Bourne and Parker: stay or go?

[Ross12]

Smith's contract makes cutting him unfeasible.

I really think O'Brien will make much better use of Smith given he has great YAC ability and decent blocking. So we'll see Smith coming out of the backfield often with RPOs - doesn't need fancy route running or contested catch ability if he's schemed better.

Evan Lazar had some great videos showing how O'Brien has used these concepts.

I would keep Smith, cut Henry and draft Darnell Washington.

 

[DaBruinz]

I would keep Smith, cut Henry and draft Darnell Washington.

Why would you cut Henry when he's has been the better player of the two?
The ONLY way I see the Pats drafting Washington is if:
- Orlando Brown Jr ISN'T tagged and they're able to sign him and another OT (Taylor, McGlinchey, McGary).
- The Pats decide that they don't want a true #1CB and pass on the likes of Witherspoon, Smith and Gonzalez.

Even if they drafted Washington, you don't get rid of Henry. He's in the last year of his contract. You develop Washington behind him and Smith.

 

[jdlboot14]

Bourne & Parker are both still under contract - and neither is in position to try to hold out or demand more.
We should definitely keep them both - and try to build off the chemistry established with Mac with a MUCH better offensive plan.
Also - I'll be eternally pissed if we let Meyers go. He's WR1 no matter what wanderlusty fans think.
Any new FA, or potential high draft pick will NEVER produce more than what he will next year.
Meyers, Parker, Bourne, Thornton, (FA slot / Draftee) - and don't forget MonTy - who can produce like a poorman's White/Edelman.

 

[Sicilian]

Bourne & Parker are both still under contract - and neither is in position to try to hold out or demand more.
We should definitely keep them both - and try to build off the chemistry established with Mac with a MUCH better offensive plan.
Also - I'll be eternally pissed if we let Meyers go. He's WR1 no matter what wanderlusty fans think.
Any new FA, or potential high draft pick will NEVER produce more than what he will next year.
Meyers, Parker, Bourne, Thornton, (FA slot / Draftee) - and don't forget MonTy - who can produce like a poorman's White/Edelman.

I go back and forth on Meyers. Ultimately, I think he could get more on the open market than he's worth (for the ceiling of his physical tools). I'd like to upgrade the position... BUT, he's a guy who got better each year of his four year rookie deal, even with a year 2 that had Cam Newton and a year 4 that had... whatever that was in 2022. He just seems like a guy who can be productive no matter what the system, even if that system is generally chaos. If he comes back, I'm not going to be upset at all, even if it feels like a slight overpay.

Now, if he goes out and gets Christian Kirk money somewhere (like $20m a year) then best of luck to you Jakobi.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Smith's contract makes cutting him unfeasible.

I really think O'Brien will make much better use of Smith given he has great YAC ability and decent blocking. So we'll see Smith coming out of the backfield often with RPOs - doesn't need fancy route running or contested catch ability if he's schemed better.

Evan Lazar had some great videos showing how O'Brien has used these concepts.

Found it:

 

[PatsFan2]

Found it:

Nice to see an actual play design to spring a guy open Bob have a lot of work to do with Jonnu.

 

[Ross12]

Why would you cut Henry when he's has been the better player of the two?
The ONLY way I see the Pats drafting Washington is if:
- Orlando Brown Jr ISN'T tagged and they're able to sign him and another OT (Taylor, McGlinchey, McGary).
- The Pats decide that they don't want a true #1CB and pass on the likes of Witherspoon, Smith and Gonzalez.

Even if they drafted Washington, you don't get rid of Henry. He's in the last year of his contract. You develop Washington behind him and Smith.

I don't think Washington is going to be a first round pick.

I'd cut Henry because he saves them $10M which can be used on a shiny new OT or WR. I don't think BOB will feature his TEs too heavily so Jonnu is probably "good enough." I'd target Washington as more of a "weapon" than a traditional TE.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Also - I'll be eternally pissed if we let Meyers go. He's WR1 no matter what wanderlusty fans think.

