My Blueprint for the Defense

[mayoclinic]

RE what you had hoped to get Talib and Houston for. I agree but the reality of it ended up being Talib went for $9m per and Houston went for $7m per. So it ended up being in reality another $4m then expected.

I am still hoping for a Wilfork restructure and Peppers to be brought in for a tilt at the title. I guess only time will tell.

I understand. Houston went for less than I expected, but Talib for much more. Presumably their combined 2014 cap hit will still be in the Revis range, but the combined long term commitment was still more than would have realistically been possible.

 

[Get it shawtaay]

Browner in for a visit. Safety conversion? Hard to see us adding another corner given the makeup of the roster. He'd certainly fit the "BIG PHYSICAL" mold that we've been clamoring for.

 

[mayoclinic]

Browner in for a visit. Safety conversion? Hard to see us adding another corner given the makeup of the roster. He'd certainly fit the "BIG PHYSICAL" mold that we've been clamoring for.

But he also has man coverage ability, and can match up on TEs.

Revis-Dennard-Ryan/Arrington at CB plus McCourty/Browner at safety would be arguably the best secondary in the NFL. Draft Antone Exum to develop as a Browner-type SS/outside CB and add a day 3 DB for depth, and we'd be set for years.

 

[ripatsfan91]

If we sign Browner I am gonna go nuts!!

 

[Coach42]

But he also has man coverage ability, and can match up on TEs.

Revis-Dennard-Ryan/Arrington at CB plus McCourty/Browner at safety would be arguably the best secondary in the NFL. Draft Antone Exum to develop as a Browner-type SS/outside CB and add a day 3 DB for depth, and we'd be set for years.

The defense has been getting so much more attention than the offense (deservedly so). I think your blue print is right on. The exact players and draft picks may not be correct but the Patriots seem to agree with the premise of gettin faster and more physical. Revis is certainly the prototype CB, Woodyard and Browner both would offer excellent positional flexibility as CB/SS and LB/SS hybrids. I thought the Shaughnessy visit flew a bit under the radar, I think he could have been a Nink clone. I hope they address the DL soon so we can go into this loaded draft without any glaring needs. I'm a huge BPA proponent.

 

[Off The Grid]

1 ~ I'm not a Free Agency guy, myself.

2 ~ I'm all about amassing Draft Picks and building with those.

3 ~ And I'm not a fan of spending money on CornerBacks, either. But Revis is a transformative Talent, one whose prospective Impact on our entire Defense shatters Tactical & Financial Metrics.

4 ~ I only wish we'd signed'm for 3 or 4 Years. Just doing 1 was a big mistake, I believe.

 

[Luxusdk]

So we cant tag him Grid? Mean the start was getting him in the first place.. :biggrin2: and then :gossip: or else :violent:

 

[Off The Grid]

So we cant tag him Grid? Mean the start was getting him in the first place.. :biggrin2: and then :gossip: or else :violent:

Starting at $12 Million a Year? I'd rather not!! I believe that we'd then be bumping him to $14.4!!

 

[mayoclinic]

1 ~ I'm not a Free Agency guy, myself.

2 ~ I'm all about amassing Draft Picks and building with those.

3 ~ And I'm not a fan of spending money on CornerBacks, either. But Revis is a transformative Talent, one whose prospective Impact on our entire Defense shatters Tactical & Financial Metrics.

4 ~ I only wish we'd signed'm for 3 or 4 Years. Just doing 1 was a big mistake, I believe.

I agree with all of your points. My guess is that the Pats wanted to lock Revis in and moved quickly, and that this is just a precursor to a longer deal.

 

[Luxusdk]

Beleave as of right now that would "save" us 200k infact - Pretty sure Tag on CB was 11.8 this year

 

[mayoclinic]

My Defense right now.


