Looking into 2020 team... Who stays Who goes?

Yeah, still hurts. But, we have the NFL draft and people to re-sign.

Here is a quick list:
Patriots Free Agents: Tom Brady Headlines List Of Players Set To Hit Market

Many players are getting older and expensive. Who gets re-signed?

- Brady should be resigned

- Thuney should be resigned if they can get him for $12m or under. If not sadly we should let him walk but spending close to $25m on guards isn’t the best use of cap space when we have lots of other needs.

- KVN likely gone. Would love to resign him but he wants top $

- McCourty resign 1 year $7m.

- Collins try to resign for 2 years $5m per.

- Shelton or Butler, not both, but Shelton could get costly

- Slater 2 years $3m per

- sign Nick Folk 2 years $1m per

Cuts- Gostkowski and Sanu unless he takes a big cut

Restructures - Cannon and Hightower. Possibly Gilmore

Watson is gone you could tell from the press conference. On a side note it would be nice to keep Justin Bethel.

KVN gone for a better contract, folk gone obviously, Collins gone. McCourty might come back. If Brady does end up staying, he better get some help. If this offense has Stidham with this recieving corps. It could get ugly

Boomer B said:

- Brady should be resigned

- Thuney should be resigned if they can get him for $12m or under. If not sadly we should let him walk but spending close to $25m on guards isn’t the best use of cap space when we have lots of other needs.

- KVN likely gone. Would love to resign him but he wants top $

- McCourty resign 1 year $7m.

- Collins try to resign for 2 years $5m per.

- Shelton or Butler, not both, but Shelton could get costly

- Slater 2 years $3m per

- sign Nick Folk 2 years $1m per

Cuts- Gostkowski and Sanu unless he takes a big cut

Restructures - Cannon and Hightower. Possibly Gilmore

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Agree on Thuney, that's too much.
KVN might come back--remember, Hightower did not get a huge contract on the open market.
I don't see Shelton on Butler getting big contracts. They'll be back.
The Folk/Gost thing is one I didn't think of. Gulp.
Sanu's contract is not outlandish for what he is. It's Amendola money.
My big prediction here is that Cannon gets cut outright because of his contract.
They'd be crazy to talk less money for the DPOY Gilmore, but I think an extension is possible if they don't like his cap #.

Brady McCourty Slater stays. Everyone else can leave. Hightower's contract gets restructured. They need to hit in this draft for immediate talent.

Boomer B said:

- Brady should be resigned

- Thuney should be resigned if they can get him for $12m or under. If not sadly we should let him walk but spending close to $25m on guards isn’t the best use of cap space when we have lots of other needs.

- KVN likely gone. Would love to resign him but he wants top $

- McCourty resign 1 year $7m.

- Collins try to resign for 2 years $5m per.

- Shelton or Butler, not both, but Shelton could get costly

- Slater 2 years $3m per

- sign Nick Folk 2 years $1m per

Cuts- Gostkowski and Sanu unless he takes a big cut

Restructures - Cannon and Hightower. Possibly Gilmore

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Collins for $5m for two years is nit gonna happen - he has established his position and he would find some $ elsewhere.
Thuney for $12m per year or less it would be awesome but I think he will be offered much more.

Any cap experts care to share any cap space creating opportunities we have this off-season?

upstater1 said:

Agree on Thuney, that's too much.
KVN might come back--remember, Hightower did not get a huge contract on the open market.
I don't see Shelton on Butler getting big contracts. They'll be back.
The Folk/Gost thing is one I didn't think of. Gulp.
Sanu's contract is not outlandish for what he is. It's Amendola money.
My big prediction here is that Cannon gets cut outright because of his contract.
They'd be crazy to talk less money for the DPOY Gilmore, but I think an extension is possible if they don't like his cap #.

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They won’t cut Cannon, close to a $4m cap hit if they do.

For Gilmore it’s not about less money but moving $ to free up cap space.

Sanu made about $2.5m more then Amendola this year. Amendola can probably be had for about $3m next year. Sanu isn’t worth close to $6.5, especially when we need that $ for players who can contribute.