The offense sure seemed to move a lot better when he wasn't overly targeted. Bedard has said the Pats should move on from him and apply the money to a real difference maker. Now we have more people in the media having their reservations on re-signing him as Phil Perry doesn't feel that comfortable paying him $10M per year. I don't think he'll have a market and come back to the Pats on a cheap 2 year deal around 7-8M per year.

Many posters are overrating his importance on the team and the Pats can easily find his replacement. You wouldn't even notice if he left.

 

[crawhammer]

Is this a joke? Agholor's going. Probably Meyers too. Now Bourne and Parker?! So that leave the looking like a bust Thornton and ?

 

[stinkypete]

I move on from Parker. He had some beautiful catches this year, but he was only productive in 5 games last year and we went 1 - 4 in those games. At least part of his production when negated by INTs when Jones got desperate and tried to force the ball to him. I don't see that he is suddenly going to be of value in this offense. Plus, I believe there is zero cap hit in cutting hi,.

Borne stays. The offense is more efficient when he is on the field.

I'm not thrilled about Meyers, but he is a reliable safety net. If he's going to cost $10 million as projected then I'd rather use Parker's cap hit to keep Meyers.

 

[Sciz]

I move on from Parker. He had some beautiful catches this year, but he was only productive in 5 games last year and we went 1 - 4 in those games. At least part of his production when negated by INTs when Jones got desperate and tried to force the ball to him. I don't see that he is suddenly going to be of value in this offense. Plus, I believe there is zero cap hit in cutting hi,.

Borne stays. The offense is more efficient when he is on the field.

I'm not thrilled about Meyers, but he is a reliable safety net. If he's going to cost $10 million as projected then I'd rather use Parker's cap hit to keep Meyers.

Weird to hold record against Parker but not Bourne. They were 1-6 when Bourne had more than 20 receiving yards.

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

Keep both.

We don't know what Thornton is/isn't yet. Meyers might not be around and in a scenario where they both go - we'd likely be asking Thornton and rookies and/or a Vets via FA/Trade to come in and start from scratch. Essentially a whole new wr room in Macs most pivotal year.

If Meyers sticks around, I'm indifferent.

 

[mgteich]

IMO, there is no question about Bourne and Parker. Keep them both. After all, they are under contract, and can be traded in August if that turns out best.

We have a good start with Parker, Thornton and a new OC. And Montgomery will have a few receptions as the utility WR/RB.
==========
The issue is at the top. We went into 2022 with Agholor and Meyers. We have replaced Agholor with Thornton.
==============================
The issue now is Meyers. For me, we re-sign him if the price is even close to reasonable. I don't think it will be. It seems that we will need to trade for a WR, probably paying what others will pay Meyers (plus a draft choice). Sure, we can take another swing in the draft. But there are better uses for draft picks: OT, OG, OC, DB and perhaps even a RB to compete with Harris, Strong and Montgomery for reps (in 2023 and 2024).

 

[VJCPatriot]

I’m hoping Bourne’s issue was a “didn’t fit with Patricia’s plans” and not an attitude issue. The fact he was non-existent all season feels like a cut off your nose to spite your face by the coaching staff and I’m having a hard time believing that was necessarily as one-sided as it seemed. He’s a talented player, so I’m definitely hoping for a 180 there.

On Parker, he’s got a lot of good attributes physically and that touchdown throw from Mac vs Buffalo was just an example of what he’s capable of. I think maybe O’Brien might be able to scheme up some additional opportunities like that, so it’s worth keeping him around.

I do feel like they still need to find an impact player to open up things for these guys…so curious to see how that plays out.

I’m hopeful on Meyers and think if it’s close, maybe he’ll stay, but who knows?

Needless to say, it should definitely be an interesting offseason.

Agreed. Kendrick Bourne was our leading receiver in 2021.

When he sniffed out the fact that Matt Patricia and Joe Judge were clueless and made his complaints about the 'new offense' known he was benched for no apparent reason even though even with limited touches he usually made an impact as soon as he got onto the field.

I expect Bourne to be rejuvenated with BOB in charge of the offense.

