Are There Any Good RT's Available In Free Agency (or even swing OT's)

[DaBruinz]

Morgan moses contract runs out so he may hit fa.

Jack conklin is still a good trade option and a couple years younger than moses. He should be able to give us a couple years while wallace hopefully develops.

Conklin is 30 compared to Moses being 34. Trading Conklin will only free up 4M for the Browns, so they may or may not do it.

Also, I'm not sure about his abilities.
Conklin gave up 7 sacks, 2hits and 29 hurries on 552 pass blocking snaps last year.
Demontray Jacobs gave up 9 sacks, 7 hits, and 33 hurries on 566 pass blocking snaps.

Where Conklin is better is his discipline.. Only 2 penalties.

On a separate note, Beware of Dan Moore and Cam Robinson. Dan Moore gave up 12 sacks and 41 pressures while Robison gave up 8 sacks and 64 pressures.

 

[Family]

If the Patriots do sign Trey Smith...

Any team trading for Onwenu would only be on the hook for his guaranteed salary of $12M this year. They wouldn't be locked into any future money on him. We would save $6M on the cap by trading him before June 1st ($15M dead money in 2025) or $13.5M trading him after June 1st ($7.5M dead money in 2025 and another $7.5M in 2026).

They also have the option of converting some of that $12M salary to signing bonus before the trade. That amount would be retained on our cap and added to the dead money charge we take. If they traded him before June 1st the full amount they convert gets added onto the dead money charge. if after June 1st, it gets split half between 2025 and 2026 dead money charges.

IMO, if we sign Trey Smith, I'd rather trade Onwenu than stick him at RT. I'm tired of guys playing out of position and moving around. I want a real RT. Convert $6M of his salary to signing bonus so it's a net-nothing against the cap. I think he'd fetch a decent return if he's dealt on a 1 year, $6M deal with no further guarantees. He's still a good player, even if people here have a sour taste in their mouth on him. But Smith is younger and better. It's rare to actually get premium players in free agency and Smith would be the rare example of that, albeit probably the least valuable position in the sport besides specialists.

It sounds like an expensive way out.

Why not keep him this year for basically free from what you will lose anyway in dead cap, and play him at guard?

 

[DaBruinz]

Are you saying you think coaching has been a bigger issue than the players? Both have been bad, but the roster is amongst worst in the NFL.

Sorry if I am taking the wrong message from what you wrote.

If you think that coaching hasn't been a bigger issue than the players the last 3 years, I'm not sure what you've been watching because that's exactly where the main issue has been. The roster hasn't been amongst the worst. That is you listening to the Know-nothing pundits and is the sort of "throw the baby out with the baby water" mentality that Jets fans think with. The Pats have had major injuries each of the last 2 years that affected the roster. You can only have so many starting quality players and backups.

They ended the 2023/2024 season with 17 players on IR. Cole Strange, Matthew Judon, Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, JC Jackson, Isaiah Bolden, Rhamandre Stevenson, RaeKwan McMillan, Daniel Ekuale, Conor McDermott, Calvin Anderson, Reilly Reiff, Hunter Henry, Tyrone Wheatley, Tre Nixon, Kendrick Bourne, and JJ Smith-Schuster.

They ended 2024/2025 with 13 players on the IR. Dave Andrews, Jake Andrews, Marcus Jones, Christian Gonzalez, Ja'Lynn Polk, Jaquae Jackson, Ben Brown, Tyrone Wheatley, Ja'Whaun Bentely, Christian Barmore, Jaqueln Roy, Oshane Ximenes, Curtis Jacobs, Jabrill Peppers.

Think about that. 7 starters out of 22 ending the year on IR each of the last 2 years. You think that wouldn't test ANY team? Look at what happened with the 49ers. Do they have a bad roster because of their injuries?

The MAIN area they've had an issue is with the O-line. But who could have foreseen the ridiculous number of injuries they've had the last 2 years there? I think they had 7 O-linemen on the IR at one point this season. Are you saying YOU could predict that all 3 FA OTs they signed prior to the 2023 season would end up on the IR to start the season? I'm calling BS if you claim you did.

I don't remember there ever having been 32 different O-lineman on a BB run team in the same year. That's the Front office / Coaching Staff "not knowing WTF they are doing" issue. Which I put under Coaching since Mayo, in theory, had a say in the personnel being brought in.

If you wanted to say that the Pat's O-LINE was amongst the worst in the league, talent wise, I'd give you that. Because it is.

Of the 13 O-linemen currently on the roster (including those on IR), Dave Andrews, Cole Strange, and Michel Onwenu are the only starting caliber players. Ben Brown is a good back-up OC. OC seems like a place the Pats have a lot of talent at currently with them having moved Strange there. Don't know if that move sticks, they move him back to LG or they try him at LT or they trade him.

They don't know what they have in Wallace, Lecitus Smith, Caleb Jones, Tyrese Robinson or Tyrone Wheatley. Sow seem to get the shaft from Mayo's coaching staff and regressed. Vederian Lowe showed glimpses of being adequate at LT, but was wildly inconsistent. Probably best as the #4 OT.

Demontray Jacobs was amongst the worst RTs in the league. Particularly with the 12 penalties he was flagged for. He might be best suited to being a PS player..

Layden Robinson was as bad at LG as Demontray Jacobs was at RT. I don't know if he can be salvaged, but he's likely going to be a camp cut and go to the PS than he is going to be on the Roster next fall.

The Pats actually have good players at a lot of other positions. It's a matter of the coaches getting them to work cohesively. It's why BB always said he was putting together teams. NOT collecting talent.

 

[signbabybrady]

There are rarely quality OT in FAs.

They are all better than what we have