DE - 5 - Jones Nink Peppers(FA) Aaron Lynch(Draft) ???? (someone else)
DT - 5 - Kelley Aaron Donald(Draft) Hatcher(FA) Jones Siliga
LB: - 5 -Mayo Collins Hightower Woodyard(FA) Fletcher
CB: - 5 - Revis(FA) Dennard Ryan Arrington Keith McGill(Draft)
S - 4 - McCourty Major Wright(FA), Harmon Ebner

I am not gonna tell you how I would make this happen. Just MAKE IT HAPPEN.

We are getting BTFO by Denver in free agency and need to respond.

With the Revis fantasy a reality, my version of a "dream scenario" for the defense would be:

1. Sign UFA DB Brandon Browner. Not expensive, and he's be a terrific starting SS/rotational CB.

2. Sign UFA LB Wesley Woodyard. Provides the coverage LB we've needed, and adds speed to the second level. Not terribly expensive. Dane Fletcher would be a lower priced alternative. I'm not sure how we'd afford both.

3. Sign a rotational DE. The ones I all wanted are gone. Jared Allen will be too expensive. I don't see how we could sign Julius Peppers and fit him under our cap space, though it would be reasonable if we could.

4. Restructure or cut Vince Wilfork. Cutting Wilfork might be required to find all the cap space necessary for the above. If Wilfork has actually shown progress in his recovery, then he would take priority over #3. Cutting Tommy Kelly might be necessary to free up cap space instead, though I'm not in favor of that.

Draft:

- Find a way to trade up for Aaron Donald. Go "all in".
- Draft Jordan Tripp/Christian Jones (likely with 93).
- Draft Antone Exum and make him the backup SS behind Browner.
- Draft Phillip Gaines and make him Revis' understudy.

I have no idea how we'd do all of that without completely ignoring the offense, so I assume we'd do a subset of that in reality, but it's a "dream scenario":

DE: Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, rotational FA (call it Julius Peppers for now), Michael Buchanan. Armond Armstead could also get some DE snaps.

DT: Vince Wilfork, Aaron Donald, Tommy Kelly, Sealver Siliga, Chris Jones, Armond Armstead.

LB: Jerod Mayo, Dont'a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Wesley Woodyard, Jordan Tripp/Christian Jones.

SS: Brandon Browner, Antone Exum, Nate Ebner/Tavon Wilson (mainly a STer).

FS: Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon.

Outside CB: Darrelle Revis, Alfonzo Dennard, Phillip Gaines.

Slot CB: Logan Ryan, Kyle Arrington.

That could be a top 2 defense. Again, it's a "dream scenario", but I think a reasonable subset of this could be achieved. The most ridiculous part of it has already happened.

 

[mayoclinic]

Beleave as of right now that would "save" us 200k infact - Pretty sure Tag on CB was 11.8 this year

Yes, but the tag for Revis in 2015 would be 120% of his 2014 cap hit, which would be $14.4M, unless the 2015 tag for CBs is higher than that (unlikely).

Again, I think we'll see a 3-4 year deal.

 

[patsfaninpa]

There's nothing preventing us from extending Revis at any time. It was important to get him on board first. I predict he signs an extension with us prior to the draft.

A Revis extension and restructure of Vince gives us enough room to get a wr and/or pass rusher.

 

[mayoclinic]

There's nothing preventing us from extending Revis at any time. It was important to get him on board first. I predict he signs an extension with us prior to the draft.

A Revis extension and restructure of Vince gives us enough room to get a wr and/or pass rusher.

I'm not worry too much about it. With Revis in the fold and the Pats looking at speed at LB (Wesley Woodyard) and a big, physical CB/S (Brandon Browner), they seem to be moving in the direction that I thought would make the most sense for improving the defense.

 

[Drewski]

With the Revis fantasy a reality, my version of a "dream scenario" for the defense would be:

1. Sign UFA DB Brandon Browner. Not expensive, and he's be a terrific starting SS/rotational CB.

2. Sign UFA LB Wesley Woodyard. Provides the coverage LB we've needed, and adds speed to the second level. Not terribly expensive. Dane Fletcher would be a lower priced alternative. I'm not sure how we'd afford both.

3. Sign a rotational DE. The ones I all wanted are gone. Jared Allen will be too expensive. I don't see how we could sign Julius Peppers and fit him under our cap space, though it would be reasonable if we could.

