Grade the Patriots 2021 Free Agency

[Patsgofor4]

Not sure about the grades.

What I do know is BB and Krafty Bob busted out the plastic and signed some bad-ass talent with track records of production.

For me, what all these signings offer for 2021 is....

View attachment 31254

..and that's all you can really ask for.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
- Andy Dufresne
- Patsgofor4

 

[oldrover]

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
- Andy Dufresne
- Patsgofor4

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Whats not to like ... added good players at areas of need and they all appear to be scheme fits vs just paying out for big names. And we have eliminated the major bulk of our needs already. We need a qb and maybe another lb upgrade to really complete it though along with andrews or one of the good centers available. Then itd be an a+ for me, SHOULD make us a bonafide contender.

 

[DarrylS]

Think BB is positioning the Pats to be in a position to draft either Lance or Mac Jones, probably the latter. There is quite a bit of "draft capital" and he can do some maneuvering..

I give these signings a very solid A.. to think we got the two best TE's available and a couple of decent receivers completely blows my mind, then add in the defensive players..,

He needs to resign David Andrews..

 

[50-yard-line]

So far it's an A. How can it not be?

I considered Judon the best D player on the market. He's here.

Smith and Henry remake the offense.

My least favorite moves were at WR, but I just saw Agholor with a 7 million hit in year one and year 2 is basically up to New England, as it's all salary - if they like what he did, they keep him, and can probably extend him with some guaranteed money.

This is very close to Manny Sanders' deal with Buffalo, except the Pats control the younger Agholor for a second year if they want.

Makes me feel better. I'd still like Samuel, as the compliment between him, the deep threat Agholor adn the two TE's is insane. I know nothing about Bourne.

 

[moosekill]

Kind of sad reading some of the posts here. In two days the Patriots have retooled their team and taken it from a 500 team to certainly a playoff team. It just makes you realize how many of our posters are spoiled pink hats who will never be happy. I imagine they go home and beat their parent's cat on the way to their room in the basement. I guess they think it is their schtick to rip whatever the Patriots do. It makes them happy, and gets them the attention they so desire.

On the plus side at least the poll shows those posters are in the minority of the people who read these boards.

 

[resdubwhite]

won't grade it. But i will say this. he went out and bought parts. Are all of them sexy. no no they are not, but they were necessary to get the car back on the road. The more I see with the Bourne signing the more I like. A really good complimentary piece. He's a home run signing, no he is not. Will he move the chains. Yes he absolutely will. great move.

Similar to the two DL signings.

Needed and unsexy.

 

[patfanken]

After careful consideration now that the excitement has faded... I give it a C+. And I can tell you why is 2 words. Questionable contracts.

I know that on day 1 you pay a premium. Some of the contracts I don't mind, others are not so great. Let's go through each major contract with it's own grade.

Hunter Henry D+ I'm not a fan of this contract. He's getting 12.5M/yr with no real wiggle room. To put it into perspective that is about 5/6th of what guys like Kittle and Kelce make. Does he have 83% of their production? No. Not even in his best year was he even close to 1,000 yards. We're paying a good player like he is almost great. And there is no way to get out of the contract. Even if the cap goes up after this year it will be hard to justify this contract.

Jonnu Smith C- Everything that can be said about Henry can be said about Juden with very few differences. One being that assuming we cut him after the 3rd year a dead cap hit happens in year 4, which will allow them to spread it out a little. Still not a fan of that though.

Nelson Agholor C- Locked in for 2 years with a WR that honestly isn't all that good. He's a decent #2, but that's all For a guy who is likely to get you around 800 yards, they are paying a lot. He is currently the 20th highest paid WR in the NFL. And that is over 2 years, so no time for the cap rising to catch up with it.

There other contracts are better, but these ones seem questionable for the price tag.

After careful consideration now that the excitement has faded... I give it a C+. And I can tell you why is 2 words. Questionable contracts.

I know that on day 1 you pay a premium. Some of the contracts I don't mind, others are not so great. Let's go through each major contract with it's own grade.

Hunter Henry D+ I'm not a fan of this contract. He's getting 12.5M/yr with no real wiggle room. To put it into perspective that is about 5/6th of what guys like Kittle and Kelce make. Does he have 83% of their production? No. Not even in his best year was he even close to 1,000 yards. We're paying a good player like he is almost great. And there is no way to get out of the contract. Even if the cap goes up after this year it will be hard to justify this contract.

Jonnu Smith C- Everything that can be said about Henry can be said about Juden with very few differences. One being that assuming we cut him after the 3rd year a dead cap hit happens in year 4, which will allow them to spread it out a little. Still not a fan of that though.

Nelson Agholor C- Locked in for 2 years with a WR that honestly isn't all that good. He's a decent #2, but that's all For a guy who is likely to get you around 800 yards, they are paying a lot. He is currently the 20th highest paid WR in the NFL. And that is over 2 years, so no time for the cap rising to catch up with it.

There other contracts are better, but these ones seem questionable for the price tag.

