Hopkins Headed to Tennessee

[The Trickster]

If you expected any different, you were kidding yourself. The minute he left without a contract was the minute I gave up. The Titans are willing to overextend to get a guy if it comes to it, we aren’t.

Didn't he also leave Tenn without a contract?

 

[borg]

We have no idea why Hopkins chose Tennessee's offer.

Really?

 

[SteveBsFan]

These are the days when I hate coming to this board.

We have no idea why Hopkins chose Tennessee's offer.

We have no idea what the Patriots offered.

Hopkins was a free agent. By definition, he could sign with whoever he wanted. There is no way that the Patriots could have forced Hopkins to sign a contract to play for them. It's not the Patriots' or Bill Belichick's fault that he signed to play for Tennessee. It was Hopkins' decision. He is the only one to "blame" here.

Of course, and if it comes out that he turned down more money to go to TN then I’ll eat crow - depending on how much he turned down.

It’s very possible he just still doesn’t like BOB and that was the deciding factor and Pats would have to give him a crazy Xander deal to come.

But we all know even $13m was an overpay for a guy that injury prone and BB has a major history of not overpaying.

And that’s fine I guess, but the frustration lies in the fact that we all also knew he was probably going to have to overpay a bit and he has the cap space to do it.

Unless he has some brilliant plans for the remaining cap space, it’s going to be super frustrating watching this team struggle for a 500 record while sitting on so much room.

 

[Zuma]

I really wanted Hopkins to sign with the Pats like most of us. But IF these things happen then we won't need him...

- Parker stays healthy and plays well at times like he did in 2022
- Juju is a slight upgrade over Meyers
- Bourne plays like 2021
- Thornton makes a 2nd year jump, stretches the field and doubles his yards to 500.

Bonus: Nixon, Boutte or Douglas play like they belong on the 53.

 

[Uptown]

 

[Drunken Cicerone]

The best hope for this team is for MAC to completely fall on his face so we can move on from him,

 

[Salsalife]

Well, it's should be interesting how much spin will happen on the talk shows. We will pick up some free agents this week and Bill will say we did what was best for the team. All the apologists will call this a great decision and we will win regardless. They will quite all dissenters as usual and force you to eat cake, lol. Remember, don't feed the trolls.....

 

[borg]

Of course, and if it comes out that he turned down more money to go to TN.........

 

[XLIX]

However, athletes who are nonresidents will only pay tax on their in-state source income. So, for example, an athlete who is a resident of Florida (no income tax) who is a member of the New England Patriots or Boston Red Sox will only pay tax on their Massachusetts source income.

The method of taxing athletes’ income is either by the duty days method or the games played method. The duty days method is the most popular method to calculate an athlete’s in-state income. Generally, a state with an income tax will tax the nonresident athlete on duty days spent within the state. Duty days typically begin with the start of official preseason and end when the official season ends. A nonresident athlete would include in income to the taxing state only duty days spent in-state over the total number of duty days. Duty days include game days and practice days, but what about days on injured reserves or the inactive list? Or days spent promoting the team? Massachusetts outlines how duties days are determined in 830 CMR C2.5A.2.

Understanding the “Jock Tax” - Don’t Tax Yourself

In addition to preparing and playing at a high level, professional athletes face a bewildering complexity when it comes to filing their income taxes. As a general rule, nonresident athletes pay the so-called “jock tax” in every state (and some cities) that they play a game in, and if their…

www.bowditch.com

It is tough to know what your point is since you don't provide one, but this article says states tax players by duty days which begin with the start of the preseason (and not actual games played).

IOW, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts doesn't say "you played 9 games in state and 8 games out of state, so we only tax 9/17ths of your income." Rather, the state says "from the start of the preseason to the final day, you had 160 duty days and spent 150 of them in state, so we tax you on 15/16th of your income."

 

[Real fan 02]

The success of the season was always going to hinge upon us having a Top 3 D this season. And that is what I am hinging my optimism on.

The offense is going to be much better because of the following:
1. A professional OC instead of a socially ******ed defensive coach.
2. Two competent TE's, and an OC who will utilize them.
3. We need 3 quality WR's. Parker, Bourne, JuJu are not #1's, but they are all very good receivers. We do need one of the 3 youngsters to step up when Parker or JuJu go down.

If you all could have one of these two players, who would you choose....Jack Jones or Hopkins?

Give me Jack Jones and let's bet the season on a kick ass Defense and a competent professional offense. Forget Hopkins. Let's wish and hope for a non-****y judge who decides to give Jack Jones a slap on the wrist.

