My very early offseason free agent targets

[Brady_to_Moss]

wow the broncos have some big FAs. Decker. Moreno and DRC. But they will probably end up cutting bailey and saving 10 mill

Someone will pay decker 8-10 mill a year...a product of his QB

 

[patsfan-1982]

Jeremy Maclin on a one year prove it deal would be a great Sign by the pats, Alex Mack would make the pats one of the best OL's in the game and Scott Chandler has been pretty good with the bills would love to sign all 3 of them

 

[50-yard-line]

TE Get Chandler, give Ballard another try if he's out there and can move again. Hooman can stay as a #3, for #3 money.

DL Keep Kelly, restructure Wilfork with Siliga, Jones, Armstead and Vellano as backups. Cut Sopoaga, Wilfork if he won't come down and doesn't look like Wilfork.

DE pass rusher? Like not whiffing on the next Abraham, Bennett or Avril this time. Arthur Jones would be a great pick-up...move Nink to situations, even OLB.

WR keep Edelman (doubt it), get Manny Sanders.

Keep Talib if you can. Adrian Wilson is on a "prove it" or retire watch.

Draft OL unless there's a beast SS, CB, DT or TE sitting there.

That's the most I can see as possible.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

The offense is young.


the pats have a solid ok defense you get brent grimes talib grimes dennard that is a great secndary

Talib will be hurt half the year and for big games..so don't count on him

 

[supafly]

Talib will be hurt half the year and for big games..so don't count on him

No argument from me there. I do hope that we keep him though, but not at the kinds of prices being thrown around by many.

I just can't help believe that there isn't collusion going on in some form, or else more teams would have been attempting to take advantage of a major downturn in the market last year. The fact that they didn't suggests to me that it's going to stay much of the same again.

 

[tmajr3]

Would Adrian Wilson be worth a prove it contract? After watching our safeties for two years, I noticed we have no one that puts fear into WR over the middle, especially with no Spikes on short crossing routes. If Wilson can move, I say we keep him and put Gregory on the bench (PLEASE) and let him lay the wood on people. Or Donte Whitner

Grimes will want some pretty good money, so I doubt BB wants him. In that case, Talib is a must. Our secondary was awful when he went out.

Add Wilfork and Kelly= pass rush, which helps our secondary not have to cover guys for 4-5 seconds every play

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Alex Mack is one of the premier centers in the entire league, and CLE has what, like 40-45 million dollars worth of cap space? If people here are actually considering the thought of US franchising Aqib Talib in our cap strapped situation, then why couldn't CLE afford to franchise Alex Mack? I don't imagine that they'll be letting him walk, and even if they did, we certainly can't afford to allocate that much money to our OL between Solder coming up, the salary that Mankins makes, the recent extension of Vollmer, and a way too high cap hit for Dan Connelly. It'd be great if Mack came here, but the chances are extremely low because he'll command top dollar.

Agreed. The Patriots' style on the OL (or mostly anywhere) is not the splashy top-of-the-market type move, anyways (except when they've resigned their own guy). I'd be shocked if the Patriots felt strongly enough about their need for interior OL help that they went to the top of the FA market instead of the draft/UDFA/practice squad/under appreciated vet route.

I'd like Arthur Jones.

If the Patriots liked the season Sanders had in Pittsburgh, I'd like to see them take another run at him.

I wanted him last offseason, and the Patriots ignored him, making it unlikely they're at all interested, but I'd be excited by a Karlos Dansby signing. Hopefully when the Patriots ignore him again this year, it's a sign that Collins is all the magic they were looking for at coverage LB.

I'd like Edelman and Talib back.

I don't want much money committed to Blount - but it'd be nice to see a mutually beneficial deal for him and the team and my guess is that they're close to being on the same page.

 

[supafly]

Agreed. The Patriots' style on the OL (or mostly anywhere) is not the splashy top-of-the-market type move, anyways (except when they've resigned their own guy). I'd be shocked if the Patriots felt strongly enough about their need for interior OL help that they went to the top of the FA market instead of the draft/UDFA/practice squad/under appreciated vet route.

I'd like Arthur Jones.

If the Patriots liked the season Sanders had in Pittsburgh, I'd like to see them take another run at him.

I wanted him last offseason, and the Patriots ignored him, making it unlikely they're at all interested, but I'd be excited by a Karlos Dansby signing. Hopefully when the Patriots ignore him again this year, it's a sign that Collins is all the magic they were looking for at coverage LB.

I'd like Edelman and Talib back.

I don't want much money committed to Blount - but it'd be nice to see a mutually beneficial deal for him and the team and my guess is that they're close to being on the same page.

I agree with all of these kinds of moves.

They are reasonable in price, they fit needs, they aren't fantastical, over the top kind of signings, and it would also allow us to retain most of our own.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

What i don't get is...if the pats like sanders that much...they why didn't they sign him more then the 1.5 mill?? they did knowing pitt would just match? They will probably go after him again this year...but that was a weird thing they did.

It had to have been just screwing with pitt becasue they knew they would keep him for that price

 

[supafly]

Would Adrian Wilson be worth a prove it contract? After watching our safeties for two years, I noticed we have no one that puts fear into WR over the middle, especially with no Spikes on short crossing routes. If Wilson can move, I say we keep him and put Gregory on the bench (PLEASE) and let him lay the wood on people. Or Donte Whitner

Adrian Wilson is on our team and under contract.

He became injured in the preseason and was placed on IR.

His coverage skills basically suck, he's coming off a major injury, and he's lost more than a step---so it will be an eye to keep on as to whether or not they keep him here in N.England.

