If this is the end of days.. do you sell off assets?

[luuked]

The O-line will be fine, the defense needs some help, mainly at LB. This was known last year, and nothing was done about it

I read this again and again and I wonder what exactly it is that people wanted to be done about it.

I looked up all the first round LBs and how PFF graded them so far and guess what Bentley was graded ahead of ALL of them:

Roquan Smith: 65.3 (#33 LB)
Tremaine Edmunds: 53.4 (#58 LB)
Leighton Vander Esch: 79.2 (#13 LB)
Rashaan Evans: 68.0 (N/A)

Ja'Whuan Bentley: 81.5 (#8 LB)

Now I am not trying to swoon over the pick and am definitely not trying to say that he is better than all of those players. My point is that so far none of the players "Bill could have picked to help the defense" have outperformed the player we have in there in any shape or form. Also that's why I was fine with using PFF scores because as garbage as they are my intent was not to rank players but show that there has been no significant difference yet between the early LBs and Bentley.

So saying we should have used a first round (or day 2) pick on LBs seems like a lazy narrative to me. In fact I would not be surprised if -- ironically -- people would have a change on opinion if Bentley was picked in the first round instead just to have that "high pick pedigree".

At the same time FA was a barren wasteland when it comes to ILB this offseason. The ghost of Bowman and Mason Foster were the top choices available. So really the only option to impactfully change the situation at LB was to trade for one.

Now don't get me wrong I personally agree that we need more speed on defense but I don't think I agree with narratives like "if we picked a better LB in the draft we wouldn't have those issues" or "they did nothing".

 

[Steve102]

the premise of this whole thread...

Am I the only one that thinks they are playing with house money? I suffered thru 1-15, Victor Kiam, Parcells bailing for the Jets (how'd that work out, BTW?), Hugh Millen-ated, Rod Rust and them being the joke of the NFL. My loyalty was rewarded with FIVE effn Super Bowls. Now we want to sell off everything, and everyone is bailing????

At least there will be room on the bandwagon for me to stretch my legs.

 

[IllegalContact]

the premise of this whole thread...

Am I the only one that thinks they are playing with house money? I suffered thru 1-15, Victor Kiam, Parcells bailing for the Jets (how'd that work out, BTW?), Hugh Millen-ated, Rod Rust and them being the joke of the NFL. My loyalty was rewarded with FIVE effn Super Bowls. Now we want to sell off everything, and everyone is bailing????

At least there will be room on the bandwagon for me to stretch my legs.

there's no such thing as house money

 

[IllegalContact]

there aren't enough good players to dump

see the season through to see if the team can improve........if the team loses this division, then the bigger question will be who goes first......coach or QB

 

[Ring 6]

I read this again and again and I wonder what exactly it is that people wanted to be done about it.

I looked up all the first round LBs and how PFF graded them so far and guess what Bentley was graded ahead of ALL of them:

Roquan Smith: 65.3 (#33 LB)
Tremaine Edmunds: 53.4 (#58 LB)
Leighton Vander Esch: 79.2 (#13 LB)
Rashaan Evans: 68.0 (N/A)

Ja'Whuan Bentley: 81.5 (#8 LB)

Now I am not trying to swoon over the pick and am definitely not trying to say that he is better than all of those players. My point is that so far none of the players "Bill could have picked to help the defense" have outperformed the player we have in there in any shape or form. Also that's why I was fine with using PFF scores because as garbage as they are my intent was not to rank players but show that there has been no significant difference yet between the early LBs and Bentley.

So saying we should have used a first round (or day 2) pick on LBs seems like a lazy narrative to me. In fact I would not be surprised if -- ironically -- people would have a change on opinion if Bentley was picked in the first round instead just to have that "high pick pedigree".

At the same time FA was a barren wasteland when it comes to ILB this offseason. The ghost of Bowman and Mason Foster were the top choices available. So really the only option to impactfully change the situation at LB was to trade for one.

