Patriots Sign WR Britt to 2-Year Deal

[dafoe2016]

Maybe you can invest your billions in Kale futures instead of sports.

You lack character. Got it. You could have just said that instead of spewing nonsense.

 

[VJCPatriot]

to address the 'hands of stone' allegations. I feel they are overblown.

When Britt played for the Rams he had 111 targets, 1,002 yards and 61.3% catch rate.

Edelman in 2016, one of the most sure handed Pats receivers, had 159 targets, 1,106 yards and a 61.6% catch rate.

Now to put that in perspective, Edelman's best catch rates are more in the 68-69% catch rates so last year was not his best year catching the football even though he piled up over 1,000 yards.

Britt on the other hand is more likely to regress back to around a 57% catch rate but that's hardly a bad percentage, depending on the type of routes you are asking him to run.

As others have mentioned, confidence, both on the part of the receiver and that of the quarterback are more important than the stats we just went over. If Brady can develop some comfort with Britt, and Britt can get used to running a handful of routes and being in the right place at the right time, he will become a useful weapon.

Considering we don't have a lot of size or health at WR, the backshoulder throw or jump ball to Britt might become quite the useful outlet. Especially in the red zone where we don't have a lot of big receiving options outside of Gronk.

 

[Ross12]

I posted it into one of the Britt threads yesterday but who can keep track of all of them. As Schefter says we will pay the pro-rated minimum which adds up to around 170k I think for this year. Since the second year is a team option he has no effect on comp picks and if goes on to sign somewhere else for a big contract he would count for our comp picks next year.

Wow, what the hell? That’s incredibly team friendly... I can’t help but think he would’ve been paid more by at least one or two other teams so he definitely wanted to come to NE most, then. I know he already got paid handsomely by Cleveland but he still could’ve gotten paid again.

 

[dafoe2016]

Idiots sure are easily amused.

 

[RayClay]

You lack character. Got it. You could have just said that instead of spewing nonsense.

You're probably the worst poster here, if you aren't a Russian bot.

 

[RayClay]

Idiots sure are easily amused.

I'm glad you at least had a laugh.

 

[dafoe2016]

Clearly I was talking about the idiot who left a laughing emoji like a 10 year old girl. Unlike you, I have an IQ above 90 and realize that there was nothing funny about my comment.

And if I'm the worst poster here, go ahead and block me. I promise I wont mind.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I have no problem with people who only want to cheer for choir boys. For those people, though there are issues. The first issue with that, of course, is that not even all choir boys are choir boys, so to speak. The second, and more relevant, issue with that is that, if you're looking for professional athletes to be choir boys, you're going to have to stop following team sports. Basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer, etc.... all have some number of problematic players on pretty much every team.

I do have a problem with the people who "root for the laundry" when it comes time for trades or contract negotiations or the like (the "How dare you choose Brady/Gronk/Mankins/Seymour/whomever over the team?!" kind of people), but turn around and ***** about the character of the players the teams signs. If you're going to just cheer for the laundry, then you should not be complaining even if the team roster is comprised of 53 paroled ax murderers.

"people who only want to cheer for choir boys" is an issue for me. And the reason is because they almost always are under a false premise, a false premise which is largely summed up with "not even all choir boys are choir boys" (and some portrayed as non choir boys are actually closer to choir boys than is known). Anyone who thinks the Patriots have or do field only players that are "decent human beings" are living in a fool's paradise. They either don't know or don't want to know of the very real underbelly of sports as well as some of the players (and coaches) out on the field/standing on the sideline. But for me it goes even further than that. Some players come from the very roughest places and/or under most difficult upbringing circumstances. What is a "decent human being" will have different meaning to someone raised in circumstances that are, to put it nicely, terribly rough. So maybe their reference point of "decent" isn't the same as yours or mine, does that make them reprehensible that is irredeemable? I don't know much of Britt's actions (just the headlines) but he has done some things that are concerning. Yet to the best of my knowledge he hasn't tied an old lady to the train tracks or burned down an orphanage. So, and admittedly this is subjective and just IMHO, the better story to root for is someone given an opportunity for redemption and succeeds at it. Kind of a 'It's A Wonderful Life' except with law breaking, tackling dummies, touchdowns and an injury list.

Regarding laundry versus the player? It's a good philosophical discussion that is far too deep for the amount of, what I'll call, special holiday witch's brew egg nog I've already had

 

[Oswlek]

There was definitely more going wrong than just this catch. But if he hangs on to the ball maybe it gets him going a bit and he can built on that. Confidence is a fickle thing..

There were actually two bad slants - a pick and an almost-pick. Given that they didn't trust him to run much else, I agree that those two failures were what led NE to pull the plug.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I don't know if I'd call'm a bad dude. Sounds like a compliment.

I don't give a rat's ass about his Rap Sheet.

