NFL News Official 2025 NFL Free Agency Thread

[WhatJustHappened]

IIRC they used to call him Messy Bacon at TGG Forum

 

[raduray]

And now, for a musical interlude.

 

[imahobgoblin]

I suspect Cam Robinson is on the Pats radar, but he wants too much $. He is in the position of power and the Pats know it. Who will blink first? If Carter or Hunter are gone at 4, I think the pick is Campbell. If either fall, that leaves LT to round 2.

Either Josh Conerly, Aireontae Ersery, or Grey Zabel should be at 38. Zabel is probably better at guard, but he might be fine at LT. Ozzy Trapilo, Charles Grant, Hollin Pierce, and Anthony Belton are at he next level down. Each has his advantages. Trapilo is a local boy. Billy O can vouch for him and he worked with Dante. Grant has a good frame and long arms. He will need to really bulk up. Belton is massive but very raw. Pierce is even more massive. His arms are 36 inches long. He is slow and limited athletically. He used to weigh 450. If you want to run the ball, you put Pierce on the field.

So the question is who can start day 1? I suspect Conerly, Ersery, and Trapilo could be ok. The rest need time to develop.

 

[Ring 6]

I suspect Cam Robinson is on the Pats radar, but he wants too much $. He is in the position of power and the Pats know it. Who will blink first? If Carter or Hunter are gone at 4, I think the pick is Campbell. If either fall, that leaves LT to round 2.

Either Josh Conerly, Aireontae Ersery, or Grey Zabel should be at 38. Zabel is probably better at guard, but he might be fine at LT. Ozzy Trapilo, Charles Grant, Hollin Pierce, and Anthony Belton are at he next level down. Each has his advantages. Trapilo is a local boy. Billy O can vouch for him and he worked with Dante. Grant has a good frame and long arms. He will need to really bulk up. Belton is massive but very raw. Pierce is even more massive. His arms are 36 inches long. He is slow and limited athletically. He used to weigh 450. If you want to run the ball, you put Pierce on the field.

So the question is who can start day 1? I suspect Conerly, Ersery, and Trapilo could be ok. The rest need time to develop.

Our OL coach drafted Robinson and coached him for 5 years.
I’m pretty confident that we have a solid evaluation on him.
If the rumors are correct we want him, but want incentives built in.
I don’t know where else his market is, who we are competing against but it seems thin.

I would be good with signing him AND drafting a LT in round 1, preferably after a trade down.
The rookie could play LG for a year.
I’d also like to signs starting LG (assuming Strange plays C )
After the last 2 years I want us to overboard in OL and end up with more than we have room to play.


Also, a fact about Robinson. In 101 career starts he has only had 10 holding penalties.

 

[Love The Drake]

Please go get him.

 

[Hawaiipatsfan2]

Our OL coach drafted Robinson and coached him for 5 years.
I’m pretty confident that we have a solid evaluation on him.
If the rumors are correct we want him, but want incentives built in.
I don’t know where else his market is, who we are competing against but it seems thin.

I would be good with signing him AND drafting a LT in round 1, preferably after a trade down.
The rookie could play LG for a year.
I’d also like to signs starting LG (assuming Strange plays C )
After the last 2 years I want us to overboard in OL and end up with more than we have room to play.


Also, a fact about Robinson. In 101 career starts he has only had 10 holding penalties.

That’s insane. Larry Turnisl had like 12 last season. And he just went for a haul. Sometimes this game just makes you scratch your head.

 

[Ring 6]

That’s insane. Larry Turnisl had like 12 last season. And he just went for a haul. Sometimes this game just makes you scratch your head.

Not that it’s an exact science but lack of holding penalties suggests he is not beaten badly often, that he has good technique and that effort is good.

One thing that stood out to me last year was that our OL played with terrible technique. Poor footwork, lots of clutching and grabbing. Sometimes people would complain that the holing penalties were bad calls but those were usually the result of bad technique.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Not that it’s an exact science but lack of holding penalties suggests he is not beaten badly often, that he has good technique and that effort is good.

One thing that stood out to me last year was that our OL played with terrible technique. Poor footwork, lots of clutching and grabbing. Sometimes people would complain that the holing penalties were bad calls but those were usually the result of bad technique.

Could also mean when he isn’t beaten badly he doesn’t give a **** and just let’s the guy go haha

But for real, what you’re saying makes sense. Sometimes there’s a fine line between bad technique and just being bad. Your technique can be good but if your recognition or play strength is bad you might still find yourself getting beat and grabbing to save face.

It’s kind of like basketball. You can have great ball handling technique but if you’re so focused on maintaining that technique you won’t be able to react to the defense. The technique needs to be second nature to you really so you can actually react to what the defense is doing. Pass blocking I think is similar are where if you’re telling yourself in your head “ok, hand placement, footwork, etc” then you’re going to have a tough time also processing that the pass rusher used a spin move or a rip whatever.

It seems like we have better coaching this year so hopefully they weed out who actually sucks and just can’t hack it, technique or physical ability.

 

[palialka]

These deals are all phony, wait until the details come out. Patriots absolutely should have been willing to pay this (or slightly more) for Kupp. WRs get crazy money these days and cap is booming every year.

He went home to finish out his career. Good for Kupp, but 15M/yr for 3 seasons is a pretty steep price to pay for an injury prone WR who’s still good but not elite anymore.

Obviously Kupp used other teams, including the Pats, as a bargaining tool to maximize his deal and finish out his career with the team closest to where he’s from.

