Sign the Beast XVI -- Big Vince Wilfork!

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I don't think any pundits believe Wilfork will fetch 8M+. My guess is his best offer would be 5M at best or perhaps a 2 year deal for 8M with 5-6 guaranteed. I'd be surprised if the Patriots offered him anything more than $3.5M. I love Vince, but he is not trending in the right direction, and I don't think it will be a slow, graceful decline for someone of his size.

 

[Triumph]

 

[RayClay]

"In the second round, with the 40th pick, Patriots select NT Ron Brace..."

Yeah, if you're expecting to get a wilfork or Ngata in the second round, that's what you might get.

Even more than QB, which can be a crap shoot, you need to be picking top 15, or get lucky to get a dominating big DT.

 

[ausbacker]

He's no Vince Wilfork but could Alan Branch be an answer at DT/NT? An offseason conditioning program and further coaching in New England could help him realize his potential. You have to think he would be cheaper than Wilfork with age on his side.

 

[RxJock1120]

Can he rush the....nevermind.

Damn! You beat me to it...

 

[manxman2601]

He's no Vince Wilfork but could Alan Branch be an answer at DT/NT? An offseason conditioning program and further coaching in New England could help him realize his potential. You have to think he would be cheaper than Wilfork with age on his side.

Branch-Siliga-Easley-Chris Jones and a draft pick (we're all getting excited about Marcus Hardison in the draft forum) isn't a bad DL at all. Especially with Collins/Hightower behind them.

 

[RayClay]

He's no Vince Wilfork but could Alan Branch be an answer at DT/NT? An offseason conditioning program and further coaching in New England could help him realize his potential. You have to think he would be cheaper than Wilfork with age on his side.

And you have to wonder why he started only 3 games his first four years. icr guy and he's big, but he hasn't been nearly as dominating as his size playing with some decent linemen. With siliga and some relatively small linemen (Easley barely bigger than some of our linebackers). Maybe average at full strength.

Makes me wonder if anyone remembers the ten or twenty linemen we tried between Seymour's departure and Vince's injury? Gerard Warren was at least a decent backup and he was a third overall pick.

I wish I could find BB's quote and he heard it from someone else, concerning draft priorities. paraphrase "There are only so many athletic 300+ players in the world" meaning if you find one and he has the character, talent and work ethic, you need to grab him. We had two in Seymour and Wilfork.

 

[RayClay]

Branch-Siliga-Easley-Chris Jones and a draft pick (we're all getting excited about Marcus Hardison in the draft forum) isn't a bad DL at all. Especially with Collins/Hightower behind them.

Unknown. Might be better or worse than average.

I think people discount how the ability to stone runners and collapse the pocket makes our secondary greater than otherwise.

If we had a great draft for tackles and a top 15 pick, I might think otherwise, but there are only 2 DTs with first round grades. Makes me wonder, if all these 1-2 roundrs and less are so great, why one of them isn't even projected to crack the top 25 or so in a draft with 2 [not borderline] top picks.

Makes me think of all those great tight ends projected to be great picks because we needed one. Probably some depth DTs and projects, on a line already staffed with backups and a pass rusher.

 

[Patriots1364life]

D line wad already weak and now no big vince. It would be nice to have a player uupfront that can push the pocket.

 

[Ivan]

Wilfork can still be a valuable player both as a run stuffer and in some sub packages or big sets like the 8-3 look they gave the Seahawks on their final offensive play. He's a winner and a great leader, basically as good a guy as you would want on your team for all the right reasons. If he doesn't get more than 4 on the open market the Patriots would be smart to bring him back as a role player.

 

[IllegalContact]

Where are you getting $4m?

Regardless what VW wanted, what we know is that the Pats did not want to pay VW $4.5 roster bonus. That could mean that they could not afford him/$8m cap/not renego now or did not think his projected performance in 2015 was worth bringing back at a $4.5m minimum. Perhaps VW and team saw...

34 year old DT Darnell Dockett signed a 2yr/7m deal w/ SF and his 1st year comp is $4m.

28 year old Ricky Jean Francois signed 3/$9m w/ $4m in guarantees/cash value in 2015.

Since those players are not as good as VW, we assume VW's contract will be > $4m in 2015. There are 10 FA DTs ranked higher than VW that could possibly get more.

