Curran: Bills coming due for Patriots dynasty after this season

[NashuaPats]

“The point of all of this is, you should drink in these last 6 games and the playoffs regardless of the outcome. Because a 3.0 version of this dynasty is not being currently developed.”

Fair enough.

 

[juny]

Recent poor drafting will catch up to the team. Without the cheap talent its hard to put together a well balanced roster with the salary cap.

 

[Deus Irae]

“The point of all of this is, you should drink in these last 6 games and the playoffs regardless of the outcome. Because a 3.0 version of this dynasty is not being currently developed.”

He's right, too, about the part in bold. But that really centers around draft failures in the past several years (the potential of JAG notwithstanding). It's not about the aging players, or the loss of Cooks.

 

[PatsDeb]

"Chicken little" is being irrationally negative. What do you specifically believe is irrationally negative about that piece?

Is that you Tom?

I'm not irrationally negative. Curran is. A synopsis of the Curran Piece:

Brady is either done or the Pats will have to overpay him next year.
Gronk is either done or the Pats will have to overpay him next year.
Edelman, Gordon, Hogan, Dorsett and some others are all done after this year.
The Pats got rid of Cooks and got a lineman who is out and can't help with all this other talent walking out the door.
Bill Belichick won't pay for anybody and now we're all going to pay.

Did I miss something?

 

[Jimke]

The truth hurts and it gets worse before it gets better. The Patriots have
20 free agents including T. Brown, Flowers, Allen, and Gostkowski. It
would be nice if they had two or three solid drafts supplying them with some
young replacements (like New Orleans) but their recent drafts have not been productive. Lots of action trading up and down but not very many better than
average replacements.

 

[Deus Irae]

Is that you Tom?

I'm not irrationally negative. Curran is. A synopsis of the Curran Piece:

Brady is either done or the Pats will have to overpay him next year.
Gronk is either done or the Pats will have to overpay him next year.
Edelman, Gordon, Hogan, Dorsett and some others are all done after this year.
The Pats got rid of Cooks and got a lineman who is out and can't help with all this other talent walking out the door.
Bill Belichick won't pay for anybody and now we're all going to pay.

Did I miss something?

Pretty much everything, if that's what you took from the article.

 

[tasmlab]

“The point of all of this is, you should drink in these last 6 games and the playoffs regardless of the outcome. Because a 3.0 version of this dynasty is not being currently developed.”

I suppose if the draft picks weren't gone or on IR and they were adding star talent through the draft like KC, NO and Pittsburg have done well (or luckily), it would look like the next version would very much look like it is getting developed.

Otherwise, it's the same bag of concerns every team has in managing their roster, dealing with aging players, restocking talent, etc. And some of those teams don't even play in the super bowl every year. Not some shortness of vision or incompetence by the coach.

 

[supafly]

I suppose if the draft picks weren't gone or on IR and they were adding star talent through the draft like KC, NO and Pittsburg have done well (or luckily), it would look like the next version would very much look like it is getting developed.

Otherwise, it's the same bag of concerns every team has in managing their roster, dealing with aging players, restocking talent, etc. And some of those teams don't even play in the super bowl every year. Not some shortness of vision or incompetence by the coach.

I agree with you that it shouldn’t be viewed as a shortness of vision or incompetence by the coach. I didn’t really take it that way myself, but I can appreciate why others may have seen it through a different lens.

I think that the recent injury woes and poor drafting have a lot to do with it, but I also think that this team has some talent issues at certain positions that weren’t properly addressed in the offseason. That, and the high contracts/cap hits will most definitely lead to a house cleaning of sorts. We just don’t know what level, and how much it may affect the big picture of the team’s success.

Either way, I don’t think that predicting a rebuilding of sorts should necessarily be seen as the doom and gloom piece that some are suggesting, but that’s obviously just my opinion.

 

[Deus Irae]

I suppose if the draft picks weren't gone or on IR and they were adding star talent through the draft like KC, NO and Pittsburg have done well (or luckily), it would look like the next version would very much look like it is getting developed.

Otherwise, it's the same bag of concerns every team has in managing their roster, dealing with aging players, restocking talent, etc. And some of those teams don't even play in the super bowl every year. Not some shortness of vision or incompetence by the coach.

On this team, the coach and GM are one and the same. So, bringing in players who can't fit the scheme, or can't play to the expected level, is at last in part (using your words), some shortness of vision or incompetence by the coach, because BB the GM isn't bringing in players that BB the coach thinks can't get it done.

 

[Nehalem]

Curran needs to spend more time reading patfans.

Besides Flowers and Brady I am pretty sure that most, if not all of the players, he mentions are basically JAGs. Or in the case of Gronk an overpaid injury prone player falling off the cliff to JAGdom.

And despite that the Patriots are 7-3. Once the Patriots manage to dump all the worthless overpaid bums, and Josh Gordon gets a full offseason with Brady, 16-0 is a real possibility.

 

[fnordcircle]

it doesn't take much to blow the mind of an idiot

"I don't have anything to defend my dumbass statement so I'll go for a lazy burn."

Turning a team around isn't easy, numbnuts.

 

[SVN]

I think the main thing i got out of this is that in the next iteration of the pats teams, BB and Kraft may not have the ultimate equalizer in Tom Brady. So with that part being unknown how something will be built back up is going to be interesting. No matter how poor our draft picks were or trades were or rosters were (2006,2009) , the QB was/is rock solid and kept the team going. Gave the management a lot of leeway to experiment and try out anyone or everyone. Going forward , who knows.

