Breer: Vrabel says the Pats will approach the offseason getting younger, cheaper, & better options

[Rob0729]

Breer was on 98.5 today saying that Vrabel told him that they will approach free agency getting younger, cheaper, and better players. Not that the Pats will be cheap in free agency or not aggressive. In fact, Breer thought the Pats could be aggressive in free agency. But he wants to replace older player with young players that might be cheaper in the short run like say replacing Henry, who has a high cap hit this year, with a younger option like maybe Kyle Pitts who might be cheaper in the short run but is younger and potentially better. Breer did use Henry as an example, but didn't state a potential replacement. I used Pitts as an example.

From the sounds of it, players like Moses, Diggs, Henry, Hooper, Hollins, Bradbury could be targets for younger upgrades.

What we won't see is what the Commanders did last year where they went all in to get older players who could help them win right now, but won't help in the future while mortgaging draft picks. Again, I don't know if that means that the Pats won't make trades, but it is doubtful they will trade for a guy who only has a couple of years left of production or potentially requiring too much trade capital.

 

[Toofy]

One of Henry or diggs could be a casualty . I see diggs to be one. Similarly hooper is gone. Bradbury would also be gone.

All these 3 would be replaced with a solid LG from a money saved standpoint .

Extensions - gonzo, Boutte

Resign - chaisson. Hawkins, Tonga, munford

Additional Cut - mapu , gibbens ( maybe) , doubs

A veteran slot receiver on 3 year deal with out after 1st year not costing more than 8-10 million a year. Draft a big bodied wide receiver to learn under Mac hollins in r4 or r5 .

Diggs though is a contributor , we need to let him go 1 year in advance . I don't think he can help for 2027 and I feel that's the year when we can really contend and I would want my receiver core to be ready for it.

Maybe when I think I feel Alex pierce is a good option even at 20 million. In 2027 he can provide production of both diggs and Mac hollins singularly while allowing other players to develop.

Draft a faster tight end and develop Chism.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Pats may take the dead cap hit at $7.5M and release Moses early. Henry's is larger at $12.5M. If Henry stays, it will be his last.

They have outs with:

Diggs. It's as clear as day he either takes a pay cut or he's cut. Decent season when you look at the stat sheet, but not when you look deeper at the games he collected his yardage. Had a lot of no shows throughout the season. He has the Jakobi Meyers disease and can't shake man coverage.
Bradberry. Could be replaced with Linderbaum.
Hollins. Need a veteran somewhere. Made some clutch catches throughout the season.
Tavai. Played decent at times, but his limitations showed when players went to the outside.
Hooper is a FA. Needs to be replaced.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

For people talking about cutting Moses...

If they trade Moses his new team takes him on for a 1 year, $6.5M salary ($4.5M guaranteed), plus another $2.5M in incentives. If we do the trade before June 1st, we save $7.6M. Considering the modest salary and guarantees being assumed by his new team, the demand for OT play league wide, and his solid level of play last year, I think we'd be able to trade him to reduce the dead money charge. If we cut him before June 1st we save $3.1M, so the $4.5M difference in savings comes down to the guaranteed salary going over to a new team vs. us taking it as dead money. I really think there'd be enough of a market for him at that contract number that we could trade him for nothing in return besides us minimizing the dead cap hit.

HOWEVER, I'd be surprised if they cut him just to throw the position to a rookie based on the growing pains of the ones we had this year. Even if they took a RT first round, I think you still want to have Moses in camp as the incumbent for the position to start. The options in FA don't seem great either. So I'd be kind of surprised if that's a move they make.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

In fairness everyone every season wants to get better, younger and cheaper.

That's what allowed teams like the Eagles to have 2 elite tackles on big money as well as guys like AJ Brown, Saquon and paying Hurts is hitting on guys like DeJean, Mitchell and Carter and getting elite play on rookie contracts.

I don't think you want to be paying guys like Diggs 20m, Carlton Davis 18m a year, Henry 12m, Landry 14-15m a year that's a seriously expensive "middle class" in NFL production terms, you'd rather pay 3-4 guys at the top of the market and then have those younger cheaper guys around them.

 

[Ross12]

Breer was on 98.5 today saying that Vrabel told him that they will approach free agency getting younger, cheaper, and better players. Not that the Pats will be cheap in free agency or not aggressive. In fact, Breer thought the Pats could be aggressive in free agency. But he wants to replace older player with young players that might be cheaper in the short run like say replacing Henry, who has a high cap hit this year, with a younger option like maybe Kyle Pitts who might be cheaper in the short run but is younger and potentially better. Breer did use Henry as an example, but didn't state a potential replacement. I used Pitts as an example.

From the sounds of it, players like Moses, Diggs, Henry, Hooper, Hollins, Bradbury could be targets for younger upgrades.

What we won't see is what the Commanders did last year where they went all in to get older players who could help them win right now, but won't help in the future while mortgaging draft picks. Again, I don't know if that means that the Pats won't make trades, but it is doubtful they will trade for a guy who only has a couple of years left of production or potentially requiring too much trade capital.

