How d'you like the 2006 Offseason Now?

[stinkypete]

IMO, the 2006 "offseason" was still garbage with the exception of the Seymour extention, the Caldwell signing and a pretty good draft. Out other moves were either late pre-season (Seau) or mid-season (Gaffney). These were stop-gap moves that happened to look like masterstroke.

Think Brian Cox in 2001 or Artrell Hawkins last year.

 

[RayClay]

Just for some perspective, I'm one of the biggest fans of the way the Patriots do business and paying the middle of the roster more than most teams is a reason we make fewer mistakes, (weakest link theory).

Having said that, all things being equal, I would rather have Willie, Adam, Branch and Givens on the team now and there wouldn't even be a contest.

We lost a lot of talent, experience and clutch team players.

However, we have more young talent than we've ever had and cap room to pay the big contracts coming up.

We also have the picks to restock, though we won't replace what we lost in a year or two.

Unlike other teams, we will remain competitive instead of being forced to purge players and going in the tank for a few years,

 

[AzPatsFan]

I think it's good that the rook is making playoff kicks, which makes the Adam walk easier, but I'm not going to just brush aside how far under the cap we are. Did we even extend anybody with that money?

Yeah, we're winning, but it seems like with a little more help on both sides of the ball, it could be more like the 2004 dominance. The offense has looked pretty bad in quite a few games this season, and the run D isn't where it used to be, especially without Rodney.

There's still enough talent and football smarts to win big games, but wouldn't more help on both sides of the ball be a good idea, assuming we don't mortgage the future to do it?


My vote: Spend the max every season that the Brady/Belichick (and to a lesser degree, Seymour/Wilfork) era is intact. Go for the 'best team ever' goal.

Did you miss the story that the Pats are under the cap by all of $0.78 cents. Thats right they spent the cap down to less than a buck! I'm not sure who they could sign for that enormous sum of 3 bits...

 

[shakadave]

[1] Personally, I've always felt the move to let Adam walk was a stroke of genius that will only be fully appreciated next year when (1) the Colts, under the weight of their cap situation, begin to implode their team and (2) Gost shifts into his new life as a blooded NFL sophomore. (Note: People will appreciate the genius faster if Adam's back starts acting up again...)

This has been my view, too. Sentimentally tough, but the right move. Plus, now I don't have to worry about him blemishing his Patriots postseason resume.

[2] Watching Gaffney catch balls, getting in and out of his cuts, makes me wonder how much of Deon Branch's SB MVP was him and how much was his quarterback. Now, I do not doubt that Branch is an excellent player, but the distance between Branch (traded for a first round pick) and Gaffney (signed off the street, desperate for a job) is very, very small. Buy low, sell high

It's true that BB knows how to get by with less expensive WRs, but that's only after the learning curve has kicked in. It has progressed with Gaffney and Caldwell, but isn't yet where it was with Branch, or where it will be next year.

[3] The compensatory picks for Adam, Givens, Chatham and Ashworth seemed like small compensation (esp since most of them'll probably be Day Two picks) this past Summer. Now that we've proved that the team can win in the postseason without those guys, it feels like a draft windfall.

We had crappy luck that Givens got injured, because we're going to end up with less compensation than it appeared in July.

[4] Caldwell has slowly filled a leadership role on this team which is entirely underappreciated. Honestly, when I compare Caldwell and Givens, I wonder if we haven't upgraded the position.

Givens definitely had his limitations. Caldwell too, but maybe by next year they will be less apparent?

[5] Junior Seau was such a great signing-- I wish he hadn't gotten hurt. The team was much much better with him in the lineup. Did anyone else notice that San Diego attacked the Tully Banta-Cain side of the field with the running attack, and basically ran right around TBC each time. Even with Seymour at his side, I think TBC is completely outclassed in the running game. We need a solution that puts Vrable back at the spot. Paul Posluszny might be a solution, plus hopefully we can get one more year out of Seau.

I was going to post a whole thread about Tully, and you just saved me the effort. Tomlinson ran left almost exclusively for his big runs. TBC was there. How much was that Tully's fault? With Seau in the middle and Vrabel on the wing (or Colvin on the R and Vrabel the L), would it have been different?

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