Man.. great post!! .. as much as d hop would have been great to have here.. he ultimately chose to go elsewhere.
Now it's up to the guys we have on this roster.
Now who will step up? Will Parker in wich I'm hopeful he will... show that he is the 1,200 yard guy he was in Miami.. with a new contract the team is committed to him. Can he stay healthy and be a force?

KB my guy.. I have some thoughts on him.. energetic, a crowd pleaser.. a great locker room guy.. a leader on offense.. a guy when given the opportunity has show he can be a playmaker.

He needs to be heavily involved in this offense he is so mutilple.. why I'm concerned is this is going into his last season, and with the shaky O line depth will be be moved for an O lineman?

Thornton will have to step up.. put that elite speed with a year of NFL experience to good use. Definitely with you on the use of the TEs.. Henry and gisecki are good NFL TEs that present mitch math problems for defenses.

Will juju be available in camp? He's by default the #1.. Bourne #2 and Parker #3 I'd say...

On defense.. I believe Jack will be available and play this season.. he likely will get his case hear likely after the season... I'm assuming. Now Jack and gonzo on the outside with Jon at the slot.. an elite defense , a functional, game planning, structural offense should do wonders for us!

 

[PScottman]

What in Belichick's entire tenure here points to high money for end of career vets? They brought him in to see what he was looking for and when it was about what he signed for said thanks but no thanks through inaction because that's what this management group has always done. Not surprised at all.

 

[TheRainMaker]

I thought you paid road taxes to the state the games are located in.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but if he plays a game in California, he'd pay a state tax to CA.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

Lol Vrabel seems like the type of guy who would rushingly chug a cup of airplane fuel if he heard BB likes the smell of gas

 

[crawhammer]

Now, we have cap space and we need another RB.

No thank you. Rham is plenty and we're not winning a Super Bowl, the conference, or the division with a strong running game. Ask Tennessee (and hence their pursuit of Hopkins). Give me the name of a Super Bowl championship team that won with their running game. It's hardly ever happened in the Super Bowl era and certainly not recently.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

No thank you. Rham is plenty and we're not winning a Super Bowl, the conference, or the division with a strong running game. Ask Tennessee (and hence their pursuit of Hopkins). Give me the name of a Super Bowl championship team that won with their running game. It's hardly ever happened in the Super Bowl era and certainly not recently.

The 2018 Pats?

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Mac Jones vs. Ryan Tannehill 2021-2023 stats:

Mac Jones (2021-2023) vs. Ryan Tannehill (2021-2023): Head-to-Head Stats Comparison | Stathead

Compare Players: Check out the head-to-head stats of Mac Jones (2021-2023) and Ryan Tannehill (2021-2023) including their awards, honors, championships, playoff and regular season stats, and much more on Stathead

stathead.com

Almost the same guy except RT gives you a little more rushing upside. Very similar though.



Regarding the deal, it's ... About time I hit my old thread up for some and be properly armed and fortified.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

You'd think Bill would get tired of everyone saying his record without Brady and how he's overrated and it was all Brady and want to stretch the boat out a bit and put a winning product on the field to shut those people up by apparently he thinks having a worse QB than the elite teams and a bunch of unathletic WR3's is the way to go.

Every team that's structuring an offense in the modern NFL either has the elite QB being paid top dollar to carrying lesser weapons or the lesser QB on a rookie or cheap deal stacked with elite weapons to carry him but we get the mediocre QB and mediocre weapons and wonder why it's .500 football since Brady left.

Still trying to win with defense and running game when all the rules are geared to throw the football.

 

[lancerman]

The 2018 Pats?

2018 Pats still needed Brady and Gronk to go Super Saiyan to beat the Chiefs once the defense fell through. Also Edelman was the best offensive player in the entire Super Bowl that year and him being high quality in that game was a big reason we won. We don't have an Edelman quality dude on the team.

 

[PWRxWLF]

Neither.

Cap space and cash are not the same thing.

This is true, but I dont understand how it applies here. They have the most cap space over the next 4 years and are at the bottom of the league in amount of cash spending over the next 4 years. I could be misunderstanding the point you’re trying to make, in which case I apologize if thats the case.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

The 2018 Pats?

If we didn't have Rham, sure, absolutely. It makes all the sense in the world but I don't see how Cook helps us win more than we already were with Rham, Strong and Harris. Both Strong and Harris looked v good with limited snaps. The position translates the easiest and we've done a great job finding backs in the mid rounds. I just don't see the need or why we'd spend on Cook.