New England Patriots News 5-7, AFC East Notes
(PHOTO: Steve Balestrieri - PatsFans.com) 🕑 Read Time: 6 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots News
(PHOTO: Steve Balestrieri - PatsFans.com) 🕑 Read Time: 6 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Steve Balestrieri - PatsFans.com) Good morning, here are your Sunday’s Patriots news 5-7, & AFC East Notes.
Not that it will have any effect on the Patriots LS Joe Cardona, but the military did an about face on the issue on whether to allow US military service academies to pursue a professional sports career right out of school.
The Defense Department released a memo that states: “The Military Service Academies or Senior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs exist to develop future officers who enhance the readiness and lethality of our military services,” the memo says.
This is the second change that the Pentagon has enacted in the past two years and now the athletes graduating cannot defer their service obligations and will have to spend a minimum of two years as a military officer before heading off to the professional athletic career. This mostly affected Air Force WR Jalen Robinette who was expected to be a mid-round draft choice last weekend. Instead, he went undrafted.
Last year Cardona and Keenan Reynolds were allowed to enter the Ready Reserve or in Cardona’s case, he was assigned to the Naval Preparatory Academy in Newport, RI. Unfortunately, in Robinette’s case, he found out just hours before the NFL Draft began that he’d no longer be eligible for the deferment.
Butler Desperate to Get Paid, Not Traded:
A lot of people took a comment by CSNNE’s Mike Giardi and ran with it, in a case of 1+1 =4. Giardi, in a report on the Malcolm Butler developments this week, stated that Butler “desperately wanted to get traded to New Orleans.”
That set off a social media storm that drew the ire of a lot of fans and some of the sites that cover the team. Pump the brakes on that one folks. Butler desperately “wants to get paid” and if that is in New Orleans, New England or Timbuktu, so be it. He feels like he’s earned it and realizes that his career is as short as one play away.
Butler did the “good soldier” routine this week, [he’s been that for his entire career] and showed up for the “voluntary” off-season workouts at Gillette. It is hard to find fault with Butler and his feelings on this. Now the question is, with a lot of cap space left, do the Patriots extend him for 3-4 years and bump his pay into the $7-8 million range? It won’t be Gilmore money but could go a long way in mending fences.
Lifting the Veil on Tom Brady’s Personal Trainer, Alex Guerrero:
Julian Edelman calls him Mr. Miyagi, Danny Amendola calls him a wizard but Alex Guerrero is Tom Brady’s personal fitness guru and as much as many in the media would love to portray him as some kind of charlatan, many professional athletes have trusted their livelihoods to Guerrero including Brady, Wes Welker, and LaDainian Tomlinson.
His methods are unconventional but since Brady tore his ACL in the 2008 season opener, he’s been sold. Guerrero got him back in game shape in record time and he’s part of the TB12 clinic in Foxboro next to Gillette Stadium.
In this piece for Men’s Journal, the author who had crushed his heel in a rock climbing fall, seeks out Guerrero for treatment. It is an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at both Guerrero and the TB12 clinic. To read the entire article from Men’s Journal, click here:
Turning Tragedy into a Positive:
In a terrible, heartbreaking accident, former Ravens’ TE Todd Heap lost his daughter when he accidentally struck and killed his daughter, who would have turned 4 last week when moving his truck in their driveway.
He started the Hugs From Holly Day and the support from around the country and the NFL began. A total of 28 of the 32 NFL teams tweeted out their support for the Heap Family in their hour of need, including many of Heap’s former teammates.
Patriots “Three Games to Glory V” Released on DVD:
The Patriots are Super Bowl champions for the fifth time and their fifth in a series of behind the scenes videos “Three Games to Glory V” is now available for immediate purchase.
From the Patriots website, “fans can purchase “3 Games to Glory V” at the Patriots ProShop at Patriot Place in Foxborough, Mass. or online here. Blu-ray discs will be sold for $49.99 while DVDs are available for $39.99. It will also be sold via digital download.”
Digital downloads straight from I-Tunes cost $12.99. And they are the must-see films for any Patriots fan. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gift idea? Free advertising from us to the Patriots…LOL. But seriously, you won’t be sorry.
