Projection of 2018 Roster

[maineman209]

I still think the interior offensive line needs work. An upgrade at center, for starters.

Seriously?

Andrews was almost universally ranked among the top-10 Centers in the league in 2017, and, at $1.65M in 2018, will be only the 20th highest paid in the league.

 

[maineman209]

If we c


Didnt he already win it all? Anyway, he is 30 this spring and coming off a major injury. Maybe we will take a gamble on him, who knows.
Agree on Talib, he burned his bridges here.

If Sherman is cut, SEA saves about $11M in cap space. There's been some discussion regarding the possibility that he might be converted to safety here, not all that far-fetched an idea.

The Seahawks use similar coverage schemes, and Sherman has played a "safety-ish" role at times in those. He also has pretty high football IQ, but there are questions about his assignment discipline.

He's been reported as having said that he'd love to play for BB. If he's willing to sign cheaply enough, at least in terms of his 2018 cap hit ......

 

[Urgent]

Amazing when you look at that group of 11-12 players on contract that could come back from IR.

Impressive that you can build a 53-man roster with no outside free agents that still looks like a competitive team.

 

[maineman209]

Pats are only 13 million under the cap as of now. Cutting Branch, bennett, harris, and gillislee should give an additional 13 million.

From Miguel's Cap Information on Twitter

2018 Cap Information

Branch = $2.67M net
Bennett = $5.71M net
Harris = $1.65M net
Gillislee = $1.63M net

About $11.66M total

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Seriously?

Andrews was almost universally ranked among the top-10 Centers in the league in 2017, and, at $1.65M in 2018, will be only the 20th highest paid in the league.

I guess I was thinking more Shaq Mason - he’s a bit undersized. But does Andrews have the ideal strength? I don’t know.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

Free up 2 million to walk away from Shea Mcclein unless he plays for close to league minimum with his injury history I don't see him getting his normal salary what do you guys think?

 

[maineman209]

the defensive line got bullied by the eagles o_line, so hopefully add one or two big body DTs.

It's been noted that both the Pats DL and the Eagles DL were being egregiously held all game and not one flag was thrown.

 

[maineman209]

I guess I was thinking more Shaq Mason - he’s a bit undersized. But does Andrews have the ideal strength? I don’t know.

Mason was even better than Andrews, both in pass-pro and run-blocking.

"Ideal" is difficult to acquire and very rarely cheap.

 

[drewskie]

I hope we get one of Sherman or Talib to pair with Gilmore.

You guys think we keep Burkhead but let Dion go?

 

[maineman209]

Free up 2 million to walk away from Shea Mcclein unless he plays for close to league minimum with his injury history I don't see him getting his normal salary what do you guys think?

Cutting McClellin would save $1.87M net - IF he's been medically cleared. Otherwise, it could cost the Pats another $1.15M in CBA-mandated injury protection benefit, as I understand it.

Same would apply to Bennett if he's cut before being medically cleared.

 

[mgteich]

I still think the interior offensive line needs work. An upgrade at center, for starters.

Obviously, every position is subject to upgrade.

However, we are not replacing Andrews and Karras at center. We have much, much, much more important places to upgrade.

We need to add an OT if both Solder and Garcia aren't in our future.

And sure, we can always use a player with potential as a backup guard, to replace Coleston. However, I'm fine with Colton as a backup.

 

[maineman209]

I hope we get one of Sherman or Talib to pair with Gilmore.

You guys think we keep Burkhead but let Dion go?

I'm guessing that the market will determine what happens with Burkhead and Lewis to at least some degree. The Pats will (can) only go so high for either of them. It seems to me that Lewis might get more (and higher) offers.

It also depends on how much both these guys realize that their success running the ball this season was greatly due to running behind an elite run-blocking OL ably-assisted by Dwayne Allen and Gronk. If either chases the dollars with another team, they should hope that OL is as good, and/or get a significant chunk of guaranteed cash up front.

 

[mgteich]

I hope we get one of Sherman or Talib to pair with Gilmore.

You guys think we keep Burkhead but let Dion go?

yes

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

I hope we get one of Sherman or Talib to pair with Gilmore.

You guys think we keep Burkhead but let Dion go?

Hope not love Lewis
Burkhead is a consultation prize compared to him

 

[Ivan]

I guess I was thinking more Shaq Mason - he’s a bit undersized. But does Andrews have the ideal strength? I don’t know.

