Proposing a contract between Matt Forte and the New England Patriots

[supafly]

In other words, build a proper OL and a couple of "value" signings like Morris, Ridley, or Blount + a draft pick around Dion Lewis; as opposed to lessening Lewis' role by paying a back much more, who is simply going to mimic him.

Food for thought. It will be interesting to see how he addresses it.

 

[luuked]

Your opening sentence is the main reason why I'm concerned that Belichick may choose to use the money elsewhere. We already have a pretty nice piece on the cheap with Lewis. I don't know if it makes financial sense to lessen his role significantly after just paying him.

One may argue that a couple of cheap backs like Morris and Blount would be much better use of our cap to spend on the OL, particularly since we already have 2 receiving backs with Lewis/White.

Oh yeah, I totally agree. I was just operating under the assumption that Forte would be here and trying to think through what would happen with the rest of the players.

We all don't know how serious Forte was with what he said or where he would draw the line in terms of compensation.

Personally, I'd be very intrigued by having a player that doesn't automatically telegraph run/throw to the opponents, is a good blocker and a legitimate between the tackles threat. For years what we tried to build on offense was a chameleon kinda set that makes opponents guess and therefore give us favorable matchups that we can exploit. And once the opponents are in a favorable set we can just no-huddle the **** out of them like in 2011 when Hernandez was the chess piece that very often enabled us to do it. However, we never really had the RB to fully complete that look. Forte could be that piece...

 

[PatsfanTN]

None of this matters if we don't fix the offensive line.

 

[luuked]

In other words, build a proper OL and a couple of "value" signings like Morris, Ridley, or Blount + a draft pick around Dion Lewis; as opposed to lessening Lewis' role by paying a back much more, who is simply going to mimic him.

Food for thought. It will be interesting to see how he addresses it.

I said it in the draft forum and fully expect the downvotes on this post but looking at our history I doubt that we will make any major OL moves in the draft except for a tackle to groom behind Solder/Vollmer. The OL reinforcements will be unspectacular but solid veteran signings in the latter weeks of FA.

I think that Lewis and a Forte-type player could even be synergistic in the right formation. Both seem fully capable of blitz pickup and running some basic WR routes + seem to have good hands. I understand that investing additional resources into the offense is a low priority point given our success in the last few years but I can't stop fantasizing about what Josh could do with a player like that.

 

[Miguel]

I don't see Belichick spending 7+ million the the RB group with more than 1/2 on 1 guy. If he wants a vet I see Belichick making a run at Lamar Miller for @ 2.5 million he can run /catch ... he has great speed and most of all he's 24 years old. Belichick then could keep that unit under 6 million.

Where are you getting 7 million+?
2.575 is less than half of 7 million +.

 

[BTTA]

For those who want to go with a $1M RB again, consider this a $3M a year insurance policy for Brady. Brady might play until 2020. However, if we really want him to be effect for 2016-2018, Belichick should get him a RB.

I'd like this to be the principle on which decisions are made about the OL and the RB position.