Patriots re-signing Ben Watson

venecol said:

Sailor

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Drunken

Very curious how much Watson's signing eats up our remaining cap space....

Hopefully less than the previous contract and keeps us in play for the trading deadline in two weeks....

This tells me potential trades are not happening and his "cap savings" is best put to use by fielding a TE who can play the position.

Oswlek said:

For me it seems consistent with the idea of Watson as the 54th man. NE lost their FB for the season and had a TE get hurt as well. One injury opened a spot and the other exacerbated the need, so Watson returns.

Do you see something differently?

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Yes
Izzo moves to mostly FB leaving spot for a TE. Helped by poor TE health & play by current 53.

A few posters with some hate? Ummm, you have not seen the play and current status of our TEs? Unless BW has lost it, this is an upgrade, period. It doesn't matter that BW isn't likely to put up even close to elite TE numbers. This plainly looks like an upgrade. And if BW can simply just decently block and catch just enough passes to gain DCs respect? That's an important domino effect for the O. And, IMHO, BW has that capability.

Gronk's replacement isn't walking through the door this year (including by trade). So even a modest improvement to a weak TE group is actually a semi big deal.

PatsWickedPissah said:

This tells me potential trades are not happening and his "cap savings" is best put to use by fielding a TE who can play the position.

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Cap savings are best used to extend players for 2020. There are lots; certainly Doesett, Thuney, Butler, Collins, Calhoun come to mind (also VanNoy, but he doesn't cost any cap money). To the degree that this can't happen, we will need the cap money in 2020.

Ben watson does have 95 catches in the last 2 years...which is more than you can say for our current crop of tight ends. 35 catches for 400 yards last year, and in baltimore he had 61 for 522.

if he can provide similar production that is an upgrade over lacosse who is injured every 5 seconds and Izzo who cant block

I was rather expecting this when they released Watson considering the quality of their current TEs.

RIpats88 said:

Ben watson does have 95 catches in the last 2 years...which is more than you can say for our current crop of tight ends. 35 catches for 400 yards last year, and in baltimore he had 61 for 522.

if he can provide similar production that is an upgrade over lacosse who is injured every 5 seconds and Izzo who cant block

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At his age with such a physically demanding position it would be surprising to me if BW can play a gigantic amount of snaps this year and stay injury free. However, clearly they need to be able to trot somebody at TE who can play a bit, at least until LaCross comes back (if he does), at the very minimum.

Or, best case scenario, I'm wrong once again, Watson plays some quality snaps without getting injured, and provides an adequate option at TE for the rest of the season and the playoffs. Or, they are able to trade for a semi-competent TE and they can limit Watson's snaps until he plays a bit more in the playoffs.

RIpats88 said:

Ben watson does have 95 catches in the last 2 years...which is more than you can say for our current crop of tight ends. 35 catches for 400 yards last year, and in baltimore he had 61 for 522.

if he can provide similar production that is an upgrade over lacosse who is injured every 5 seconds and Izzo who cant block

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He only needs to be good. No one expects him to be great and we don't need a great TE. We sure could use one but with our D we only need a guy who catch run the routes, hold on to the ball and be where he is suppose to be. Watson can for sure do that at and be consistent week in week out.

zydecochris said:

At his age with such a physically demanding position it would be surprising to me if BW can play a gigantic amount of snaps this year and stay injury free. However, clearly they need to be able to trot somebody at TE who can play a bit, at least until LaCross comes back (if he does), at the very minimum.

Or, best case scenario, I'm wrong once again, Watson plays some quality snaps without getting injured, and provides an adequate option at TE for the rest of the season and the playoffs. Or, they are able to trade for a semi-competent TE and they can limit Watson's snaps until he plays a bit more in the playoffs.

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Ben Watson has missed 1 game in the last 6 years. I doubt he can take a lot of hits but he is durable enough and obviously knows how to stay healthy and play smarts. I'm not concerned about his ability to be out there.

Hyped said:

Very curious how much Watson's signing eats up our remaining cap space....

Hopefully less than the previous contract and keeps us in play for the trading deadline in two weeks....

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Don't worry, AB's re-signing and settlement will open up the cap space.

@shmessy why do you disagree when I say BB isn't a f&^king liar? Do you know him to be a liar?

RIpats88 said:

Ben watson does have 95 catches in the last 2 years...which is more than you can say for our current crop of tight ends. 35 catches for 400 yards last year, and in baltimore he had 61 for 522.

if he can provide similar production that is an upgrade over lacosse who is injured every 5 seconds and Izzo who cant block

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He had a 76% reception completion last year, he is a reliable pass catcher.

Hopefully signs tomorrow. I think he would be eligible to play vs Ravens.

PatsWickedPissah said:

Yes
Izzo moves to mostly FB leaving spot for a TE. Helped by poor TE health & play by current 53.

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Izzo would be a horrible FB. He can't block at all, at least so far this season. Izzo and Lacosse are PS players but they are TEs here cause the Pats dont have anybody else.

juny said:

Izzo would be a horrible FB. He can't block at all, at least so far this season. Izzo and Lacosse are PS players but they are TEs here cause the Pats dont have anybody else.

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I believe I saw Bolden fill in as FB on several plays. (If it was Bolden) I saw at least one good Sony run sprung by a Bolden block (I can't say that was the case every play). It probably wasn't optimal but kudos to him for being able to emergency fill in multiple positions. And it was the best FB play we had going on in that game, no?
We probably will need him to fill in here and there going forward.

I would think that we would activate Harris if Bolden is to take on FB responsibilities.

TheBostonStraggler said:

I believe I saw Bolden fill in as FB on several plays. (If it was Bolden) I saw at least one good Sony run sprung by a Bolden block (I can't say that was the case every play). It probably wasn't optimal but kudos to him for being able to emergency fill in multiple positions. And it was the FB play we had going on, no?
We probably will need him to fill in here and there going forward.

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Froob said:

Hank Poteat?

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Nah. Earthwind Moreland.