Slater to Return in 2023

[Steve102]

Patriots Announce that Special Teams Captain Matthew Slater will Return this Season

 

[Pape]

 

[Brotherblues]

First off: Welcome back to Slater, a consummate Patriot.

Now, on to business: Did our cap projections assume his retirement? What's the effect here?

 

[Froob]

I believe he's a FA, must mean he has a signed a new deal.

 

[Froob]

First off: Welcome back to Slater.

Now, on to business: Did our cap projections assume his retirement? What's the effect here?

Probably not by much, last year was a 1 year, $2,622,500. He's been in the league so long that even his vet minimum is high.

 

[billdog3484]

That press release is laughable. They’re acting like Tom Brady is coming back. “Future hall of famer” lolololol

 

[sb1]

How do we feel that Slater and his leadership are back for another year?

 

[chief1]

Pleasantly surprised. I would hire him for what he brings to the Lockeroom as a leader and role model alone.

 

[Pape]

I believe he's a FA, must mean he has a signed a new deal.

or agreed to terms... 6 or 1/2 dozen i suppose

 

[FCB02062]

what a complete joke. Slater sucked last year and has sucked for several years. waste of $ and the effing special teams were atrocious....why In the wtf are they bringing him back? is this so Bill the Coach can "communicate" w younger players? such a waste of $

 

[tasmlab]

God bless Matthew Slater as a Patriots' institution and all he's done.

I would think 37 is pretty old for a player who's main job is to run fast and tackle the kick returner. And he was talking about coaching IIRC.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Nice. We need better play out of our special teams though if the team is ever going to make a run.

 

[Nehalem]

God bless Matthew Slater as a Patriots' institution and all he's done.

I would think 37 is pretty old for a player who's main job is to run fast and tackle the kick returner. And he was talking about coaching IIRC.

The obvious 1st thought would be that.

But on the other hand you have Terrell Owens running 4.38 40 at age 48

WATCH: Terrell Owens runs 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds at 48 years old

The Hall of Fame wide receiver shows he still has his speed

www.cbssports.com

So his position might actually age well. He basically has to run down the field one time and try and make a tackle and then gets to rest a fair amount of time before having to do it again.

 

[Patsgofor4]

what a complete joke. Slater sucked last year and has sucked for several years. waste of $ and the effing special teams were atrocious....why In the wtf are they bringing him back? is this so Bill the Coach can "communicate" w younger players? such a waste of $

“Slater posted 13 special teams tackles, second-most on the team behind rookie Brenden Schooler.”

You are a clown.

 

[Sciz]

I believe he's a FA, must mean he has a signed a new deal.

Should be easy enough since the four-year player qualifying contract is basically made for this situation. They can pay him $2,667,500 while he only counts $1,317,500 on the cap. That ~$2.7M is the most they can pay a guy with this cap exception, and it has to be a player who was on the roster for the previous four seasons. I don’t really see any other candidates unless Damien Harris’ market is really bad (which could happen).

 

[Patjew]

Welcome back Chai.

 

[RobertWeathers]

what a complete joke. Slater sucked last year and has sucked for several years. waste of $ and the effing special teams were atrocious....why In the wtf are they bringing him back? is this so Bill the Coach can "communicate" w younger players? such a waste of $

He finished 2nd on the team in ST tackles and 21st in the NFL.

Your analysis is horrible.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Patriots Announce that Special Teams Captain Matthew Slater will Return this Season

Hope the decision turns out well for him. He’s relatively healthy now, for his sake hopefully he can get through the season unscathed.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

He finished 2nd on the team in ST tackles and 21st in the NFL.

Your analysis is horrible.

There’s a old saying from Bill James which was about baseball but applies to all sports: Bad teams tend to blame their problems on their best players. The Patriots special teams outside of punt returns were atrocious last year. Matthew Slater was not the problem. He wasn’t peak Slater but he still performed well in general compared to others at his position.

 

[Ross12]

I think this is an underrated move, they really need to fix the ST unit and it'd be even harder to fix it while also losing Slater.