My Blueprint for the Defense

[mayoclinic]

And so it begins. First sign of a major shakeup on defense: Steve Gregory released, per Albert Breer on Twitter:

Per agent @davidcanter, Patriots have informed S Steve Gregory he will be released today.

Not a huge shocker IMO, though I wasn't expecting it before June at the earliest, and I wouldn't have predicted Gregory cut before Isaac Sapoaga. I always had Gregory in the "could be cut if they needed the cap relief for something, or later on if he's passed up by the competition" category.

I guess the Pats had a different plan in mind.

 

[zimmy]

I don't try and pretend I know how the Pats work but surely Adrian Wilson was the first safety up to be cut.

I don't mind Gregory getting cut. He was a solid piece but not the answer at safety. Surprised it was this early as Bill and the players always spoke highly of him.

Surely Sopoaga can't be far behind.

 

[mayoclinic]

I don't try and pretend I know how the Pats work but surely Adrian Wilson was the first safety up to be cut.

I don't mind Gregory getting cut. He was a solid piece but not the answer at safety. Surprised it was this early as Bill and the players always spoke highly of him.

Surely Sopoaga can't be far behind.

Miguel currently projects we have just over $15M in cap space using a league-wide cap of $133M. Cutting Sapoaga and Wilson adds another $3M+.

The time for teams to start negotiating with FAs starts in a week. Monday is the deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag, and no team has applied the tag yet. Philly and Baltimore have announced some big-name re-signings and extensions (Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Riley Cooper, Dennis Pitta).

I think we'll see the Pats start to line up their own FAs fairly soon. They have the cap space to re-sign Talib, Edelman and Blount and have a chunk left over, which they can easily augment before FA starts. The Wilfork situation is the "elephant in the room" that also needs to be addressed, IMO.

 

[Coach42]

Miguel currently projects we have just over $15M in cap space using a league-wide cap of $133M. Cutting Sapoaga and Wilson adds another $3M+.

The time for teams to start negotiating with FAs starts in a week. Monday is the deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag, and no team has applied the tag yet. Philly and Baltimore have announced some big-name re-signings and extensions (Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Riley Cooper, Dennis Pitta).

I think we'll see the Pats start to line up their own FAs fairly soon. They have the cap space to re-sign Talib, Edelman and Blount and have a chunk left over, which they can easily augment before FA starts. The Wilfork situation is the "elephant in the room" that also needs to be addressed, IMO.

Wilforks contract is definitely the elephant in the room right now but, with the cap now at 133 Mil rather than the projected 126 an extension seems like a realistic possibility now.

 

[mayoclinic]

Wilforks contract is definitely the elephant in the room right now but, with the cap now at 133 Mil rather than the projected 126 an extension seems like a realistic possibility now.

An extension makes all the sense in the world if you think Wilfork can come back to a meaningful level, and none if you think he can't. I just don't see how the Pats can make an assessment of that at this early juncture.

 

[Off The Grid]

Could mean that Pryor falls to us at #29.

I have yet to see the New England Patriots cut safety Steve Gregory let alone Adrian Wilson.

Yes, the concept of upgrading the scrub before cutting the scrub loose can be very confusing to some.

Steve Gregory released, per Albert Breer on Twitter:

I have yet to see the New England Patriots cut safety Steve Gregory let alone Adrian Wilson.

You were saying??http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa9tARqY7mEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa9tARqY7mEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa9tARqY7mE

 

[mayoclinic]

You were saying...??

BB obviously lives in fantasy, not reality. :boink:

 

[everlong]

The time for teams to start negotiating with FAs starts in a week. Monday is the deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag, and no team has applied the tag yet.

Y! SPORTS

Graham tagged.

 

[Coach42]

An extension makes all the sense in the world if you think Wilfork can come back to a meaningful level, and none if you think he can't. I just don't see how the Pats can make an assessment of that at this early juncture.

I think there is more to it than that. He's leadership and role on the team etc. etc. I think they'd extend him based on those intangibles and be ecstatic if he came back at 75%.

 

[mayoclinic]

I think there is more to it than that. He's leadership and role on the team etc. etc. I think they'd extend him based on those intangibles and be ecstatic if he came back at 75%.

They just cut a guy today lauded for his leadership, work ethic and football smarts, because he just wasn't very effective and had a $3.5M cap hit.

Gregory's obviously no Wilfork. But Wilfork at 75% isn't worth the cap hit, IMO.

 

[everlong]

But Wilfork at 75% isn't worth the cap hit, IMO.

Especially since Siliga is 75% of Wilfork at pennies on the dollar.

 

[manxman2601]

So for all the talk about needs at TE or DT, I can actually see safety being the position they double dip at this year. Maybe a LB/S prospect like Shazier and then a Cb\S type like Brock Vereen, Exum, Brooks, Fuller.

