Rumor from a friend in the know...

[2000army]

Guys and gals... I will stay out of the discussion but I wanted to stop by to reiterate that my source states that nothing has changed. 2 year deal with 3rd as an option that is cap friendly. He/She has also heard rumors of Amendola reunion. I personally am ecstatic for this but I am as cautious as most of the posters here. And no my source is not a massage parlor Lolol.

 

[Patsgofor4]

Hmmmm, so your totally reliable source is a he/she? You divulged too much info.

We got bingo!

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Phew. That's takes a load off. Thanks for sharing.

The best part is my guy says he's playing for league minimum.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Welker wasn’t available?

 

[Hyped]

Hmmmm, so your totally reliable source is a he/she? You divulged too much info.

We got bingo!

View attachment 26006

God, I am still pissed that I wasted 2 hours of my life watching that movie....

 

[venecol]

It’s a balance
If you are too top heavy in one position for example QB you are hurting in other spots.

Then please explain this:

 

[TheRainMaker]

Guys and gals... I will stay out of the discussion but I wanted to stop by to reiterate that my source states that nothing has changed. 2 year deal with 3rd as an option that is cap friendly. He/She has also heard rumors of Amendola reunion. I personally am ecstatic for this but I am as cautious as most of the posters here. And no my source is not a massage parlor Lolol.

If this is true, Tom is the worst negotiator of all time. And I don’t want to see him complaining at all with who he’s surrounded with on offense.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Then please explain this:

View attachment 26010

Prime example of why the media says “Cap is Crap”.

 

[venecol]

If this is true, Tom is the worst negotiator of all time. And I don’t want to see him complaining at all with who he’s surrounded with on offense.

It depends of what he means by cap friendly, but if true, then Kraft must have pics of TFB at a massage parlor with him. That's the only explanation.

 

[scott99]

If this is true, Tom is the worst negotiator of all time. And I don’t want to see him complaining at all with who he’s surrounded with on offense.

Tom never complained.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Prime example of why the media says “Cap is Crap”.

Cap is crap if you’re trying to accomplish some type of maneuver or big signing. It certainly is not crap in the sense that the move will have consequences in the future.

Cap is the greatest thing to even happen to the Patriots. Having a brilliant coach who also understands how football players translate into economics is arguably their biggest x-factor. Everything they do is because of the cap. It’s all about finding value.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Tom never complained.

Are you serious?

 

[venecol]

Cap is the greatest thing to even happen to the Patriots. Having a brilliant coach who also understands how football players translate into economics is arguably their biggest x-factor. Everything they do is because of the cap. It’s all about finding value.

Idk about this. Clearly BB lucked out by having not only a great QB but one that always played ball by signing team friendly contracts.

This gave the coach the luxury of being able to be more creative with cap management, a luxury other teams don't necessarily have unless working with rookie QBs.

This is another reason of why Brady has more impact on the dynasty than BB, his GOAT play and his unselfishness on the business end that gave BB an advantage.

 

[scott99]

Are you serious?

100%, show me a quote where Tom complained.

 

[venecol]

100%, show me a quote where Tom complained.

That's just it, this past season is full of uncharacteristic quotes from the GOAT. From the "ask Mr. Kraft" right after he signed his contract, to "I just play here" and "“I don’t think it matters what I think," he was unusually negative, especially after the release of AB.

I think TB knew the team wasn't going to make it deep into the playoffs with the offense they had despite their 9-1 start.

 

[TheAdultintheRoom]

My source is a little skeptical of your source.

 

[mgteich]

.

This is possibly the most challenging off season, from a personnel standpoint, of the Belichick as GM era.

Every year seems to be one the very most challenging EVAH.
====
On defense, we can extend Hightower and restructure Gilmore to cover a lot of needs. And, it not clear that Jason McCourty will stay ($5.5M potential cap savings).

On offense, we will have enough cap money to sign much of what we need.

