Hopkins Headed to Tennessee

[SteveBsFan]

If Parker and the rest of the vets stay healthy and some combination of young players (Thornton, Douglas, Lee) develop, this will look like a great move.

If not, it will look terrible.

If Hopkins pulls in 1k yards this season, it doesn’t matter how healthy those guys stay. It’ll still be a bad move because those yards would have been gained here which also would have actually benefited those guys.

The only way this looks like a great move if Hopkins not only sucks but Bill ends up using the cap space on something else that helps.

 

[StrawHatPatriot]

They did clear a decent little bit of cap though. Maybe they’ll eye a different prize. I know Aaron Donald is on the block.

That'll be crazy.
Otherwise... idk.

People bring up Hopkins's age, but if we aren't going use the extra money anyways... its worth the risk.

Plus again, Parker and juju aren't always healthy. If dhop plays even just 12 games, that alone will be fine. It'll help you compete with Buffalo

 

[slash83]

They did clear a decent little bit of cap though. Maybe they’ll eye a different prize. I know Aaron Donald is on the block.

No major moves are coming, team is set.

 

[Love The Drake]

If the Pats go get Jeudy or Huggins by the deadline all will be forgotten.

If the Pats extend Dugger and or Uche and Thornton and Boutte or DEMARIO take off all will be forgiven.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

The Parker extension somehow seems even worse now (I didn't think it could possibly look worse.). He's 30 with very limited upside. What the hell?

The negative nancies exist for a reason, as the Patriots win total is 7.5. Sure we need to see the actual season but they're getting progressively worse each year because of illogical player value moves like this.

Not bringing Brady into this, but these illogical moves do date back to the 2020 off-season (well before that, but it reached full steam there.)

In 2020, we know the big thing but with the money they saved from the QB dropoff:

-They franchised Thuney for $16M which would make sense long term if they saw him as a cornerstone player. Then in 2021, they refused to pay market and were outbid by the Chiefs. It makes no sense as the Patriots had all that cash to burn that off season with their insane spending spree. If you're spending big, sign your own top player. Thuney recently voted #2 guard in NFL, won another Super Bowl, has highest PFF pass blocking grade among guards. Wtf.

-They resigned McCourty, then 32, to a 3 yr deal despite everyone noting his play would likely drop off with his age, and it did. Oh by the way, most lucrative safety contract in NFL history at the time.

-Jonnu Smith/Hunter Henry, both getting Travis Kelce money after they penny pinched Gronk for several years.

-On WRs they're buying high, selling low. Signed Agholor after a career year and much skepticism. Bust. Raiders got him for $1M. Patriots got him for 10M (20 over 2 years.). Now the Ravens get him for 1.5M. Btw, they scoffed at paying Amendola $6M. It makes no sense, the values are arbitrary.

-JuJu got 3.7M from Chiefs last year (bought low.). Sammy Watkins vibes as a #2. Patriots pay 3/33.

I'll give them some credit (Judon, for example) but it seems illogical player values are more than norm for them. Let's remember they have a rookie QB contract. This roster should be loaded.

 

[slash83]

If the Pats go get Jeudy or Huggins by the deadline all will be forgotten.

If the Pats extend Dugger and or Uche and Thornton and Boutte or DEMARIO take off all will be forgiven.

If Dugger isn’t extended I don’t know wtf Bill is accumulating all this money for

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

Not even a little surprising. I actually forgot all about this for weeks until recently because I was so confident he wasn't coming here so I didn't keep up with the news. I also strongly suspected we wouldn't be the ones with the best offer for him.

We are not the Tom Brady Patriots anymore so nobody is taking less money to come here. If you want elite talent or even less than elite in our case, you're gonna have to pay for it. In this case, the price wasn't even outrageous.. And we still didn't do it.

Everyone saying, "When has bill ever" *blah blah blah*. So even his admirers admit he is not adapting to not having the best QB of all time anymore. He's operating as if he still does. If you don't think that's a problem Idk what to tell you. Enjoy another season with our ceiling being a playoff berth wildcard loss.

 

[Brewskies]

Don't blame him taking the best offer when you're choosing between Ryan Tannehill and Mac Jones, until Mac shows massive improvement there's no actual proof he's even better than him.

No one is taking less money to have Mac as their quarterback.

Unless you are washed up as a WR.

 

[Nunchucks]

I am kind of relieved. Never really felt like he would do a lot to help the patriots. But, we will see.

 

[lancerman]

The Parker extension somehow seems even worse now (I didn't think it could possibly look worse.). He's 30 with very limited upside. What the hell?

The negative nancies exist for a reason, as the Patriots win total is 7.5. Sure we need to see the actual season but they're getting progressively worse each year because of illogical player value moves like this.

Not bringing Brady into this, but these illogical moves do date back to the 2020 off-season (well before that, but it reached full steam there.)

In 2020, we know the big thing but with the money they saved from the QB dropoff:

-They franchised Thuney for $16M which would make sense long term if they saw him as a cornerstone player. Then in 2021, they refused to pay market and were outbid by the Chiefs. It makes no sense as the Patriots had all that cash to burn that off season with their insane spending spree. If you're spending big, sign your own top player. Thuney recently voted #2 guard in NFL, won another Super Bowl, has highest PFF pass blocking grade among guards. Wtf.

-They resigned McCourty, then 32, to a 3 yr deal despite everyone noting his play would likely drop off with his age, and it did. Oh by the way, most lucrative safety contract in NFL history at the time.

