Yes, that is exactly what I was expressing in my post, that other teams are perfect.
Yea I'd say #1, but being able to identify and understand weaknesses is one thing, you still need cap room to correct them in any meaningful way given the number of holes they currently have and key free agents they will likely lose to teams with $100m+ to spend (including the Bills, who I'm sure would love to improve their roster while at the same time hurting the Pats. As would the colts.)
No different than the last 20 years.
Yea but they have 3 team captains hitting FA this year who are tops at their position. Slater will be affordable, but DMac and Brady will be extremely expensive.
Brady will save cap money. McCourty may well be gone. We have overcome losses like that often.
this is the list of their FAs;
Tom Brady (C)
Devin McCourty (C)
Kyle Van Noy
Matthew Slater (C)
Phillip Dorsett
Nate Ebner
Jamie Collins
Danny Shelton
Nick Folk
Marshall Newhouse
Justin Bethel
Joe Thuney
Benjamin Watson
Shilique Calhoun
James Ferentz
Jermaine Eluemunor
Ted Karras
Elandon Roberts
Adam Butler
Keionta Davis
these are the ones that really matter
Tom Brady - Huge % of cap consumed if resigned. Offense will be embarassment without him.
No more than other teams with good qbs
Devin McCourty - Secondary would take HUGE hit if he was gone. Will make $10m+
See above
Kyle Van Noy - Likely gone, will get $10m+, but im more confident they can replace LBs
haven’t we learned yet? Revis, Jones, Collins, butler, flowers. This is part of the argument why Brady should stay. It’s like you have forgetten the last 20 years
Matthew Slater - Will be back at around $3m+
Nice to have around
Jamie Collins - will be gone, someone will overpay him again. If LBs lose Van Noy and Collins, ouch.
we will return to a 42 base instead of 33.
Danny Shelton - May be expensive to keep, Dline would suffer a lot losing him
Meh. Shouldn’t be expensive or hard to replace
Joe Thuney - Will cost a fortune to keep. I think they try to replace him in draft due to cap restrictions
Probably gone
Ted Karras - solid season after getting a chance.. hes a backup on our team, but someone might pay him
Probably back to compete for LG
[quite]Adam Butler - young and talented, will cost some coin to keep.[/quote]
Backup player. Decent but still jag level
I would argue if they lost DMac, Van Noy, Collins, Shelton and Butler this would be a completely different defense and not for the better. They'll probably keep 1 of either Shelton or Butler, maybe DMac if he wants to play with his brother and not break the bank, but the rest are probably gone.
And we have young players like winovich, Bentley, Williams, cowart a draft, trades and free agency to round out the defense. Not worried.
I wasn't thrilled about losing Flowers, but they made a bunch of other moves that mitigated it a bit... but yes, i thought losing Flowers would have hurt them a lot more than it did.. but a guy like Flowers could have potentially made that 1 or 2 big plays you needed in Titans game
The defense was much better this year after losing what many people considered its best player. It’s not fantasy football. You tenn comment is a funny.
Flowers was really the only significant loss, that is a lot easier to overcome when the rest of the defense is solid. This year they already have a bunch of holes and could potentially have 3-4 "Trey Flower" type players leave.. maybe not quite at his level, but impactful players
we hear this every year. They are fine every year.
But let’s be clear. Are you now arguing that Brady is going to quit the patriots because he thinks their defense will stink and he would be better off where?
Not sure, depends on what happens with the FA shuffle about to take place. Also, their history at this point is irrelevant. The Patriots are amazing at sustaining a success, but they do experience dips after recovering from multiple SB runs and losing lots of players.
Huh? When did they experience “dips” while going to 8 affcg 5 sb and win 3 of them in 8 years? Where did they “dip” winning 17 of 18 afce championships under brady with 12 byes?
Remember the argument you are making us he is leaving NE because the chances of winning stink here.
I also don't believe the Pats were as good as their record this year, and they were better than their record in 2018. Some teams that have decent situations, at least in terms of roster talent, are:
1. Cowboys - (pending what happens with Dak)
Wait. You think the cowboys who were under .500 in the worst division in the nfl are better than the patriots? You are kidding right?
2. Colts - (have a solid D, great running game, one of the best offensive lines, OK WR core but also $100m+ in cap room to improve roster.
the colts are better than the patriots?
You think that Tom Brady thinks his chance if winning a SB is better if he leaves the most dominant organization ever to go play for frank reich and the colts? Wow.
3. Chargers - Solid offensive line i believe, amazing RBs (altho M Gordon is likely gone), a great young TE, amazing wide receivers and a defense that could really get after the QB if they played with a lead. (Bosa and Ingram)
5-11. I’m seriously doubting you have a clue.
I'm not considering coaching or anything like that, just roster talent.
right because your judgment of roster talent is what determines who wins SBs right? After all you think these amazingly talented teams are an bound after going 7-9,8-8,5-11
Of course you had to add a qualifier so you don’t look like an idiot
We're really lucky the Bills drafted a solid young QB, cause otherwise they would have to be fighting off all of the FA QBs trying to bust down the front doors of their stadium. They were in the playoffs this year and a really solid team that now has like $100m in cap space to improve
Yeah players can’t wait to migrate to a wild card 1 and done. I mean the patriots have only won 6 sbs with the current regime, how can they compete with a team that might be able to win its first playoff game in 20 years.
and here i thought we were having a civil discussion. If they don't seriously retool the offensive side of the ball then the Pats are definitely not his best chance to win next year. He would be wise to just retire if they decided to trot out that cast of scrubs again around the greatest QB to ever lace them up
Explain what the patriots have ever done under Belichick that would lead you to conclude that they will assess their season, identify the biggest weakness and the go ahead and “trot out that cast of scrubs again ”
It’s like you are a 6 year old child crying because they didn’t win the SB so now it means they will suddenly start turning into losers who dint know how to build a team.
I’ll take a bet right now that Brady or not the 2020 Patriots will have a better win % than your “amazing” teams combined. Indy, Dallas, chargers, bills.
