Gronk trade completed

UptownPatsFan said:

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Only one to really know is Gronk Inc and everyone in the vicinity I guess.

DW Toys said:

Yep...we have a 17%-19% chance by league average to get someone who produces within a 3 year period of time Not a good get but probably realistic. Thuney's probably worth a fifth.
DW Toys

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Thuney is worth at least a 3rd, because that's what his comp pick would be.

It’s clear that BB was prepared to move forward without Gronk when he negotiated a trade with the Lions a few years back, and I’ve always had the sense that he wanted to move on from Brady and keep Jimmy G. BB has always been one to try and stay ahead of the curve, and I believe he had a plan in place to do just that, but it didn’t come to fruition as he had planned for some reason that we don’t know. Did Kraft step in? We won’t know until that information surfaces at some later date.

Brady and Gronk did amazing, unprecedented things here, and the relationship has run its course, so it’s time for all parties to regroup and move forward.

luuked said:

That option can be rescinded at any point as long as he can pass a physical so "commit" might be the wrong word there. There is not really any consequence of triggering it.

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Not sure about that.

When a team exercises the option, it becomes guaranteed for injury only. If the player is on the team’s roster at the start of the League Year in his option season, his salary becomes fully guaranteed for skill, cap and injury.

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NFL Rookie Contracts Explained: Fifth-Year Option

luuked said:

Only one to really know is Gronk Inc and everyone in the vicinity I guess.

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both reasons can be true

sean10mm said:

Losing Brady, and having a bad offensive roster, and losing defensive talent in the off-season, and having no cap space for quick fixes.

A lot of things are hitting at once to make 2020 look very sketchy.

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We were a 12-4 team, and could easily have been 13-3 last year. We had many, many injuries, in addition to our top TE and swing OT deciding to retire. I'm sure that several players will be acquired from other teams. Certainly, we expect some help from the draft with 6 picks in the first four rounds.
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CAP SPACE - REPEAT TEN TIMES
Cap space is not a reason that Belichick hasn't signed free agents, or won't. We can (and likely will) trade Thuney freeing up $15M. We could restructure Gilmore, Mason and Cannon for another $10M. That totals $25M. That doesn't count extensions. That doesn't include reducing the cap hit for Sanu. If Belichick thought a free agent was worth signing and he had a deal, he could and would have found the cap space that day.

LOSING DEFENSIVE PLAYERS
As is usually the case, we lost some players on defense, notably Van Noy and Shelton. Collins was not very good last year. We still have a draft and can trade for veterans. Belichick has often traded for LB's.

I agree that we need 2-3 contributors the defensive front seven. This is not unusual, and it certainly isn't a crisis. IMO, we are likely to be a top 5 defense in the second half as we often are. I worry much more about the 2021 defense with several of the older players likely to be gone.

OFFENSIVE ROSTER
I understand that it will be difficult to replace Brady's superlative 2019 level of play. I would simply point out that I expect several additions for 2020, including a trade or two. We will have healthier offensive linemen. We will have healthier WR's. We will have a fullback. We will have a TE. And likely, we will have two young quarterbacks competing for reps in 2020 and 2021.

[QUOTE="Caretaker, post: 5879244, member: 39674"
g
" BS was a d*ck move, our WR/TE corps last year were brutal to watch and most of us kinda hoped he'll come back for months... there was some Gronk talk as late as December iirc. Don't appreciate media whores at all[/QUOTE]

No offense to you, Caretaker, but exactly how 'brutal" was our WR and TE corps when they managed, (despite all the injuries at the position) to help Brady throw for over 4,000 yds for the 10th time in his career. BTW the Pats ranked 8th in the league in passing yds

I don't mean to say that last year's WR group was ideal. I understand that for several reasons they weren't as good as we've had in our run of 4 superbowl appearances in 6 years. But BRUTAL? I don't think so. There are 24 Teams that didn't have as many passing yds.