-Jonnu Smith/Hunter Henry, both getting Travis Kelce money after they penny pinched Gronk for several years.

-On WRs they're buying high, selling low. Signed Agholor after a career year and much skepticism. Bust. Raiders got him for $1M. Patriots got him for 10M (20 over 2 years.). Now the Ravens get him for 1.5M. Btw, they scoffed at paying Amendola $6M. It makes no sense, the values are arbitrary.

-JuJu got 3.7M from Chiefs last year (bought low.). Sammy Watkins vibes as a #2. Patriots pay 3/33.

I'll give them some credit (Judon, for example) but it seems illogical player values are more than norm for them. Let's remember they have a rookie QB contract. This roster should be loaded.

Bill's team management skills have been highly questionable over the last 5 years and it seems like his personal evaluation on talent is often worse than whatever the conventional wisdom is.

It's also weird, because he's risk averse on talented players but then will think he found some diamond everyone is overlooking and give them over market value contracts for them to not produce.

The sucky part is, I don't even think you can fix this without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I doubt Bill accepts any sort of restructure that takes away his GM responsibilities. Buy he's gone an extended period of time showing that his decision making hasn't been all that good. And it's not just "Brady isn't here to cover everything". He's been making questionable decisions on offenses since at least 2018 and honestly hasn't been great at team building since the early 2010's.

 

[RobertWeathers]

If Dugger isn’t extended I don’t know wtf Bill is accumulating all this money for

If Mac has a breakout year they'll need to pay him. They might push some 2024 cap space to 2025. Just depends.

Dug should get paid.

Big Mike should as well

If Uche is tears it up again he'll need to get paid

Now outside the org Tee Higgins is a guy you throw money at.

 

[ausbacker]

It’s not just a name. He would be our top receiver and they have more than enough cap space.

It was almost as no risk amazing reward as it gets.

Worst case he busts and have a small dead cap hit next year.

I 100% understand the financial responsibility side and not getting bogged down in bad contracts, but not using cap space is wasting it.

I’ve defended Bill to a ridiculous level because almost every single time he has clear logic behind his moves. But damn he’s even losing me.

Why would he be our top receiver? He hasn't done a thing for 2 years and at this point in his career, he's a name living on outdated glory and on the wrong side of 30. He may well rekindle his form and good luck to him and the Titans but not signing him isn't bothering me.

 

[RIpats88]

why do people keep saying hes an aging declining receiver to defend bill?

hes 31 and just put up 700 yards with like 5 separate QB's in 9 games. he instantly would be our most talented receiver. and $13million is NOT alot when Meyers, Juju, Agholor, Jonnu smith made around $11-12million.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

why do people keep saying hes an aging declining receiver to defend bill?

hes 31 and just put up 700 yards with like 5 separate QB's in 9 games. he instantly would be our most talented receiver. and $13million is NOT alot when Meyers, Juju, Agholor, Jonnu smith made around $11-12million.

I don't disagree with you in principal, but the 4 guys you used as examples are all about 27. Younger guys will always get higher salaries because they are less likely to get hurt and will not hit the cliff (like Julio Jones did who the Titans also signed).

 

[crawhammer]

So did the 30 other teams who had the chance to sign him for the last month or so.

Not even close to accurate. Probably 25 or so teams didn't seriously consider signing Hopkins at all. Couldn't afford him, didn't need him, whatever... they didn't seriously consider it. Patriots did, and they badly needed the player, so either they low balled him, or Hopkins couldn't bring himself to play for a guy who reportedly compared him to Aaron Hernandez, or perhaps both are true.

 

[Give Kraft A Hand]

Why would he be our top receiver? He hasn't done a thing for 2 years and at this point in his career, he's a name living on outdated glory and on the wrong side of 30. He may well rekindle his form and good luck to him and the Titans but not signing him isn't bothering me.

Take a look at the depth chart. The fact he would be the Pats top receiver has almost nothing to do with Hopkins as an elite talent which isn't the case anymore. It has to do with the amount of #3-#4 receivers that the Patriots have on this roster.

 

[crawhammer]

why do people keep saying hes an aging declining receiver to defend bill?

It's a IBWT defense mechanism. You should be accustomed to it by now.

Here's the truth... Hopkins is top 10 WR in the NFL and at no point in his career has he remotely shown otherwise. It's a great signing for the Titans. It would have been a great (and much needed) signing for the Patriots. We didn't close the deal.

 

[RIpats88]

Take a look at the depth chart. The fact he would be the Pats top receiver has almost nothing to do with Hopkins as an elite talent which isn't the case anymore. It has to do with the amount of #3-#4 receivers that the Patriots have on this roster.

this is total revisionist history to say he isn't an elite talent anymore. he put up 700 yards in 9 games. what is that? Meyers put up 800yards ALL SEASON as our #1 receiver.

once again, even if he does fall off a cliff (I doubt he will) we are talking about a 2 year deal here.

 

[sambam94]

So did the 30 other teams who had the chance to sign him for the last month or so.

yup, and 28 or so of those teams have a better WR group than the Pats do.

 

[crawhammer]

Why would he be our top receiver? He hasn't done a thing for 2 years and at this point in his career, he's a name living on outdated glory and on the wrong side of 30. He may well rekindle his form and good luck to him and the Titans but not signing him isn't bothering me.

Hopkins has played in 19 games over the last two seasons (with Colt McCoy, Trace McSorley, or David Blough as his starting QB in 9 of those 19 games) and his average receiving stats have stayed on par with his career averages. He hasn't been in decline.