4. Restructure or cut Vince Wilfork. Cutting Wilfork might be required to find all the cap space necessary for the above. If Wilfork has actually shown progress in his recovery, then he would take priority over #3. Cutting Tommy Kelly might be necessary to free up cap space instead, though I'm not in favor of that.

Draft:

- Find a way to trade up for Aaron Donald. Go "all in".
- Draft Jordan Tripp/Christian Jones (likely with 93).
- Draft Antone Exum and make him the backup SS behind Browner.
- Draft Phillip Gaines and make him Revis' understudy.

I have no idea how we'd do all of that without completely ignoring the offense, so I assume we'd do a subset of that in reality, but it's a "dream scenario":

DE: Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, rotational FA (call it Julius Peppers for now), Michael Buchanan. Armond Armstead could also get some DE snaps.

DT: Vince Wilfork, Aaron Donald, Tommy Kelly, Sealver Siliga, Chris Jones, Armond Armstead.

LB: Jerod Mayo, Dont'a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Wesley Woodyard, Jordan Tripp/Christian Jones.

SS: Brandon Browner, Antone Exum, Nate Ebner/Tavon Wilson (mainly a STer).

FS: Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon.

Outside CB: Darrelle Revis, Alfonzo Dennard, Phillip Gaines.

Slot CB: Logan Ryan, Kyle Arrington.

That could be a top 2 defense. Again, it's a "dream scenario", but I think a reasonable subset of this could be achieved. The most ridiculous part of it has already happened.

Love the ideas mayo and my personal "dream scenario" would be damn near identical to your thoughts above.... from your fingers to BB's ears

If we could somehow get Browner, Peppers, Woodyard and a WR (or some combo thereof); Smith or Edleman, that would be an other worldly start to the season for the Pats and allow them to focus on the spending their capital efficiently @ the draft - I love your "mock" above - from a needs POV the only thing missing is interior OL help (I still have visions of Pot Roast blowing up the line in the AFCCG)

Obviously tough choices would have to be made (Big Vince for one). But playing out something close to the above would put us in great position to be legit contenders as we come closer to the end of TB12's career.

The thought of getting back to a potentially dominate defense has me salivating.

Great post as always.

 

[mayoclinic]

Love the ideas mayo and my personal "dream scenario" would be damn near identical to your thoughts above.... from your fingers to BB's ears

If we could somehow get Browner, Peppers, Woodyard and a WR (or some combo thereof); Smith or Edleman, that would be an other worldly start to the season for the Pats and allow them to focus on the spending their capital efficiently @ the draft - I love your "mock" above - from a needs POV the only thing missing is interior OL help (I still have visions of Pot Roast blowing up the line in the AFCCG)

Obviously tough choices would have to be made (Big Vince for one). But playing out something close to the above would put us in great position to be legit contenders as we come closer to the end of TB12's career.

The thought of getting back to a potentially dominate defense has me salivating.

Great post as always.

Thank you kindly.

While the Revis signing could have a "transformational" effect on our secondary - much as Aqib Talib's signing did 18 months ago - and take it to the next level, I am equally encouraged by the Brandon Browner visit and the fact that they are looking at faster, more mobile LBs like Wesley Woodyard (and they were reported to have had interest in Dakoda Watson). Despite his obvious skills, I view the loss of Brandon Spikes as addition by subtraction in most situations - we were just too damn slow in the second level with Hightower and Spikes on the field. It's obviously not a done deal, but if we had something along the lines of Browner at SS and Mayo-Hightower-Collins at LB with Woodyard as a coverage LB and LB/S 'tweener, plus Revis to make the field smaller, we'd have a dramatically transformed defense.

But no secondary/back 7 is able to shut down another team if the front 6 doesn't get pressure. That's got to be the other part of the equation. Obviously, the Pats' D wasn't completely deficient in that regard, and the return of Kelly and possibly Wilfork would help. But I'm hoping to see a bit more disruptiveness up front than we had last year.

