Offseason player acquisition thread

[mike_usagisan]

Thats my concern too. I really wanted higgins but the bigger concern from that news is it could be looking even less likely now sweat and either stanley or jackson will hit FA.

Yeah, that's my worry as well. What's the point of having a lot of cap if there's no players worth the investment?

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Here's the thing that a lot of people are missing when they're throwing out names for trades or free agency, and I've said it repeatedly. If you're going to trade for guys, or sign guys, they have to be young enough to grow along with the team, and still be in their prime once Maye hits year 5. That's really the timeframe. Next year, improve, 2026, playoffs, 2027, division, 2028, title contender - that's how the rebuild has to work, because after that, Maye's going to be due for something like 75 million/yr after that time.

Offensive linemen, age isn't as important, because they can still play at a high level well into their 30s. Losing speed isn't as big of an issue, so those are the guys you get in FA if you can, since it's just money.

But if you're talking about bringing in 30 year old receivers or corners or pass rushers, those guys will be 34 and making retirement plans by the time the Patriots are competing for a title again. The *only* reason I was for bringing Higgins in, was because he's 26, and would have only cost money.

The other thing is draft capital, and we need a lot of it. We have way more holes on the team than I think people even realize. It's more than just 'Left Tackle and Receiver'. We need a young tight end. We need to improve every position on the offensive line, not just left tackle. Can Onwenu turn back into 2021 Onwenu? Or do we have the sloth-like figure we got last year. Where is Cole Strange going to play? Andrews looked absolutely cooked before he got hurt, again, he couldn't even get out on screens anymore. You don't need one offensive lineman, you need at least 3. You need another running back, and cutting bait with Rhamondre Stevenson would be ok with me, he's making *way* too much money. You're going to need a 3rd quarterback. You need at least one interior defensive lineman, and at least one edge rusher - but preferably you'd want two D-Tackles. You need 2 more linebackers, because you have to do better than Tavai and Elliss, and Bentley is coming off yet another major injury. You still need a deep safety. You need at least one boundary corner, because Jonathan Jones looked about done by the end of last year, and as much as some people love Austin and Dial, those are deep depth players at best. Like CB 5 and 6. If they're getting significant time, there's big trouble. And you could probably use a young box safety as well, because who knows what we're going to get from Dugger and Peppers, and they will be 29 and 30 this year, so they're out of the time frame long term.

So, no, trading for George ****ing Pickens with 4 is batshit insane. Drafting Will Campbell, who's ceiling is Matt Light, at #4 overall is also batshit insane. You need talent, and you need draft capital, and you need to hit on everything for this to work. If you want Will Campbell that badly, you need to trade out to 10 and get a first next year. Otherwise there are 5 left tackles you can get in the first three rounds who are just about as good. Don't overrate and overdraft talent because of need. If Hunter's there at 4, you take him, he's the best player in the draft. Don't take the Abdul Carter cheese, he's 'back-half-of-the-first' EDGE talent you can get ANY year.

They've gotta be smart, and I am really not confident that Wolf is the guy to do it, if this complete and utter disaster of an offseason in 2024 was any indication. You hit on QB at #3 and stole a Day 2 guy in the 6th round at QB. Neat. Outside of Antonio Gibson, every single draft pick, FA signing, and 'we re-signed our own guys!' signing was an abject failure. You wasted a year of Drake Maye, and you can't get that back. I expect the coaching to be better, but they need to have decent groceries to cook with, or this isn't going to work.

Also, you need to actually spend money. If there is young talent available in free agency, you need to back up the Brinks truck, because that talent only costs money, which the Patriots should have plenty of - and no draft capital.

I disagree that everyone you sign needs to be on the same timeline as Maye. That's not practical, and strictly sticking to that is going to harm development of the guys you do add on his timeline.

Let's just look at the WR position... the fact that we don't have an actual X receiver is going to hurt the potential development of the guys we have. It's going to force them to play out of position. It's going to make them look worse than they are and make it look the like the cupboard is bare, which will make us a less attractive destination in the future to those younger "core" FAs you're hoping to eventually sign. It's also going to make for a tougher situation for Maye to grow in. A currently 30 years old X receiver may not still be here in a few years when we're "ready" to compete, but he could be an important piece to have in place in the meantime to foster the development of guys at other spots. There's also an intangibles impact. Think of all the immaturity in the WR room last year. You'd like to have an adult in the room where possible.

Stop gaps to build the depth chart up to respectable levels overall are a really important part of building your foundation.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Yeah, that's my worry as well. What's the point of having a lot of cap if there's no players worth the investment?

Right, its a tough spot. Trades will probably get you more bang for your buck but youre also giving up draft capital. Then again, until we show we can actually have good drafts maybe its not a bad idea to throw around some 2nd and 3rd rounders for the right guy. Poor drafting is a huge part of what got us here

 

[mike_usagisan]

Right, its a tough spot. Trades will probably get you more bang for your buck but youre also giving up draft capital. Then again, until we show we can actually have good drafts maybe its not a bad idea to throw around some 2nd and 3rd rounders for the right guy. Poor drafting is a huge part of what got us here

Yeah, and good drafting is what's going to have to get us out.

