punts. He also fails the eye test and has shanked many a kick in New England. Let's not mince words, he's terrible.

NFL Stats: by Player Position

As far as OLB goes... how does Suggs look? I know we struck out with Colvin and Thomas could be better... but 3rd times a charm in that department?

Good point, Hanson had only 22% of his punts returned, a mighty low number.

And heck, why are we even discussing punters when the Patriots had the #1 ranked punter in the league this year?
NFL Stats: by Player Category

Because BB won't pay Cassel 14M per year to be a punter?

 

[LuthierJr]

I know we don't need another RB, but I like Sproles. He'd be a good kevin faulk replacement and ST ace.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Good point, Hanson had only 22% of his punts returned, a mighty low number.

And heck, why are we even discussing punters when the Patriots had the #1 ranked punter in the league this year?
NFL Stats: by Player Category

Sure to be the new Rick-rolled gag. :banned:

Out of the players with 20+ yd returns tied for #15 or better, NE played against 15 of 23 (counting division opponent's players twice). Hanson had a middling net average, but he only had 158 total return yards - amongst Punters with 40 or more punts that placed him #4. Hard to fault that season.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Hanson was 24th in net punt yardage and 20th in kicks within the 20, aka coffin punts. He also fails the eye test and has shanked many a kick in New England. Let's not mince words, he's terrible.

Define "shank."

 

[DaBruinz]

Punters are a mystery to me. Not one punter drafted in the past 3 years ranked above 16th in the league in net average this year, and not one of the punters ranked #1 in the draft the past 3 years is still in the league. And BB, the master of field position and situational football, is constantly scraping around and re-signing Ken Walter over and over.

That said, a couple of this year's prospects seem to specialize in situational punting and downing the ball inside the 20. Perhaps the time has finally come for a rookie.

Patchick - a couple of corrections.

1) Adam Podlesh was drafted by the Jaguars last year. Draft sites were split over him and Daniel Sepulveda as to who was #1. He was injured this year during game 12 and had to be placed on the IR.

2) Ryan Plackemeier, who was drafted by the Seahawks in 2006 and was ranked as the top Punter, was released by them in week 1 of 2008 and picked up by the Redskins between weeks 9 and 10. Plackemeier was ranked 14th in net average in 2006.

NFL Stats: by Player Category

3) Daniel Sepulveda was ranked 11th in net average last year with a 37.9 net punt avg in 2007. Sepulveda is still in the league. However, he tore his ACL during training the 1st week of the Steelers 2008 training camp.

NFL Stats: by Player Category

 

[DaBruinz]

Hanson was 24th in net punt yardage and 20th in kicks within the 20, aka coffin punts. He also fails the eye test and has shanked many a kick in New England. Let's not mince words, he's terrible.

NFL Stats: by Player Position

Why should we mince words when we can just be ignorant and compare the total number of punts inside the 20 and ignore the fact that someone like Brad Maynard, who had 40 of them, also had 96 punts. Compared to Hanson's 49. Because if we were too look at it from a % stand point we'd have to see that Maynard had 41.67% or his punts inside the 20 compared to 38.78% of Hanson's.

Or that only 2.4 yards of Net Average seperated the 10th place punter from the 20th place punter.

Lets ignore that Hanson had fewer punts returned this year than last year (11 this year compared to 14 last year). Or that the number of punts he made that were Fair Caught went from 8 to 13. Or that the number of punts he put inside the 20 went up from 13 to 19. Or that Hanson's 11 returned punts is the fewest in number and the lowest % of any punter with 40 or more punts.

Lets just arbitrarily focus on Net Punt average and punts inside the 20 without focusing on anything else. Because its the only way our ignorant point gets proven.

Hanson isn't the best punter in the world by any stretch of the imagination. But he's not as bad as you'd have people believe.

OH, by the way, a Coffin Corner Kick is not a kick inside the 20 as you want people to believe. A coffin corner kick is a punt that is aimed to go out of bounds between the 5 yard line and the goal line. A 15 yard difference there.

 

[DaBruinz]

As far as OLB goes... how does Suggs look? I know we struck out with Colvin and Thomas could be better... but 3rd times a charm in that department?

Its amazing how you re-write history. Yes, the Pats struck out with Colvin because he suffered a Career threatening injury that there is no physical training that one can do to prevent such an injury and because that injury kept him from putting up 20 sacks a year.. They struck out with Colvin because all he did was come back from said injury, modified his game and became a solid and above average OLB who could stop the run and drop into coverage (his two weakest spots coming from the Bears).

Yes, Thomas could be better. He's played 3 different positions with the Pats since coming here, but he should still have put up double digit sacks. If you listen to VJC that is. It doesn't matter that he was coming out of a system where he was more of a rover because the Ravens had him line up all over the place. It doesn't matter that the Ravens ran a single gap system and not a 2 gap system the way the Pats do. It doesn't matter that Thomas was playing ILB full-time for the first 9 games of the season. A position that he only had played sparingly with the Ravens.

Nope. NONE of that matters. What matters is that VJC's expectations weren't met so they are failures....

Sorry, but it would seem that the issue here is your expectations, not the player's performance.

 

[dryheat44]

Because BB won't pay Cassel 14M per year to be a punter?