I don't want to count any chickens before they hatch. But overall, I'm feeling very encouraged about what the defense will look like going into 2014.

 

[Drewski]

Thank you kindly.

While the Revis signing could have a "transformational" effect on our secondary - much as Aqib Talib's signing did 18 months ago - and take it to the next level, I am equally encouraged by the Brandon Browner visit and the fact that they are looking at faster, more mobile LBs like Wesley Woodyard (and they were reported to have had interest in Dakoda Watson). Despite his obvious skills, I view the loss of Brandon Spikes as addition by subtraction in most situations - we were just too damn slow in the second level with Hightower and Spikes on the field. It's obviously not a done deal, but if we had something along the lines of Browner at SS and Mayo-Hightower-Collins at LB with Woodyard as a coverage LB and LB/S 'tweener, plus Revis to make the field smaller, we'd have a dramatically transformed defense.

Dead on IMHO - Revis being on the field makes everyone around him better.

Speed (and attacking) seemingly is the name of the defensive game in the modern NFL - we are roughly 10 years into the "Arena rules on offense" so obviously any adjustment (defensively) would take some time to reach; and I think we can look around and see it has/is coming.

On Hightower - any chance he could bump to an end position in sub packages and put his hand on the ground?

On Spikes - he was a personal fave of mine - love his energy and his game changing hitting ability - but speedy he was not. I will root for him and wear my #55 "Powwwww" jersey with pride (unless he signs with the Jets), but for what he is, really a 2 down thumper, this is as you said, addition by subtraction.

But no secondary/back 7 is able to shut down another team if the front 6 doesn't get pressure. That's got to be the other part of the equation. Obviously, the Pats' D wasn't completely deficient in that regard, and the return of Kelly and possibly Wilfork would help. But I'm hoping to see a bit more disruptiveness up front than we had last year.

Agreed

I don't want to count any chickens before they hatch. But overall, I'm feeling very encouraged about what the defense will look like going into 2014.

Me too - my brother in law and I have been hoping for (seemingly) what we are seeing happen - more speed and aggressiveness on the defense. "Read and React" being augmented with a form of "Blitzkrieg" if you will. I hope we continue to see this come on board.

 

[mayoclinic]

On Hightower - any chance he could bump to an end position in sub packages and put his hand on the ground?

I hope so. I've suggested that one for a while, especially if Hightower stays around 270# or so. If he's going to play full time MLB I'd like him a bit lighter and more mobile, but I'm OK with him playing base MLB (and 3-4 SILB when we play a 3 man front) and then putting his hand on the ground. Mayo could move to MLB in those situations (with Woodyard at WILL, if he signs), or a possible draftee like Christian Jones or Jordan Tripp could provide superior range and coverage ability at that position when needed.

Solidifying the back end of the defense gives the coaching staff more opportunity to be creative with the front 7. Guys like Hightower and Collins have tremendous versatility. I certainly hope that the coaches will look at using Hightower in different ways, including playing with his hand on the ground at times.

Armond Armstead is another guy who could get significant playing time at DE, BTW.

 

[BobDigital]

Well my prior dream scenario was an "all in" scenario which it looks like we are not doing. However within the confines of working within the cap without backloading contracts too much here is how I see us moving forward to field the best team we can.

Open cap space - Cut Wilfork/A. Wilson
Extend/Restructure - McCourty/Gost/Connolly/Kelly/Solder

You should have about 18 M free. Set aside 7 for rookies & emergency fund.

Sign Browner - SS 1.5M (if he can play SS).
Sign Woodyard - OLB 2M
Sign Allen - DE 7.5M (I honestly am open to a much more cost effective option but I see no "pass rush specialist" that can be had for a reasonable price at this point.

Sign Brandon LaFell 1M (I'd prefer Smith or Jones but we can't afford if we sign Allen).
Sign Shelly Smith - OG = .75M

This gives us some left over to sign other odds and ends.

Also assuming we continue to be (relatively) conservative and don't trade next years draft picks into this year I don't think you can afford to trade up as much as I'd like to get Aaron Donald (if you trade Mallet or do trade a pick from next year then that changes).