 

[KCSVEN]

Trey Smith seems like a no brainer to be a priority. He's probably the 20th best guard in the NFL and will, of course, need to overpay like all free agents but pair him with Onwenu (Get in shape please!) and you got 2 of the 5 players that are actual NFL starters. At 26 still has room for improvement. All in on Smith.

I believe a combo of Andrews/Cole Strange can give you average Center play.

I know they drafted Robinson and have Sow but you can't expect them to make a leap this year, must assume they are what they were in 2024, not very good.

Get Smith and the Tackles are left to be addressed.

 

[Joey007]

He’s the only receiver on the free agent market that I think would be an upgrade. I’m not sure Slayton is any better than Bourne.

Healthy Diggs?

 

[Joey007]

Trey Smith seems like a no brainer to be a priority. He's probably the 20th best guard in the NFL and will, of course, need to overpay like all free agents but pair him with Onwenu (Get in shape please!) and you got 2 of the 5 players that are actual NFL starters. At 26 still has room for improvement. All in on Smith.

I believe a combo of Andrews/Cole Strange can give you average Center play.

I know they drafted Robinson and have Sow but you can't expect them to make a leap this year, must assume they are what they were in 2024, not very good.

Get Smith and the Tackles are left to be addressed.

I’d argue he’s closer to a top 10 guard honestly. Dude can play.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Trey Smith has only played RG in the NFL but I think briefly played LG in college. Onwenu has never extensively played on the left side. He's always been more comfortable on the right and in 2021 when he was supposed to take over LG on paper he lost out to Karras in part because of his uncomfortableness on the left side. Not sure how comfortable Smith would or wouldn't be moving to the left side to accommodate them both playing guard or if Onwenu is fit to give it another try there. I know every player is supposed to do what's best for the team but I think we're making Onwenu a worse player and hurting his ability to contribute by jerking him around so much.

Onwenu's contract is set up where he's likely gone next year anyway, so I wouldn't base the decision to sign or not sign one of the best FAs based on him. Another option, though it goes back to jerking Onwenu around, could be to sign Smith and keep him at RG and actually COMMIT to Onwenu at RT. With an actual offensive scheme and coaching staff and a more solidified line overall maybe it could work better. When McDaniels was here Onwenu was primarily a RT, for what it's worth. Like I said, I think his contract sets him up to be released next year so I'm not overly concerned with the long term fit there. Playing him at RT might be the best use of him for that stop gap year.

DAndrews should be back at C. At LG you have Strange (who can also play C) and then Robinson and Sow with starting experience behind him. JAndrews also back as more competition. I'm not saying they're all studs, but feels like our interior OL depth chart is stronger than our OT options so if we do add Smith it seems like it might be best for the team to use Onwenu at RT.

 

[hornetfb85]

You mean this guy?


No thanks! I suppose if he's all that's left at 38 I'd be reluctantly ok with it lol

It was an awful rep no doubt, but judging off of that one clip seems a bit narrow sighted.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Adams absolutely balled out in his full season with McDaniels. They really need some type of stabilizing presence atop the WR depth chart. An adult/mentor in the locker room and someone who allows others to slot into appropriate target shares/roles. He's obviously older, but I think a short term splurge contract would do us well to just "stop the bleeding" so to speak at the WR position, specifically a guy who can play as the X. Hopefully that relationship wasn't toxic to where he'd refuse to come here.

Doesn't mean don't target the position further in the draft because we need a longer term solution there and we can't count on teams letting great, young receivers get to FA in today's game (seriously - teams 99 times out of 100 keep those guys) but it'd be nice to have a little bit of room to breath and not feel desperate enough to force a pick there.

 

[PWRxWLF]

Slayton is way, WAY better than Bourne.

You’re right. Slayton is Boutte.

 

[DaBruinz]

Understood, that's why I asked the question.
Pretty sure that High ankle sprain was in week 2.
I miss having Smart players like Welker/Squirrel/Gronk/Moss...we have a slot player that misses his spots, Stonehands, a hopefully healthy now Bourne, and Dumbass.

I get it.

Where do you get that Douglas misses his spots??
You also only list 4 WR. You forgot either Baker or Boutte..

 

[DaBruinz]

I'm having bad feelings about this free agency. With the cap going up so much, I think we're going to see a lot of the good potential free agents re-signed before they make it to free agency.

Could people stop saying that the cap when up so much. It didn't. OverTheCap had the projected cap going up 15M. It's looking like it will be 5-9M on top of that. So, 20-24M in total. But not an ADDITIONAL 22M on top of the 15M that OvertheCap had projected.

It's also not the 30M that teams saw from 2023 to 2024.

