NFL Free Agency Thread

[fnordcircle]

Do you seriously believe he has time to wallow on Patsfans, and peruse threads like this in order to make important football decisions for his team?

It's been confirmed several times that Belichick comes here for expert advice. He's just too inept to follow it and that's why we'll always be a dumpster fire of a team. I'm switching to rooting for the Jets and Colts, teams who know how to make a splash in free agency.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

They should be punished but that is way to much. a 5th at most. The NFL really has an issue with over punishments.

lol! The Chiefs have already said that they disagree with the Commishiner and will appeal

Andy Reid was punished because he is Friends with BB

 

[SHOWTIME15]

i guess that means muhamed sanu decided on atlanta.

 

[BradyFTW!]

And even though I know that it is still really difficult to sit and watch as the top talent goes off the board every year both in free agency and the draft. About the only good side of this is they still have the money to sign their top players?

For me, the big thing to keep in mind is that for every one of these top talents, the team that they've been with for the past 4+ years has decided to let them walk. There are a number of reasons for that, but the "we would desperately love to keep this guy but just can't afford to" cases become rarer every year. Even the dumb teams these days are a lot smarter with their caps than they used to be, and the rookie wage scale makes second contracts for top-of-the-first-round talents much easier than they were in the past. Suh was a major exception last year, but he and Bradford were pretty much the last of the old CBA rookie contracts.

This year, I don't see any Suh-type genuinely awesome talents. There's nobody on the market right now as good as he was last year, or as good as whoever hits the market of Hightower/Collins/Jones will be next year. If the Pats were even considering throwing big money at someone, I'd rather they throw it at Hightower/Collins/Jones to keep our own core together instead. It's not sexy, but it's how good teams stay good. They're known quantities, and they're plain better than every single player in FA right now, without exception. All of these guys have warts. The only guys who I think have any chance at all of living up to the FA premium are Lamar Miller, maybe Doug Martin, and maybe Osemele. And even with them I'm not sure.

But even with them, I don't think they'll live up to the FA premium, and I'm all but certain that nobody else will either. Even their best case scenarios aren't really worth it, so I'm fine with watching them go elsewhere. I think all these teams making these big splash signings are actively making themselves worse. 4 years ago, half of this forum was lining up on a bridge because we didn't get Mike Wallace, and I'm confident we'll look back and see all of these signings the same way. There is no doubt in my mind that Jacksonville will regret the contracts it's handed out in the past two days, and it probably won't even take a year for buyer's remorse to set in. **** it, let the bad teams stay bad.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I didn't even realize Kelvin Beachum was a FA. I really like him, if he comes a little cheap on account of his injury the Pats could maybe get a steal there, or at least as much of a steal as you can ever get on a young LT.

 

[BradyFTW!]

He's been damn good as a linebacker for them. People probably remember him as the bust safety for Tampa. He's worth it.

Luke Kuechly makes $11M per year. Barron is a pretty good hybrid LB/S, but even accounting for contract inflation $9M is very good, versatile, every-down LB money. Barron is none of those things.

 

[farn]

So beyond Edelman we have Amendola, Dobson, Martin. Please don't tell me your satisfied with that receiving corps. Not to mention three of those four are injury prone guys.

We need another solid receiver. Two would be nice. Let's not pretend otherwise.

Ressources foolishly spent lead to weaknesses elsewhere on the roster. I'd love to see Brady throwing to Bryant, recently retired CJ, and Edelman. But if that means losing key players on D, count me out.

I don't believe Sanu is worth the reported 7M (which is nebulous as figures are sketchy until a contract is signed).

 

[Love The Drake]

Sanu is a 3 to 3.5 a year guy

 

[BradyFTW!]

Ressources foolishly spent lead to weaknesses elsewhere on the roster. I'd love to see Brady throwing to Bryant, recently retired CJ, and Edelman. But if that means losing key players on D, count me out.

I don't believe Sanu is worth the reported 7M (which is nebulous as figures are sketchy until a contract is signed).

Exactly. I don't think anyone's happy with our WRs right now, but that doesn't mean throwing $7M per year at Mohamed Sanu is the answer. I'm glad we're in the running for Rishard Matthews, and I'd be happy with paying a premium for him because I think he's a great fit, but if the Pats made these kind of splash signings they would just have more holes on the roster to show for it.

 

[Love The Drake]

Matthews for decent money would make alot more sense for Sanu at premium money

 

[primetime]

Except they were never all healthy at the same time last season. Not once. LaFell started off the season on the PUP and wasn't the same. Then Edelman and Amendola both got injured..

So how about we stop trying to re-write history and deal in facts?

