Pats sign Chargers FA safety Steve Gregory

[Deus Irae]

Wouldn't look at it as starter vs. backup. Projects as 50-65% playtime option IMO. RT: @Eric_J_Silva: Is Steven Gregory a starter on D?

Twitter / Mike Reiss: Wouldn't look at it as sta ...

Landry tomorrow.

Twitter / Mike Reiss: @JPNDRDS Landry tomorrow.

 

[EJ Blitz]

My reaction-

 

[Urgent]

I saw the contract figures.
Looks like a cap charge of around $1.7mm, assume the playing time incentives are Unlikely To Be Earned, and that component is still in the CBA.
Base salary of $750K, signing bonus of $2.5mm, $100K workout bonus, plus playing time incentives.

If he plays a lot, as a starter presumably, he earns up to $750K additionally each year. That's fair.

So if a team has 53 guys at $2mm, it is still under the cap. That makes this a below-average deal. Shouldn't prevent them from signing another safety or corner should they choose.

 

[crowell33]

I saw the contract figures.
Looks like a cap charge of around $1.7mm, assume the playing time incentives are Unlikely To Be Earned, and that component is still in the CBA.
Base salary of $750K, signing bonus of $2.5mm, $100K workout bonus, plus playing time incentives.

If he plays a lot, as a starter presumably, he earns up to $750K additionally each year. That's fair.

So if a team has 53 guys at $2mm, it is still under the cap. That makes this a below-average deal. Shouldn't prevent them from signing another safety or corner should they choose.

Agreed. $1.7 cap number year one, $2.0 cap number year two, probably gone by year 3. $1.7 not bad for a good special teamer who can play some back up safety and maybe some slot in the nickel or dime.

 

[BPF]

Overall the safety crop is weak however the top end safeties could be a significant upgrade to Gregory, Ihedigbo, Brown, Slater, etc.

NFL Draft - 2012 NFL Draft Prospects - CBSSports.com - NFLDraftScout.com

Strong Safety
Mark Barron
Harrison Smith

NFL Draft - 2012 NFL Draft Prospects - CBSSports.com - NFLDraftScout.com

Free Safety
Markelle Martin

Don't forget Brandon Taylor from LSU.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Good special teams player. Played some WR in college.

Don't think he's being looked at on defense. PFF ranks him significantly lower than any Patriots CB or S that played on the team last season;

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It Is What It Is » Five thoughts on Day 3 of NFL free agency and how it has impacted the Patriots

Thanks for the stats, but at $2--3MM, I don't think they're planning on using him only on Special Teams. The only ST only player who gets that kind of money usually kicks or punts.

EDIT: the later numbers show it's a lot less, so maybe you're right.

 

[mgteich]

Gregory seems to be a backup free safety and special teamer who could start if needed. Landry will start, if signed.

Thanks for the stats, but at $2--3MM, I don't think they're planning on using him only on Special Teams. The only ST only player who gets that kind of money usually kicks or punts.

EDIT: the later numbers show it's a lot less, so maybe you're right.

 

[Boltjolt]

Gregory is a free safety. There aren't many available.

Our current safeties are: Chung and Barrett.

We also have STer Sergio Brown.

I think that we will still look for more safeties, including Landry this weekend.

Gregory never played FS for us. Basically he is a CB ( he was a nickel CB for us) who they moved to SS which is where he played and he wasnt very good. I am real surprised Billechick signed him to be a safety. Honestly, im not bagging on the guy because he signed with you. We wanted a new safety to replace him the past two seasons.

Hopefully Darryl Stuckey is ready to do that because im not thrilled with the Atari Bigby signing.....and both those guys or one will replace Gregory as the SS which is where he played for us. He didnt back up Weddle at all. Paul Oliver was Weddles backup.

 

[Big-T]

Gregory never played FS for us. Basically he is a CB who we moved to SS

That's probably more to do with having Weddle at FS and Sanders getting injured though.

