Poll: Who takes Edelman's spot on the roster?

[DW Toys]

An NFL team cannot pay part of the salary of the player they are trading, the way other sports such as baseball do. The only way to get around that would be to rewrite the contract before the trade by converting salary and roster bonuses to signing bonuses.

If the Rams are going to take that hit to both their salary cap and bank account, from their perspective they may as well just keep Austin.

Exactly. Good points. I say it depends on what they can get and what BB offers.
Awful expensive second string guy out there.
Hurns? Maybe but he is not a quick bang option like JE and Dola.
You have 4 RBs who can catch and run. Not unreasonable to see them melt into that position.
I like Carr but is he ready?
DW Toys

 

[DW Toys]

Amendola has always been one of the best blocking wide receivers in football and may be a better blocker than Edelman. He's not Edelman in terms of speed and elusiveness but let's not sell him short.

Worry on health. He breaks down.
DW Toys

 

[Mack Herron]

Worry on health. He breaks down.
DW Toys

Yeah, and I'm concerned about Mitchell as well. But not sure Carr or Lucien have shown enough to stick.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Wish the bears would give us Kendall Wright for a 5th rounder.

 

[luuked]

I don't think so.

Where HOU got creative was giving up draft picks to entice CLE to take on his contract, an NBA-style salary dump. CLE then has the contract MINUS all of the bonuses, and don't take any sort of hit if they trade him for anything, or even if they dump him for that matter.

As weak as the NFLPA is, they will fight contract renegotiations downward, unless the player accepts it over the possibility of being released and being relegated to playing in a lesser environment (Amendola, for example)

Couldn't Cleveland just convert some of his salary into a signing bonus to make Osweiler even cheaper while not eating 100% and trade him to someone for 50% (or even less) of his salary ?

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Couldn't Cleveland just convert some of his salary into a signing bonus to make Osweiler even cheaper while not eating 100% and trade him to someone for 50% (or even less) of his salary ?

Yes, neither the player nor the NFLPA is going to mind when money still goes into the players pockets, but by different routes

 

[long distance]

Amendola has always been one of the best blocking wide receivers in football and may be a better blocker than Edelman. He's not Edelman in terms of speed and elusiveness but let's not sell him short.

Edelman is much more powerful blocker esp. close to LOS IMO..

 

[doesntmatter1]

Edelman is much more powerful blocker esp. close to LOS IMO..

Imo it is clear that Amendola is our best blocking wr. He sustains blocks and does not miss moving targets. If you rewatch some old games you will see a lot of of our bubble screens that work come from Dola's blocks. I took notice of this when Hooman and Dola blocked the same people from the slot and Dola consistently did it better. I find it funny that our best blocker is our smallest guy and the worst is our biggest wr, Hogan.

Back to Edelman. No one can do quite what he does. The only backup guy that has even shown similar movement skills to him is long shot KJ Maye.

 

[brdmaverick]

Sign Calvin Johnson

 

[Tunescribe]

Conor McGregor

He couldn't take the pounding.

 

[n6249c]

...The issue, as always, is the faulty idea of bringing in an outside player and expecting him to contribute any time soon. They'll already have to deal with the learning curve from Cooks, and he's been here all spring and summer. While I don't think it's an issue, there will most certainly be times where the 2 aren't on the same page. It takes preparation and constant practice. More importantly, it takes time.
Aside from the 2006 stretch + postseason when there weren't any real options (really...), who else have you seen come in and work well in a matter of 6-8 weeks? I can't think of anyone. Even a guy like Austin Collie who basically knew the framework of the offense had to spend 15 hours a day in the bowels of Gillette stadium, trying to learn the playbook and verbiage for over a month. He worked with McDaniels and Brady, all day, everyday. His production was limited to a handful of catches, and that was during a season that saw Kenbrell Thompkins and Aaron Dobson as the main two WRs.

I'm surprised that people still buy into the "we'll just make a trade and plug/play" at the position of WR, after all of these years. If they did choose to do that, they'd have one helluva project on their hands for a long time. Perhaps that player could realistically contribute after the mid-point bye week down the stretch and into the (hopeful) postseason.

Jabar Gaffney proved it could be done. Midseason signing, joined the team in October and by January was having big games. So, it can be done!

Gaffney signed a two-year deal with the New England Patriots on October 9, 2006. 2007 was his first solid season. On March 5, 2008, Gaffney re-signed with the Patriots for one year worth $2 million.

In his first-ever playoff game, on January 7, 2007 against the New York Jets, Gaffney had a near-career day, catching eight passes for 104 yards, his second 100-yard performance as a receiver (in ten regular season games, Gaffney caught 11 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown.) Gaffney followed that performance a week later against San Diego with another 100-yard game, in which he caught ten passes and scored a touchdown.

from Wikipedia: Jabar Gaffney - Wikipedia

 

[supafly]

Jabar Gaffney proved it could be done. Midseason signing, joined the team in October and by January was having big games. So, it can be done!

from Wikipedia: Jabar Gaffney - Wikipedia

Yes. That's who I was talking about by referencing the 2006 season, but I don't think we've seen too many other examples. It should be pointed out that there really weren't any other viable options that year aside from Reche Caldwell, so that should be taken into account, of course.

Also, it's not exactly a glowing endorsement to claim that it "only" took him 3 months to produce, lol. Keep in mind, that's our shining star example in the Belichick/Brady era.