Wouldn't it be great if we could franchise him based on the punter number? Can't our "evil genius" head coach figure out a way to do that?

 

[dryheat44]

The only other guy would be Sean Jones. Reminds me of the late Sean Taylor from the Redskins. plays with intensity would help solidify our secondary.

Best non-Asomugha Free Agent out there, IMO.

 

[Warren94]

Put him next to BW and watch out. Hobbs, Wilhite and Wheatley. draft an inside LB to dispell Bruschi and we are solid on D.

 

[Jimke]

Before we become hot and bothered about what key player the

Patriots are going to target, let's see how much money will be

available to spend. Miguel estimates that the Patriots are 19

million dollars under the 2009 cap before they tender offers to their

ERFAs and RFAs, and before performance escalators come due.

If Matt Cassel is given the franchise tag, this will wipe out most

of the cap space. It might take a month or more to arrive at a

suitable trade and get the cap space back.

The Patriots make have to concentrate on re-signing their

own reasonably priced free agents like Evans, Hochstein, Gaffney,

Paxton, and L. Sanders.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Put him next to BW and watch out. Hobbs, Wilhite and Wheatley. draft an inside LB to dispell Bruschi and we are solid on D.

A back eight of Vrabel and Thomas at OLB, Mayo and Laurenaitis on the inside with Merriweather and Jones at saftey and Hobbs and Asomugha at CB, with Wheatley and Wilhite as primary sub packages would be sweet.

 

[mcsully]

Its going to be a very interesting off season for the Pats, probably one of the best since they brought in Harrison and Colvin.. Every aspect of the offseason is going to be great..

Are they going to franchise Cassel (which I would tend to think they are)?

Which players are retiring (Harrison and/or Bruschi)

How does the draft unfold, especially if they trade Cassel

How Does Tommy look after surgery


Switching gears hre.. For me, Hanson was a reliable kicker and was rock solid during the days when the weather wasn't being kind.. Will they upgrade the position, probably.. I would suspect they would let someone come in and challenge hanson but I find it hard to believe they would spend about 2 mill for a punter.. Especially when they value a deep roster (including the pratice squad)

Suggs.. I'm not to high on him as others.. He's a good player but not great.. He's not a Ware or Merriman.. And he'll probably command big bucks.. Ravens play an attacking 3-4 defense and the 6 years he's played with them he's never had more than 80 tackles and not sniffed 10+ sacks in about 4 years.. Some of his stats are comparable to Adalius Thomas but AD played multiple positions, something BB loves..

Love the idea of Sean Jones.. He's 26, averages about 90+ tackles a year with about 5 INT's.. He's big to enough to play close to the line but fast enough to play in space.. Adding him would help out our young secondary..

Vrabel looked a step slower. His sack and tackle total was way down this year.. Probably from a combination of his age, swiching OLB positions and his shoulder injury.. I wouldn't doubt it if we find out he gets more surgery on it.. Saying that, I'm thinking if Brusci retires, Vrabel will move inside with Mayo and Crabel/Woods/draft pick will be given the opprotunity to challenge for the starting position for OLB..

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Vrabel looked a step slower. His sack and tackle total was way down this year.. Probably from a combination of his age, swiching OLB positions and his shoulder injury.. I wouldn't doubt it if we find out he gets more surgery on it.. Saying that, I'm thinking if Brusci retires, Vrabel will move inside with Mayo and Crabel/Woods/draft pick will be given the opprotunity to challenge for the starting position for OLB..

With an entire off season to heal and rest, I expect Vrabel to have a much better year next year. I think the shoulder really hurt him all year and he just played through the pain.

 

[mcsully]

With an entire off season to heal and rest, I expect Vrabel to have a much better year next year. I think the shoulder really hurt him all year and he just played through the pain.

I tend to agree and hope.. Cause they could really use him..

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I tend to agree and hope.. Cause they could really use him..

That's my vote too, but I don't see them moving him inside, he'll just take more of a beating there and wear down faster.

 

[DaBruinz]

Before we become hot and bothered about what key player the

Patriots are going to target, let's see how much money will be

available to spend. Miguel estimates that the Patriots are 19

million dollars under the 2009 cap before they tender offers to their

ERFAs and RFAs, and before performance escalators come due.

If Matt Cassel is given the franchise tag, this will wipe out most

of the cap space. It might take a month or more to arrive at a

suitable trade and get the cap space back.

The Patriots make have to concentrate on re-signing their

own reasonably priced free agents like Evans, Hochstein, Gaffney,

Paxton, and L. Sanders.

The Pats will have Cassel traded within the 1st week, if they indeed franchise him. They can work on the trade prior to the free agency. Just like they did with Welker.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

The Pats will have Cassel traded within the 1st week, if they indeed franchise him. They can work on the trade prior to the free agency. Just like they did with Welker.

I discussed this over at Planet: By letting their intentions be known, the Pats have set the table for initial discussions at the Senior Bowl as GMs and Directors of Player Personnel mill around together to check out the Seniors. By the Combine NE should have Cassel's asking price set and will be able to get some detailed negotiating done - at the same time Matt's agent will be able to share Matt's asking price with teams, so things can move forward smoothly once the trade window opens. Lombardi's report where he claimed to have talked with people inside the NE organization wasn't idle gossip, it was BB & Co. ringing the opening bell at the NYSE.