Kraft Unloads on Other Owners ‘Envy and Jealously’ in Deflategate Rant:
Patriots owner Robert Kraft ire was directed at his fellow owners this week rather than Roger Goodell. He called the Deflategate investigation and punishment “nonsense and foolishness” and vowed to never forget, calling out his fellow owners.
“Envy and jealousy are incurable diseases”, Kraft said via an interview on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” in an interview with Andrea Kremer via USA TODAY. “I’m going into my 24th season as an owner. I’m passionate about owning a football team in my hometown.”
“If I hadn’t won, I would be so angry at our folks and thinking about what we’d have to do [to win a title]. So, our competitors, I understand how they brought pressure on the league office to be very strong and [lobbied] not to compromise on an issue that was nonsense and foolishness.”
CBS Sports, “Patriots Won Draft Before It Even Began”:
An interesting piece concerning the Patriots was written by Will Brinson this week as to their approach to the 2017 NFL Draft. Brinson thought that Bill Belichick had done a great job before the draft had even begun.
The Pats strolled into the NFL Draft late in the second day, not even making a pick until the third round. But don’t let that fool you into believing that Belichick and Co. weren’t active. They just took a different approach to “drafting” players, which might become a more common thing in a copycat league. It might be Moneyball, if indeed acquiring talented young veterans for upcoming draft choices is an inefficiency.
That contrasts sharply with the way that some media members from Boston lambasted Belichick’s approach. But that isn’t anything new there. Brinson’s entire piece can be read here:
East Bound and Down…AFC East Notes:
Bills Decline 5th Year Option on Watkins, Interview Brown for GM:
The Buffalo Bills have declined the 5th year option on talented but oft-injured Sammy Watkins which may open the door for him to play his way right out of Buffalo.
The Bills gave up a lot to draft Watkins, but he’s battled injuries his entire career. Now they’re basically daring him to stay healthy and have the kind of monster season that was forecast for him since he entered the league. He could still conceivably return to Buffalo in 2018, but the cost will be much higher.
The Bills are also interviewing former Patriots scouting assistant Trey Brown for the vacant GM job. Brown spent four years with New England and Philly as a scout before becoming the Eagles Director of College Scouting in 2016.
Gase Believes Miami is Better Now, In the 2nd Year of his System:
The Miami Dolphins made some nice moves in the draft and during free agency but as for Adam Gase, his belief that the Dolphins are better now than a year ago stems from a different reason.
In a piece by Armando Salguero for the Miami Herald Gase spelled it out for the media.
“But I think the different feel for myself and a lot of the guys in the building — even the players — is you know our routine a little bit. And there’s a little different swagger about what our guys have right now in a positive way. There’s no indecision about what they’re supposed to do, how they’re supposed to do it, what they’re responsible for. Guys can get from Point A to Point B kind of quick. There’s no issue with gray in our building right now. Guys are wired in to what we want to do. That’s not what you want to hear, but there’s a different feel with what we’ve got going on right now, day in and day out.”
This is just the kind of small, under the radar reason why it makes you think that the Dolphins got it right this time.
ArDarius Stewart Brings “Awesomeness” to the Jets:
The New York Jets drafted the talented ArDarius Stewart from Alabama with the 82nd pick in the 3rd Round of the NFL Draft last weekend. And the rookie certainly doesn’t suffer from a lack of confidence. When he conducted a conference call with the Jets media, he didn’t hold back.
“I’m bringing a load of, you know, awesomeness,” Stewart said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
Coach Todd Bowles gushed about Stewart as well. “When I went to see him work out, his route running was a lot better than it showed on film because they only did certain things,” Bowles said. “He’s tough, he brings a lot of attitude to the game and he plays it the right way. We really thought he could help us.”
The Jets will be looking for Stewart to take a big role this season. With Brandon Marshall gone and Eric Decker trying to come back from two serious injuries, the opportunities will be there for Stewart to have a big impact in 2017.
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at [email protected]
Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcasts on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and myself from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news Wednesdays at 12 noon.
SITE SEARCH