 

[SVN]

Curran needs to spend more time reading patfans.

Besides Flowers and Brady I am pretty sure that most, if not all of the players, he mentions are basically JAGs. Or in the case of Gronk an overpaid injury prone player falling off the cliff to JAGdom.

And despite that the Patriots are 7-3. Once the Patriots manage to dump all the worthless overpaid bums, and Josh Gordon gets a full offseason with Brady, 16-0 is a real possibility.

Come on man, we arent a full season of josh gordon with brady from being that good or close to that good. Dumping worthless bums wont make us better. How its built back up with the salary structures will , and i think that is the point of the article.

 

[Soliel]

Won’t be much different then last year. We lost so many players that I can’t remember how many it was. So, kinda hard to worry about all that as I’ve seen the team stripped down over and over again. Every year I am depressed about several people leaving in free agency, retirement etc. we’ve all seen it ad nauseum. What will most likely happen is most of the players on that list are gone for sure but a few will be retained. They’ll get a few free agents and draft a bunch of god only knows what. If we still have B.B. and Brady, we’re going 11-5 or better next year

 

[Hyped]

Comments:

a.) Yup, Curran has changed his tone...but he's still one of my favorite media guys covering the Pats. I think the Butler benching sent him over the edge....(shrugs), but I'll read him anytime anywhere.

b.) I have no doubt that Kraft will be spending up to the cap and that we will be able to field a team.

c.) Tough decisions to make for sure, but for starters:

1.) I let Flowers walk....yes he's important, but we just can't spend that kind of money on a premium DE....we traded Chan for a reason. Of course, make an offer....but don't over spend.

2.) Cut Dwayne Allen or have him take another hair cut. Awesome blocker, but we could pick up a good blocker off the street for pennies on the dollar.

3.) Let Gostkowski walk. We will miss his kick offs and accuracy....but there are a lot of FA kickers out there that would be 80-85% as good....but pennies on the dollar. Gost is making like 3-4M a year.

4.) Shelton and Brown....I think we will make an offer, but won't over spend.

5.) Eric Rowe, let him walk. And for Jon Jones, make an offer....and even then we still need a #2 CB if Dawson isn't the real deal...JMac is playing over his head right now, IMO and we can't count on it next year.

6.) DMac…..he has a big cap number, but I think his production = his cap number when looking at the other big safety contracts out there. However, I think we should consider trading him though....we could survive with Harmon moving into the starting lineup and maybe drafting another young pup to go with Meniofwu. I think Chung has a few more years in him.

7.) Hightower....nothing we can do there except hope he starts kicking ass.

 

[Deus Irae]

Pretty much everything, if that's what you took from the article.

PatsDeb, you clicked "disagree" on the above post, when you should have read, or re-read the article. Your claims about what was in there were almost all wrong. It's not an opinion issue. It's a "That's not what he said, and you can see that in the article" issue.

 

[MassPats38]

With Brady, there always seems to be talk of an inability to make a deal. This story is a refrain of 2010 and 2016, etc.

Gronk could leave, but would likely do so because of health if this season is an indicator. Less a contract management problem and more the nature of the game. Until Gronk swallows the elixir of youth and vitality, that will be an issue every year.

The Pats don't go the guaranteed route (as others do), and seem to lose a few shockers every year and add a few surprises. It happened with Moss, Welker and Thomas in 2007. It happened with Revis. The nature of the game changes, and so do the selections and deals. This article is a nice graphic on what went into a single year - 2016.

The Pats have consistently dumped players who are near the end or too pricey, and seem to have a sense of when to get off the ride. There are misses and hits along the way. I don't know how this year was any more all in than any other year, or why this year has the Pats careening over the contract cliff. Until the bulk of team contracts is guaranteed, money can be found.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I've read the article but i'm not sure what Curran means by, "Because a 3.0 version of this dynasty is not currently being developed." Is he implying that 2009 was the "in development" and this year is a "measured" title march and next year is the "3.0 development cycle"?

 

[mcmurtry86]

This is the worst Pats team in a decade, most of the key core players are either old, declining or both (Brady, Gronk, Hightower, McCourty, Edelman), they are tight with cap space to re-sign T.Brown and Flowers - arguably two of their top 3 performers this year, and they have a very limited number of quality cheap under-contract young players

They can probably squeeze out another year or two of 10-6 or 11-5 seasons but the roster is in bad shape for the future and the resources either in terms of money or young up and comes just aren’t there. Oh, and the GOAT QB is approaching retirement

What’s the argument for the Pats remaining an elite team or even a very good team in the future? They need a 2-4 year retooling and Brady will be done by then

The talent just isn’t there on defense and the key offensive talent is thin and declining (outside of White). Fixing those problems isn’t a one offseason job given the lack of internal options and cap space

 

[SVN]

What the pats have done in this era is not normal, saints are a classic example. If people accept this article as doom and gloom , its one's choice but its also being so used to winning with anything we got along with brady which is predicting things will remain the same again. Just in week 4 before the fins game people were wondering if we can even win the division. Brady reels of a bunch of points and wins and now we say nothing will effect the team yr also and it will be like this for eternity.