And yes I know that what we had, had Tom Brady throwing them the ball. Just remember that we somehow managed to throw for 4000 yds DESPITE the fact there was no Gronk, (and his replacement play injured all year) the loss of Harry for half the year, they fact that Sanu AND Edelman had injuries that affected their play for large portions of the year.

AND for those who look at our WR corps and think NOW is the time for the Pats to fall off the map, just think about this stat. The team who was the #1 seed in the AFC ,threw for over 1,000 yds LESS than the hapless Patriots. How good you are at throwing the ball is not the ONLY way to win football games.

Just a thought

Brady_Moss said:

I think this trade was possibly put on pause until BB figured out what he was going to do with Thuney, to create more cap space.

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To create cap space, we could restructure Mason or Gilmore at any time. We are not waiting and risking losing a player because of the lack or cap space.

Patstastic said:

Has nothing to do with the fact both are drama queens at times. Both things can be true here.

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I know that it undercuts your claim, so you feel a need to ignore it, but the reality is that Brady has, historically, avoided such things. That was, in fact, one of the things people used to separate him from Peyton.

luuked said:

Only one to really know is Gronk Inc and everyone in the vicinity I guess.

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I am not buying what they are shoveling.

Look, part of my frustration with Gronk is that we've listened to his off the field BS for a while now. He had that whole stupid motocross embarrassing presser, which capped off that off season nicely with him being an idiot. Then he retires late and eff's the team, talks about maybe coming back waaaaaaaaaay too much, and now, finally, follows Tom to Tampa.

Whatever, man. Go.

I am not saying he hasn't been great. I appreciate all these two guys have done. But I am not about to to buy into the "Rob did right by the Pats" crap that's being shoveled now, nor am I buying in to the lack of love for the game.

Disconnected thoughts....

After the fact report:
Gronk decided one month ago to play again.

OJ Howard trade rumors hit the interweb.....a little less than a month ago

Funny how that works

Gronk and Rosenhaus did BB a big solid by not forcing NE’s hand immediately once Gronk decided to unretire. Without cooperation, Bill would have had to cut him on the spot.

Landing a 4th was a NE win given the zero leverage position the team occupied.

Steve:Section 102 said:

I am not saying he hasn't been great. I appreciate all these two guys have done. But I am not about to to buy into the "Rob did right by the Pats" crap that's being shoveled now, nor am I buying in to the lack of love for the game.

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Whether you buy it or not is irrelevant. Gronk could have forced the Patriots to find an extra $8m in cap space, and he didn't. Until we hear of a "why" that is other than what his agent said, it is what it is.

luuked said:

Only one to really know is Gronk Inc and everyone in the vicinity I guess.

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I don’t think either one of them are going to publicly say anything negative about BB. Brady certainly won’t, and he definitely had his chance on Stern. But there’s an awful lot of smoke around them just simply tiring of Bill for there to not be some flames. Gronk says he doesn’t want to play with a QB other than Brady. He retires in 2019 when Brady is still playing for Bill in part because his body has broken down. He comes out of retirement within weeks after Brady leaves and requests a trade to Tampa Bay. This reeks of Bill at least being part of the reason neither are playing here any longer. How much of a reason is certainly up for debate. But that can’t be merely coincidence.

This has been a strange offseason.

KontradictioN said:

I don’t think either one of them are going to publicly say anything negative about BB. Brady certainly won’t, and he definitely had his chance on Stern. But there’s an awful lot of smoke around them just simply tiring of Bill for there to not be some flames. Gronk says he doesn’t want to play with a QB other than Brady. He retires in 2019 when Brady is still playing for Bill in part because his body has broken down. He comes out of retirement within weeks after Brady leaves and requests a trade to Tampa Bay. This reeks of Bill at least being part of the reason neither are playing here any longer. How much of a reason is certainly up for debate. But that can’t be merely coincidence.

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You are more eloquent than me on this.

There's something I bet you'd never think you'd be called, huh?

