Rapoport: Pats making signing Bennett a high offseason priority

[jimnance]

If they can tie up Bennett and Gronk, that will free dollars for defensive acquisitions. As their receivers age, they can try out multiple affordable smurf receivers they don't need to rely on right away, because the 2 TE tandem can carry them some games.

Actually, if Mitchell hits, he and Hogan would be a pretty good base down the road.

The offense seems good, with a RB, and a belief that Brady will last forever. can't really deal with reality on that one.

Agree but will be a sad day when time and hundreds of hard hits catch up to je11. One of my all-time favorite players to watch. tough. quick. very underated. hes been a top 10 nfl receiver for several years. despite what other issues the pats have had-they stand a chance of having a healthy brady,gronk,edelman,bennet,lewis,blount and hogan heading into the playoffs. That would be the best Pats offense of all time-better than "07 imo. and teams wont be prepared for it-because theyll be cautious with hogan and will limit lewis' reg. season work-so the playoffs will be the1st time teams will face this.(licking chops)

 

[jah]

Agree but will be a sad day when time and hundreds of hard hits catch up to je11. One of my all-time favorite players to watch. tough. quick. very underated. hes been a top 10 nfl receiver for several years. despite what other issues the pats have had-they stand a chance of having a healthy brady,gronk,edelman,bennet,lewis,blount and hogan heading into the playoffs. That would be the best Pats offense of all time-better than "07 imo. and teams wont be prepared for it-because theyll be cautious with hogan and will limit lewis' reg. season work-so the playoffs will be the1st time teams will face this.(licking chops)

I wouldn't call Edelman a top 10 WR at any point in his career but top 15-20 for sure. He's been my favorite player since he was a rookie, though, and I hate to think that he's already 30 and declining.

EDIT: Looking at his 2015 stats in just 9 games...that may be top 10 material.

 

[JMC00]

I will believe it when I see it. Color me skeptical .

Mike Reiss said the Pats and Bennett had talks about adding a year to his current deal before the season. So, yes, keeping Bennett past this season is clearly a priority.

 

[jimnance]

I wouldn't call Edelman a top 10 WR at any point in his career but top 15-20 for sure. He's been my favorite player since he was a rookie, though, and I hate to think that he's already 30 and declining.

EDIT: Looking at his 2015 stats in just 9 games...that may be top 10 material.

The #'s over the last 3-4 years say he is most definitely a top 10 wr. Besides, i cant name 9 other wrs i would rather have had on my team over that time period. i think people get too enamored with the big wrs. the best wr in the nfl over the last few years is antonio brown-whats he 5'10' ? the tall guys are weapons in the red zone but a good te is actually a better weapn in red zone than than atall wr due to more versatility. and the smurf wrs are generaly better between the 20's due to their quickness-tough matchups. But we both agree hes been fun to watch and will be missed.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

I wonder if they plan on doing an adjustment to Gronk's contract as well, because he may not be a good little soldier anymore if Bennett is getting a bigger salary than him

 

[Froob]

I wonder if they plan on doing an adjustment to Gronk's contract as well, because he may not be a good little soldier anymore if Bennett is getting a bigger salary than him

I bet people misfortune enough to listen to the Sports Hub tomorrow will be treated to non stop Gronk will be traded talk from 2-6 tomorrow.

 

[Marqui]

Smart to make Bennett a priority. I like when they spend their money on actual great talent.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I bet people misfortune enough to listen to the Sports Hub tomorrow will be treated to non stop Gronk will be traded talk from 2-6 tomorrow.

Well, just like Ian's excellent Thread Ignore feature here, we can simply ignore listening to Sports Hub and other time wasting, attention grabbing garbage.

 

[Joey007]

I mean I can't say I don't like it.

This also makes me remember that he's not the only FA on offense this offseason. I'm really interested to see how it works out with Blount. I wonder if other teams will still be scared to sign him and we get him back on a discount.

I also wonder what we do with Cannon/Vollmer, Cannon looks like a keeper if he keeps up his performance.

 

[Ring 6]

I think keeping all three is reasonable...
Butler is an RFA and they can franchise one of the other two (if need be but hopefully not) so it makes resigning or even potentially "overpaying" from a Patriots perspective to keep all three considering the cap space available next year...
Bennett has been allowed to flourish here, on and off the field ( his comments are not even controversial when Patriots players are considered to be robots when talking to the media and he is the personification of a free thinker) and he knows what's out in other teams there so maybe he is inclined to resign. Maybe no home team discount but look at what a certain incarcerated TE was scheduled to count against the cap the next few years ( $6-7 million IIRC)

I don't think anyone will pay butler as a #1 corner. I love the way he battles but he is not playing like a stud #1 corner.

 

[Love The Drake]

Seriously though the Patriots have a chance to make some interesting tweaks to the roster.
Some very early predictions
Butler is traded
Sheard walks
Hightower is extended to a very fair team friendly extension.
Logan Ryan walks and becomes a Jet getting more money then deserved.
Bennet signs a extension in the 6.5 year range.
Blount as much as he wants to stay knows its his last chance at a big pay day the Colts pony up big dough for Blount.

