Pats show interest in former Texans, Chiefs OT Eric Winston

[JackBauer]

The Patriots are interested in free agent right tackle Eric Winston, a league source told ESPN's NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Winston was released by the Chiefs earlier this offseason just one year into a four-year free agent deal that made him one of the highest paid right tackles in the NFL. The Chiefs have turned their franchise over this offseason, and could be in the market for an offensive tackle with the first overall pick.

Winston is regarded as a strong zone blocking scheme offensive lineman who is capable as a pass protector. He stands at 6-foot-7 and just over 300 pounds, and has started in 103 of 108 career games played.

Schefter: Patriots have eye on OT Winston - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

Not really a whole lot to it, but it's been pretty slow here these past few and probably beats ruminating on whether BB hates Gronk or not.

My understanding is he's a superlative run blocker, which would be useful on the right side. A year older than Vollmer, but more durable.

 

[tonyto3690]

Started using a lot more zone blocking last season and had a lot of success with it. Would love to sign him to a reasonable deal. I'm not huge on paying RTs big money, but having a guy you can run behind at the tackle position is big.

 

[fnordcircle]

No reason they shouldn't hedge their best on Vollmer by looking elsewhere while simultaneously highlighting that there are still some quality players out there at the position - something for Vollmer's camp to consider.

This offseason has shown, with a couple notable exceptions, that the market is nothing like player's expected. It's why Ed Reed is out there free to be signed because he wants $7m. a year. It's why there are so many 1 year deals.

There's not enough remaining cap space in the league to sign all the remaining quality players at half of what they expected.

I generally root for players as opposed to owners but in this case I think a lot of the player expectations were unrealistic.

 

[Shockt327]

Bill pursues yet another 6'6" OT...

 

[patfanken]

I'm guessing that this is more about doing your due diligence that any real serious interest. If the Pats end up not bringing back Volmer its because they've decided that Cannon can do the job. I'm pretty sure that Winston and Volmer are looking for contracts in the same area code.

My view is that Volmer is a better player but carries a health risk you don't get with Winston. But either way, I'm pretty sure the money would be about the same for both if getting an experienced FA RT is the way they go.

If not the money is going to be spent on WR's and the defense.

 

[JackBauer]

I'm guessing that this is more about doing your due diligence that any real serious interest. If the Pats end up not bringing back Volmer its because they've decided that Cannon can do the job. I'm pretty sure that Winston and Volmer are looking for contracts in the same area code.

Right. But all things being equal: do you give that contract to the guy who can't stay healthy, or the one that can?

 

[Marqui]

Right. But all things being equal: do you give that contract to the guy who can't stay healthy, or the one that can?

All things aren't equal though. You're not taking into consideration that Eric Winston's game has been rapidly declining, which is why he's been cut twice in the past 2 years.

 

[JackBauer]

All things aren't equal though. You're not taking into consideration that Eric Winston's game has been declining, which is why he's been cut twice in the past 2 years.

Vollmer's game has been declining, as well.

 

[Marqui]

Vollmer's game has been declining, as well.

That is not accurate. The points when he was fully healthy last year (which admittedly wasn't the entire time), he was still playing at an elite RT level.

 

[JackBauer]

That is not accurate. The points when he was fully healthy last year (which admittedly wasn't the entire time), he was still playing at an elite RT level.

a.) He can't stay healthy
b.) His health issues are chronic and not one off events
c.) His play drops substantially when he's hurt, which is why he was mediocre the last quarter of the season and bad in the playoffs

I would say, given the above, that he's definitely declined. I like him, wouldn't mind him back, but he's a huge risk.

 

[Marqui]

a.) He can't stay healthy
b.) His health issues are chronic and not one off events
c.) His play drops substantially when he's hurt, which is why he was mediocre the last quarter of the season and bad in the playoffs

I would say, given the above, that he's definitely declined. I like him, wouldn't mind him back, but he's a huge risk.

Ok, that part is revisionist history. Vollmer was by no means mediocre/bad in the last quarter season and playoffs. He was the exact opposite actually. You're right otherwise though.

 

[JackBauer]

Ok, that part is revisionist history. Vollmer was by no means mediocre/bad in the last quarter season and playoffs. He was the exact opposite actually. You're right otherwise though.

Before missing the Week 12 game against the Jets, Vollmer was arguably the best right tackle in the league as he allowed just one sack and 14 total quarterback pressures.