Sanu can stay or be replaced. That $6.5M cap hit can buy almost anyone that would sign with us. Of course, if we want to keep Sanu (or an equivalent level replacement), then Sanu or the replacement would have a new lower priced contract, probably for 3 years. Obviously, we won't sign enough $10M-$15M a year players for some of our posters. And many will be grousing as to why a player wouldn't sign with us at a discount, or at what he signed for elsewhere. But that is part of every off-season.

The reality is that we all have different views, but it seems to ME that Belichick has done pretty well in his acquisition of players, and in his transition from one year to the next.

To be clear, if Brady extends at least a week before free agency, then this will be a very "normal" off-season. And, yes, we can afford to pay Brady without his 2020 cap hit being more than $20M, even if we agree to pay him $30M a year.

If Brady isn't signed, we will likely sign another QB. This player's 2020 cap hit would need to be $6.5M to give us a total of $20M with Brady's dead money. A bonus of $15M over 3 year would give us the $20M cap hit; an $18M bonus would give us a $21M cap hit (assuming a salary of $1.5M). $18.5M-$19.5M 2020 money should give Belichick a sufficient budget, should Brady leave. [Obviously, he could spend less, and spend more on others, or choose to defer less into future cap years].

Obviously, just like every year, we MUST do great in the draft, or not.

For example, I expect to see at least two OL prospects drafted, a couple likely in the 3rd or 4th rounds. Few of us will recognize their names. They will compete for spots and time with Froholdt, Cajuste, re-signs and free agents. If Cannon is gone, we might draft an OT even earlier.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Idk about this. Clearly BB lucked out by having not only a great QB but one that always played ball by signing team friendly contracts.

This gave the coach the luxury of being able to be more creative with cap management, a luxury other teams don't necessarily have unless working with rookie QBs.

This is another reason of why Brady has more impact on the dynasty than BB, his GOAT play and his unselfishness on the business end that gave BB an advantage.

Would have been an interesting comparison if Manning hadn’t crapped his pants in the postseason every year since he was the only other QB who guaranteed you 12+ wins. The Colts and Broncos teams were built the more traditional “superstar with huge contracts” way and were neck and neck with the Patriots during the regular season.

Brady taking less helped the Patriots, though I would say even more of his flexibility had to do with the Patriots never paying his skill players market value and always moving on if the price wasn’t right, which put the burden on Brady to get elite production from mediocre supporting casts. Manning, Rodgers, etc. have been unwilling to take less personally or with the guys they’re throwing to, so you’d be looking at like 30-40% of the cap for QB + 3 best WR/RB/TE, whereas that number is closer to 20-30% in New England.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Then please explain this:

View attachment 26010

Well yeah, but he's no Kirk Cousins

Cap for one year can include close to every dollar the guy makes in his contract, can be average number for the contract, or can be a virtually free year. I used to do the curve of cap cost per position early in the dynasty, when I thought that there was some magical key to keeping one sharp asymptotic outlier, a very small corps of "also-paids," a big middle class, and a pool of JAGS. Then that's not what we had so I didn't think it was the key anymore. As is clear, I was quite literally curve fitting. Whichever curve represented NE Pats experience seemed somehow magical and handed down from on high.

Old me cracks up present me.

Also, question: Was Kirk Cousins named after Capt. James Tiberius Kirk? In fact, is his full name James Tiberius Kirk Cousins?

 

[mgteich]

Would have been an interesting comparison if Manning hadn’t crapped his pants in the postseason every year since he was the only other QB who guaranteed you 12+ wins. The Colts and Broncos teams were built the more traditional “superstar with huge contracts” way and were neck and neck with the Patriots during the regular season.

Brady taking less helped the Patriots, though I would say even more of his flexibility had to do with the Patriots never paying his skill players market value and always moving on if the price wasn’t right, which put the burden on Brady to get elite production from mediocre supporting casts. Manning, Rodgers, etc. have been unwilling to take less personally or with the guys they’re throwing to, so you’d be looking at like 30-40% of the cap for QB + 3 best WR/RB/TE, whereas that number is closer to 20-30% in New England.

Yes, the patriots tend to spend less on the "skill" positions of QB, WR, TE and RB.