Patriots Player Departure Patriots trade Dugger too lol

[rkarp1]

Not so fun fact: When you look at our 1st and 2nd round picks from 2018 to 2022 they have been almost entirely dumpster fires or cut/traded from the team for scraps.

2018
1st. Isaiah Wynn - Released, 5th year option not picked up.
1st. Sony Michel - traded to Rams for 6th and 4th.
2nd. Duke Dawson - traded to Broncos for 6th.

2019
1st. N'Keal Harry - traded to Bears for 7th.
2nd. Joejuan Williams - placed on IR and released to free agency.

2020
2nd. Kyle Dugger - traded to Steelers for 6th.
2nd. Joshua Uche - traded to Chiefs for 6th.

2021
1st. Mac Jones - traded to Jaguars for 6th.
2nd. Christian Barmore - Still with the team.

2022
1st. Cole Strange - cut by Patriots.
2nd. Tyquan Thornton - cut by Patriots.

So out of these premium picks we went 1/11. Meaning we whiffed 10 times out of 11. That's a more than 90% failure rate. Piss poor drafting for 5 years is what led to 4 win seasons. The talent was all pissed away.

 

[Steve102]

So when are we getting that N'Keal Harry Conditional?? 3035??

Bro.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Not so fun fact: When you look at our 1st and 2nd round picks from 2018 to 2022 they have been almost entirely dumpster fires or cut/traded from the team for scraps.

2018
1st. Isaiah Wynn - Released, 5th year option not picked up.
1st. Sony Michel - traded to Rams for 6th and 4th.
2nd. Duke Dawson - traded to Broncos for 6th.

2019
1st. N'Keal Harry - traded to Bears for 7th.
2nd. Joejuan Williams - placed on IR and released to free agency.

2020
2nd. Kyle Dugger - traded to Steelers for 6th.
2nd. Joshua Uche - traded to Chiefs for 6th.

2021
1st. Mac Jones - traded to Jaguars for 6th.
2nd. Christian Barmore - Still with the team.

2022
1st. Cole Strange - cut by Patriots.
2nd. Tyquan Thornton - cut by Patriots.

So out of these premium picks we went 1/11. Meaning we whiffed 10 times out of 11. That's a more than 90% failure rate. Piss poor drafting for 5 years is what led to 4 win seasons. The talent was all pissed away.

It's not a great record that only 1 is still here, but 6 of those other 10 (Wynn, Michel, Dugger, Uche, Jones, Strange) were starters here for multiple years. Only 3 were washouts that never contributed here or elsewhere (Dawson, Harry, Joejuan). 5 of them (Jones, Thornton, Strange, Uche, Dugger) are still productive players on other teams.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

It was the best deal they could get. That tells you more about Dugger than the Patriots. May as well get all the bad contracts off the books now that you can. I never understood the Dugger and Onwenu deals.

Onwenu yes, Dugger no.

 

[Brady to Maye]

So here is the thing. Maybe this is a trade to set up another trade or a player that could help the team this year.

 

[rkarp1]

wow, Pats paid this year! Dugger waives final 2 years

 

[Bill Lee]

A few people's therapists are going to be PISSED at you!

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Thank You!

The dugger trade is some real cap savings... helps clear space next year by moving him out...

I think the point others have made is, because we had to eat most of the 2025 contract, once you factor in cap carryover, the actual savings for 2026 / 2027 compared with just cutting him prior to 2026 free agency is minimal (under $1m or so). It means that the Patriots valued moving up from the 7th to the 6th round and saving under $1m more than keeping him on the roster for the rest of 2025. So they must think he really is that bad right now, or had the chance to blow up the locker room, or both.

 

[Bill Lee]

I do not understand the obsession with the past, I really don't.

Yes, that's how you get 4-win seasons. You nailed it. The Jets and Browns have been doing this for 60 and 30 years.

The whole draft process is full of fallacies.

Yes, people, many of the highest level draft picks turn out to be garbage.

You would think the NFL fan base as a whole would have figured that out by now, but many individuals seem to be incapable of accepting it.

I agree. Once again the top of the Draft doesn't look like it's filled with " must have" players, but the overall draft should be good. However picking last in every round always limits your options.

This leads into the "a first-rounder is a first-rounder" fallacy.

 

[Joey007]

No argument here! In fact, I doubt you’ll get much argument on that from anywhere. (Not sure why it was a response to my post about 7th round ST specialists though?)

Yeah, no correlation.

Point is that there’s a massive drop off from round 6 to 7. You find much more late round value in the 6th compared to the 7th rounder. We did get Boutte in the 6th recently.

 

[rkarp1]

The whole draft process is full of fallacies.

Yes, people, many of the highest level draft picks turn out to be garbage.

You would think the NFL fan base as a whole would have figured that out by now, but many individuals seem to be incapable of accepting it.



This leads into the "a first-rounder is a first-rounder" fallacy.