KontradictioN said:

I don’t think either one of them are going to publicly say anything negative about BB. Brady certainly won’t, and he definitely had his chance on Stern. But there’s an awful lot of smoke around them just simply tiring of Bill for there to not be some flames. Gronk says he doesn’t want to play with a QB other than Brady. He retires in 2019 when Brady is still playing for Bill in part because his body has broken down. He comes out of retirement within weeks after Brady leaves and requests a trade to Tampa Bay. This reeks of Bill at least being part of the reason neither are playing here any longer. How much of a reason is certainly up for debate. But that can’t be merely coincidence.

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Likely....his income during retirement didn’t surpass even a single game day paycheck.
With 40-50 years of living ahead of him, an extra $5-6mill in the bank after taxes probably seemed a smart fiscal play vs hustling for scraps among the D-list celebrity crowd.

robertweathers said:

Not sure about that.



NFL Rookie Contracts Explained: Fifth-Year Option

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What you were quoting is literally what I said. As long as the player can pass a physical (i.e. is not injured) the option can be rescinded at any point before the new league year starts.

See Dolphins and Ja'Wuan James in 2018:

Dolphins begin 2018 off-season; rescind James’ 5th year option

In other words there is not much harm in exercising the 5th year option as long as the player doesn't suffer any significant injury.

Pats had no choice but to trade him. I don't see how gronk "did them a solid." he wasn't going to play for the patriots. so its either he unretires and screws our cap even more or gets traded to his preferred destination.

If not for the way he acted last year this wouldn't rub me the wrong way. But the whole stringing patriots fans along with his "big announcements" to stay relevant. Not to mention retiring late where the patriots had no other options. Now after all the talk of concussions and how his body was broken down and he was no longer the player he once was he decides to come out of retirement.

That being said, 2018 was kind of sad watching Gronk. He never demanded double coverage anymore. guys were single covering him, he lost a step and ended the season at 600yards and 3 TD's. he stepped it up greatly in the playoffs against KC and the Rams in the super-bowl. But even then he said that was playing through great pain.

Those expecting prime gronk I think are going to be greatly disappointed. and not sure I think you are looking at a guy that will post maybe 500yards and 3-4TD's at best. IDK this kind of strikes me as watching KG/Pierce on the Nets of Jordan on the Wizards.

KontradictioN said:

I don’t think either one of them are going to publicly say anything negative about BB. Brady certainly won’t, and he definitely had his chance on Stern. But there’s an awful lot of smoke around them just simply tiring of Bill for there to not be some flames. Gronk says he doesn’t want to play with a QB other than Brady. He retires in 2019 when Brady is still playing for Bill in part because his body has broken down. He comes out of retirement within weeks after Brady leaves and requests a trade to Tampa Bay. This reeks of Bill at least being part of the reason neither are playing here any longer. How much of a reason is certainly up for debate. But that can’t be merely coincidence.

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Anyone who thinks that playing for Belichick is easy or the same as playing for another coach is just plain wrong. Bill is a prickly SOB and after 10 years of it, I can understand why some would have enough. After 20 years? Hell yes. He's not fun, he's not easy going. He's on 24 hours a day and that is what he expects from his players. I can imagine how mentally tiring that would become. Picture a guy like Hightower who had the same thing at Alabama for his college years and then coming straight into a similar environment/mindset in the pros. The discipline it requires to play for a coach like Belichick and Saban is not for everyone.
I'm damn glad that he's our coach but playing for him is not easy.

I am unsure why people are upset with Gronk. Here's my thinking:

- Gronk is healthy after spending a whole year away from football.
- Playing for the Bucs won't be a "grind" compared to Foxborough.
- It's practically in Gronk's backyard...Gronk wasn't gonna sit on the couch a few miles away from Raymond James on Sundays.

As for the Patriots:

Had Brady came back...and Gronk came back out of retirement...we would be sooo tight against the cap and would have the same players minus defensive guys and would need to rely heavily on our draft picks hitting the ground running....... I'd not have liked our chances in 2020 anyway.