Why do I like this?
If you follow what they do, their strategy is increasingly clear. Free up money to pay Butler, Collins, Hightower, Ryan, and Dodson.
OK, maybe the first three or four.
Mayo retirement. Staying out of the free agency frenzy for WR, CB, RB. Trade Chandler Jones.
The Pats have pretty consistently spent right to the cap every year. They are not the Jaguars with $40mm in extra cap space. They are not the Bills or Giants or Jets gorging on high-priced quick-fix free agents, later forced to purge contracts. They rolled forward about $1mm, which meant they spent right to the cap - but did it relatively wisely.
The one top-tier free agent they were reportedly in on was Marvin Jones, and we don't know what they offered - only that Jones considered it when accepting his $8mm per year deal. Otherwise they have been shedding contracts and saving space. Signing Donald Brown, probably to a vet min type deal, rather than Matthew Forte to a $4mm deal, is all about freeing up the money they need to re-sign their core to smart, longer-term deals.
When they sign Hogan rather than Sanu, when they trade $8mm 2015 and $15mm 2016 Chandler Jones for $2mm Jonathan Cooper, when they sign $1mm Brown rather than $4mm Matt Forte, they are signing Butler; they are signing Collins; they are signing Hightower. They are signing Dodson? OK, maybe not Dodson.
