We're on to the OFF-Season

[SlowGettingUp]

The $50M is the projected amount PRIOR to the LTBE and Player Performance bonuses are added. Look at the reduced Column where it says $45M or so

Agreed, but this calculus applies to other teams as well. The Patriots are 6th highest in the first column but 4th highest in the lower "Effective" column - and I assume the same goes with the further subtraction to get down to Miguel's number.

My point is that the Pats are very well positioned both in terms of cap space and in terms of draft capital, so on average they should improve more than most teams. Other teams have borrowed from the future; we have not.

 

[Uptown]

 

[Huckleberry1]

So, the Patriots ended the season 8-9. Only the 3rd losing season since Belichick became the Pats Coach. However, it IS the 2nd in three years.

What went wrong:
Patricia as the OC/OL.
Judge as the QB coach.
Having to us 5 different players at RT. (Wynn, Herron, Cajustel Cannon, McDermott)
Moving Wynn to RT and Wynn's regression.
Injuries plaguing the secondary (Mills, Jack Jones, Marcus Jones)
Mac Jones seeming to regress.
Jake Bailey hip injury.
Special Teams failing apart down the stretch. (Blocked punts, Penalties, Numerous TD returns)
Bourne seeming to be in the dog house most of the year.
Barmore's injury.
Trent Brown's move to LT. - Wildly inconsistent all year. something ridiculous like 11 penalties.

What went right:
Brendan Schooler on Special Teams
Team Defense was better than expected. (League lead in Ints. Numerous Pick 6s. Lots of sacks)
Josh Uche takes the next step as a situational pass rusher.
Matthew Judon is a beast.
Marcus Jones and Jack Jones showing up.
Jon Jones showing he's a legit #2 Outside Corner.
Kyle Dugger has arrived.
Pats have a good stable of RBs in Stevenson, K. Harris and Pierre Strong.
Michael Onwenu to RG. Only 1 sack allowed all season. Pats didn't miss Mason at that spot.


what should the Pats do going forward:

Get a new OC.
Get a new OL Coach.
Get a new ST Coach.

If rumors are correct, the team is going to have to replace Mayo. Personally, I want MAYO as the DC ad for him to take over as the HC long term.. But I don't see that happening.

Free Agents:
Nelson Agohlor - WR
Devin McCourty - S
Jonathan Jones * - CB
Jakobi Meyers * - WR
Isaiah Wynn - OL
Matthew Slater - ST
Cody Davis - ST
Jabrill Peppers * - LB/S
Marcus Cannon - OT
JoeJuan Williams - DB
Carl Davis - DL
Daniel Ekuale * - DL
Michael Palardy - P
Raekwon McMillan * - LB
Joe Cardona * - LS
Conor McDermott * - OT
James Ferentz - OG
Damien Harris - RB
Yodny Cajuste - OL
Myles Bryant - DB
Kristian Wilkerson - WR
Mack Wilson * - LB
Quinn Nordin - K
Scotty Washington * - TE
LaBryan Ray * - DL

Players on the PS:
Bill Murray - OG
Lynn Bowden - WR
Jamie Collins - LB
Garrett Gilbert - QB
Terez Hall - LB
Brad Hawkins - S
Quandre Mosely - CB
Tre Nixon - WR
Jeremiah Pharms - DL
J.J. Taylor - RB
Tristan Vizcaino - k
Hayden Howerton - OL
Matt Sokol - TE
Calvin Munson - LB

* = players that I think the Pats will bring back.

Holy sh.t, the whole team is free agent.

 

[sb1]

He just needs to stay healthy that would help a lot. Great to see the confidence at least.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

He just needs to stay healthy that would help a lot. Great to see the confidence at least.

That beautiful deep ball bouncing off his helmut will be tough to forget.

 

[slash83]

That beautiful deep ball bouncing off his helmut will be tough to forget.

Yeah he’s not a number one at this point in his career.

 

[venecol]

That beautiful deep ball bouncing off his helmut will be tough to forget.

It was under thrown, no? You want receiver reaching for the ball with his arms extended for a bread basket catch.

 

[upstater1]

It was under thrown, no? You want receiver reaching for the ball with his arms extended for a bread basket catch.

Perfectly thrown. He never broke stride. Never needed to adjust. All he had to do was stay alongside it and it would have fallen into his arms.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

It was under thrown, no? You want receiver reaching for the ball with his arms extended for a bread basket catch.

Maybe 1 out of a million balls thrown is actually a perfectly throw ball. We say "perfectly thrown" when there is no perceptible change in the receiver's movement. If a receiver slows down, or dives, or jumps with one hand, the ball was not thrown perfectly. A #1 WR effortlessly times the catch by speeding up or slowing down or twisting or shielding the defender, all done imperceptibly, to catch the ball in stride. So the ball is not actually caught "in stride", the ball is caught only after the receiver has adjusted his stride an imperceptible amount to make it an "in stride" catch. Parker's job was to shield the defender while turning slightly to catch the ball. That ball should have been caught easily with a very slight in stride adjustment because it was a "perfectly thrown" ball. Instead Parker twisted himself up, for no reason, and the ball bounced off his helmut.

 

[venecol]

Maybe 1 out of a million balls thrown is actually a perfectly throw ball. We say "perfectly thrown" when there is no perceptible change in the receiver's movement. If a receiver slows down, or dives, or jumps with one hand, the ball was not thrown perfectly. A #1 WR effortlessly times the catch by speeding up or slowing down or twisting or shielding the defender, all done imperceptibly, to catch the ball in stride. So the ball is not actually caught "in stride", the ball is caught only after the receiver has adjusted his stride an inperceptible amount to make it an "in stride" catch. Parker's job was to shield the defender while turning slightly to catch the ball. That ball should have been caught easily with a very slight in stride adjustment because it was a "perfectly thrown" ball. Instead Parker twisted himself up, for no reason, and the ball bounced off his helmut.