Patriots spend big money on the front 7
Trey Flowers and Malcolm Brown are the 2 building blocks.
Branch is resigned as a stop gap
Long retires Nink Retires
Patriots go very heavy at the d line in the draft.
They sniff around at donateri Poe but decide to stand Pat.
They look at Kawann Short
They settle for Cornelius Washington on the Bears who plays better than expected.
They use half the money they were offering Butler to sign Stephen Gilmore on the Bills.
Patriots go in 2017 with Eric Rowe Stephen Gilmore as top corners with Cyrus Jones and Jonathan Jones rotating nickel.
Duron Harmon leaves mid tier starter money to One of Indy, Dallas, Baltimore, Detriot.
Patriots grab Eddie Lacy and rejuvinate his career.
Belichick listens to offers for both QBs in a almost impossible the Patriots trade Brady to the Niners for 2 number 2's and a starting calibur player.
Belichick knows Jimmys the future he speaks with great length to Tom
Tom agrees to the trade based on the fact he goes to his hometown team a team he grew up as a huge fan.
Brady feels rejuvinated plays a solid 2 seasons.
In his second season in San Fran we see him in the superbowl.
He defeats us Brady retires Belichick retires.

 

[luuked]

I dont think Butler deserves elite money 8 Mill a year should be the max.

Now you are just silly.. look at the contracts of other top corners in the last few years.. the market dictates the amount and the market is crazy when it comes to corners..

 

[patsinthesnow]

Wow, the Pats are going to try to resign one of their few highly important FAs with 70 million in cap space? Crazy.

 

[Love The Drake]

Then id move on would much rather build the defensive line and linebacking corps then pay a over achieving DB huge money.
You would think the fact we made this kid and gave him a chance to be a superbowl hero then had faith to make him a number 1
That he would sign for a team friendly number.

 

[Ring 6]

Seriously though the Patriots have a chance to make some interesting tweaks to the roster.
Some very early predictions
Butler is traded
Sheard walks
Hightower is extended to a very fair team friendly extension.
Logan Ryan walks and becomes a Jet getting more money then deserved.
Bennet signs a extension in the 6.5 year range.
Blount as much as he wants to stay knows its his last chance at a big pay day the Colts pony up big dough for Blount.

Patriots spend big money on the front 7
Trey Flowers and Malcolm Brown are the 2 building blocks.
Branch is resigned as a stop gap
Long retires Nink Retires
Patriots go very heavy at the d line in the draft.
They sniff around at donateri Poe but decide to stand Pat.
They look at Kawann Short
They settle for Cornelius Washington on the Bears who plays better than expected.
They use half the money they were offering Butler to sign Stephen Gilmore on the Bills.
Patriots go in 2017 with Eric Rowe Stephen Gilmore as top corners with Cyrus Jones and Jonathan Jones rotating nickel.
Duron Harmon leaves mid tier starter money to One of Indy, Dallas, Baltimore, Detriot.
Patriots grab Eddie Lacy and rejuvinate his career.
Belichick listens to offers for both QBs in a almost impossible the Patriots trade Brady to the Niners for 2 number 2's and a starting calibur player.
Belichick knows Jimmys the future he speaks with great length to Tom
Tom agrees to the trade based on the fact he goes to his hometown team a team he grew up as a huge fan.
Brady feels rejuvinated plays a solid 2 seasons.
In his second season in San Fran we see him in the superbowl.
He defeats us Brady retires Belichick retires.

Don't you wish you could get back the piece of your life you wasted typing this silliness?

 

[Jimke]

Re-signing Bennett would be a good start. Then, they could franchise Hightower and tender
Butler at the first round level while negotiations continue.

 

[Jackson 2]

"sources" say... I bet This is coming from Bennet's agent in an effort to pressure the Pats....

Disagree. I think it's coming from BB and the team to contrast the way they've chosen to deal with guys like Collins and Sheard. In other words, do what we require and you'll be rewarded.

 

[Jackson 2]

I bet people misfortune enough to listen to the Sports Hub tomorrow will be treated to non stop Gronk will be traded talk from 2-6 tomorrow.

Hell, why wait until tomorrow at 2:00 for that BS? Look around, you can get it here...

 

[Marqui]

Logan Ryan walks and becomes a Jet getting more money then deserved.

Oh my God, I SO hope this happens. Brady would lead the league in passing yards and TDs for at least the next couple years if that happened.

 

[borg]

Why I like me some Bennett:

1) TEs offer incredible value for the money.
Premium WRs that earn max type contracts directly influence a game maybe 6-7 times on average (6 catches times 16 games = 96 catches/year.
Premium TE's earn 2/3 the wages but impact the game directly on most plays due to their line play blocking.
BB understood this value anomaly decades ago

2) Big target ...big catch radius = a more accurate Brady

3) Middle of the field target.... shorter throws for Brady / eliminates sideline out of bounds negative component = a more accurate Brady

4) Double TE set with 2 legitimate targets = NFL defenses are not equipped to handle this double threat.
Another anomaly recognized by BB

5) Gronk depth

6) NE fans love TEs