He was never coming to NE.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Our OL coach drafted Robinson and coached him for 5 years.
I’m pretty confident that we have a solid evaluation on him.
If the rumors are correct we want him, but want incentives built in.
I don’t know where else his market is, who we are competing against but it seems thin.

I would be good with signing him AND drafting a LT in round 1, preferably after a trade down.
The rookie could play LG for a year.
I’d also like to signs starting LG (assuming Strange plays C )
After the last 2 years I want us to overboard in OL and end up with more than we have room to play.


Also, a fact about Robinson. In 101 career starts he has only had 10 holding penalties.

We should be in on Cam Robinson he's our best chance to fill LT need without gambling in the draft.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I suspect Cam Robinson is on the Pats radar, but he wants too much $. He is in the position of power and the Pats know it. Who will blink first? If Carter or Hunter are gone at 4, I think the pick is Campbell. If either fall, that leaves LT to round 2.

Either Josh Conerly, Aireontae Ersery, or Grey Zabel should be at 38. Zabel is probably better at guard, but he might be fine at LT. Ozzy Trapilo, Charles Grant, Hollin Pierce, and Anthony Belton are at he next level down. Each has his advantages. Trapilo is a local boy. Billy O can vouch for him and he worked with Dante. Grant has a good frame and long arms. He will need to really bulk up. Belton is massive but very raw. Pierce is even more massive. His arms are 36 inches long. He is slow and limited athletically. He used to weigh 450. If you want to run the ball, you put Pierce on the field.

So the question is who can start day 1? I suspect Conerly, Ersery, and Trapilo could be ok. The rest need time to develop.

I don't care if Cam Robinson wants money. That's the one thing we have plenty of and too little talent. Give him 3/75 or 4/100 and get him in here!

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

He went home to finish out his career. Good for Kupp, but 15M/yr for 3 seasons is a pretty steep price to pay for an injury prone WR who’s still good but not elite anymore.

Obviously Kupp used other teams, including the Pats, as a bargaining tool to maximize his deal and finish out his career with the team closest to where he’s from.

He was never coming to NE.

Exactly. He gets to play within driving distance from where he grew up. He's not going to the other side of the country for equal money, or as the poster you responded to said, "slightly more."

 

[Huckleberry1]

One Christmas when I was a kid, I desperately wanted a G.I. Joe aircraft carrier. I don't think I ever wanted a toy as badly as that. Christmas came and went, and I didn't get my aircraft carrier. I was bummed, but being a kid, quickly moved on and had fun playing with what I did get.

Years into adulthood, I made a joke with my parents about how they never got it for me. They then explained the weeks my mom drove all over the area while I was at school trying to find it. She called pretty much every store that might have one. My dad worked late a couple times and drove to a couple places right before closing in hopes they were stocking for the next morning. (This is after working 15+ hour days) My parents even had relatives in the next state over looking for this thing.

Results don't necessarily equal effort.

But this board has taught over the last few days that it's doubtful my parents even tried looking for this toy and more than likely never even loved me.

This is one of my favorite posts ever. Nicely done.

 

[signbabybrady]

So it’s just a general we should get anyone we want, and every name means great player thing?

No it's a get me something/anything better than Lowe thing.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

I don't care if Cam Robinson wants money. That's the one thing we have plenty of and too little talent. Give him 3/75 or 4/100 and get him in here!

It's not as simple as having the money to spend. If you give absurd money to undeserving players, all you do is make it harder to sign or extend players in the future.

Players and agents don't care about cap space, they care about what you're willing to pay. An agent sees you give Robinson a $100 million contract, he won't care in the slightest WHY you did it. All that matters to him is THAT you did it. His client (who might be twice the player Cam is) isn't signing for 10% of that simply because you no longer have as much cash to spend.

We can afford to pay Amari Cooper $25 million this year, but what happens if we do, then Douglas and Boutte put up much better stats than him this season? You've pretty much screwed yourself in wanting to extend them.

 

[Ross12]

I’m not super worried about WR because I’m feeling fairly confident that Travis Hunter will be drafted at #4, but they should still add some veteran depth, and it means LT remains a glaring hole.

 

[signbabybrady]

As I would obviously change my opinion if they sign no other players on offense then wait until late day 3 of the draft to select a LT or WR. Just saying it's WAAAAAAY too early to be calling this "gross negligence."

The draft does not bail them out. Maybe you count on the 4th pick to start quickly and even then it's asking a lot of a rookie to fix this mess.

 

[Grogan14]

If Giants sign Aaron Rodgers, they will take Hunter at 3. Have to hope Vikings sign Rodgers

 

[Love The Drake]

If Giants sign Aaron Rodgers, they will take Hunter at 3. Have to hope Vikings sign Rodgers

Reading Rodgers want to go to the Vikings.

 

[signbabybrady]

I don’t think being drafted as a LT, eating your way out of a job, then being a swing tackle, then getting converted to RG because the team that signed you for peanuts needed one makes you a RG and not a LG.
Having failed at LT and publicly saying you would rather play G because it’s easier probably rules you out at the T position altogether.

If we didn’t have the worst OL I’ve ever seen last year and still have only 3 OL who have played at the level of even a quality NFL backup I would have crossed Becton off the list for soooo many red flags.

It’s easy to fix the team from my recliner and I don’t have to consider I screwed up by signing a fat guy who is likely to eat his way back onto IR once he gets a paycheck.

Stop panicking everything is fine though