As for Parker, he gave us some tantalizing glimpses of big playmaking ability and catches, but he wasn't able to pull it off consistently.

The question remaining over the entire offense and its players - was it the players or the bad playcalling and coaching that stunted their abilities to make plays?

Since we're likely to lose Meyers to free agency, let's keep at least a couple of familiar faces around who might do better under BOB.

We still don't have a #1 WR and we don't know if Thornton was just a bad pick yet, but let's say we add 1 good WR through trade and one through the draft, we might have a decent core group of guys. All of this is projection of course, our WRs last year looked awful overall, but you have to consider the circumstances.

 

[DaBruinz]

I don't think Washington is going to be a first round pick.

I'd cut Henry because he saves them $10M which can be used on a shiny new OT or WR. I don't think BOB will feature his TEs too heavily so Jonnu is probably "good enough." I'd target Washington as more of a "weapon" than a traditional TE.

BOB featured the 2TE set and was extremely successful with it during his time in New England.

The Patriots don't NEED to cut anyone to sign an OT. There is also no WR available that is better than what they currently have regardless of what the Chicken Little brigade says. So, you'd be cutting Henry just for the sake of cutting him. Not because you actually need the cap space.

Whether Washington is a 1st round pick or a 2nd round pick doesn't matter. The Patriots have other areas of need that are a higher priority than TE. Like CB and OT. The Patriots would still need to focus there even if they signed a CB and an OT in FA because their top everywhere CB in Jones is a FA and is going to get paid and they only have 3 OTs on the roster. 1 of which spent most of last season injured and the other played like garbage most of last season.

Now, if you're talking about cutting Henry to bring in a Dalton Schultz (someone who does actually RUN block and pass block), OK. That's a different story. Otherwise, you're taking away one of Jones weapons that he's comfortable with and hurting yourself in the long run, imho.

 

[State]

Agholor will be addition by subtraction... Take that money, add $2-2.5M extra/year for 4 years, and we have Meyers, maybe...

Parker was/is what I feared he would be: utterly unreliable... But we have nobody in the building worthy of replacing him; so what are we gonna do?

Dawghouse Bourne has to stop dropping/fumbling footballs and running into/not blocking for his teammates when he's on the field.

And the less said about BoneyT, the better.

I voted for Keep Both, but it's not because I love them or anything.

I’m higher on Parker than you. Bourne was likely treated unfairly and, with the new competent regime, can really have a big year.

Gotta keep them both.

And that speedy rookie has to step up in a big way. I tend to doubt this will happen.

Elite speed, though, should make its presence felt in some of next season’s games for crying out loud.

I think we seriously could see us drafting a WR at 14. Addison looks like a guy who could make the offense much better.

 

[Froob]

Can’t see a reason to move either. Though I’d trade Parker in a deal for Higgins if I had to.

 

[n6249c]

I’d keep Bourne and Parker, and invest heavily in the OL. Sign the best OT we can get though trade or FA and draft another one, plus try to get Trent Brown back on track so he can play at his best not as he did last year. It would be worth seeing if Dante would sign on as a consultant to give Trent a few private lessons, and maybe help the new OL coach get things going well from the start.

I really think upgrading the OL would pay more dividends that upgrading the WRs. Bourne and Parker are both pretty good, but they can’t really show it if Mac is fearing for his life as soon as the ball is snapped.

yes it would be nice to add another good receiver, whether it’s Higgins or Hopkins or Woods or somebody else, but that’s less important than solidifying the OL IMO.

 

[patman52]

Cant see how you can move on from either, who is going to play WR. Myers may get 15+, aglahor role is given to thorton.

 

[Ollie]

I don't think Washington is going to be a first round pick.

I'd cut Henry because he saves them $10M which can be used on a shiny new OT or WR. I don't think BOB will feature his TEs too heavily so Jonnu is probably "good enough." I'd target Washington as more of a "weapon" than a traditional TE.

Going into a season with just Jonnu and a rookie is madness. Replacing Henry in FA would cost more than 10M. Keeping Henry is the logical answer. Henry the previous year was decent and great in the red zone so def worth having.