Makes sense. They don’t want to go “all in”, they want to build something.

 

[ViperGTS]

Breer was on 98.5 today saying that Vrabel told him that they will approach free agency getting younger, cheaper, and better players. Not that the Pats will be cheap in free agency or not aggressive. In fact, Breer thought the Pats could be aggressive in free agency. But he wants to replace older player with young players that might be cheaper in the short run like say replacing Henry, who has a high cap hit this year, with a younger option like maybe Kyle Pitts who might be cheaper in the short run but is younger and potentially better. Breer did use Henry as an example, but didn't state a potential replacement. I used Pitts as an example.

From the sounds of it, players like Moses, Diggs, Henry, Hooper, Hollins, Bradbury could be targets for younger upgrades.

What we won't see is what the Commanders did last year where they went all in to get older players who could help them win right now, but won't help in the future while mortgaging draft picks. Again, I don't know if that means that the Pats won't make trades, but it is doubtful they will trade for a guy who only has a couple of years left of production or potentially requiring too much trade capital.

Yeah thats why Crosby and AJ Brown are OUT imo. Th only way is if they force their way to the Pats and force their team to make the deal on the cheap.

 

[Toofy]

I don't think

In fairness everyone every season wants to get better, younger and cheaper.

That's what allowed teams like the Eagles to have 2 elite tackles on big money as well as guys like AJ Brown, Saquon and paying Hurts is hitting on guys like DeJean, Mitchell and Carter and getting elite play on rookie contracts.

I don't think you want to be paying guys like Diggs 20m, Carlton Davis 18m a year, Henry 12m, Landry 14-15m a year that's a seriously expensive "middle class" in NFL production terms, you'd rather pay 3-4 guys at the top of the market and then have those younger cheaper guys around them.

This was the problem with our 2021 free agency class. Paid a ton of money for underperforming veterans.

This class is far superior but we need to get out of middle tier contracts for ageing veterans . We need a mix of veterans and rookies which means we need to replace some veta with sophomores and vets.

This year cuts - diggs, hooper , Bradbury, doubs ( opens 20 million cap space)
Next year cuts - Moses , davis , Henry , hollins , Landry. ( Opens 50 million + cap space)

We can't cut everyone this year else it will be too big a vacuum . Sign some studs - Alec Pierce or lindstrom or edwards or hendrixkson on incentive laden contract . so if we r smart we can set ourselves up really well for 2027 and beyond when we will be primed for growth.

So need to make sure rookies and sophomores get play time in 2026.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Obviously, Vrabel had a wildly successful first year establishing a connection with the players and creating a positive culture. His real test will come this year when he probably has to say good bye to players like Diggs that he had a special relationship with. He needs to find a way to make tough decisions while maintaining credibility with the remaining players. His Patriots run will depend on him finding a way to do that year over year without his message getting stale.

 

[JoeSixPat]

The "older, more expensive, worse" advocates are NOT going to be happy with this development.

Seriously, as we've seen, there's a nice little window that's open to teams if they have a SB caliber QB on a rookie contract

That allows them to spend much MUCH more instead of the $47 million they would have to pay a proven veteran QB (at least that's the QB Franchise Tag #)

I'd imagine they have a pretty clear financial gameplan for this phase and the more they can do to draft well of course will help (a rookie LT under contract who will probably be joined by another high OL draftee not only shores up the line, but fills other expensive positions with low salary guys)

Can't wait to see how much better this team gets in the offseason

Compare that to MANY of the SB teams who have to disassemble after their runs, unable to afford to keep key players

Patriots are only getting better

 

[Ross12]

Yeah thats why Crosby and AJ Brown are OUT imo. Th only way is if they force their way to the Pats and force their team to make the deal on the cheap.

Maybe not Brown, if you look at it as he is “younger” and “better” than Diggs. Probably not “cheaper”, though.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Last offseason was insane, i can count 15 starters or very significant roles:
M williams, c davis, spillane, landry, chiasson, woodson, tonga, moses, bradbury, campbell, wilson, diggs, hollins, henderson, and a kicker. Plus some other depth pieces

Ive said in other threads if we do even 1/3rd of that (5 starter quality players at areas of need plus a few depth pieces ) we will be among the favorites. We can probably do more than that too.

Not too stressed over younger / older, i imagine like last season itll be somewhat a mix of both but less of the old since there will be less need for bandaid type signings like moses/bradbury/landry. But they still could use some veteran leadership especially if they are moving on from some of those guys.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Breer was on 98.5 today saying that Vrabel told him that they will approach free agency getting younger, cheaper, and better players. Not that the Pats will be cheap in free agency or not aggressive. In fact, Breer thought the Pats could be aggressive in free agency. But he wants to replace older player with young players that might be cheaper in the short run like say replacing Henry, who has a high cap hit this year, with a younger option like maybe Kyle Pitts who might be cheaper in the short run but is younger and potentially better. Breer did use Henry as an example, but didn't state a potential replacement. I used Pitts as an example.