He's a horrible teammate and he's lazy.

No way in Hell I'd let'm befoul my locker room.

But Mad Bill's entitled to my support.

That's why brother OTG, you don't give Britt unpalatable $ guarantees .
I did a quick lookup and Britt has bagged a serious amount of cash this year. Now he's making 150k with the Patriots. If this season is about the money then he needs to fire his agent and/or his accountant. This appears to be about future money -- as in (A) showing all teams not in Cleveland that he can be a good teammate and a productive player, (B) snagging one more good contract next year or in 2018 (the other possibility being he now just wants to win).

So either Britt is signaling he's here on the Patriots to show something good on the field/in the locker room, or his agent convinced the Patriots he is here to show something good on the field/in the locker room. We will find out relatively soon and his contract provides him almost no room for error.

I tell you this, based on age as well as the prevailing opinion on him and the comments about him out of Cleveland? If Britt causes an issue here his chances of ever getting another sweet contract are all but gone. So if in fact he is inherently a 'problem' then this is quite a big test for him. Is being a 'problem' something he cannot control or is he sufficiently self aware to understand which way the wind is blowing and capable of adjusting his actions accordingly over an extended period?

 

[supafly]

There were actually two bad slants - a pick and an almost-pick. Given that they didn't trust him to run much else, I agree that those two failures were what led NE to pull the plug.

Yes, you’re correct that it was 2 really bad routes and at the time, it was a close postseason game. One of them was the INT. Couple that with the 1-2 penalties and Brady having to tell him more than once where to line up, and he really didn’t show anything for us to believe that he was going to pan out, here. That’s why he was only active in a total of three games during his stay, and none of that is bringing up the off the field issues, either.

 

[RayClay]

Clearly I was talking about the idiot who left a laughing emoji like a 10 year old girl. Unlike you, I have an IQ above 90 and realize that there was nothing funny about my comment.

And if I'm the worst poster here, go ahead and block me. I promise I wont mind.

No, I'm easily amused too.

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[Ring 6]

Hard to know whether it was the icing on the cake or just so bad of a play that he simply couldn’t be trusted anymore. I’m going with the former, considering that he had some moments where he didn’t line up properly as well as a costly penalty or two, and he only played in three games.

Mitchell getting healthy was the reason

 

[RIpats88]

this is for the red-zone IMO. Fades and getting open. he is a bigger player who has a bigger catch radius.

 

[RayClay]

To summarize Britt's lengthy rap sheet as a bad-ass criminal type:

Jan 2010: Arrested for outstanding traffic tickets in Bayonne. Paid $865 fine.
Aug 2010: Cited for driving on a revoked license in Nashville (misdemeanor).

Feb 2011: Two bail bondsmen accused Britt of not paying up for a friend of his who'd skipped. Britt paid up.

Apr 2011: Charged with eluding apprehension when a NJ cop tried to stop him for speeding (71 mph in a 50 mph zone). Pled guilty to careless driving and paid a $478 fine.

June 2011: Hoboken Police arrested him for smoking a blunt in his car while going through the car wash. Charged with resisting arrest for what amounted to OPI. Pled guilty to disturbing the peace and paid a $1500 fine.

July 2012: Arrested for DUI in Kentucky. Found not guilty at trial. Goodell suspended him for one game anyway.

Jan 2013: Transported a friend who'd been stabbed to the hospital. Initially refused to make an official statement to police officers on the scene.

I'm not trying to say that Britt is an innocent babe in the woods (although, by Bayonne standards he probably is). It's just that Britt has a media-driven "reputation" for his "criminal record", but there's more than one way to look at that record.

Seriously, I've personally done worse and paid less in fines.

Britt's most recent infraction was for missing team curfew (along with Corey Coleman).

Sheldon Richardson committed more serious crimes in one trip to the store with his nephew.

 

[RayClay]

Just to clarify about Hollister - he's very eager and capable as a blocker, he just too frequently blows his assignment and blocks the wrong guy - which has blown up more than one play that I've seen. I think the one he effed up Monday night that got him benched was in the Red Zone and more or less cost the Pats 4 points.

He's very green. I would never play him in front of a veteran receiver or TE who is productive. His effort is good, but we're talking post season soon.

 

[RayClay]

Clearly I was talking about the idiot who left a laughing emoji like a 10 year old girl. Unlike you, I have an IQ above 90 and realize that there was nothing funny about my comment.

And if I'm the worst poster here, go ahead and block me. I promise I wont mind.

Congratulations on your IQ test. 91 isn't that bad.

 

[RayClay]

By the way, didn't we used to have the option to delete posts? If I'm missing it could someone clue me in? Thanks

 

[Mack Herron]

By the way, didn't we used to have the option to delete posts? If I'm missing it could someone clue me in? Thanks

Mine disappeared. Mistakes no longer permitted.