Official Free Agency 2018

[maineman209]

 

[maineman209]

Not bad.

I'm guessing that Butler was hoping it would be more.

 

[maineman209]

I wonder if that was it for Peterson or if some desperate team will give him another shot.

Rumor earlier today was that they intended to bring him back at a lower contract.

 

[Tb12goesinya]

My wish list:

Resign Solder

Wilkerson calls Bill and says I’m ready to be a professional and stick it to the Jets. 1 year incentive laden “prove it” contract

Eifert signs a prove it contract after an injury plagued year. Takes pressure off Gronk, adds insurance, protection for Brady with bigger sets, and better play action threat.

Austin Sefarian Jenkins for the reasons listed above.

Kendall Wright on the cheap to replace Dola.

Resign Burkhead cheap coming off productive year, injuries should help his cost.

The CB market is shrinking and Johnson is a big corner just like Gilmore, I’m thinking scrap heap.

 

[DaBruinz]

The world turned upside down. That money for the... I do not know, 3rd TE behind Ertz and Celek?
Sorry,I missed the point he is heading Bears. But... It doesn't change my opinion about his payment.

Burton was their #2 TE last year. Celek was their #3..

 

[luuked]

Maybe this is better in the Suh thread, but I've already commented on him in this thread and I still find the whole thing really fascinating. So Matt Chatham spent all training camp showing this as the Pats preferred defensive alignment:



They wound up substituting Marsh for McClellin by the end. Ultimately at the season went on they wound up not playing this defense much - presumably because Branch failed (and Valentine wasn't there to back him up), and Harris failed (and they wound up moving Hightower in the middle again briefly until he himself got hurt), and Marsh failed when Hightower was gone.

I'm wondering if they've given up on this defense in general, or if they're just trying to find the right possible players for it? Shelton fits here, but he fits other schemes too. In this defense, I would expect Suh would take one of the two "DE" slots. But Brown and Trey Flowers aren't exactly weaknesses there; the backup OLB and the starting MLB spots are. Maybe they're just done with this defense altogether? Maybe they're being opportunistic and buying low on a talent they think will fit *one* of their schemes and that scheme will be decided based on who they can get?

Just very curious to me.

It will come down to what is available I guess but that being said personally I would still try to find formations where HT can be used at the EDGE instead of having to be crushed into piece again and against in the middle. I know this is not the angle you have been interested in terms of answer but I willwait until after the draft to make any assumptions about bigger schematic changes.

 

[oceansizer]

My wish list:

Wilkerson calls Bill and says I’m ready to be a professional and stick it to the Jets. 1 year incentive laden “prove it” contract

Eifert signs a prove it contract after an injury plagued year. Takes pressure off Gronk, adds insurance, protection for Brady with bigger sets, and better play action threat.

Austin Sefarian Jenkins for the reasons listed above.

Kendall Wright on the cheap to replace Dola.

The CB market is shrinking and Johnson is a big corner just like Gilmore, I’m thinking scrap heap.

Trumaine Johnson? He is out of our range because of his probably high contract demands.

 

[Tb12goesinya]

Burton was their #2 TE last year. Celek was their #3..

I’ve followed Burton’s career, he is one of the most underrated players in the NFL. Love what the Bears are doing. Shaheen is a monster ready to bloom, and Burton is a top 10 TE in my opinion.

A lot of protection for young Mitch

 

[luuked]

Wilson played for Matt Patricia and clearly Patricia liked what Wilson has done since Wilson left the Pats..

Well, the more important link is Bob Quinn who supposedly was a big champion of drafting Wilson in the first place and guided him to the Lions after he was released by the Pats..

 

[Uptown]

Ravens seem to have a thing for WRs who can’t stay healthy. (Besides Anquan Boldin)

 

[DaBruinz]

I don't know how you could have watched the Patriots front seven this season, let alone in the Super Bowl, and decided that defensive line is not an area of need. Yes, Valentine will come back healthy, and I like him as a player, but he's not an All-Pro or anything. Yes, Shelton is a big load of a nose tackle, but he played 40% of snaps for the Browns last season. Guy and Brown are fine players too, but neither is anything special. The Patriots are drowning in average to slightly above average players on the defensive line. Suh's much better than all of them.

I find it funny that you can see that Valentine can't become an All-Pro. I mean, clearly you can see the future if you know what his career arc is going to be after 1 season..