Like I said in my post, if we sign someone now, we can hope that he'll be able to produce during the 2nd half of the season/playoffs. In the meantime, he'll most certainly be a gameday inactive for quite sometime. I don't know if Belichick would want to take up a precious roster spot for a project like that. Much more likely that our WR is already here.

 

[maineman209]

Yes. That's who I was talking about by referencing the 2006 season, but I don't think we've seen too many other examples. It should be pointed out that there really weren't any other viable options that year aside from Reche Caldwell, so that should be taken into account, of course.

Also, it's not exactly a glowing endorsement to claim that it "only" took him 3 months to produce, lol. Keep in mind, that's our shining star example in the Belichick/Brady era.

Like I said in my post, if we sign someone now, we can hope that he'll be able to produce during the 2nd half of the season/playoffs. In the meantime, he'll most certainly be a gameday inactive for quite sometime. I don't know if Belichick would want to take up a precious roster spot for a project like that. Much more likely that our WR is already here.

The other thing folks might want to consider is that it's not about the WR "position" alone. It's about the total number of quality receiving targets. Keeping an extra receiving TE like Hollister, or an extra receiving RB like Foster might work just as well, at least for now.

 

[Triumph]

Wish the bears would give us Kendall Wright for a 5th rounder.

The Bears just lost Cameron Meridith for the season.

 

[Triumph]

I wonder if the Pats would give a call to Andrew Hawkins.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

The Bears just lost Cameron Meridith for the season.

The bears likely won't be going anywhere this season.

 

[Triumph]

The bears likely won't be going anywhere this season.

Glennon won the starting job by all accounts and Im not sold on Tribisky.

Fox and the GM will be fired.

 

[PatsFan2]

Amendola has always been one of the best blocking wide receivers in football and may be a better blocker than Edelman. He's not Edelman in terms of speed and elusiveness but let's not sell him short.

Have you seen DA's Regular Season numbers in our SB winning years yikes.

 

[Dagg]

Maybe TO and Ocho can have a situp contest in TOs driveway winner takes the spot.

In all seriousness I think one of our Rbs (just not sure who) might see some serious time in the slot. We have some very talented pass catching RBs we are pretty stacked.

 

[jmt57]

For the sake of comparison, here are the 2016 offensive snap counts for the Patriot players, excluding OL & QB. Italics denote players that will not be on the field for the Patriots in 2017.

Numbers after the players name reflect snaps per game over a 16 game season, and then snaps per game played by that person.

With all the additions and returns from injuries, the Patriots should be fine. Additional injuries at the wide receiver position could conceivably be a challenge.
Should that happen the Pats may need to become a bit more dependent on their running backs and tight ends.


Wide Receiver
874 -- 78% -- Julian Edelman (54 snaps per game)
829 -- 74% -- Chris Hogan (51 snaps per game, 55 per game played)
538 -- 48% -- Malcolm Mitchell (33 / 38)
266 -- 24% -- Danny Amendola (16 / 22)
66 ---- 6% --- Michael Floyd
52 ---- 5% --- Matthew Slater

Additions:
883 -- 77% -- Brandin Cooks (55 snaps per game)

Notes:
- Edelman was in on 70%+ snaps in every game except for a four-game stretch in December, when he was still averaging 45 snaps per game.
- Hogan: missed one game, and had only two others with fewer than 49 snaps.
- Mitchell missed the Pats 8th and 16th games, averaging 38 snaps per game played. From weeks 11-16 he was averaging about 80% of all offensive snaps.
- Amendola did not play in the final four games of the season.
- Floyd: nearly all (49) snaps came in week 17, when neither Mitchell nor Amendola played.
- Cooks had seven games with 84% or more snaps; he also had the most offensive snaps on the Saints other than Brees and four OL.


Tight End
867 -- 78% -- Martellus Bennett (54 snaps per game)
352 -- 31% -- Rob Gronkowski (22 per game / 49 per game played)
82 ---- 7% --- Matt Lengel
35 ---- 3% --- A.J. Derby
25 ---- 2% --- Clay Harbor

Additions:
611 -- 56% -- Dwayne Allen (38 per game / 44 per game played)
111 -- 11% -- James O'Shaugnessy (7 snaps per game)

Notes:
- Bennett averaged 41 snaps in games that Gronk was available.


Fullback
350 -- 31% -- James Develin (22 snaps per game)


Running Back
527 -- 47% -- LeGarrette Blount (33 snaps per game)
426 -- 38% -- James White (26 snaps per game)
163 -- 15% -- Dion Lewis (10 per game / 23 snaps per game played)
16 ---- 1% --- D.J. Foster
13 ---- 1% --- Brandon Bolden

Additions:
283 -- 27% -- Mike Gillislee (18 snaps per game / 19 per game played)
238 -- 22% -- Rex Burkhead (15 snaps per game)

Notes:
- Blount averaged 46 snaps in the first three games; he averaged 30 snaps per game the rest of the season.
- White had only two games with less than 31% of the snaps, and none with fewer than 25% of the snaps.
- Lewis was averaging 27 snaps per game at the end of the season.
- Gillislee had a five-game mid-season stretch when he averaged 27 snaps per game, including 42 against the Pats.
- Burkhead averaged 37 snaps over the final six games of the season, when he was finally given a chance to play.