 

[mayoclinic]

So for all the talk about needs at TE or DT, I can actually see safety being the position they double dip at this year. Maybe a LB/S prospect like Shazier and then a Cb\S type like Brock Vereen, Exum, Brooks, Fuller.

For me personally, if Donald is out of reach (including a trade up), then it probably comes down to Hageman vs. Shazier, and I'd probably go Shazier (and then try to get Easley later on). Both have freakish athleticism, but I think Shazier is much more likely to realize it on a consistent basis. I think if you added Shazier as a LB/S and then added a CB/S like Exum (Fuller would be a dream, but I'm not sure how we could get Shazier and Fuller) then you would have a very, very different defense in the middle of the field.

 

[Coach42]

For me personally, if Donald is out of reach (including a trade up), then it probably comes down to Hageman vs. Shazier, and I'd probably go Shazier (and then try to get Easley later on). Both have freakish athleticism, but I think Shazier is much more likely to realize it on a consistent basis. I think if you added Shazier as a LB/S and then added a CB/S like Exum (Fuller would be a dream, but I'm not sure how we could get Shazier and Fuller) then you would have a very, very different defense in the middle of the field.

Is Shazier in the first a better value than Christian Jones in the third? I personally would like to see the DL double dip.

 

[mayoclinic]

Is Shazier in the first a better value than Christian Jones in the third? I personally would like to see the DL double dip.

No, I'd probably go with Jones in the 3rd, or Tripp in the 4th. But I wouldn't be unhappy with Shazier.

 

[manxman2601]

For me personally, if Donald is out of reach (including a trade up), then it probably comes down to Hageman vs. Shazier, and I'd probably go Shazier (and then try to get Easley later on). Both have freakish athleticism, but I think Shazier is much more likely to realize it on a consistent basis. I think if you added Shazier as a LB/S and then added a CB/S like Exum (Fuller would be a dream, but I'm not sure how we could get Shazier and Fuller) then you would have a very, very different defense in the middle of the field.

Shazier and Hageman were my thinking too on our first round pick. I think Fuller, because he's the type of player BB would like , is an outside bet, but a longshot. My alternative would be to trade back and pick up Tuitt and ASJ in the 2nd and then something along the lines of Exum and Bitonio in the third and then double dip on Tripp/KPL later for real upside at LB (throw in Logan Thomas as well).

 

[manxman2601]

Is Shazier in the first a better value than Christian Jones in the third? I personally would like to see the DL double dip.

No, I'd probably go with Jones in the 3rd, or Tripp in the 4th. But I wouldn't be unhappy with Shazier.

Personally think that Shazier is on another level athletically but value comes into it too and Hageman/Tuitt -ASJ-Jones/Tripp might make more sense than going with Shazier in the first. But, Adding Shazier would mean adding a rare athlete and, like Mayo, I'm down with that.

 

[stelfans]

Shazier and Hageman were my thinking too on our first round pick. I think Fuller, because he's the type of player BB would like , is an outside bet, but a longshot. My alternative would be to trade back and pick up Tuitt and ASJ in the 2nd and then something along the lines of Exum and Bitonio in the third and then double dip on Tripp/KPL later for real upside at LB (throw in Logan Thomas as well).

Thats a very good plan.
Shazier would be an awesome pick, brings that Talib/seattle like attitude to the defense.

Im excited/curious to know what they'll do to fill that SS spot.

 

[captain stone]

Especially since Siliga is 75% of Wilfork at pennies on the dollar.

The more I've thought about it, the more I'm convinced that Wilfork needs to be cut outright
and immediately. If, as the off-season continues, Wilfork shows signs that his rehabilitation
is progressing to the point that his availability at an acceptable level of proficiency is more
likely than unlikely, then a new, more realistic contract can be negotiated. If he happens to
sign with someone else in the meantime, then Thanks for for your service and Good Luck
(unless it's Miami).

 

[mayoclinic]

The more I've thought about it, the more I'm convinced that Wilfork needs to be cut outright
and immediately. If, as the off-season continues, Wilfork shows signs that his rehabilitation
is progressing to the point that his availability at an acceptable level of proficiency is more
likely than unlikely, then a new, more realistic contract can be negotiated. If he happens to
sign with someone else in the meantime, then Thanks for for your service and Good Luck
(unless it's Miami).

That's been my position for a while now.

The only real alternative that I see to that is restructuring Wilfork's remaining base salary to a lower base with incentives that appreciably lowers his current cap hit and still gives the team the option of cutting him and recouping all of his $7.5M current base salary. I think that there's no way the team can evaluate at this time whether Wilfork will be able to come back at a meaningful level and how soon, so to do anything else would be very, very risky.