 

[Tb12goesinya]

Trumaine Johnson? He is out of our range because of his probably high contract demands.

Yeah the point was more along the lines that we will need to rely on Cyrus Jones, a rookie, or a journeyman at CB

 

[DaBruinz]

Well, the more important link is Bob Quinn who supposedly was a big champion of drafting Wilson in the first place and guided him to the Lions after he was released by the Pats..

Wilson wasn't released. His contract was up and not re-signed.. And yes, Quinn got Wilson there. But if you think that Patricia didn't have a saw in them re-signing Wilson, I don't know what to say.

 

[Todd Bradley]

And then there's another group who don't "blindly believe" anything, and who aren't sufficiently arrogant about our extremely limited knowledge about what goes on behind the scenes in Pats practices to be willing to claim with any certainty that it was or wasn't "the right call".

Except both the coach and player flat out said it was a football decision and nothing more. Not one single in-tune reporter for the team can find even a shred of dirt. There's no smoking gun to be had here. It was a football-based decision and nothing more. So trying to flex your "mental superiority" in regards to the nature of this story and the belief that it was the right call is asinine. It wasn't.

They lost and the defense needed every bit of help it could get. There's literally no reasoning on god's green earth that can defend why Bademosi got snaps over Butler. None. Trying to argue it is futile and isn't worth your time or mine.

 

[DaBruinz]

Actually solder played very well at the end of the season. I just don't like playing around with the OL. Garcia ain't gonna be 100 percent and i wonder about the right side with cannon staying healthy

How do you know that Garcia won't be 100%?

 

[luuked]

Wilson wasn't released. His contract was up and not re-signed.. And yes, Quinn got Wilson there. But if you think that Patricia didn't have a saw in them re-signing Wilson, I don't know what to say.

Then just shut up.

 

[Tb12goesinya]

Giselle should just pay free agents under the table and have Tom sign a contract that he will retire in 2 years

 

[maineman209]

Maybe this is better in the Suh thread, but I've already commented on him in this thread and I still find the whole thing really fascinating. So Matt Chatham spent all training camp showing this as the Pats preferred defensive alignment:



They wound up substituting Marsh for McClellin by the end. Ultimately as the season went on they wound up not playing this defense much - presumably because Branch failed (and Valentine wasn't there to back him up), and Harris failed (and they wound up moving Hightower in the middle again briefly until he himself got hurt), and Marsh failed when Hightower was gone.

I'm wondering if they've given up on this defense in general, or if they're just trying to find the right possible players for it? Shelton fits here, but he fits other schemes too. In this defense, I would expect Suh would take one of the two "DE" slots. But Brown and Trey Flowers aren't exactly weaknesses there; the backup OLB and the starting MLB spots are. Maybe they're just done with this defense altogether? Maybe they're being opportunistic and buying low on a talent they think will fit *one* of their schemes and that scheme will be decided based on who they can get?

Just very curious to me.

Replace Branch with Shelton and Flowers with Guy (or Suh) and you pretty much have a classic 30-front for a 3-4 (which brings up the question, "Can Suh play 2-gap well enough?"). Flowers then becomes the "Elephant" OLB with HT sort of in a Vrabel/Nink role.

Move Guy (or Suh) over to replace Shelton, then sub in Wise for HT (not literally - just for this diagram), and you have a 4-3 look.

But, yeah, the 30-front look didn't really work without Valentine or Branch. So, Shelton alone re-opens that part of the scheme. Really, then, Suh would be an upgrade over Guy. It's not clear to me that such an "upgrade" is absolutely necessary to execute this scheme well as merely a part of the overall hybrid scheme mix, especially considering the additional cost for Suh. If Suh is acquired, it would almost seem more appropriate to make the 30-front/3-4 aspect of the hybrid the predominant front, with Valentine mainly backing up Shelton and Guy/Butler backing up Brown/Suh. OTOH, Guy has more length than Brown, so maybe the line would be Suh-Shelton-Guy?

IDK. Just makin' this up as I go along.

Not sure how Flowers/Wise/(Lee) fit into this, but it would certainly make it seem that Rivers would be headed for more of an OLB role, and Van Noy into more of an ILB role.

 

[DaBruinz]

Is Butler really that much better than Brashaud Breeland, who signed for 3yr/$24M with 11M guaranteed?

 

[DaBruinz]

Isn't the contract that Dola just got almost identical to the contract that Welker was offered by the Pats before he left for the Broncos?