Patriots Player Departure Gibby to the Cards

[patfanken]

Cards sign Gibbons today to a 2 year contract. He was a VERY good rotational player who started 6 games and had over 80 tackles, 8 for a loss, a sack, and 4 pass break ups. He was a solid depth piece, and I can only guess they think the LB we got from Miami will be better, though his claim to fame is his ST work. No money was mentioned

 

[UGAPatsfan]

He filled in admirably but is fatally slow. Draft time.

 

[BobDigital]

I am sad to see him go. He was solid tackler, able to run the D without missing a beat and rarely in the wrong place. What else do you want from a depth MLB realistically?

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Liked him alot as depth and he would’nt have been tough to keep around at all. Reminds me of the Jennings situation, but i trust in Vrabel. obviously he feels we can upgrade there or theyd be back.

 

[neuronet]

Dang

 

[Pape]

Nice rotational depth piece... but thats life on the bubble in the NFL... you go where you get paid ...

 

[Ross12]

Hm. A little surprised. Athletically, he is just a JAG or worse, but he is smart and he knew Vrabel's system well. They also let Tavai go, so they just have Spillane and Elliss in the room now pretty much as far as guys that are capable of playing a lot of snaps.

Other guys in the room:
- Marte Mapu
- New signing KJ Britt
- Chad Muma

 

[Patsfan1645]

Hm. A little surprised. Athletically, he is just a JAG or worse, but he is smart and he knew Vrabel's system well. They also let Tavai go, so they just have Spillane and Elliss in the room now pretty much as far as guys that are capable of playing a lot of snaps.

Other guys in the room:
- Marte Mapu
- New signing KJ Britt
- Chad Muma

Mapu has been a disappointment but Vrabel seems to like him.

 

[condon84]

He filled in admirably but is fatally slow. Draft time.

He was terrible at diagnosing plays and weak at the point of attack.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Filled in admirably when needed. Not a guy who should be playing 20 snaps a game.

We are loading up at DL and LB in the draft.

 

[jimnance]

Cards sign Gibbons today to a 2 year contract. He was a VERY good rotational player who started 6 games and had over 80 tackles, 8 for a loss, a sack, and 4 pass break ups. He was a solid depth piece, and I can only guess they think the LB we got from Miami will be better, though his claim to fame is his ST work. No money was mentioned

Gibby and Cards dredged up some long ago trauma: Game 7 1967 World Series.
My 13 y.o. self was at Fenway for that game.
Lonborg was great but the Cards' Gibby was not human

 

[mgteich]

If there is one position to trust Vrabel on, it is LB.

 

[Wozzy]

We should be excited to expand Chad Muma's role.

The kid is hyper athletic and could improve the ILB group mightily.

I think the Pats knew this and moved on from Gibbens, who was very limited.

 

[TheRainMaker]

He was awful and slow diagnosing plays making him a liability. I dreaded when ball carriers went to his direction. It was a night and day difference when Spillane returned.

 

[Wozzy]

He was awful and slow diagnosing plays making him a liability. I dreaded when ball carriers went to his direction. It was a night and day difference when Spillane returned.

Also not a great athlete, a little too tall and thin (not strong) for the position.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Not sad to see him go, a little confused on timing. They could have made him a $3.5M RFA tender which was non guaranteed. Would only cost $2.4M of cap space after factoring in that he takes someone's place in the top 51. They cut Anfernee Jennings to save about $2.8M after factoring in the top 51 rule. They cut Tavai to save $1.7M which is only like $600K after top 51 rule. They cut Antonio Gibson to save $3M I believe, which would only be about $1.9M after the top 51 rule.

Right now they have no proven 3rd RB, no proven LB depth and no proven DE backup. None of those guys would have had any guaranteed salary. A little surprising to me that for about $8M of cap space combined they didn't just bring those guys to camp and at least let the competition play out. I certainly would have been hoping for all 4 to get beat out though.

 

[Ring 6]

Filled in admirably when needed. Not a guy who should be playing 20 snaps a game.

We are loading up at DL and LB in the draft.

But who do we have to play those 20 snaps now?

 

[RobertWeathers]

But who do we have to play those 20 snaps now?

It's March 17th.

 

[Ross12]

But who do we have to play those 20 snaps now?

At the moment - either KJ Britt, Chad Muma or Marte Mapu. The roster may change between now and September, however.

 

[Ross12]

Not sad to see him go, a little confused on timing. They could have made him a $3.5M RFA tender which was non guaranteed. Would only cost $2.4M of cap space after factoring in that he takes someone's place in the top 51. They cut Anfernee Jennings to save about $2.8M after factoring in the top 51 rule. They cut Tavai to save $1.7M which is only like $600K after top 51 rule. They cut Antonio Gibson to save $3M I believe, which would only be about $1.9M after the top 51 rule.

Right now they have no proven 3rd RB, no proven LB depth and no proven DE backup. None of those guys would have had any guaranteed salary. A little surprising to me that for about $8M of cap space combined they didn't just bring those guys to camp and at least let the competition play out. I certainly would have been hoping for all 4 to get beat out though.

I agree with you, but I think they feel like they have enough vets in the room and would rather use their huge # of draft picks on lots of young talent to try to replace many of them with rookies instead. A depth edge, 3rd/4th RB shouldn't be hard to find in the draft. Tavai is more iffy since he played meaningful snaps but he was also not part of long term planning anyway. Realistically he is probably replaced by Christian Elliss short-term and then by a more highly-drafted player long-term.