Shaq Mason was their best OL this season.

 

[tasmlab]

I made an attempt to project the 2018 roster based on boring, conservative, and optimistic offseason assumptions. The team gets back all injured players at full health to choose from. We say goodbye to the veteran stopgaps like Harris, Britt, Bennett, and Harrison. We resign Solder but let some good FA players like Dion Lewis go (Just guessing). Of course Malcolm Butler is gone, Alan Branch too. I put Gillislee in the "gone" category, but who knows? We make no major trades involving draft picks or current players. Gronk doesn't retire.

I assigned 6 roster slots to "Draft Pick", but as we know rookie FA's might make the team as well, and some draft picks will not. I numbered the draft picks according to my perception of need. I assume the Pats will draft a QB to groom and keep Hoyer. Please note that there are some players I'd rather keep that I listed as gone rather than some players I've listed as on the roster, like Lewis and Amendola, but I'm just trying to think like Bill with regards to age and salary.

Given all that, here's what next season's opening day 53-Man roster might look like. 11 returning injured players in blue, 6 Draft Picks (or UDFA) in red.

QB, Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer, Draft Pick 2
HB, Rex Burkhead, James White, Brandon Bolden
FB, James Develin
WR, Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett
WR, Julian Edelman, Malcolm Mitchell, Matthew Slater
LT, Nate Solder, Antonio Garcia
LG, Joe Thuney, Draft Pick 6
C, David Andrews, Ted Karras
RG, Shaq Mason
RT, Marcus Cannon, LaAdrian Waddle or Cameron Fleming
TE, Rob Gronkowski, Dwayne Allen, Jacob Hollister

LDE, Deatrich Wise, Derek Rivers
DT, Lawrence Guy, Draft Pick 1
DT, Malcom Brown, Vincent Valentine
RDE, Trey Flowers, Adam Butler
LB, Donta Hightower, Marquis Flowers
LB, Kyle Van Noy, Draft Pick 4
LB, Elandon Roberts, Harvey Langi
LCB, Cyrus Jones, Jonathan Jones, Draft Pick 3
SS, Pat Chung, Jordan Richards, Draft Pick 5
FS, Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Nate Ebner or Brandon King
RCB, Stephon Gilmore, Eric Rowe

P, Ryan Allen
K, Stephen Gostkowski
LS, Joe Cardona

Given that, these are the notable players we let go. Some might make it to the Practice Squad.

HB Dion Lewis, Mike Gillislee
WR Kenny Britt, Bernard Reedy
WR Danny Amendola
LT Andrew Jelks
LG Cole Croston
RT LaAdrian Waddle or Cameron Fleming
TE Martellus Bennett

LDE Geneo Grissom, Eric Lee
DT Alan Branch
DT Ricky Jean-Francois
RDE James Harrison
LB Shea McClellin
LB David Harris
LB Nicholas Grigsby
LCB Malcolm Butler
SS Nate Ebner or Brandon King
RCB Johnson Bademosi

(P.S. I have no idea whedther this would be Miguel approved or not. I don't think I make any cap shattering assumptions.)

Of course I don't expect the offseason to go like this, but it's an interesting exercise to set a baseline of how things would look if we went into autopilot.

Man, this is like the fourth season Dola doesn't make the roster. Are they not planning on going to the playoffs this year?

 

[slam]

Man, this is like the fourth season Dola doesn't make the roster. Are they not planning on going to the playoffs this year?

He may redo his contract again so that he actually pays the Patriots in order to play.

 

[KDPPatsfan85]

Lewis isn't going anywhere. I think we do need a power back that can run up the middle.

 

[juny]

From Miguel's Cap Information on Twitter

2018 Cap Information

Branch = $2.67M net
Bennett = $5.71M net
Harris = $1.65M net
Gillislee = $1.63M net

About $11.66M total

I would add Dwayne Allen to this list. No way he is coming back at his current cap number.

 

[maineman209]

Lewis isn't going anywhere. I think we do need a power back that can run up the middle.

If he's smart, he won't go anywhere. With the Pats, he's blessed with a great run-blocking OL, two excellent blocking TEs, Develin, several WRs who block well, and an OC who knows how to use him optimally.

And then there's that little thing about making 8 AFCCGs in a row.