From the sounds of it, players like Moses, Diggs, Henry, Hooper, Hollins, Bradbury could be targets for younger upgrades.

What we won't see is what the Commanders did last year where they went all in to get older players who could help them win right now, but won't help in the future while mortgaging draft picks. Again, I don't know if that means that the Pats won't make trades, but it is doubtful they will trade for a guy who only has a couple of years left of production or potentially requiring too much trade capital.

Vrabel said this in his final press conference of the season.

 

[Sect140]

Pats may take the dead cap hit at $7.5M and release Moses early. Henry's is larger at $12.5M. If Henry stays, it will be his last.

They have outs with:

Diggs. It's as clear as day he either takes a pay cut or he's cut. Decent season when you look at the stat sheet, but not when you look deeper at the games he collected his yardage. Had a lot of no shows throughout the season. He has the Jakobi Meyers disease and can't shake man coverage.
Bradberry. Could be replaced with Linderbaum.
Hollins. Need a veteran somewhere. Made some clutch catches throughout the season.
Tavai. Played decent at times, but his limitations showed when players went to the outside.
Hooper is a FA. Needs to be replaced.

Wilson could move to center and use the money for a veteran LG instead of Linderbaum.

 

[Grogan14]

Eagles indicated today that they do not want to trade Brown

 

[Ring 6]

Breer was on 98.5 today saying that Vrabel told him that they will approach free agency getting younger, cheaper, and better players. Not that the Pats will be cheap in free agency or not aggressive. In fact, Breer thought the Pats could be aggressive in free agency. But he wants to replace older player with young players that might be cheaper in the short run like say replacing Henry, who has a high cap hit this year, with a younger option like maybe Kyle Pitts who might be cheaper in the short run but is younger and potentially better. Breer did use Henry as an example, but didn't state a potential replacement. I used Pitts as an example.

From the sounds of it, players like Moses, Diggs, Henry, Hooper, Hollins, Bradbury could be targets for younger upgrades.

What we won't see is what the Commanders did last year where they went all in to get older players who could help them win right now, but won't help in the future while mortgaging draft picks. Again, I don't know if that means that the Pats won't make trades, but it is doubtful they will trade for a guy who only has a couple of years left of production or potentially requiring too much trade capital.

I think you have to take it with a grain of salt. He is generalizing. You always want younger, better, cheaper players big that doesn’t mean you only will bring in someone who is all 3.
Of course the goal is always to find younger, good cheap players but we won’t not sign a stud edge who is better older and more expensive than Chiasson for example.

 

[Ring 6]

Eagles indicated today that they do not want to trade Brown

Sam
You made a bet and lost. You were supposed to stop posting here the moment the Patriots qualified for the playoffs. You then changed that to when the patriots steadiness over. Now you appear to be totaling dishonoring your word.
What’s up with that? Are you welching in your promise?

 

[VrabelJr]

It feels like an honest look at the roster: we went far with what we had, did more than anyone ever anticipated, but it wasn’t enough and it’s fool’s gold to think we’re 1 or 2 vets from that being any different. Vrabel wants to build the next dynasty and the best way to do that is the draft and signing guys 4-6 years into their career.

 

[MrTibbs]

Breer was on 98.5 today saying that Vrabel told him that they will approach free agency getting younger, cheaper, and better players. Not that the Pats will be cheap in free agency or not aggressive. In fact, Breer thought the Pats could be aggressive in free agency. But he wants to replace older player with young players that might be cheaper in the short run like say replacing Henry, who has a high cap hit this year, with a younger option like maybe Kyle Pitts who might be cheaper in the short run but is younger and potentially better. Breer did use Henry as an example, but didn't state a potential replacement. I used Pitts as an example.

From the sounds of it, players like Moses, Diggs, Henry, Hooper, Hollins, Bradbury could be targets for younger upgrades.

What we won't see is what the Commanders did last year where they went all in to get older players who could help them win right now, but won't help in the future while mortgaging draft picks. Again, I don't know if that means that the Pats won't make trades, but it is doubtful they will trade for a guy who only has a couple of years left of production or potentially requiring too much trade capital.

Breer is Captain obvious and never breaks any news. I believe that man to have zero sources as he's never right about anything outside of common observation.

 

[Tunescribe]

I think you have to take it with a grain of salt. He is generalizing. You always want younger, better, cheaper players big that doesn’t mean you only will bring in someone who is all 3.la
Of course the goal is always to find younger, good cheap players but we won’t not sign a stud edge who is better older and more expensive than Chiasson for example.

Yeah, Breer took an offhand statement Vrabel made in his season-closing presser and speculated. Vrabel (paraphrasing) said when asked about offseason goals, "You do what you always do, look toward upgrading the roster with younger/cheaper/better players." That came near the end -- not a point of emphasis or expounded upon.