In the final seven games, including playoffs, Vollmer allowed 5.5 sacks and 23 total pressures.

Vollmer had clean-up surgery - Extra Points - Boston.com

It is what it is.

 

[Froob]

a.) He can't stay healthy
b.) His health issues are chronic and not one off events
c.) His play drops substantially when he's hurt, which is why he was mediocre the last quarter of the season and bad in the playoffs

I would say, given the above, that he's definitely declined. I like him, wouldn't mind him back, but he's a huge risk.

Add in the fact that we have the best o-line coach in the business, might not be a smart idea to overpay for an injury prone player. Not saying he's going to get overpaid but, if Pats have to to get him then he probably will be gone. Why was Winston cut in the 2nd year of his 4 year deal btw?

 

[Marqui]

Vollmer had clean-up surgery - Extra Points - Boston.com

It is what it is.

Even if we take his arbitrary stats as gospel, supposedly declined play in a quarter season is not comparable to 2 years of declined play in Winston's case.

 

[JackBauer]

Add in the fact that we have the best o-line coach in the business, might not be a smart idea to overpay for an injury prone player. Not saying he's going to get overpaid but, if Pats have to to get him then he probably will be gone. Why was Winston cut in the 2nd year of his 4 year deal btw?

Bedard wrote that he thinks teams believe Winston doesn't have much left in the tank. If that's the case, we might be rolling with Senor Cannon at RT.

 

[Claremonster]

Bedard wrote that he thinks teams believe Winston doesn't have much left in the tank. If that's the case, we might be rolling with Senor Cannon at RT.

Leverage for Vollmer then.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Ok, that part is revisionist history. Vollmer was by no means mediocre/bad in the last quarter season and playoffs. He was the exact opposite actually. You're right otherwise though.

It's not revisionist history at all. By the time the playoffs came around, he was probably our worst starting lineman. His play fell off a cliff (understandably so, with his injury), to the point that Cannon's inability to displace him made me worried about Cannon's development.

It'll be interesting to see if Vollmer takes one of those one-year, wait-out-the-market deals that everyone else seems to be getting. If he does, and the salaries go back up next year like they're all hoping, and he can stay healthy in 2013, he could be setting himself up for a big payday. Even if he's chronically injured next year, at this point isn't that already the book on him anyway? He's been injured half the time for each of the past two seasons, I'm not sure if a third would dramatically change how teams view him.

 

[ralmat55]

Right. But all things being equal: do you give that contract to the guy who can't stay healthy, or the one that can?

Didn't we have this discussion last week about a couple of players at another position?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Even if we take his arbitrary stats as gospel, supposedly declined play in a quarter season is not comparable to 2 years of declined play in Winston's case.

Vollmer's been consistently injured over the same two year period. They both carry a lot of red flags.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Didn't we have this discussion last week about a couple of players at another position?

Amendola and Vollmer aren't similar at all. Amendola has had two freak injuries that are extremely unlikely to reoccur. Probably a large part of why the Patriots were willing to buy low. Besides, the games missed stat is misleading. Welker and Amendola both had season-ending injuries over the past few years. Amendola missed 15 more games only because of when his season-ending injury occurred. If Welker had blown out his knee in week 1, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

What it comes down to is this: Amendola's past injuries/missed games are extremely unlikely to reoccur/cause more missed games in the future. It's virtually guaranteed that, whatever future games he misses, they will be due to entirely different and unrelated injuries. To some extent, you can probably project missed games based on the idea that his past injuries indicate frailty or a reckless playing style that his body can't handle. That's pretty indirect though, and suggests that there's a great chance that the Patriots got a discount on a player for injury concerns who is pretty likely to have no particular injury issues going forward. There are a lot of players who have followed this career path, and it really just underscores that, even for extremely durable guys, anyone's season can end on any play. If someone had hit Tom Brady an inch to the left at some point in 2007, 2009, or 2010, we'd be talking about him as an injury-prone guy too.

Vollmer, OTOH, is in an entirely different category. He will miss future games, and probably a lot of them, and it will be because of injuries that he already has. Past games missed will correlate directly to future games missed, because his injuries are chronic and he'll most likely never be truly healthy again. That's a near-certainty, allowing for the small chance that he may experience some miracle back healing like Gronk apparently did in college.