Looking Ahead to 2022 - Cap Space, Patriots' Free Agents, Draft Picks - A Good Place Start

[jdlboot14]

I'm just not sure they'll dump Agholor. He gets a lot of hate here, as if he's a foregone conclusion.
But, it's rare for guys to come in and perform like Bourne in their first year with Pats. I'd be okay giving Agholor another year, mostly because of his dead money if cut, and what other top level FA WR would catch on immediately and not sink the team with cap hit? (I'd rather put that $ on JC - shut down corners are more rare than productive WR's) Nelson is still fast, had solid hands and seems like a good locker room guy. Mac's improvement in seeing the field could double Agholor's production, let alone his 2nd year in the system.

 

[resdubwhite]

I'm just not sure they'll dump Agholor. He gets a lot of hate here, as if he's a foregone conclusion.
But, it's rare for guys to come in and perform like Bourne in their first year with Pats. I'd be okay giving Agholor another year, mostly because of his dead money if cut, and what other top level FA WR would catch on immediately and not sink the team with cap hit? (I'd rather put that $ on JC - shut down corners are more rare than productive WR's) Nelson is still fast, had solid hands and seems like a good locker room guy. Mac's improvement in seeing the field could double Agholor's production, let alone his 2nd year in the system.

I'd be happy to renegotiate and add another year. Spread the pain.

 

[borg]

The must-sign guys are Nick Folk, Jakobi Meyers and JC Jackson.

Paraphrasing Bedard on 98.5 yesterday....
-JC Jackson had his worst game of season vs Buffalo on Sunday
-Operated as if he was checked out and ready to move on
-Patriots should tag and trade, even if compensation is only 'pennies on the dollar'
------------------------------------
Fascinating offseason ahead and the JCJ situation has the makings a prolonged drama that could fester for far longer than any of us hope.

Franchise tags can be applied no later March 8
Free agency tampering period: March 14-16
Free agency begins March 16
Deadline to sign tag and receive paychecks: Week 10 of 2022 season

 

[resdubwhite]

-Patriots should tag and trade, even if compensation is only 'pennies on the dollar'

I'm struggling to remember when a team last tagged and traded a player. Is that even a thing anymore?

 

[Rob0729]

Small correction. Meyers is not a UFA.

Wider disagreement.

There is actually VERY LITTLE room to create new cap space. Jonnu Smith, for example, would create a nearly $13 million cap hit if cut (and $26 million dead money). Where do you see the cap space increasing? Godchaux ($5 million cap space, $5 million dead money) and Agholor ($5 million cap space, $10 million dead money) are possibilities if you're prepared to cut bait and take the dead money hit, but apart from that I don't see much.

New England Patriots Salary Cap | Over the Cap

New England Patriots salary cap, contracts, bonus money, dead money, and cap savings for every player

overthecap.com

So, aside from the fact that they've found a serviceable quarterback on a rookie contract, they are not "light years ahead of last year this offseason", I'm sorry to say. On the contrary: they've got to face the consequences of Belichick's 2021 splurge in which he paid high prices and pushed a lot of the costs into the future. If his judgements on players turn out to have been wrong (Smith, Godchaux, Agholor) the Pats will have to live with that for years.

Eh! The Pats have plenty of ways to get cap space. But will they. This is the year to redo deals and convert base salaries into bonuses because 2023 the cap is likely going to explode with the new TV deals kicking in.

They could convert the following salaries into bonuses:

Judon - $11 million
Jalen Mills - $4.5 million
Hunter Henry - $9 million
Shaq Mason - $6.5 million (or give him an extension)


You could extend McCourty (who likely would be looking at a veteran's minimum contract) and save about $4 million.

You can try to trade Wynn and save $10 million or give him a deal which would probably save about $5 million in cap space this year.

