On several threads I've heard people wondering if this is a rebuilding year. Answer: No. Here's why....
We've just lost about 4 starters to free agency: AV, Givens (when healthy), McGinest, and let's say Neal-Ashworth (assumes we keep one, lose one). I think the rest of our starters are back. A team has about 25 starters (I count K, P, and long snapper, and make the dubious assumption that the rest of special teams are replaceable. Salaries prove they're at least less crucial.) So we just lost 16% of our starters.
If the average NFL career was 6 years, you would need to replace 16% of your starters each year. But the average career is shorter than that! (To be honest, maybe for starters it's longer. I don't know how to get data on that.)
Conclusion: It's normal to lose 4 starters every year. To really be in rebuilding mode in the sport of football, you'd have to ditch about 8-10 starters in my opinion. Plus, backups play a bigger role on the Pats than with some other teams (and definitely compared to some other sports). We still have Jarvis Green, Kevin Faulk, Samuel-Gay-Hobbs (whichever doesn't start), Pass, Graham-Watson (if only one starts), etc. Furthermore, by January the Pats were tied for the best team in football.
Please stop saying it's a rebuilding year!
We've just lost about 4 starters to free agency: AV, Givens (when healthy), McGinest, and let's say Neal-Ashworth (assumes we keep one, lose one). I think the rest of our starters are back. A team has about 25 starters (I count K, P, and long snapper, and make the dubious assumption that the rest of special teams are replaceable. Salaries prove they're at least less crucial.) So we just lost 16% of our starters.
If the average NFL career was 6 years, you would need to replace 16% of your starters each year. But the average career is shorter than that! (To be honest, maybe for starters it's longer. I don't know how to get data on that.)
Conclusion: It's normal to lose 4 starters every year. To really be in rebuilding mode in the sport of football, you'd have to ditch about 8-10 starters in my opinion. Plus, backups play a bigger role on the Pats than with some other teams (and definitely compared to some other sports). We still have Jarvis Green, Kevin Faulk, Samuel-Gay-Hobbs (whichever doesn't start), Pass, Graham-Watson (if only one starts), etc. Furthermore, by January the Pats were tied for the best team in football.
Please stop saying it's a rebuilding year!