Bedard and what we have in cap space

[Brady2Moss]

They have their WR1 and WR2 already: AH and DA

Sanders if he comes and Abraham should IMO be a bit below $7M in cap charges this year. Perhaps as low as $5.8, but probably more.

We are likely to be able to get Lloyd back for less then $2M as well if Sanders falls through.

Hernandez loses all his mistmatch ability if you line him up out wide, which he doesn't do as much as people think.

You have to front load Sanders to get him so his cap hit will be fairly large for the Steelers not to match.

 

[bagwell368]

AH is not their #1...he does split out to that position sometimes (#2 spot more)..but no..not a #1

Well, I firmly believe between slot and wide he will take a good deal more snaps there then TE. If he's at TE, what are they going to do with Ballard? If they have a thin WR corps with 4 TE's on the roster what do you think will happen?

Hooman, Ballard won't be anything but TE's. Gronk might split off at times, but not as much as AH IMO.

 

[bagwell368]

Hernandez loses all his mistmatch ability if you line him up out wide, which he doesn't do as much as people think.

I see more slot then wide, and more wide than TE

You have to front load Sanders to get him so his cap hit will be fairly large for the Steelers not to match.

I'm aware of that, I think they can get Abraham for less then $2M/yr.

 

[Rob0729]

Gotta read the article..i posted above...if they want to extend mccourty, spikes ect before NEXT FA..they need to say that $$. Extensions for next year and their plan will play a big part. unless you would like to let spikes walk and maybe mccourty down the road..then we have much more $$ to play with this FA

McCourty is signed through 2014. Odds are they want to see how he does as a full time safety before they pay him. McCourty might end up being a franchise tag target in 2014. The question is will he be happy playing at safety and being paid as a safety after this contract. Even if they extend him, odds are it will be like Gronk and Hernandez got which means he will get a bonus this offseason with minimal impact on his 2013 cap hit.

Spikes is not guaranteed as a retention. He is primarily a two down player and unless he wants to be paid as such which right now isn't much, I have a feeling he is gone after this year.

This is a bad year to redo deals for the players. The market sucks. So any extension will be effective. I don't think the Pats will redo as many contracts as you think and the ones they do may have little effect on the cap.

Right now, the Pats are still in the top half of the league in cap space. Possibly the top third. If they are in the Dumervil sweepstakes, they have more cap room and will have less money allocated to rookies than all their competition, If the Pats can't afford to sign him, Dumervil is going to have to sit out of football this year.

 

[Rob0729]

Easy to say this until Cannon misses his first block and Brady is gone for the year.

Cannon was decent at RT as the year went on. He is not a great RT, but let's not pretend he is a human turnstile. Not my first choice at RT, but not any worse than a few of the starting RT in the Super Bowl years.

 

[Rob0729]

Why should the Pats save 8 to 12 million for draft picks? They don't have that many. It just seems like a lot of cap room for so few draft picks.

They will only have to save $3-4 million. Less if they trade for Sanders.

As for the rest, I really can't see $4-9 million being saved in extensions, incentives, and emergency money. As I said, if McCourty get extended, his cap #s this year will go up minimally like Gronk and Hernandez cap numbers did. Both those guys got long extension on top of their existing rookie deals so that they got an up front bonus which was spread out over a lot of years and their base salary stayed the same. Odds if McCourty gets extended, his cap numbers= will go up no more than $1 million each.

Spikes will be different, but the Pats may not even want to give him an extension and consider him as a franchise tag or let him go.

I think Bedard is making a lot of assumptions.

 

[Gronkandez]

Too early to worry about extensions when Cannon is your right tackle and you need two wide receivers.

Especially when we're talking about Spikes and McCourty. Neither has lit the world on fire. Plus I'm not sure how many guys are looking to re-up during one of the most down year for contracts in recent memory.

 

[Sciz]

Easy to say this until Cannon misses his first block and Brady is gone for the year.

You act like Cannon has never played football before. He's basically played two full games over the past two seasons, including one against Cameron Wake where he did not, in fact, get Brady killed.

 

[ausbacker]

Especially when we're talking about Spikes and McCourty. Neither has lit the world on fire. Plus I'm not sure how many guys are looking to re-up during one of the most down year for contracts in recent memory.

I'm not too worried about the Patriots losing Spikes as he's a huge liability in the passing game (which is a shame given his run D) but you're out of your mind in regards to McCourty. He's a damn fine player.