Patriots to meet with Nick Fairley

[ropese]

Very disappointed. Pats showed interest two years in a row. He has the same agent as WR Nate Washington. Have to believe they knew the ballpark contract parameters it would take.

 

[JMC00]

Don't get how the saints are doing it. Overthecap has them only $800k under the cap.. Guess there is going to be a few restructures coming

 

[Jimke]

This is the best draft in many years for defensive tackles. Supposed to be quite deep. Use pick #60 or #61
for the best available defensive tackle. Should land a good one.

 

[primetime]

Wouldn't be unhappy with a cheap signing like Knighton, Melton, or DeVito.

 

[JMC00]

Melton

I think Melton would be a solid option. Not the best run stopping DT but a very solid pass rushing one.

 

[primetime]

I think Melton would be a solid option. Not the best run stopping DT but a very solid pass rushing one.

Not known as a good locker room guy, though. Dallas got sick of him and cut him loose.

 

[Kontradiction]

Don't get how the saints are doing it. Overthecap has them only $800k under the cap.. Guess there is going to be a few restructures coming

It's the same reason they keep getting into the same situation. They're playing with Monopoly money when it comes to the cap.

 

[Rob0729]

My guess is that Fairley will be guaranteed a bigger role in the Saints' defense. That might have been the biggest factor in his decision to go to the Saints.

 

[zipster9]

Fairley will get more $$$ with the Saints. This is always the case.

When a player says "play for a playoff contender is my primary goal" they don't "walk the walk".

Saints are duds. I guess Fairley is too..

Draft time or give Knighton a try? He is good in run D as well.

March 25 2016

The Patriots’ only significant free agent departure of the offseason was defensive tackle Akiem Hicks. Fairley figured to be a slimmer but similar player to Hicks. If the Patriots are still kicking tires on defensive linemen, Terrance “Pot Roast” Knighton remains on the board. He played well in 2015 for the Redskins on a one-year, $4M deal but hasn’t hooked on with anyone yet.

 

[Huckleberry1]

They can address it in the draft..

 

[Ross12]

So wait a minute.

Hicks was a good for nothing washed out talent in New Orleans, gets traded to NE mid season and has a resurgence, then gets a payday in the offseason.

So Fairley looks at this, has the option to go to NE where Hicks had his resurgence, or NO where Hicks was washing out, and said "hey, New Orleans is the place for me!"

I'm glad we didn't sign him, if that's the case...

 

[Ross12]

At this point, I think they should target DT in the draft since it's supposedly a deep draft for that position, and allocate whatever resources they had planned for Fairley towards depth at OL, RB or CB.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Doug Kyed Retweeted
Ian Rapoport ?@RapSheet 2m2 minutes ago
#Patriots will be out on DT Nick Fairley, an indication he's expected to sign with #Saints. Should be a huge addition to their defense.

Oh well. Draft is deep with DT and Fairley isn't exactly a world beater. He would have been a nice rotational player here.

 

[heavyde050]

This is the best draft in many years for defensive tackles. Supposed to be quite deep. Use pick #60 or #61
for the best available defensive tackle. Should land a good one.

Why not sign a good one (in Fairley) and use the draft picks on other areas of need.

I don't get why they wouldn't sign him especially after Hicks left. I guess I will need to wait to see the contract.

 

[heavyde050]

At this point, I think they should target DT in the draft since it's supposedly a deep draft for that position, and allocate whatever resources they had planned for Fairley towards depth at OL, RB or CB.

I think the smarter play would have been sign Fairley and allocate draft resources to the above positions.
Only time will tell. If they do use their first pick on a DT that will be three years in a row.

 

[ashley]

Was hoping he would have signed here, would have provided a pretty nice rotation, now probably going to have to use one of our picks on a D-Lineman.

 

[BlueThunder]

Not sure what difference it makes on which positions that BB signs during FA and what positions are drafted. BB will most likely draft BPA or move out to obtain additional draft picks. Would Fairley be a nice addition...maybe....but Pats have already addressed TE,LB, OL and depth at DE, RB and WR (Long, Brown, Hogan & Washington). I think I'll trust BB's judgements on $$$ value and player by position.

With 4 picks in the top 96, there is plenty of ammo to get the one or two players that BB covets...if there even is one.....

 

[TinhWoodhead]

Not known as a good locker room guy, though. Dallas got sick of him and cut him loose.

he had some Melt-downs huh

 

[patfanken]

For Fairly, I'm guessing the decision came down to a couple of things. Would you rather live in Foxboro or New Orleans? Would you want to make the most money? But mostly I think it came down to, do you want to be THE guy or A guy? In NE he'd end up being a rotational guy who gets 35-45% of the snaps. In NO he'll be getting over 70% if he's healthy

Also remember that playing in NE means working harder than most teams do. Bill makes it clear to everyone who comes here that it isn't for everyone, and that doesn't make you a bad person if it isn't for you.

Right now I'm not worried about DT as much as some. There have been many years when we have gone into seasons not as good as we are right now.

Brown - He might have been our best all round DT at the end of the year.....and there is no reason to believe that we aren't going to see a jump in his play this season

Easely - He was among the most productive pass rushing DT's in the league last season on a per play basis. Health is going to always be an issue with this kid, but the fact is, that we he is on the field, he's as good as anyone at what he does well. We've had a ton of guys like him to seem like they are always injured until.....they are not. (Edelman, etc) If you are going into a season ASSUMING injury, you might as well call off the season.

Branch- Solid and dependable as long as you aren't asking for a full time gig. But as a rotational guy, he's a proven commodity.

Now the issue will be to find the 4th guy in that rotation and depth. It could be Chris Jones, who showed a lot of quickness and pass rush from the position 2 years ago. It could be a draft pick or another FA or one of the no name guys who will be on the 90 man roster who rise to the challenge

But to me, we are starting with 3 guys who are better than some of the players we have gone to superbowls with. Filling in the next 2 guys with solid role players should NOT require a great leap of faith. Fairley would have been a nice addition to the group, but it didn't happen. I'm not going to jump of the building or gnash my teeth because of it. On to the next guy.

 

[Marqui]

Need to bring in Henry Melton now.

Or Terrance Knighton.