I still haven't heard an answer to my earlier question as to how much more it would cost to keep Thuney long term to play C, vs signing Andrews long term????
Assuming Thuney would be willing to be the Pats long term C, I think he'd end up being the best choice. BTW- having a great C is critically important especially in the run game. Being able to get to and effectively block at the 2nd level is a rare skill. Andrews is good at it and our run game suffered greatly when he missed the 2019 season. I think Thuney would be even better as well as being able to hold up better if a team decides to put a big NT over him to bully him.
So I ask again, what would the Pats likely to be paying Andrews per year, vs what would they likely have to pay Thuney (again assuming he;d want to stay and change positions, at which point this whole post becomes moot. The thing is that the ONLY way I can see Thuney staying is if he is willing to take top money to play C here. If he want only to stay at LG, then he is gone.
Thanks for bringing some sense here. Like
@BaconGrundleCandy is still waiting for somebody to SHOW why Wynn is not Pats LT going forward, i am still waiting for someone to SHOW how Thuney is better center for NE than Andrews.
When Gronk was asked in 2019 after Pats O struggles who is Brady missing the most he only mentioned one name: Andrews. Just bc he is not physically dominating he gets uneducated trash. When he's gone in FA together with Thuney the tune will change
Ok, besides intangibles that are huge with Andrews for Pats acc. to all relevant sources (Tom, Gronk, OL etc), his play is also getting very good to outstanding tangible grades. He is easily outplaying highest paid center (Kelly, 28, IND) over last 3 seasons he played. Looking at PFF grading, fwiw, of 8 centers getting over 10M apy nobody has outgraded Andrews over last 4 seasons. His consistency since he entered the league is insane (as is Thuney at G btw).
Brad Spielberger (formerly of OTC) projected him re-signing with Pats 3y/18M, Spotrac 3y/21M,
@Miguel 3y/22.5M.
His current contract w NE was considered “horrible“ and often cited among most valuable contracts in the league.
Thuney is projected to get about double. As you mentioned it is also important how he wants to market himself going forward (viewing next FA as well) since he has now some freedom to do so. Im sure his agent will be selling he can play T more than the C argument