While Shelton and Butler won’t get huge contracts, Shelton is likely at least $6m per year and Butler was on a minimum contract for $600,000 this year. He’s getting a big raise somewhere.

I take Folk in the $1m range over Gostkowski at close to $5m. Gostkowski is a great Patriot, but he’s to expensive and Folk played well. We need savings somewhere.

KVN made $6m and wants a nice raise. I can’t see the team being able to afford him if they want to upgrade at TE and outside WR.

I'd argue Thuney is the only one who is a must-sign whether Brady is back or not...there's a point at which it's "too much" of course, but I would absolutely pay him something like the Brandon Brooks contract (4/$56/$30gtd). It can be structured to minimize the cap hits in years 1 and 2, which is important if you are paying Brady. If you are not paying Brady, then the cap math matters less, but he is an important piece of the line and he's basically never missed a snap. It looks like they have a legit LT on a rookie deal for a few years yet.

If Brady IS back, then I think trying to fit in some of those vets (KVN or Collins, McCourty, ST boys, Shelton/Butler) is important to making a real run, and doable if they take some abuse on the cap for 2022/23. No matter how much they "hit" on the draft, they aren't replacing players at every level of the defense, AND the OL, AND skill positions, AND special teams enough to be truly competitive. That's an insane position to take. There is some restructure flexibility with a couple guys, some guys who are likely cut (Ghost? Sanu?) because the money can be used more efficiently.

If Brady is NOT back, then you keep Thuney, and that's it. Maybe some of the down-roster OL guys or Butler (shouldn't be too expensive) also just because you have to field a team, but if they are rolling with Stidham they should be honest that he is not going anywhere special with the same roster Brady just had, but a year older.

We have about $42 million in cap space. $50 million if we release Cannon

Thuney is a key sign. He was our best O-lineman this year and it wasn' t even close. If we bring him back, get Andrews back with hopefully a rebound season from Mason and Cannon and Wynn back for his 2nd full season, our line will be one of our strengths like it was last year.

It’s early : but I see a lot of movement this year... if Brady goes, I see McCourty & Slater retiring. If BB returns, I can see him trying to convince Slater to stay. Locker culture is not everything - but it contributes to winning.

TommyBrady12 said:

We have about $42 million in cap space. $50 million if we release Cannon

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Cannon has close to a $4m dead cap hit. It won’t be $50m.

ashley1992 said:

Thuney is a key sign. He was our best O-lineman this year and it wasn' t even close. If we bring him back, get Andrews back with hopefully a rebound season from Mason and Cannon and Wynn back for his 2nd full season, our line will be one of our strengths like it was last year.

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We need some youth at RT. Cannon is getting up there in age. Also, Andrews is good, not great

TommyBrady12 said:

We have about $42 million in cap space. $50 million if we release Cannon

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Half of that (or more) will be for the QB, unless they take a JAG QB or Stidham, and use the other $$ to rebuild a younger group of WRs, OL, DL....

TommyBrady12 said:

We need some youth at RT. Cannon is getting up there in age. Also, Andrews is good, not great

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Yes! Finally someone I agree with..Andrews was our best center but he was not all world. Patriots were ready to draft Frank Ragnow 2 years ago before the Lions jumped right infront of them and took him.

As far as RT...Cajuste?

They need to cut Sanu and Jason McCourty, that would create 10.5 million. Maybe Burkhead and save 3 million. Cannon is slightly more that 5 million. 3,5 million if they cut Gostkowski. 3.4 million if Andrews is gone. In any case, they could create 20-25 million offloading the guys who can be replaced.

They are in a weird spot with Sanu. They traded (wasted) a second round pick on him and he is owed far more money than he is worth next year and I feel like he wouldn't take a pay cut as he has the leverage of knowing the team used that pick on him. That being said I sure as hell hope they don't extend him.

Tommy,

Talent being equal, what position would you focus on first in either the draft or fa? TE, OL, WR, DL, Safety? Those I think would be our biggest needs.

TommyBrady12 said:

We need some youth at RT. Cannon is getting up there in age. Also, Andrews is good, not great

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