People need to step back from the ledge and stop reading the nitwit media who are just playing on your emotions to get clicks.

 

[dliverey44]

Trey Smith seems like a no brainer to be a priority. He's probably the 20th best guard in the NFL and will, of course, need to overpay like all free agents but pair him with Onwenu (Get in shape please!) and you got 2 of the 5 players that are actual NFL starters. At 26 still has room for improvement. All in on Smith.

I believe a combo of Andrews/Cole Strange can give you average Center play.

I know they drafted Robinson and have Sow but you can't expect them to make a leap this year, must assume they are what they were in 2024, not very good.

Get Smith and the Tackles are left to be addressed.

Are you also going to throw money at a LT. Smith plays RG, so are we moving him to LG or Mike to RT?

 

[dliverey44]

Could people stop saying that the cap when up so much. It didn't. OverTheCap had the projected cap going up 15M. It's looking like it will be 5-9M on top of that. So, 20-24M in total. But not an ADDITIONAL 22M on top of the 15M that OvertheCap had projected.

It's also not the 30M that teams saw from 2023 to 2024.

People need to step back from the ledge and stop reading the nitwit media who are just playing on your emotions to get clicks.

But that 24M could be at least 4 quality players if contracts are back loaded. Teams that were tight on cap, might be a little more comfortable now to pursue players or resign people we were hoping came to market.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

But that 24M could be at least 4 quality players if contracts are back loaded. Teams that were tight on cap, might be a little more comfortable now to pursue players or resign people we were hoping came to market.

Teams always plan for the cap to go up. The $22M increase from last year isn't fully incremental to those expectations. Compared to all of the discussions we've had around who other teams can/can't keep this offseason, it sounds like this just gives everyone an extra $5M. It's not like last year where all of a sudden teams got a way bigger than expected increase, which led to being able to keep more players. This year seems like roughly the same as was expected so it should dry up the talent pool to the same extent vs. what we've been discussing.

 

[DaBruinz]

But that 24M could be at least 4 quality players if contracts are back loaded. Teams that were tight on cap, might be a little more comfortable now to pursue players or resign people we were hoping came to market.

They could do that anyways.. That's my point. The additional 5-9M isn't changing that. It just means they don't have to backload those contracts as much..

After the $30M bump from 2023-2024, you have to be in La La land to think the NFL wasn't going to be raising the cap by at least $15M. That's what Over the Cap projected since the start of this past season.

It's not the end of the world. Players are still going to be tagged. Players are still going to be released.

 

[KCSVEN]

Are you also going to throw money at a LT. Smith plays RG, so are we moving him to LG or Mike to RT?

Plenty of money to throw at a tackle, unclear if there are any worthy. I don't see how signing Smith would limit anything they do at tackle. It does give them flexibility to put Onwenu at RT if he's the best option and Robinson makes a 2nd year jump.

Smith was ALL-SEC LG 2 years in a row, so not sure why you would think he can't play LG?
I don't think he'd have a problem there.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Curios what happens with David Andrews. Love all he's done for us, but I'd kind of like to get an extended look at Strange playing center with him set for free agency next year (can't imagine they exercise 5th year option). He seemed ok there to end last year and if he can play that spot long term he'd be more valuable. I assume Andrew probably gets hurt at some point just based on age, so Strange likely gets his shot even if they're both here. But he might not get hurt and I respect him too much to ever bench him if his play doesn't warrant it. I wonder if parting ways could be best. I think he still lives in Georgia in the offseason and ATL's center is a FA so maybe he could finish his career there as a veteran presence.

Probably unlikely, but wouldn't hate signing Alaric Jackson, Trey Smith and Tevin Jenkins. Onwenu back to RT and you roll with Jackson/Jenkins/Strange/Smith/Onwenu.

Onwenu at RT isn't ideal but his deal is set up to be cut next year so I don't mind signing his younger replacement in Smith for RG and letting Onwenu in a lame duck contract year be the "stop gap signing" at RT compared to a guy like Moses Brown who I've been advocating for us to sign in that spot. Jenkins is a guy who, if he settles in at LG, could be one of those great value FA signings where the player takes off and he's better in the next 3 seasons than he's been in the last 3. You always want to sign guys on that spot of their career improvement arc, vs paying for past production that they can't match in the future.

In general too that's a massive OL, which is fun to build with if you thin about being a tougher team.

 

[TommyD4207]

Curios what happens with David Andrews. Love all he's done for us, but I'd kind of like to get an extended look at Strange playing center with him set for free agency next year (can't imagine they exercise 5th year option). He seemed ok there to end last year and if he can play that spot long term he'd be more valuable.

5th year option money for a G/C is pretty cheap, I can see them picking it up if they expect to keep him going forward.

Andrews looked cooked to me even before he got hurt, when he couldn't get out on screens, that was pretty much the end for him in my mond. Love what he did here, but it's time to move on.