Absolute Needs; Obviously there are lots of wants for upgrades

[IllegalContact]

Four draft picks between #31 and #95 could provide a couple of interesting, though inexperienced prospects.

The number/quality of NFL-experienced players the Pats might be able to acquire will be limited by their cap space situation. Even so, those guys would still be learning the Pats specific system and schemes from scratch.

OTOH, Marquis Flowers, with only 72 defensive snaps in his entire previous NFL career, and Eric Lee, with ZERO NFL defensive snaps prior to joining the Pats mid-season, both seemed to do okay. It would be interesting to see if either of them can improve on that with a full off-season and Camp.

seamless defensive repair via the draft:
1 - SS Ronnnie Harrison
2a - DE/OLB Hercules Ma'taafa
2b - FS Marcus Allen
3 - OLB/ILB Leighton Vander Esch


use FA on offense.....you have an old QB and there's really no room to 'develop' players at this time

 

[Chris Stevenson]

I hope the Patriots are aggressive in re-signing our own free agents.
They tend to let their players test the market.

If a player has never seen FA before, BB allows them to do that as a courtesy since it's their first time earning that kind of a spot in the league.

Other teams may overpay, and if so, there is nothing BB can do. I fully expect Solder and Lewis in particular to get over-bids from other teams who have tons of cap space.

I highly doubt Solder wants to move, barring an affinity to be closer to his parents and in-laws in Denver.

But, I can Lewis being a nice add to the solid RB group in Detroit.

 

[Jimke]

If a player has never seen FA before, BB allows them to do that as a courtesy since it's their first time earning that kind of a spot in the league.

Other teams may overpay, and if so, there is nothing BB can do. I fully expect Solder and Lewis in particular to get over-bids from other teams who have tons of cap space.

I highly doubt Solder wants to move, barring an affinity to be closer to his parents and in-laws in Denver.

But, I can Lewis being a nice add to the solid RB group in Detroit.

Easier to replace Lewis than Solder.

 

[captain stone]

Someone actually disagreed with me above, saying the D had a host of injuries and/or people who went there in 2017, as opposed to who was there in 2016.

The D was better in 2016 with better quality due to health. This isn't an opinion, it's a fact.

Philly had some key injuries, too, but not to the extent of the Pats.

It was I who disagreed with the claim that we had no business being in the SB this season because of the amount of key people on defense missing from 2016 due to injuries.
We had One key player - Hightower - missing in 2017 due to injury.
We had One rotational player - Valentine - missing in 2017 due to injury, but his slack was mostly picked-up by newcomers Guy & Butler.
We had one key rotational player - Ninkovich - retire, and two others - Long & Sheard - leave because Bill no longer wanted them here at their price, if not at any price.
Now if you want to claim that the turnover at DE should've disqualified us from going to the SB because Bill never adequately replaced the production of Ninkovich, Long & Sheard, then I can dig that. But claiming that injuries were the culprit just isn't true.

 

[Jangles]

About as well as our scoring offense? How did the vaunted Philly D work out?

Just curious.

The Philly D delivered a clutch play and they are now super bowl champions

They also played against the GOAT. Not really a fair comparison

 

[ctpatsfan77]

and malcolm brown will be in the last year of his deal.

The Pats have to decide this spring if they're going to pick up Brown's fifth-year option. My guess is they will.

They also have to decide on Dorsett (who is the guy the Colts took when the Pats expected them to take Brown). Who knows there.

 

[BTTA]

How’d that work out

Very well. A very good year for the club.

 

[Jangles]

Very well. A very good year for the club.

first or last

 

[Tony2046]

It was I who disagreed with the claim that we had no business being in the SB this season because of the amount of key people on defense missing from 2016 due to injuries.
We had One key player - Hightower - missing in 2017 due to injury.
We had One rotational player - Valentine - missing in 2017 due to injury, but his slack was mostly picked-up by newcomers Guy & Butler.
We had one key rotational player - Ninkovich - retire, and two others - Long & Sheard - leave because Bill no longer wanted them here at their price, if not at any price.
Now if you want to claim that the turnover at DE should've disqualified us from going to the SB because Bill never adequately replaced the production of Ninkovich, Long & Sheard, then I can dig that. But claiming that injuries were the culprit just isn't true.

I would add Rivers injury, Branch's drop in performance and the Kony Ealy experiment to the list.

 

[IllegalContact]

I would add Rivers injury, Branch's drop in performance and the Kony Ealy experiment to the list.

Rivers and Ealy were gone 2 weeks before the season began......that's a personnel failure on the staff..... as for Branch, Lawrence Guy played well

 

[BTTA]

first or last

You realize that NONE of the players share that value system with you? That they'd much rather win the AFC and go to the SB and lose, than be last in the AFC and go home after 16 games?

 

[maineman209]

No it isn't, but the main reason that I mentioned Buffalo is that they were the only team against whom Lee performed well.

You mean, aide from a sack and 4 tackles v. MIA, and a sack, 2 tackles and a safety v. the Jets?

 

[maineman209]

I think there’s a good chance we wouldn’t have seen Chung in the slot if Jonathan Jones had been healthy.

Chung was playing numerous snaps in the slot all season - I think something around 25%-30%. Even Reiss made note of it in his snap-count analyses at least once.

 

[Jangles]

You realize that NONE of the players share that value system with you? That they'd much rather win the AFC and go to the SB and lose, than be last in the AFC and go home after 16 games?

Did you poll them all?

 

[maineman209]

seamless defensive repair via the draft:
1 - SS Ronnnie Harrison
2a - DE/OLB Hercules Ma'taafa
2b - FS Marcus Allen
3 - OLB/ILB Leighton Vander Esch

And I'm sure every one of those prospects comes with a guarantee that they'll be able to pick up the Pats system and schemes right away and instantly improve the defense for 2018. IOW, "seamlessly".

use FA on offense.....you have an old QB and there's really no room to 'develop' players at this time

They appear to have been doing this for the most part for at least a couple of years now. In 2017, BB traded draft picks for Cooks, Allen, Gillislee and O'Schnikelgruber. He signed Burkhead as a UFA. Hogan, like Gillislee, was an RFA get from the Bills. Very few meaningful draft picks spent on offensive players (aside from OL) since about 2012.

 

[maineman209]

Rivers and Ealy were gone 2 weeks before the season began......that's a personnel failure on the staff..... as for Branch, Lawrence Guy played well

Rivers tearing an ACL was a personnel staff failure?

Guy did well for his first season on the defense. Brown also elevated his game. Butler and Wise both did well as rookies playing more snaps than was likely originally planned for them. RJF made some very nice contributions down the stretch. Marquis Flowers looks like a "find". Eric Lee did pretty okay for a guy who'd never played an NFL snaps on defense.

 

[BTTA]

Did you poll them all?

No need. If nothing else, the bonus checks for being in playoff games will be enough.

 

[Tony2046]

Did you poll them all?

You don't need a poll for that. Come on man.

 

[ashley]

Easier to replace Lewis than Solder.

I love Lewis and want him back but there's no comparison between the importance of him and Solder.

Solder I believe is our number 1 F/A priority this off season.

 

[Tony2046]

I love Lewis and want him back but there's no comparison between the importance of him and Solder.

Solder I believe is our number 1 priority this off season.

"But we lost the Super Bowl Ashley......We need to replace the entire Defense"