I agree, most drafts have a tier of players that are players who day 1 can step in and contribute right away, playing a majority of snaps.

imo, if you are not drafting in that upper day 1 tier of players, the key to a good draft is identifying those later day 1 and day 2/3 players that fit your scheme, can play your scheme in certain situations, and can take to your coaching staff to improve, and work hard to improve.

those drafted players from the prior 3-5 years make up the middle class of your roster

the Pats missed on that middle class for a number of years, or the coaching changes made some of the drafted players a bad scheme fit.

 

[Pape]

I think the point others have made is, because we had to eat most of the 2025 contract, once you factor in cap carryover, the actual savings for 2026 / 2027 compared with just cutting him prior to 2026 free agency is minimal (under $1m or so). It means that the Patriots valued moving up from the 7th to the 6th round and saving under $1m more than keeping him on the roster for the rest of 2025. So they must think he really is that bad right now, or had the chance to blow up the locker room, or both.

don't care about this year... this year the dollars were already spent... its about moving forward...

 

[Bill Lee]

those drafted players from the prior 3-5 years make up the middle class of your roster

the Pats missed on that middle class for a number of years, or the coaching changes made some of the drafted players a bad scheme fit.

I agree. Also I feel we should be sticking with players on their first or second contracts for depth, since they should still be before or near their athletic prime. It seemed we ended up building out depth with journeyman vets which led to poor overall team speed.

 

[Sciz]

I completely forgot that the Steelers signed Ja’Whaun Bentley earlier this season too. Apparently he was released a few weeks ago, after spending 3 weeks on their practice squad.

 

[patchick]

Yeah, no correlation.

Point is that there’s a massive drop off from round 6 to 7. You find much more late round value in the 6th compared to the 7th rounder. We did get Boutte in the 6th recently.

I've looked in the past for decent stats on success rates by draft position, and there's nothing definitive. But based on the multiple informal sources available, the chances of landing a positional starter in round 7 are in the range of 1%-5%, while round 6 is around twice that. So 6th-round picks are literally twice as valuable. (And IMO if you have an opening for an LS or P, nabbing the best one in the draft in the 7th >> a 1-in-30 chance of a starter.)

 

[upstater1]

It's not a great record that only 1 is still here, but 6 of those other 10 (Wynn, Michel, Dugger, Uche, Jones, Strange) were starters here for multiple years. Only 3 were washouts that never contributed here or elsewhere (Dawson, Harry, Joejuan). 5 of them (Jones, Thornton, Strange, Uche, Dugger) are still productive players on other teams.

If you go back that far, few players remain with their original teams. Even the touted 2019 WR class that we whiffed on, NONE of those WRs are with their drafting teams. We always moan about how that draft hurts us, but the hurt happened 6 years ago.

Of the 9 WRs who were drafted in the first 2 rounds, 4 of them panned out and 5 of them were outright busts. But Hollywood Brown, AJ Brown, Deebo Samuel and DK Metcalf are no longer with their original teams.

 

[jdlboot14]

Dugger & Peppers to Steelers.
A bit disappointed because Dugger had shown a lot of talent until last year where things just dropped off with the injury. But, the other guys are stepping up and Woodson is the future at FS. We still need a classic SS that can cover too. Not sure how long Hawkins will last here, but been doing well. Maybe Pettus or new pickup Grant will be a bigger piece of the future. Battle is also a big DB, and could be converted to S - he was very active in preseason.

 

[jmt57]

I think the point others have made is, because we had to eat most of the 2025 contract, once you factor in cap carryover, the actual savings for 2026 / 2027 compared with just cutting him prior to 2026 free agency is minimal (under $1m or so). It means that the Patriots valued moving up from the 7th to the 6th round and saving under $1m more than keeping him on the roster for the rest of 2025. So they must think he really is that bad right now, or had the chance to blow up the locker room, or both.

Excellent point, you took the words out of my mouth.

The one thing you added that I hadn't considered was potential to be a distraction/locker room cancer.

After the extremely minimal net return for Dugger, I feel as though the Pats would have better off retaining him, simply for depth/injury insurance. If he did start to become a problem, cut his ass immediately. It's not as if the Patriots got anything of value by trading him.

 

[varjao]

My opinion, they've seen enough to know it's time to really make some moves to load up around Maye now that they have their guy, they are clearing the runway for either the deadline or to make some splashes in the off season.

Exactly, some extensions are coming, Marcus Jones now, Boutte, realistically I'm not seeing any juggernaut this year so it's not out of the reality to compete for a SB THIS YEAR.

With this new approach of taking the most out of the cap when you have a winner rookie QB before his pay day, their window has shortened a bit, we are talking about a SB window in the next 2 years before we find ourselves in cap hell.

 

[hornetfb85]

wow, Pats paid this year! Dugger waives final 2 years

So, wiped out, does that mean no dead money for us. If so, that is amazing news. If not…