There are other moves. Normally, I wouldn't be an advocate of pushing money forward, but this is the year because the cap could literally go up $40-50 million next year or more.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

We really made good progress roster wise last year imo despite still having some hoes to fill. I would take a conservative approach this offseason , absorb some of those less than ideal cap hits , get some of the unknowns (perkins, mcgrone, Bledsoe, McMillan, uChe, wade) some action to see if they are a solution, and go all out in ‘23. Resign jcj, meyers, white, karras. Hopefully add some mid level fa and gotta draft well again. Id be very happy if we can land 2-3 impact players again via draft. Im okay if we dont see a ton of improvement next year just dont want to push any more cash into the future. Anyway a few good picks and a solid vet at the right spots (dt, edge, mlb, cb) plus a 2nd year bump from mac can itself lead to big improvements. Agholor may be more useful if we get more downfield throws and smith may improv year 2 if we can figure him into things more. He looks electric with the ball in his hands so not giving up there.

important to remember this is a multi year process. Last time we hit the reset button after the 08 season, it took 3 seasons to get back to a sb and 6 seasons to win it all again. That was with a prime brady and he was basically the only reason ( along with some weak scheduling and a fluke 22 yrd fg miss) we got back to a sb even that early. that team clearly needed more work to being a true contender despite almost miraculously pulling a 2001 and winning it all. Were most likely a couple years away from realistically contending barring a slam dunk offseason this year.

 

[masterbouncer]

Personally, I wouldn't take a wr with the 21st pick.....would probably focus on cb or OT, but I could see if a top wr slipped, it might be an enticing pick,

I'd even take a monster NT as well there, wasn't WIlfork also drafted at 21? please give me some beef in the interior DL

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I'm just not sure they'll dump Agholor. He gets a lot of hate here, as if he's a foregone conclusion.
But, it's rare for guys to come in and perform like Bourne in their first year with Pats. I'd be okay giving Agholor another year, mostly because of his dead money if cut, and what other top level FA WR would catch on immediately and not sink the team with cap hit? (I'd rather put that $ on JC - shut down corners are more rare than productive WR's) Nelson is still fast, had solid hands and seems like a good locker room guy. Mac's improvement in seeing the field could double Agholor's production, let alone his 2nd year in the system.

Aside from HOF Randy Moss, the Pats offense has never been about a deep threat. Cooks was here but he made his production mostly via medium/short routes here.

It makes zero sense to pay big$ for a non-HOF deep threat or for a 2nd TE when you know that your current OC only wants to do the same stale 15 year old option-route spread shotgun over and over and over.

.

 

[zimmy]

Just to respond to a few posts

I wouldn't take a WR in the 1st round, especially not Williams.. He's a very good player by the ACL injury will mean a lost year. Our system is notoriously hard to learn for WRs so missing camp will be crippling for him.

I know Wynn is a bit of a whipping boy but I would look to extend him if we can find a reasonable deal. I must be one of his few defenders but he's a solid left tackle in my view. $10m is actually pretty good value for a middle of the road starting left tackle (the premier guys get $20m+). If we trade him, it's another hole to fill. Given the difficulty of finding good linemen, we'd be looking at the first round again when ideally that should be used on defence. I don't think Herron is ready to step in next year and Brown is too unreliable.

My main priorities are to a) improve the cornerback position, b) improve the run defence, c) get a speedy slot guy for Mac, and d) ensure some continuity on the o-line.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Just to respond to a few posts

I wouldn't take a WR in the 1st round, especially not Williams.. He's a very good player by the ACL injury will mean a lost year. Our system is notoriously hard to learn for WRs so missing camp will be crippling for him.

I know Wynn is a bit of a whipping boy but I would look to extend him if we can find a reasonable deal. I must be one of his few defenders but he's a solid left tackle in my view. $10m is actually pretty good value for a middle of the road starting left tackle (the premier guys get $20m+). If we trade him, it's another hole to fill. I don't think Herron is ready to step in and Brown is too unreliable.

My main priorities are to a) improve the cornerback position, b) improve the run defence, c) get a speedy slot guy for Mac, and d) ensure some continuity on the o-line.

There is no OT hole to fill if the Pats OC and OLine coach stop being moronic. Trent Brown is sitting there, Superbowl winning left tackle, to extend and play LT. Michael Onwenu is one of the best Patriot players on the whole team, ready to start at right tackle instead of languish on the bench for 9 weeks. The Pats absolutely should not draft OT coming up, the solution already exists internally. But the OC needs to be replaced and OLine coach too. No more idiotic coaching on the offensive side of the ball.