Steve Gregory is also under contract, but he has an expensive cap hit for 2014, so the popular thinking is that they'll either try to lower that and/or still continue to try and upgrade the position by other means. A.Wilson is a possible player who may stay in a rotational role, but if you think Steve Gregory's skills aren't good in coverage--wait 'til you see A.Wilson in coverage now.

Both are nothing more than rotational players. We need a much better starter opposite McCourty.

 

[PatsfanCP]

we need another corner with talib dude gets hurt to much or get rid of talib and get another corner

 

[supafly]

What i don't get is...if the pats like sanders that much...they why didn't they sign him more then the 1.5 mill?? they did knowing pitt would just match? They will probably go after him again this year...but that was a weird thing they did.

It had to have been just screwing with pitt becasue they knew they would keep him for that price

The popular thought is that since PIT screwed up and didn't place the proper tender on him, Belichick took advantage of that situation by forcing them to pay more than 2x as much, while they were insanely cap strapped. He also was able to get a decent look at him in the process, and if they didn't match, then we'd have a player just as good or better in exchange for the 3rd round pick (which they used 2nd/4th at WR, so it was right around where they would've used a pick on WR anyway).

 

[supafly]

we need another corner with talib dude gets hurt to much or get rid of talib and get another corner

I'm all for trying to keep Talib for about 4/24 (tops) or 6 million AAV. The market for CBs is going to stay down like last year, or else more teams would have been pouncing left and right to snag good CBs on reasonable 3-4-5 million dollar longterm deals.

I'm also all for exploring the other options too, such as drafting another CB and/or going after another reasonably priced CB in free agency. You can never have too many good CBs in my opinion.

 

[tmajr3]

Adrian Wilson is on our team and under contract.



He became injured in the preseason and was placed on IR.



His coverage skills basically suck, he's coming off a major injury, and he's lost more than a step---so it will be an eye to keep on as to whether or not they keep him here in N.England.



Steve Gregory is also under contract, but he has an expensive cap hit for 2014, so the popular thinking is that they'll either try to lower that and/or still continue to try and upgrade the position by other means. A.Wilson is a possible player who may stay in a rotational role, but if you think Steve Gregory's skills aren't good in coverage--wait 'til you see A.Wilson in coverage now.



Both are nothing more than rotational players. We need a much better starter opposite McCourty.

Thanks for the update on A Wilson. Hadn't heard much about him after the IR. I would love to see him drop into the box in certain packages as a run stopper. Would he be good on TE in coverage?

 

[mgteich]

I personally don't think that Belichick really wanted Sanders at $2.5M for one year at the cost of a 3rd. He just wanted to screw the steelers. After all, almost no RFA's change teams.

Sanders was appreciate of Belichick's efforts. belichick doubled the salary that the steelers wet giving him for his show-me year. Sanders was always going to become a free agent this year.

If Belichick truly wants Sanders, this year is the year to go after him.

The popular thought is that since PIT screwed up and didn't place the proper tender on him, Belichick took advantage of that situation by forcing them to pay more than 2x as much, while they were insanely cap strapped. He also was able to get a decent look at him in the process, and if they didn't match, then we'd have a player just as good or better in exchange for the 3rd round pick (which they used 2nd/4th at WR, so it was right around where they would've used a pick on WR anyway).

 

[supafly]

Thanks for the update on A Wilson. Hadn't heard much about him after the IR. I would love to see him drop into the box in certain packages as a run stopper. Would he be good on TE in coverage?

I think the hope and plan for him was exactly what you're suggesting; to be an "in the box" type of run stopping safety, who would be attempting to cover TEs. I think this would have helped to limit his exposure to the passing coverage weakness. Whether or not he'd have been successful vs those TEs is anyone's guess, especially since we've seen some safeties fail to do that recently.

One thing is for sure--we need to continue to try and improve on that aspect in terms of both LB and S coverage, so hopefully Jamie Collins progresses, and we see some new additions too. It's such an enormous part of the game, and has been a glaring weakness for our team.

 

[ATippett56]

Offseason Free Agent Targets:

Michael Hoomanawanui
Will Svitek
Dane Fletcher
Aqib Talib

Offseason Salary Cap Casualties:

Adrian Wilson, 34 years old
Tommy Kelly, 33 years old
Isaac Sopoaga, 32 years old

At least Marquice Cole is no longer on the 53 man roster.

I'll add Edelman to the offseason free agent targets if there exists space under the salary cap.

Don't want another Ochostinko or Lloyd scenario.

 

[supafly]

I personally don't think that Belichick really wanted Sanders at $2.5M for one year at the cost of a 3rd. He just wanted to screw the steelers. After all, almost no RFA's change teams.

Sanders was appreciate of Belichick's efforts. belichick doubled the salary that the steelers wet giving him for his show-me year. Sanders was always going to become a free agent this year.

If Belichick truly wants Sanders, this year is the year to go after him.

I believe that you're probably quite right. I attempted to portray the same line of thinking, while also accounting for the situation if they didn't choose to match, which likely wouldn't have made too much difference to us one way or another.

Seeing as how we took a WR in both the 2nd and the 4th, I would think that Belichick would have been just as happy to have had Sanders in place of that expected 3rd round pick for 2.5m also.

In other words, I believe that you are correct--but that it was a "win-win" situation for us no matter what the outcome would have been.

 

[supafly]

I'll add Edelman to the offseason free agent targets if there exists space under the salary cap.

Don't want another Ochostinko or Lloyd scenario.

I wouldn't think that Edelman's situation will necessarily end up being "if there exists room under the salary cap," as much as it will "if they can agree to a reasonable deal."

I believe that Belichick will attempt to retain Edelman right off the bat. The question of course, is whether or not Edelman will be open to staying here for a bit less.

I agree with you that Fletcher should definitely be kept.