Personally, I'm thrilled with the Giardi narrative. I hope it adds fuel to the fire that the Pats are doomed. I'm all in on regaining our underdog mentality.
Yes, it's true that the Pats lost 4 starters from this year's Superbowl team. But they didn't leave a sinking ship with a divided locker room. Make no mistake, they ALL left for the money (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I read where Solder's deal was the highest deal ever given to an offensive lineman. Imagine the tumult there would have been here if the Pats had signed him to that kind of a contract? People would have thought BB had lost his mind.
DA- $6MM/yr for a guy who when everyone is healthy, is your 4th or 5th WR option? Great for DA, but c'mon. See above for what would have happened if DA was signed for this kind of money here
Dion? Loved that he got his payday. But given that he'd be in a rotation here that would limit his snaps, how can you play a RB in this system that kind of money? (though it should be said, if I were GM, I might have given Dion a contract close to that and let James White's contract go). The fact remains that last year was the FIRST that Lewis made it through a full 16 game season. Bit injury risk for any team he signs with. Sad to see him go. Glad he got paid, but it would have been hard to keep him AND White given their contracts.
Malcolm - another guy who I'm thrilled got paid, but the fact was that Malcolm wasn't worth the $4MM he got paid last season, let alone the $12MM he got in Tenn. Now he could bounce back and be the CB we saw in 2015 and 16, but I doubt many people would have been happy with the Pats paying him that much.
Bottom Line - the $20 odd million the Pats have in cap space couldn't have paid any of these guys the kind of money they ended up getting and still be solvent for the rest of the year. Solder was the only guy I thought worth going after, but they made him a decent offer ($12MM/reportedly) and the Giants blew them out of the water at over $15/MM. No shame in that.
And as for Gronk and Brady being pissed. If they are shame on them. Without having to do it, the Pats paid Gronk Millions more than they had to just because it was the right thing to do. Why would he possibly be pissed at the Pats?
Same for Brady. I read last year that since 2010 or 11, no QB in the league actually has put more money in the bank than Tom Brady....until last season when Aaron Rodgers passed him. It's one of the great myths in the NFL that Brady keeps playing for less. People forget that Brady wisely (for both sides) structured his deals that he gets a HUGE signing bonus up front, so his back end years shrink instead of exploding out of control. Tom Brady has been well paid by the Pats.
The whole thing is nothing more than the mediots desperately hoping that this will FINALLY be the end of the Pats success, so they won't have to write nice things about the local team. There is nothing better for the mediots than to tear down what they THINK they have built up, and there are 31 other cities' mediots that would love to tear this franchise down, but they'd be hard-pressed to be more voracious than most of local guys. They LOVE to eat their own.
