Free Agent Wishlist

[patsfanfromoversea]

Should consider:

Mason Rudolph
Marcus Mariota
Ryan Tannehill
Derrick Henry
Josh Jacobs
Saquon Barkley
Gus Edwards
D'Andre Swift
Calvin Ridley
Odell Beckham
Tyler Boyd
Tee Higgins
Jaelen Raegor
Tyron Smith
Jonah Williams
Robert Hunt
Mike Onwenu
Donovan Smith
Dalton Schultz
Gerald Everett
Noah Fant
Irv Smith
Adam Trautman
Will Lutz
Greg Zeurlein

My top preferences bolded

just curious
why mason rudolph? he ain't any better than zappe or mac and they suck

 

[Joey007]

They've been a quick turnaround. A lot of times a new regime takes over for a team that's been really bad in recent years. So even if it only takes that new regime a few years to get things on track, a lot of times they're still falling back on the holdovers from the team picking high a bunch of years before. That's why I think our rebuild will have to be on the longer side. We don't have any cornerstones to built the program around. We're basically starting from scratch.

Lions deserve a lot of credit because feels like that team has really done most/all of the heavy lifting in the past few years. That will be tough to replicate for sure.

? On offense, no. But defense has Barmore and Gonzalez, along with several other younger talented guys. Defense just needs a young pass rusher and it has the core pieces needed.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

just curious
why mason rudolph? he ain't any better than zappe or mac and they suck

I thought he looked good for steelers down the stretch. I view him as a much better backup than Zappe

 

[Joey007]

I expected Ridley to have a down year this past season. It’s rare for a player to miss an entire year unrelated to injury and not take a hit to his production. I expect a bounce back year from him.

Chris Jones, Madubuike, Wilkins, Leonard Williams and DJ Reader are all big names that could help turn the d line into a force.

Madubuike scares me a bit. Feels like the classic overpay at DT based from one year of production.

He may continue to thrive, but would be worried he ends up being more just a product of the Ravens system.

 

[PatsFan2]

I thought he looked good for steelers down the stretch. I view him as a much better backup than Zappe

Give him talented Receivers like *Ahem* George Pickens and you'll see the best of him.

 

[DaBruinz]

In the last 22yrs, our LTs have been Light (2nd), Solder (1st), Brown (trade), Wynn (1st), Brown (trade). RT has been a little more flexible because it doesn't require quite as much athleticism.

I fully expect the Pats to draft 2 OTs in this draft. One who to be the starting LT and one who will be a Swing Tackle but will be the starter at RT.. I expect Onwenu to be re-signed to be the starting RG where he's an ALL-PRO instead of the JAG he was at RT..

 

[DaBruinz]

Give him talented Receivers like *Ahem* George Pickens and you'll see the best of him.

Pickens has no brain.. He'd have been sent packing already if he pulled that s**t on the Pats..

 

[Hugepatsfan]

? On offense, no. But defense has Barmore and Gonzalez, along with several other younger talented guys. Defense just needs a young pass rusher and it has the core pieces needed.

Production on defense has been good, but not sure anyone outside of the 2 guys you mentioned will even be here in 2 years.

DT - Godchaux will be 30 and only has 1 year left, Guy might be a cap casualty this year. Only Barmore is a "long term" piece.

EDGE - Wise Jr./Judon are likely shell of themselves in 2 years. Maybe White continues to grow and can be a core piece. Everyone else is currently set to hit FA (Uche, Jennings).

LB - Bentley and Tavani are JAGs or maybe just slightly better.

CB - Jon Jones is probably a shell of himself in 2 years and only has 1 year left on his deal anyway. No other proven viable starting caliber CB on the roster outside Gonzalez, who even himself only has 3 games of experience.

S - Peppers will be a 30 year old free agent after next year. Dugger is a FA and on the older side at that because he came out of college late. Mapu isn't likely to stick as an NFL safety and will need to move to LB. No other young talent in the pipeline.

If you just focus on offense, by the time you get situated on that side the defense likely won't be good anymore because while the current picture is ok there's a serious lack of long term talent on that side too.

 

[DaBruinz]

Wilkins and Luvu would be amazing additions
a three DT Lineup with barmore godchaux and wilkins with judon/white/jennings is crazy

i love Luvu, he doesn't get the attention like other LB but he plays some damn good football

I wanted the Pats to trade for Luvu a couple seasons ago. Christian Wilkins is the only guy I'd consider, but on a short deal since he's going to be 29.