Bob, I think you underestimate the power of signing TWO quality TE's will make to this offense. If we had signed one of them, then it would have been a nice upgrade to a position of need. yada yada yada. But signing BOTH you get a fundamental shift of the offensive dynamic. This issues you present to defenses week to week with substantial (as I tried to point out in my own thread )

You can point out contract comparison's all day, but in the end fate allowed Bill to end up with a scenario he's chased all his career. He attempted to get it with Graham and Watson, Gronk and Hernandez, and later for one year Gronk and Bennet. The Gronk and Hernandez pairing was awesome until.... And remember when they both signed their extensions reactions were that they were overpaid. Now Covid and a low cap has offered Bill to once again achieve his ideal of a 2 TE offense with a guy like Smith he can move around like a chess piece playing off of a capable inline TE threat.

Agholar IS the big risk signing. We all would have rather gotten Samuel or JJ Smith.... BUT who knows what they were asking. Agholor had a year where he was excellent at what we NEEDED. Making chunk plays. His 19ypc is exactly what we need. I'd take 800 yds and a 19ypc season out of him all day. We don't need a 1000 yd WR in an offense where the TE's will produce 16-2000 yds of combined offense. Look at the WHOLE picture Bob.

 

[sb1]

After careful consideration now that the excitement has faded... I give it a C+. And I can tell you why is 2 words. Questionable contracts.

I know that on day 1 you pay a premium. Some of the contracts I don't mind, others are not so great. Let's go through each major contract with it's own grade.

Hunter Henry D+ I'm not a fan of this contract. He's getting 12.5M/yr with no real wiggle room. To put it into perspective that is about 5/6th of what guys like Kittle and Kelce make. Does he have 83% of their production? No. Not even in his best year was he even close to 1,000 yards. We're paying a good player like he is almost great. And there is no way to get out of the contract. Even if the cap goes up after this year it will be hard to justify this contract.

Jonnu Smith C- Everything that can be said about Henry can be said about Juden with very few differences. One being that assuming we cut him after the 3rd year a dead cap hit happens in year 4, which will allow them to spread it out a little. Still not a fan of that though.

Nelson Agholor C- Locked in for 2 years with a WR that honestly isn't all that good. He's a decent #2, but that's all For a guy who is likely to get you around 800 yards, they are paying a lot. He is currently the 20th highest paid WR in the NFL. And that is over 2 years, so no time for the cap rising to catch up with it.

There other contracts are better, but these ones seem questionable for the price tag.

All these deals are at or above market. Proves that without Brady and especially comparing to what the Bucs are doing - nobody is taking a discount to come here. It is what it is.

Other than QB Pats also need a WR1 to make defenses respect the pass. None of these guys do that and we know Harry certainly won’t. Still need help up front on defense. These aren’t bad signings at all but I don’t think they move the needle as much as we’d like. Still an 8-9 win team at the moment IMO.

 

[Brotherblues]

I wanted to give it an A but then Ray Lewis killed a man

 

[Brotherblues]

All these deals are at or above market. Proves that without Brady and especially comparing to what the Bucs are doing - nobody is taking a discount to come here. It is what it is.

Other than QB Pats also need a WR1 to make defenses respect the pass. None of these guys do that and we know Harry certainly won’t. Still need help up front on defense. These aren’t bad signings at all but I don’t think they move the needle as much as we’d like. Still an 8-9 win team at the moment IMO.

Lots of them are 3-4 year deals. Market is going to do a crazy reset next season. These deals are gonna look like a complete bargains.

 

[Steve102]

Some crabby folks.... handing out C's, Ds, and Fs. Same folks would be complaining that they don't do anything on the first day of FA if Bill sat on his hands and waited for the blue light specials.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

All these deals are at or above market. Proves that without Brady and especially comparing to what the Bucs are doing - nobody is taking a discount to come here. It is what it is.

With the lack of teams that were really suitors due to cap restrictions, i think we got those players way cheaper of what it would have cost in a normal cap expension year.

In the end everything works out for the Patriots.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Some crabby folks.... handing out C's, Ds, and Fs. Same folks would be complaining that they don't do anything on the first day of FA if Bill sat on his hands and waited for the blue light specials.

He would have been killed if he did nothing and I would be part of that group. Now if some people don’t like the players that Bill signed, that’s their right.

 

[Steve102]

He would have been killed if he did nothing and I would be part of that group. Now if some people don’t like the players that Bill signed, that’s their right.

I have zero problem with it. I am not a huge Aghalor or Bourne guy. They are an upgrade over what they have, but they are not #1s.

 

[Jimke]

We have to wait and see how many of our own free agents are lost and have to be replaced.
Good so far. Would like to see a top flight WR.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

I have zero problem with it. I am not a huge Aghalor or Bourne guy. They are an upgrade over what they have, but they are not #1s.

I am not a huge fan of Agholor either but his contract will not jeopardize the cap in any way if it doesn’t pan out. The splash came from the number of players Bill signed, the two TE and maybe Judon otherwise I think the move he made are pretty standard Bill signings.

 

[Deus Irae]

My first thought was... what's not to like? Then I saw two C's and two F's and read some of the posts. This is a tough crowd.

Be honest: If the Jets had been the one with this free agency, what grade would you have given it?

 

[Brotherblues]

We have to wait and see how many of our own free agents are lost and have to be replaced.
Good so far. Would like to see a top flight WR.

I think it's just Andews (among starters) still up in the air.

 

[Bobby T]

Every year we criticize other fan bases for exactly this exercise.

Other teams don’t have BB on game days. I think it’s reasonable to expect better results than say the Jets.