Now don't get me wrong I personally agree that we need more speed on defense but I don't think I agree with narratives like "if we picked a better LB in the draft we wouldn't have those issues" or "they did nothing".

The change is going to be scheme. We gave what we have. We did what we could to improve the roster (its like people posting here are trying to argue that there were these obvious easy moves to be made and Belichick just doesn’t understand football).
We have seen different schemes, personell groupings and roles for the players over the first 3 games. This is no different than any other year when there are strengths and weaknesses and plan is being built to take advantage of the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses.
Last year after allowing 32 ppg in the first 4 and 33+ in 3 of them, the defense looked far worse than this years has.
The changes that were made led to the next 8 games of allowing less than 12 ppg and no more than 17 in any of them. It was possibly the best 8 game stretch of defense of the B.B. era following the worst 4 game stretch.
Relax, the team is in good hands.

 

[mgteich]

I agree that the team is in good hands.

I agree that Belichick had a very reasonable off-season.

It does NOT follow that we can't do much better with a trade or two. Perhaps Flowers, Hightower and Chung will all be at 100% soon. Perhaps Brown will look better. If not, we can use some help.

I could see us trading a 2nd and or a 3rd if there is value out their on defense.

The change is going to be scheme. We gave what we have. We did what we could to improve the roster (its like people posting here are trying to argue that there were these obvious easy moves to be made and Belichick just doesn’t understand football).
We have seen different schemes, personell groupings and roles for the players over the first 3 games. This is no different than any other year when there are strengths and weaknesses and plan is being built to take advantage of the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses.
Last year after allowing 32 ppg in the first 4 and 33+ in 3 of them, the defense looked far worse than this years has.
The changes that were made led to the next 8 games of allowing less than 12 ppg and no more than 17 in any of them. It was possibly the best 8 game stretch of defense of the B.B. era following the worst 4 game stretch.
Relax, the team is in good hands.

 

[luuked]

I agree that the team is in good hands.

I agree that Belichick had a very reasonable off-season.

It does NOT follow that we can't do much better with a trade or two. Perhaps Flowers, Hightower and Chung will all be at 100% soon. Perhaps Brown will look better. If not, we can use some help.

I could see us trading a 2nd and or a 3rd if there is value out their on defense.

Of course we can do better. But an opportunity has to present itself first.

BB and Caserio have shown that when there is a chance to improve via trades he will go for it (Hicks, Ayers, Talib or Casillas). Other times like with Sopoaga it didnt work.

It needs two to dance.

 

[SVN]

Yes, we should tank the season for getting a #1 pick next season.

 

[PatsDeb]

I don't think it's dumb that Ray Lewis killed a guy and escaped punishment.

No, it isn't. I meant "dumb" in that I am sick of seeing it everywhere.

 

[TheRainMaker]

How do you propose getting around the cap???

What @Gronk said. Teams backload contracts and restructure or cut them in a few years.

I have no idea how the Rams were able to pay all those guys this offseason. And they have a ton of cap space next season. Patriots don’t have much cap space and their only big contracts are Gilmore, McCourty, Brady, Gronk and now Mason. McCourty needs to go and Mason was paid too early.

 

[TheRainMaker]

They have the capital this coming year to move into the top 10 if they would like. There's going to be some pretty intriguing prospects. I like Herbert out of Oregon. Kid's a stud. But if he keeps on his current trajectory, he'll be the #1 overall pick. I really wish the Browns didn't pull their heads out of their behinds and take Mayfield #1 overall. He would have been the PERFECT heir apparent to Brady.

Funny how Mayfield shot up draft boards overnight when the Pats were rumored to trade up for him.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

What @Gronk said. Teams backload contracts and restructure or cut them in a few years.

I have no idea how the Rams were able to pay all those guys this offseason. And they have a ton of cap space next season. Patriots don’t have much cap space and their only big contracts are Gilmore, McCourty, Brady, Gronk and now Mason. McCourty needs to go and Mason was paid too early.

I agree regarding the Rams. However your idea may plug a few holes and tear open several others.