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

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.
Even that won’t be cheap enough to keep them from being too expensive.
 
Wilson could move to center and use the money for a veteran LG instead of Linderbaum.
This is why I don’t see Linderbaum in the Patriots future.

Move Wilson to C, keep Bradbury as backup & insurance if Wilson doesn’t work out, or cut or deal him for cap savings with Ben Brown as the fallback plan. No reason to throw money at C needlessly.
 
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)
No need to cut Hooper, his contract expires this year. Doubt he’ll be renewed, unless we strike out on FA TEs.

I expect Diggs will be back at a cheaper salary. Or maybe he tests the waters with other teams. Would not surprise me for the team to give him permission to shop himself around while still under contract. Would be especially nice if they did that with the understanding that they would get the chance to match whatever offer he might get. Let the market decide his value, let the team decide if they think he’s worth the price. Could even work out he gets a team willing to give him a raise and they work out a trade/extend deal for him.

Bradbury seems likely to be gone, replaced by Wilson.

Doubs may be gone, especially if they resign DeVito.

Those moves for next year seem likely now, but time may change them. Especially if Landry doesn’t come back from his injury and decides to hang them up after this year.
 
That’s interesting.

Sam said the Eagles indicated they didn’t want to trade AJ.

Some ESPN flack says unnamed NFL execs expect the Eagles to”to at least entertain trade offers” for him.

It would be interesting to see Sam’s source. That ESPN story seems really nebulous, like blowing smoke and then shouting fire.

and then there’s this video from an Eagles fan. His comments about ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler (that’s the story linked above) saying the Eagles will get a huge haul for trading Brown, but that he doesn't think the Eagles will get a first, maybe not even a second, seem like a very interesting question. The cap hit the Eagles would take is pretty huge, so that might be a problem. Another factor this video made is the need the Eagles would have to fill the void left by trading Brown. So I wondered if there might be a trade swapping Diggs for AJ Brown, and whether that might alleviate or offset some of the cap issues for the Eagles.

 
An AJ Brown trade isn't likely because it's a $20M cap hit to trade him before 6/1, which is about equal to their current cap space.

They might be curious sellers right now, but I don't think they're motivated sellers yet.
 
Vrabel said this in his final press conference of the season.

Actually Vrabel told Albert and I that they were going younger and cheaper, that's why I said it a couple of days ago.

He also told me exclusively that Will Campbell is their left tackle, and that he's going to do what's best for the team.
 
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 must have missed Vrabel's press conference after the SB, because he told everyone that.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if the Pats were in on Alec Pierce instead of AJ Brown he's a free agent and is only 25 and plays right into how good Drake is at the deep ball and is still getting better and has mostly done it with bad QB play.

 
Can’t wait to see what they do.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if the Pats were in on Alec Pierce instead of AJ Brown he's a free agent and is only 25 and plays right into how good Drake is at the deep ball and is still getting better and has mostly done it with bad QB play.


Yea I was just watching his highlights, hopefully Colts don't franchise tag him, his tag is at $28 Million.
 
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.

Vrabel said:

"As I was taught -- talk about the business of the NFL, the business is: we're looking for the better, younger, cheaper player every day, and the players that we have are trying to not let that happen. And that's the dynamic -- and that's the business of the National Football League."

He's just describing the balance that there will always be in the NFL (and that phrase about "as I was taught" is clearly a reference to when he found himself shipped out of New England!) Disappointing that there should have to be a thread as if Breer had been given some inside scoop about the Patriots' strategy rather than him stating the obvious.
 
They’ll continue to build through the draft, that’s the best source for better cheaper talent. Beyond that continue to sign value vet free agents like Bradbury, Moses, Chaisson and Tonga. Every year there are free agents available who are undervalued by other teams.

Drake Maye on his rookie deal is taking up 3% of their annual salary cap… nothing. They need to build a great young base of talent around him and lock them up long term before he needs to get paid. No need to burn through money now. Build for long term success.

Breer seems to be lumping his opinions in on who should be on the chopping block with an innocuous statement by Vrabel about the realities of the NFL at large. It’s easier and smarter just to listen to the actual quote by Vrabel.
 
An AJ Brown trade isn't likely because it's a $20M cap hit to trade him before 6/1, which is about equal to their current cap space.

They might be curious sellers right now, but I don't think they're motivated sellers yet.
They can do it under a post June 1 designation/understanding.
 
That’s interesting.

Sam said the Eagles indicated they didn’t want to trade AJ.

Some ESPN flack says unnamed NFL execs expect the Eagles to”to at least entertain trade offers” for him.

It would be interesting to see Sam’s source. That ESPN story seems really nebulous, like blowing smoke and then shouting fire.

and then there’s this video from an Eagles fan. His comments about ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler (that’s the story linked above) saying the Eagles will get a huge haul for trading Brown, but that he doesn't think the Eagles will get a first, maybe not even a second, seem like a very interesting question. The cap hit the Eagles would take is pretty huge, so that might be a problem. Another factor this video made is the need the Eagles would have to fill the void left by trading Brown. So I wondered if there might be a trade swapping Diggs for AJ Brown, and whether that might alleviate or offset some of the cap issues for the Eagles.


I thought I had read that. Roseman made some comments back in January but he has NOT come out and said they would absolutely not trade him. Since the Pats pick so low and numerous other teams will be after him in this years draft, I think it would take their first rounder (#1)



See link . If they trade him before June1, they take a massive cap hit this year, but down the road they would save money.
 
I think people are too quick to just cut our veterans to save on the salary cap when it often times just creates bigger holes.

I want Diggs back as he was better than I ever expected him to be and seemed to be surprisingly good for the locker room too. Been along time since we had 1000 yd receiver and really am ok with bringing back the same receivers as this past year. Would also keep Henry (Maye's go to) but would like to go younger than Hooper.

Believe they should cut Bradbury and switch Wilson to center and Brown at LG, should save $ there, but would not cut Moses as we have enough problems with our left tackle as doesn't appear M Bryant is ready to step into Moses's shoes.

Defensively, could get younger and save $ by letting Landry go.
 
Welcome to Common Sense land everyone. I cant imagine the other 32 teams thinking the same...

 
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