BTW, Martin didn't play all that much on special teams. He was primarily the 3rd receiver through the end of the year..

Amendola, Edelman, and LaFell were all healthy in the playoffs, or at least as healthy as one can expect. Dobson will never be healthy and hasn't shown much even when he was, and Martin is a replacement level player at best without much upside. That he was the third receiver at the end of the year was a bug, not a feature, and Amendola and Edelman have extensive injury histories that mean they're no sure bets to ever play a full season. The Patriots need an NFL wide receiver. They may need two.

 

[Love The Drake]

Martin was not a weakness he played fast and confident

 

[BradyFTW!]

Mostly because DMac is on the team plus the other resources (draft picks + contracts) that are/were allocated to defensive backs.

I like Weddle, but just dont see it as a viable scenario on a market-level contract.

At the time that we signed Harrison, it didn't conventionally make a ton of sense either since we already had Milloy and we drafted Eugene Wilson less than a month later. Of course, in that case it ended up being a precursor to Milloy being cut, and I can't see history repeating itself there with McCourty. McCourty's too good.

For the record, I don't think the Pats will sign Weddle. But it wouldn't shock me if it happened.

 

[ViperGTS]

Exactly. I don't think anyone's happy with our WRs right now, but that doesn't mean throwing $7M per year at Mohamed Sanu is the answer. I'm glad we're in the running for Rishard Matthews, and I'd be happy with paying a premium for him because I think he's a great fit, but if the Pats made these kind of splash signings they would just have more holes on the roster to show for it.

Well to be fair it's all about cap hits. As Curran just said, 7 in a 155m cap world is like 4.5 a few years ago. Anyways, probably has more info on Sanu from Schiano and the Rutgers crew than Matthews.

 

[ausbacker]

Exactly. I don't think anyone's happy with our WRs right now, but that doesn't mean throwing $7M per year at Mohamed Sanu is the answer. I'm glad we're in the running for Rishard Matthews, and I'd be happy with paying a premium for him because I think he's a great fit, but if the Pats made these kind of splash signings they would just have more holes on the roster to show for it.

I'd be happy if the Matthews signed with the Patriots. He's a very good player and with the GOAT passing the ball, would flourish up here. Hopefully he jumps at the opportunity to have Tom Brady as his QB.

As is the case with Free Agency, it's usually best to let it settle and see what happens. I've found if you look at it like the business it is, you become less attached to securing a player and instead, consider other opportunities to strengthen the team.

 

[primetime]

Martin was not a weakness he played fast and confident

He was fine. He is not a starter. He did not impact the game like LaFell did two years ago by making difficult catches and picking up first downs. He's a good 4th receiver, a mediocre 3rd receiver, and should not be a primary or secondary target, and given the current corps such a state of affairs is far from an impossibility. Unless you have the utmost blind faith in Aaron Dobson to finally emerge and Edelman and Amendola to play 16 games, this wide receiver depth is not sufficient.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Well to be fair it's all about cap hits. As Curran just said, 7 in a 155m cap world is like 4.5 a few years ago. Anyways, probably has more info on Sanu from Schiano and the Rutgers crew than Matthews.

Yeah, that's a good point and needs to be brought up anytime someone compares a day-old contract with a better player's three-year-old contract. But 3 years ago, I would've said throwing 4.5 a year at Sanu was similarly stupid. It's not so much the raw figure as a statement that I just don't think he's anything better than a fringe starter type. He won't move the needle, so he shouldn't be paid like he does. These are the kind of deals that lead to the player in question being cut two years later, and the Patriots maybe making a run at them then for half the money.

And while I'm sure Schiano has briefed Belichick on Sanu, conversely Matthews has played 7 games against the Pats, so Belichick's spent an awful lot of time breaking down his film and planning for him. For slightly different reasons, I'm sure the Pats are extremely knowledgeable about both players.

 

[JMC00]

For the record, I don't think the Pats will sign Weddle. But it wouldn't shock me if it happened.

Ya. And I know there are people saying "how can you fit all three"

McCourty: 85% snaps played
Chung: 81%
Harmon: 60%

Essentially you are upgrading over Harmon and then maybe it does cut into Chung's snaps a little but it's far from a "Madden Fantasy" type move in terms of fitting Weddle into the defense.

 

[Froob]

Martin was not a weakness he played fast and confident

His biggest weakness is he gets called for OPI on half his catches. Sadly, there is nothing he can do about that because he isn't actually pushing off.

 

[Deus Irae]

The LA #Rams signed WR Brian Quick to a 1-year worth up to $3.75M, source said. He gets $1.5M fully guaranteed.