According to http://walterfootball.com/freeagents2015DT.php there are 10 players ranked higher than VW. I agree with a handful of them being better than VW. Their asking price could drop after the FA period rush, the draft and once OTAs and TC start.

You also have 5 DTs in the draft that are projected to go in the top 37 picks that would be potentially less than $4m.

the 4M came from somebody elses post you 'zeroed'

you still have not mentioned a single viable alternative as a solution to 2015........there's not a single DT in the draft that stands to impact for the pats like wilfork. when was the last time the pats had a rookie do as much as wilfork did last year?

so you're OK wiht the interior DL taking a huge step backwards next year?

 

[hwc]

so you're OK wiht the interior DL taking a huge step backwards next year?

I'm glad to see the Pats trying to upgrade the d-line. I thought it was the weakest part of the defense last season. Belichick has clearly been going in a different direction with the type of players he's been drafting. I think the d-line is in transition.

 

[RayClay]

I'm glad to see the Pats trying to upgrade the d-line. I thought it was the weakest part of the defense last season. Belichick has clearly been going in a different direction with the type of players he's been drafting. I think the d-line is in transition.

Do you know something i don't? What have they done to upgrade the D Line?

 

[hwc]

Drafted D-line in the first round last year. Released an aging vet with declining performance this year. It's a strong draft for DT, so I would expect to see the Pats go to the well again.

 

[RobertWeathers]

the 4M came from somebody elses post you 'zeroed'

I don't understand what you are driving at? Are you saying that the Pats made a drastic miscalculation and should have picked up VW option?

you still have not mentioned a single viable alternative as a solution to 2015........there's not a single DT in the draft that stands to impact for the pats like wilfork. when was the last time the pats had a rookie do as much as wilfork did last year?

Since Williams and Sheldon will be gone, you don't think Brown, Phillips, Goldman or Davis can stop the run and apply some pressure every now and then?

so you're OK wiht the interior DL taking a huge step backwards next year?

Why are you predisposing the d-line going backwards in 2015?

In the last two seasons the Pats have picked up Siliga and Alan Branch. They can find someone that can play in this system. I'm pretty positive that at least one of the run-stopping DT ranked highter or a bit lower than VW will play for or $4m/yr.

You are coming across like you think the Pats made horrible decision and crying over it.

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

2015 First Round
Patriots on the clock
Vince 34 years old still on the board .. (
You have to select a DT.
For the game to have fun , let's assume that Wilfork will remain the same player who was last year in the next five years, but he will be expensive - why 5 years? that is the contract time of a player who was chosen in the first round.
Who would you choose ? I will go with a rookie.
And you?

 

[RobertWeathers]

2015 First Round
Patriots on the clock
Vince 34 years old still on the board .. (
You have to select a DT.
For the game to have fun , let's assume that Wilfork will remain the same player who was last year in the next five years, but he will be expensive - why 5 years? that is the contract time of a player who was chosen in the first round.
Who would you choose ? I will go with a rookie.
And you?

Hes not a 1st round talent anymore. I'd pick someone else at 32.

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

Hes not a 1st round talent anymore. I'd pick someone else at 32.

Thats my point. Everybody loves Vince. But he is expensive compared to a rookie. He is NOT a first round talent anymore so we will upgrade the position.

 

[Jimke]

Wilfork will be back at a generous salary after the Patriots lose Revis, McCourty, and Vereen as
a face saving move by Bob Kraft.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

"In the first round" means a lot more for crap teams. You're picking at #32. You're also postulating a Pats war room that ever thinks "You have to go...(position)." Their strategy has been draft for value and disguise the weaknesses.

Replacing VW with a rookie seems like an unlikely solution. VW being worth the $8M cap hit was a non-starter. Bringing him back cheap might make more sense to the team than to VW. We can hope... I mean, that's the definition of off-season hope in off-seasons like this... "I hope guys will sign where the business dynamics say they shouldn't." I think somebody gives VW $5M at least on a one year deal, especially if they're long on cap dollars and short on run D.

What seems most likely is that we have to deal with a downgrade at DT/NT through free agency, at least until/unless a homegrown product springs out of a few shots in the draft crapshoot.

Even if VW comes back at a discount, we eventually face the dilemma. This is just a matter of a great player not lasting forever... and the business posing the question "Better to do it a year early or a year late?"