1 - Hageman - DT
2 - ASJ - TE (minor trade up)
3 - Swanson - C
(you had to trade your 4th down to a 5th to move up)
5 - Brent Urban - DE
6 - Colt Lyreli/A.C. Leonard - TE
6 - Tyler Starr - OLB
7 - Campanaro (if he falls)- WR if not L' Damien Washington

So my final roster would be

24 Offense (25 counting Slater)

QB - 2- Brady Mallet
RB - 4 - Ridley Vereen Bolden Develin
TE - 4 - Gronk ASJ Leonard Hooman
WR - 5 - Dobson Amendola LaFell Thompkins Campanaro
OL - 9 - Solder Maknins Swanson Cannon Vollmer Connolly Kline Baker Smith

25 Defense

DE - 4 - Jones Nink Allen Urban
DT - 5 - Kelly Hageman Jones Siliga Armstead
LB - 6 - Mayo Hightower Collins Woodyard Starr White
CB - 5 - Revis Dennard Ryan Arrington Green
DS - 5 - McCourty Browner Herman Ebner Wilson

You probably wanna upgrade RB a bit and maybe OL and maybe add a vet DT. But those would all be minor moves.

 

[mayoclinic]

Well my prior dream scenario was an "all in" scenario which it looks like we are not doing. However within the confines of working within the cap without backloading contracts too much here is how I see us moving forward to field the best team we can.

Open cap space - Cut Wilfork/A. Wilson
Extend/Restructure - McCourty/Gost/Connolly/Kelly/Solder

You should have about 18 M free. Set aside 7 for rookies & emergency fund.

Sign Browner - SS 1.5M (if he can play SS).
Sign Woodyard - OLB 2M
Sign Allen - DE 7.5M (I honestly am open to a much more cost effective option but I see no "pass rush specialist" that can be had for a reasonable price at this point.

Sign Brandon LaFell 1M (I'd prefer Smith or Jones but we can't afford if we sign Allen).
Sign Shelly Smith - OG = .75M

This gives us some left over to sign other odds and ends.

Also assuming we continue to be (relatively) conservative and don't trade next years draft picks into this year I don't think you can afford to trade up as much as I'd like to get Aaron Donald (if you trade Mallet or do trade a pick from next year then that changes).

1 - Hageman - DT
2 - ASJ - TE (minor trade up)
3 - Swanson - C
(you had to trade your 4th down to a 5th to move up)
5 - Brent Urban - DE
6 - Colt Lyreli/A.C. Leonard - TE
6 - Tyler Starr - OLB
7 - Campanaro (if he falls)- WR if not L' Damien Washington

So my final roster would be

24 Offense (25 counting Slater)

QB - 2- Brady Mallet
RB - 4 - Ridley Vereen Bolden Develin
TE - 4 - Gronk ASJ Leonard Hooman
WR - 5 - Dobson Amendola LaFell Thompkins Campanaro
OL - 9 - Solder Maknins Swanson Cannon Vollmer Connolly Kline Baker Smith

25 Defense

DE - 4 - Jones Nink Allen Urban
DT - 5 - Kelly Hageman Jones Siliga Armstead
LB - 6 - Mayo Hightower Collins Woodyard Starr White
CB - 5 - Revis Dennard Ryan Arrington Green
DS - 5 - McCourty Browner Herman Ebner Wilson

You probably wanna upgrade RB a bit and maybe OL and maybe add a vet DT. But those would all be minor moves.

There are tons of good ideas in this. It's a nice piece of work. But a couple of nitpicks:

1. You have us trading a 4th and 5th to move up in the 2nd round for ASJ, when we don't have a 5th. Then you have us taking Brent Urban with a 5th round pick (who would be a very good addition, BTW). How is this possible?

2. Just my personal perspective: if we're going to spend $7.5M (which I'm not sure we have) on Jared Allen, I'd rather craft an offer to Alex Mack.

Again, lots of good stuff, with a lot of players that I like.