 

[Headcase]

Production on defense has been good, but not sure anyone outside of the 2 guys you mentioned will even be here in 2 years.

....

If you just focus on offense, by the time you get situated on that side the defense likely won't be good anymore because while the current picture is ok there's a serious lack of long term talent on that side too.

I agree, but at least the D has some pieces in place, there is nothing on the Offense. Luckily the FA period is pretty strong on D, get some pieces on that side there; then go heavy in the draft on O.

 

[Headcase]

I fully expect the Pats to draft 2 OTs in this draft. One who to be the starting LT and one who will be a Swing Tackle but will be the starter at RT.. I expect Onwenu to be re-signed to be the starting RG where he's an ALL-PRO instead of the JAG he was at RT..

It would drive some people crazy, but I'd be tempted to go 1st rd LT, 2nd rd BPA (QB,WR), 3rd rd RT.

 

[DaBruinz]

Production on defense has been good, but not sure anyone outside of the 2 guys you mentioned will even be here in 2 years.

DT - Godchaux will be 30 and only has 1 year left, Guy might be a cap casualty this year. Only Barmore is a "long term" piece.

EDGE - Wise Jr./Judon are likely shell of themselves in 2 years. Maybe White continues to grow and can be a core piece. Everyone else is currently set to hit FA (Uche, Jennings).

LB - Bentley and Tavani are JAGs or maybe just slightly better.

CB - Jon Jones is probably a shell of himself in 2 years and only has 1 year left on his deal anyway. No other proven viable starting caliber CB on the roster outside Gonzalez, who even himself only has 3 games of experience.

S - Peppers will be a 30 year old free agent after next year. Dugger is a FA and on the older side at that because he came out of college late. Mapu isn't likely to stick as an NFL safety and will need to move to LB. No other young talent in the pipeline.

If you just focus on offense, by the time you get situated on that side the defense likely won't be good anymore because while the current picture is ok there's a serious lack of long term talent on that side too.

Teams never "just focus on offense". It's always a balancing act with the hopes that people pan out. Judon and Peppers have panned out. To a lesser extent Mills, Henry, Phillips, and Godchaux have as well. Parker, JJSS, Anderson and Reiff, haven't.

The Pats have a good core on Defense with Barmore, White and Gonzalez. Mapu has the athletic talent, they just need to find him a position. He showed amazing instincts in college. The problem, I think with the Pats, is that it was too structured and he was thinking too much. It should improve going forward.

The Pats, right now, need 2 starting OTs.. without those, it won't matter who they have at QB, WR or RB..

Someone mentioned Antoine Winfield. I expect him to be franchised, but if not, I wouldn't want him anyways.. Guy gives up too many TDs. Opposing QBs have over a 100 passing rating when targeting him. I might look at Geno Stone or Julian Blackmon. Kamren Curl has been rumored as someone the Pats are going to look at, but he's not been very good in coverage, so who knows.

 

[DaBruinz]

It would drive some people crazy, but I'd be tempted to go 1st rd LT, 2nd rd BPA (QB,WR), 3rd rd RT.

My original thoughts were LT in round 1, RT in round 2, RB in round 3.. BUT, after talking with @BaconGrundleCandy, he convinced me that MHJ is a generational talent and that you can get the LT and RT in the 2nd & 3rd rounds..

 

[Hugepatsfan]

We can talk positions, but end of the day I think what this team truly needs is just "elite players". Obviously the QB position is its own beast, but outside of that I don't think we should worry about positions. To be a SB contending team you need a group of all pro caliber players and I don't think we even have a single one of them on the roster. Judon seems pretty topped out at great but less than that. Barmore maybe has another leap in him to that. Everyone else it feels like a total hope and prayer to project them at that level.

I hope we aren't short-sighted to target individual positions in the draft and free agency outside of the QB position which you need to always have in mind. If this team is going to be a super bowl contender again we need an infusion of elite players, no matter what position they play.

 

[Toofy]

It’s astonishing that we’re the only fanbase n the league that still thinks rebuilds take 3+ years.

Because we have sucked for over 4 years now and tbh haven't seen a decent offense since the 8-0 start to 2019 season.

 

[Toofy]

Teams never "just focus on offense". It's always a balancing act with the hopes that people pan out. Judon and Peppers have panned out. To a lesser extent Mills, Henry, Phillips, and Godchaux have as well. Parker, JJSS, Anderson and Reiff, haven't.