I don't remember the entire play, just the end so you may be correct. I thought it was a Go route and he had his back to the QB. A bread basket over the shoulder type catch which are difficult to make, so its a timing route, no time for adjustments, just look up and let ball fall in the basket. He had his man beat, so it could've easily been a catch.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

It was under thrown, no? You want receiver reaching for the ball with his arms extended for a bread basket catch.

On a more positive note, Thornton dropped a ball a few weeks ago, but he adjusted and dove well. He just lost concentration and had it bounce off his hands. Parker's inability to adjust properly is worrying because that is an innate skill not easily taught or fixed, the ball bouncing off Thornton's hands can be easily fixed.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I don't remember the entire play, just the end so you may be correct. I thought it was a Go route and he had his back to the QB. A bread basket over the shoulder type catch which are difficult to make, so its a timing route, no time for adjustments, just look up and let ball fall in the basket. He had his man beat, so it could've easily been a catch.

Every play has adjustments by the WR. When you say "no time for adjustments" that is totally wrong.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

The athletic beat reporter did an exercise to project the offseason. Wanted to post it here to see how people feel about it. How I'd fix the Patriots: An offseason plan to improve New England's roster

Cut
1. Jalen Mills
2. Hunter Henry
3. DaVante Parker

Extend/restructure
Trent Brown
Judon

Free Agency (now $60 MM Cap space)
Meyers back at 4/47
Juju signed at 4/58
Cameron Sutton (cb) 2/16
Patrick Peterson (cb) 1/7
McDermott, Peppers and Bryant back for a combined $6 MM

Draft
He assumes one of the top 3 tackles (Skoronski, Jones or Johnson) slip to 14. Go Jaylin Hyatt in the second. Sam LaPorta in the third. Cornerback, IOL Linebacker and safeties draft day 3.

Would love to hear other people's thoughts before I give my own.

 

[Calhoun44]

Cut Henry seems odd to me.
Way more resources need to go towards the OL than this proposal.
Seems like way too much draft capital on WR for my liking.

 

[Sciz]

The athletic beat reporter did an exercise to project the offseason. Wanted to post it here to see how people feel about it. How I'd fix the Patriots: An offseason plan to improve New England's roster

Cut
1. Jalen Mills
2. Hunter Henry
3. DaVante Parker

Extend/restructure
Trent Brown
Judon

Free Agency (now $60 MM Cap space)
Meyers back at 4/47
Juju signed at 4/58
Cameron Sutton (cb) 2/16
Patrick Peterson (cb) 1/7
McDermott, Peppers and Bryant back for a combined $6 MM

Draft
He assumes one of the top 3 tackles (Skoronski, Jones or Johnson) slip to 14. Go Jaylin Hyatt in the second. Sam LaPorta in the third. Cornerback, IOL Linebacker and safeties draft day 3.

Would love to hear other people's thoughts before I give my own.

It looks like the typical offseason plan from a Boston sports radio listener. Nobody on the team is good enough. All of the free agents are better. Experience in the system is meaningless. No Patriots player can recover from a disappointing season. Every flaw with an outside free agent can be explained away somehow.

In general, I’m just really not impressed with Graff. The Athletic owes us more after taking Howe away.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

It looks like the typical offseason plan from a Boston sports radio listener. Nobody on the team is good enough. All of the free agents are better. Experience in the system is meaningless. No Patriots player can recover from a disappointing season. Every flaw with an outside free agent can be explained away somehow.

In general, I’m just really not impressed with Graff. The Athletic owes us more after taking Howe away.

Agreed on Graff. Howe was great, but there was another writer in between Howe and Graff that I kind of liked (I forget his name). I'm not really a fan of the Weiss on the Celtics either, but their draft stuff and national NBA/NFL articles are really good.

I do think the average Boston sports Radio listener would rather we trade for Evans, Hopkins or Tee Higgins than sign a second WR 2. I'm in the Hopkins camp even if it costs a second. The offense needs receivers that can win contested catches. I don't see the Pats going into next season without adding one contested catch receiver and one speedy deep threat.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Im not seeing why the bengals or niners would wanna trade aiyuk or higgins. They should both be strong sb contenders next year and it wouldn’t make much sense to be sellers when such good players cost so little against the cap.

Jeudy i can understand

 

[PowerRunRevival]

Im not seeing why the bengals or niners would wanna trade aiyuk or higgins. They should both be strong sb contenders next year and it wouldn’t make much sense to be sellers when such good players cost so little against the cap.

Jeudy i can understand

Mike Evans if Brady leaves the Bucs, Hopkins are the most likely. An article I read mentioned Keenan Allen as a potential target and I would be be happy with that too.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Mike Evans if Brady leaves the Bucs, Hopkins are the most likely. An article I read mentioned Keenan Allen as a potential target and I would be be happy with that too.

Any idea what wed be on the hook for with evans and allen contracts? Im a big fan of all 3. Hopkins 2 years 34m is what ive heard which isn’t bad if he is stilll a legit 1.

 

[TommyD4207]

Any idea what wed be on the hook for with evans and allen contracts? Im a big fan of all 3. Hopkins 2 years 34m is what ive heard which isn’t bad if he is stilll a legit 1.

It's more than 'isn't bad', it's an absolute steal.