Player Signing Patriots Signing S Jaylinn Hawkins

I’m not being negative or anything but I’ve never heard of the guy, not the safety I was hoping for.

5 Things to Know About New Chargers S Jaylinn Hawkins

STs player. Feels like a Bill signing. We sure he's not here still?

Still not a single impact signing after entering the offseason with $100M+ in cap space. Cheapest team in the NFL the last decade continues to shop in the bargain bin. Feel bad for Mayo and his staff.

Thunderhead said:

Still not a single impact signing after entering the offseason with $100M+ in cap space. Cheapest team in the NFL the last decade continues to shop in the bargain bin.

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Yup, owner is a cheap bastard.

Sicilian said:

The article mentions he's a ST contributor, not necessarily a ST only player (unless I missed something, I skimmed the points admittedly). I don't know much about him either, probably not going to move the needle, but two possible positives here, just as food for thought:

1) He's a FS type, so if he is contributing on defense, he can help keep Dugger, Peppers, and Mapu in more box oriented roles more often.

2) In 2022 he played the third most snaps of any defender on Atlanta, who that year were 8th in the league in passing yards allowed. Not saying he's some huge reason for that, just that having him out there that much and still fielding a top 10 pass defense bodes well for how he can contribute to an otherwise good unit.

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Yeah, I skimmed it too.

Steve102 said:

Yeah, I skimmed it too.

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I actually deleted my post because I had wrong info. Basically everything I said was wrong, haha.

Started 16 games in 2022.

Steve102 said:

STs player. Feels like a Bill signing. We sure he's not here still?

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Only because this time of year wouldn't seem right without it and I know you're waiting for it...

Sicilian said:

I actually deleted my post because I had wrong info. Basically everything I said was wrong, haha.

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Back to my comment of "feels like a Bill signing". I get that everyone is fresh off The Dynasty ****ting on Bill for half of the episodes tired of a lot of the Belichick Way, but a great deal of what he did here worked. FA middle class signings, home grown draftees and a GOAT QB. He missed a lot on the draft late in the run, which put them in the hole they are in. The reasons we've beat to death, but if they get the draft thing turned around, stop worrying about some of Bill's hot buttons of coachability, and get a QB, these middle class FAs should be fine.

Another household name...

Steve102 said:

Back to my comment of "feels like a Bill signing". I get that everyone is fresh off The Dynasty ****ting on Bill for half of the episodes tired of a lot of the Belichick Way, but a great deal of what he did here worked. FA middle class signings, home grown draftees and a GOAT QB. He missed a lot on the draft late in the run, which put them in the hole they are in. The reasons we've beat to death, but if they get the draft thing turned around, stop worrying about some of Bill's hot buttons of coachability, and get a QB, these middle class FAs should be fine.

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Also, we need to see what the contract is on this. It's possible this isn't a move made INSTEAD of a more impact starting FS. This could be a Myles Bryant replacement (depth safety, ST)

The Patriots no longer have two of their top special teamers from 2023; so while this transaction is indeed not exciting, it's also not unexpected. And unlike Board or Slater, Hawkins does have more history as a positional player; in 2021 he started 16 games at FS for Atlanta, on the field for 92% of their defensive snaps. Competition/depth at FS with Cody Davis and Adrian Phillips.

2023 Pats Special Teams Snap Counts and Percentages
407 (88.9%) - Chris Board
407 (88.9%) - Brenden Schooler
378 (82.5%) - Matthew Slater
359 (78.4%) - Jahlani Tavai
321 (70.0%) - Adrian Phillips

The only thing that really stands out is how bad that song is

“veteran salary benefit” means it’s minimum salary and can have up to $167,500 worth of bonuses of some kind.

Steve102 said:

Back to my comment of "feels like a Bill signing". I get that everyone is fresh off The Dynasty ****ting on Bill for half of the episodes tired of a lot of the Belichick Way, but a great deal of what he did here worked. FA middle class signings, home grown draftees and a GOAT QB. He missed a lot on the draft late in the run, which put them in the hole they are in. The reasons we've beat to death, but if they get the draft thing turned around, stop worrying about some of Bill's hot buttons of coachability, and get a QB, these middle class FAs should be fine.

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I didn’t watch the series because I don’t have Apple+ but I did read the book, and it’s a shame because the comments here make it sound like the series was a hatchet job, but I found the book to be phenomenal. Anyway, one thing the book tried to emphasize was that Belichick was hired by Kraft in the personnel role precisely because he valued players the same way Kraft did. That Kraft was a huge believer in spreading the wealth among a lot of players and not a few stars, and was against overpaying for older free agents and paying instead for the younger guys. That this was one thing they always saw eye to eye on.

So given that, I am not surprised whatsoever about this offseason so far. If we didn’t know Bill was let go, we would think this was a Bill offseason, with the possible exceptions of 1) resigning more of their own guys rather than getting a comparable player from another team, and 2) the looser purse strings for Ridley. And even 2 is a stretch knowing how shocked everyone was about how much Bill spent for Agholor in 2021.

jmt57 said:

The Patriots no longer have two of their top special teamers from 2023; so while this transaction is indeed not exciting, it's also not unexpected. And unlike Board or Slater, Hawkins does have more history as a positional player; in 2021 he started 16 games at FS for Atlanta, on the field for 92% of their defensive snaps. Competition/depth at FS with Cody Davis and Adrian Phillips.

2023 Pats Special Teams Snap Counts and Percentages
407 (88.9%) - Chris Board
407 (88.9%) - Brenden Schooler
378 (82.5%) - Matthew Slater
359 (78.4%) - Jahlani Tavai
321 (70.0%) - Adrian Phillips

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I believe Phillips was cut this offseason. He could be a straight out replacement for him.

Mike Hawkins...
Brad Hawkins...
Steve Hawkins...
Artrell Hawkins...
Jaylinn Hawkins...

The signing makes sense in a weird way...