The Pats have a good core on Defense with Barmore, White and Gonzalez. Mapu has the athletic talent, they just need to find him a position. He showed amazing instincts in college. The problem, I think with the Pats, is that it was too structured and he was thinking too much. It should improve going forward.

The Pats, right now, need 2 starting OTs.. without those, it won't matter who they have at QB, WR or RB..

Someone mentioned Antoine Winfield. I expect him to be franchised, but if not, I wouldn't want him anyways.. Guy gives up too many TDs. Opposing QBs have over a 100 passing rating when targeting him. I might look at Geno Stone or Julian Blackmon. Kamren Curl has been rumored as someone the Pats are going to look at, but he's not been very good in coverage, so who knows.

Did you see how Gibbs threw him down to the ground ... Winfield no thanks...

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Because we have sucked for over 4 years now and tbh haven't seen a decent offense since the 8-0 start to 2019 season.

That's the thing though... we haven't "sucked" for 4 years. Fans just think that because of what we were coming off of. The Cam year we were 7-9. That's middle of the pack, not a team that "sucks". Next year we made the playoffs. The Patricia OC year we played our last regular season game in control of our own destiny to make the playoffs. Last year was the only year we actually "sucked".

We've seen things get turned around from the basement of the NFL to the playoffs. But usually it's preceded by MULTIPLE years of sucking and picking high in the draft where they accumulated some amount of blue chip guys. We basically have no blue chip guys. And never at any point were we really building for the future. It was always prioritizing vet signings over developing young guys. No trading vets for draft capital to help add young talent. Nothing of any kind that sets this up to be a quick turnaround from the basement.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

... and they've been rebuilding for 30 years since their last playoff appearance

Context context context... It was a response about the coach

 

[50-yard-line]

Using over the cap's calculator, I have us at $103.1M in cap space with the following moves:

1) Cut JC Jackson (obvious move at his salary - maybe we re-sign him as outside CB depth but had bad ending to the year)
2) Cut Godchaux (decent player but he's 30, somewhat expensive and can probably be replaced with younger guy using the savings to cut him)
3) Trade Juju pre-June 1st (might require eating some of his guaranteed salary which would reduce cap savings)
4) Trade Parker pre-June 1st (I know he's unpopular here but actually decent value - I just want a change to this position group)
5) Cut Adrian Phillips
6) Cut Lawrence Guy

With that much FA money, I'd try to target the following:

1) Higgins or Pittman if either goes untagged. Even if we take MHJ at #3 over a QB, another legit outside guy never hurts. Would be nice to re-sign Bourne too if his market is soft coming off ACL tear. Just want lively guys here with talent.

2) Re-sign Onwenu with initial intention of playing him at RT and sign a capable vet to at least stand-in at LT. This would leave Sow at RG for now where he showed promise. Still would have the goal of a long term starting LT in the draft, and if you do get one who can play right away you can always kick Onwenu inside to RG again. Maybe Sow to LG over Strange if we stick gap blocking scheme too. But just need to make sure we have capable guys at LT.

3) Land a starting caliber deep FS and capable outside man coverage CB to play opposite Gonzalez so we can get back to press cover 1 looks. Even if it costs Dugger. Our scheme is best when we can do this. Maybe Jon Jones could play FS with Marcus Jones in slot? IDK, but need to get back to a complimentary secondary.

4) It'd be nice to land a long term run-stuffing NT next to Barmore. Generally de-valued position in free agency so we can maybe find a good one here.

5) Pass rush depth with guys like Jennings (hope to re-sign) and Uche or maybe someone else. With Judon coming back and hopeful development from White, I'm optimistic we'd be in good shape here by keeping Jennings and maybe adding another situational edge rusher if Uche is overpaid elsewhere.

Nice evaluation. Thanks for the thoughtful and smart post!

1. Jackson is certainly getting cut. Price is WAY too high.

2. Extend Godchaux, don’t cut him. He’s playing very well and is a good locker room presence.

I think Austin was more than good at CB. Don’t let him get away. Hope Bolden comes back strong and I think both Wade and Bryant are decent depth.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Is your data from the 70’s? Look at how bad Detroit was two years ago, compared to now.

The Detroit that won its division for the first time since 1993? Seems a bit longer than two years.