I apologize for repeating. I seem to post this at least once a week.
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The patriots can sign Flowers or whoever they want. They can sign their rookies. They can have a season cushion for injuries.
THE CAP IS NOT, IS NOT, IS NOT STOPPING ANY TRANSACTION.
I think that we should all repeat this until the point is clear to us.
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There are many restructures ($25M+) that can happen on the same day as any transaction. Any money that is freed up and not used would automatically go into next season's cap. Judon, Henry and Smith are the most obvious; about $16M is freed up by these three restructures.
There are many POSSIBLE extensions. Obviously, these take negotiations. Bailey and Smith are the most obvious.
There are several possible trades that would produce significant cap money, Any of these should wait until late in camp, when we know that these players are not needed as injury replacements before the season starts.
If there were lots of players that Belichick wanted, he probably could free up $50M. Clearly, that is NOT his intention.
This is all true, but just rolls the cap hit down the road. Eventually you find yourself in a position like this offseason's Saints where you can't do it any more and you need a significant cap reset.
The window to win with a cost controlled QB depends on how rapidly Jones develops and what point in time Belichick decides to strike with an extension. At minimum, we have a two year window before Jones can ask for an extension, and a three year window before the 5th year option kicks in. After that, we're either paying market value or starting over.
Our cap situation is set up to allow a couple us to bring in a couple of high impact pieces in 2023 and 2024. Restructuring contracts today limits our spending capacity in the future, not by a ton necessarily, but it chips away. To me it is a question of when this cap money is best used. Right now this team's ceiling is a wild card game win. Theoretically add Duane Brown, Odell Beckham, Donta Hightower, Trey Flowers and Chris Harris to this roster. What is that team's ceiling? Probably a wild card win.
If Jones develops into a top 12 QB in year two, a couple of unproven defensive players emerge as quality starters, and the draft class is successful, this team will enter the 2023 offseason on the precipice of actual contention with the money to add multiple impact players. It would be a shame to compromise that ability. Likewise, if Jones fails to develop, the defense plays like JAGs, and the draft class busts, it won't matter anyway.
Patience is the right move.
I'm not suggesting that we restructure nobody, just that we need to be judicious in determining which players are part of championship core.