If he's a corner that was moved to safety then it would be safe to assume he would make a better FS than SS.

 

[Boltjolt]

That's probably more to do with having Weddle at FS and Sanders getting injured though.

If he's a corner that was moved to safety then it would be safe to assume he would make a better FS than SS.

No, he was the SS the year before too. Actually he bounced back and forth between the nickel spot and SS and when he was suspended, Paul Oliver played SS and Gregory didnt get the job back right away. You can assume whatever you want but he never played FS for us.

 

[Big-T]

You can assume whatever you want but he never played FS for us.

I was making the assumption that based on his skill set he would make a better FS, not whether the Chargers had played him there or not.

 

[Boltjolt]

I was making the assumption that based on his skill set he would make a better FS, not whether the Chargers had played him there or not.

Maybe he will , i dont know but i do know he has never played FS. The guy plays hard so dont get me wrong. He just isnt real big or that great and like i said, i was surprised Bill signed him to be your starting FS. He just wasnt doing it for us and we (fans) wanted the SS upgraded. However, Bill seems to get the most out of average players than anyone else....except for Ocho Cinco.

Is Ocho Cinco sticking around next season? I havent heard.

 

[Deus Irae]

Gregory never played FS for us. Basically he is a CB ( he was a nickel CB for us) who they moved to SS which is where he played and he wasnt very good. I am real surprised Billechick signed him to be a safety. Honestly, im not bagging on the guy because he signed with you. We wanted a new safety to replace him the past two seasons.

Hopefully Darryl Stuckey is ready to do that because im not thrilled with the Atari Bigby signing.....and both those guys or one will replace Gregory as the SS which is where he played for us. He didnt back up Weddle at all. Paul Oliver was Weddles backup.

I expect that he'll be the 3rd safety, much as Sanders was when the Patriots were starting Meriweather and Chung.

 

[Boltjolt]

Chargers fans aren't too happy with their loss........so I guess we should be very pleased.......after all he was their best safety for quiet some time

Huh?...LOL, (where did you come to that conclusion) please...nobody really cares that we lost Gregory and he was no where near our best safety and in fact, we didnt want him back again at SS and been wanting AJ to find a better player the past two years which is how long he has been playing safety. For us, he was best suited to be a nickel CB which he did well at.

 

[Boltjolt]

I expect that he'll be the 3rd safety, much as Sanders was when the Patriots were starting Meriweather and Chung.

One thing i can tell you is he will give it all he's got when he is in there. He is a fiesty player.

 

[VrabelJr]

What kind of a Charger fan are you? The Chargers use the same Safety system as we do. Neither team differentiates between FS and SS, unfortunately for you guys neither of your Safeties offered very much in run support.

 

[Boltjolt]

What kind of a Charger fan are you? The Chargers use the same Safety system as we do. Neither team differentiates between FS and SS, unfortunately for you guys neither of your Safeties offered very much in run support.

That used to be true when Wade and Cottrell was our DC but when Rivera was the DC we played a lot of hybrid 3-4 and in some games, hardly played any 3-4 depending on the matchups. We didnt play any defense last year under Manusky. He stunk as a DC and got fired after his only season last year.

New DC John Pagano learned a lot from Wade and has been here with every DC we have had even before Wade Phillips so its my GUESS that he will play the 3-4 similar to Phillips but i really dont know. Maybe he takes some thing from Rivera.

We have had a few secondary coach changes as well so we havent had the exact same defense every year. In fact it used to be that the Chargers liked to draft DB's that can play multiple possitions and all our safties were interchangbale with Olver, Hart, Weddle having played both but since, Weddle has been the FS since his rookie year when he played some SS and Gregory was only used at SS.

And Weddle is pretty good in run support and probably the best tackler on the team with Jammer a close 2nd.

I dont know why your article guy is saying Gregory is a FS by trade but has played some Strong. That is just really inacurate. His best possition is as a nickelback and has played a lot of SS lately and has no FS experience.