.

 

[zimmy]

I'm struggling to remember when a team last tagged and traded a player. Is that even a thing anymore?

A few players have been tagged and then traded in recent years. Frank Clark and Dee Ford spring to mind. You aren't going to get a premium return but you might get a 2nd rounder. The problem is that it ties up cap space until you can sort a trade and it depends on the player signing the tender asap.

 

[zimmy]

There is no OT hole to fill if the Pats OC and OLine coach stop being moronic. Trent Brown is sitting there, Superbowl winning left tackle, to extend and play LT. Michael Onwenu is one of the best Patriot players on the whole team, ready to start at right tackle instead of languish on the bench for 9 weeks. The Pats absolutely should not draft OT coming up, the solution already exists internally. But the OC needs to be replaced and OLine coach too. No more idiotic coaching on the offensive side of the ball.

.

Brown is even more unreliable than Wynn from a health perspective. I wouldn't feel that good with signing Brown to a big extension personally. I'd be more inclined to let Brown go and move Onwenu back to RT. If Brown wants a low base, incentive laden deal then perhaps.

 

[VrabelJr]

Paraphrasing Bedard on 98.5 yesterday....
-JC Jackson had his worst game of season vs Buffalo on Sunday
-Operated as if he was checked out and ready to move on
-Patriots should tag and trade, even if compensation is only 'pennies on the dollar'
------------------------------------
Fascinating offseason ahead and the JCJ situation has the makings a prolonged drama that could fester for far longer than any of us hope.

Franchise tags can be applied no later March 8
Free agency tampering period: March 14-16
Free agency begins March 16
Deadline to sign tag and receive paychecks: Week 10 of 2022 season

I'm of the opinion in the modern day NFL that Shutdown CBs don't exist, but lockdown Free Safeties do. I'd rather try and find an FS that makes our entire Secondary better (like McCourty used to, and how Earl Thomas was the real driver of the Legion of Boom).

 

[Sciz]

There is no OT hole to fill if the Pats OC and OLine coach stop being moronic. Trent Brown is sitting there, Superbowl winning left tackle, to extend and play LT. Michael Onwenu is one of the best Patriot players on the whole team, ready to start at right tackle instead of languish on the bench for 9 weeks. The Pats absolutely should not draft OT coming up, the solution already exists internally. But the OC needs to be replaced and OLine coach too. No more idiotic coaching on the offensive side of the ball.

.

Brown has missed 24 of his last 50 NFL games. It wreaks havoc on the OLine constantly moving guys around because Brown is in and out.

 

[borg]

lockdown Free Safeties

Can you define this?

Big field to "lockdown"
53.33 yds x 110 yds (not including own endzone)

 

[jdlboot14]

Boy, we have enough work to do this offseason, but there's a ton of core guys that will be FA after 2022 season.

 

[borg]

I'm struggling to remember when a team last tagged and traded a player. Is that even a thing anymore?

History of “tag-and-trade” outcomes for franchise players and teams (usatoday.com)

 

[Nehalem]

I don’t think franchising JC is a no brainer. If Bill estimate that they are more than one year away and he can get two or three good player for those 17M, he will not franchise him. As far as an extension, i would be very surprised he sign for less than 17M. IMO that’s just homer hope. I think his market in FA will be huge. You could clearly see in the playoff game he was avoiding getting injured at all cost before FA.

If BB franchised Joe Thuney in 2020 when he thought he was starting Jarret Stidham...

But doesn't franchise JC because the Pats are "more than one year away"...

Then BB should be fired as GM.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Brown has missed 24 of his last 50 NFL games. It wreaks havoc on the OLine constantly moving guys around because Brown is in and out.

Interesting you say this when Wynn is Mr. Glass.

Is this more idiot Bricillo reasoning ??

 

[Sciz]

Interesting you say this when Wynn is Mr. Glass.

Is this more idiot Bricillo reasoning ??

It's Brown's name and missed games stat inserted into your quote about Wynn. It's absolutely absurd to hold injuries against Wynn but not Brown.