Source: Aqib Talib wants top-of-the-market deal

[Jimke]

There's always a choice, and that's the worry. I agree with you 100%. Even if Kelly and Wilfork come back, I think their defense needs two players:

Talib or a corner/safety replacement.
Impact DE, preferably a guy who can rotate inside, too, like Houston.

All we've heard from the Pats:

Talking to Talib
Going hard at Edelman now
Happy with their roster
Trying to restructure Wilfork

That's it. Everything else has been pure speculation - Bryant, D'Qwell Jackson, Revis - and on the two we know about (Bryant and Jackson), it seems like they haven't even whispered to the guys. Jackson never mentioned NE.

I thought Bryant might be a poor man's Lamarr Houston until Sciz gave a nice write-up showing why he probably wouldn't fit here very well.

When FA is stripped bare, would it surprise you to see Indy looking much better, Denver adding a star, and NE coming out of it, on paper, worse than they were going in?

I would not be surprised if your last sentence proves true. I expect
the Pats to lose both Talib and Edelman and replace them with
inferior players or not at all.

 

[BradyToAmendola]

Talib is as good as gone IMO. Someone is gonna pay him more than what we value him at. CB in Round 1 is the #1 priority.

 

[rdf63]

Aqib Talib wants top-of-the-market deal

The current market value for Talib is $16M guaranteed and the Pats aren't out of the running yet. Redskins are also in the running and would pay Talib top dollar but they are also after Mitchell who is their first choice. Best guess is the Pats offer 4Yr/$36M BUT no higher than $4M a year guaranteed which could turn out to be a 4Yr/$16M deal because of injuries. Build incentives into the deal based on durability and it may work out better for the Pats.

 

[upstater1]

Is Justin Tuck still a decent player?

 

[strngplyr]

Is Justin Tuck still a decent player?

He's still a good run stuffer and got some decent pressure. His sack numbers pretty inflated though, 6 of them came against an awful Redskins OL with RG3 basically charging into his arms.

 

[Evil Tom]

Talib is as good as gone IMO. Someone is gonna pay him more than what we value him at. CB in Round 1 is the #1 priority.

I'd rather pay Talib and use the 1st round pick on a DL. For some reason the Patriots seem to miss on most of their high draft picks for DB and WR but do much better with OL and DL.

 

[JMC00]

The defense is gonna be so bad. Why don't we just trade Brady to Houston and rebuild now

Run along troll

 

[ATippett56]

"Top-of-the-market" cornerbacks now down to four:

Sam Shields, Packers agree to four-year, $39 million contract | ProFootballTalk

Shields was PFT’s No. 15-ranked free agent and the No. 5-ranked player at a strong group of prospective free agents at his position. His departure doesn’t hurt the leverage of New England’s Aqib Talib, Indianapolis’ Vontae Davis, Tennessee’s Alterraun Verner and Denver’s Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

"Top-of-the-market" cornerbacks now down to four:

Sam Shields, Packers agree to four-year, $39 million contract | ProFootballTalk

Denver will be keeping DRC

 

[ATippett56]

More teams are clamoring for Verner | ProFootballTalk

Soon, it could be easier to list the teams that aren’t interested in Titans cornerback Alterraun Verner.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

More teams are clamoring for Verner | ProFootballTalk

More teams want him then talib it sounds...wash seems to be the only one who contacted talib so far that we know of...we know of many that look at verner

 

[TomNGisele]

Run along troll

Blind homer

 

[BradyToAmendola]

Blind homer

He's a blind homer for not wanting to trade Tom Brady to Houston?

Go play Madden or something, kid.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

He's a blind homer for not wanting to trade Tom Brady to Houston?

Go play Madden or something, kid.

he's just talking now to get a rise out of people

 

[supafly]

Its clear by now that Talib is going to get a $10MM/yr contract regardless of where he sign.

Is it really that clear, ken? Double digits, huh?

At the end of everything, we could easily see all of Grimes, Shields, and Verner going higher than Talib.

I'd understand if you said "it's clear by now that Talib is going to get a 8mm/yr contract regardless of where he signs."

 

[TomNGisele]

He's a blind homer for not wanting to trade Tom Brady to Houston?



Go play Madden or something, kid.

No, he's a blind homer for thinking this team is a SB contender

Lose weight, old man

 

[ATippett56]

More teams want him then talib it sounds...wash seems to be the only one who contacted talib so far that we know of...we know of many that look at verner

Teams intrigued by, concerned about Talib | ProFootballTalk

For now, it’s hard to know which teams are interested, because Talib’s camp isn’t leaking the phone logs to the media. Even without that info, it’s safe to say that plenty of interest exists.

 

[JMC00]

No, he's a blind homer for thinking this team is a SB contender

Yep because the Patriots track record with Brady of being to the AFC title game 8 out of 12 seasons and the SB 5 of those 8 makes me a blind homer for thinking the team could be a SB contender.

Which no-one will actually know either way until about a quarter of the '14 season is played.

Defense in 2011 sucked but that didn't stop them from making it to the SB. But I guess making it to the SB still doesn't make you a SB contender, right?

Now like I said, run along troll.

 

[Mack Herron]

Is it really that clear, ken? Double digits, huh?

At the end of everything, we could easily see all of Grimes, Shields, and Verner going higher than Talib.

I'd understand if you said "it's clear by now that Talib is going to get a 8mm/yr contract regardless of where he signs."

We can see now something of the current market for CBs, but I have seen no information about how the Patriots or other teams value Talib in the market (which fluctuates with time and alternatives). I could understand saying he is worth something like $10M/yr playing at his best on a consistent basis. But he has not been a consistent performer; he missed games due to injury and he played at a different level after injury. He clearly has considerable value to the Patriots, but his value might be better measured by how much he would be guaranteed each year. Like Welker, Talib may ultimately wind up with the team that absorbs the biggest part of the gamble on his health, which is to say the largest number he feels he is likely to see (e.g., guaranteed money).

 

[supafly]

We can see now something of the current market for CBs, but I have seen no information about how the Patriots or other teams value Talib in the market (which fluctuates with time and alternatives). I could understand saying he is worth something like $10M/yr playing at his best on a consistent basis. But he has not been a consistent performer; he missed games due to injury and he played at a different level after injury. He clearly has considerable value to the Patriots, but his value might be better measured by how much he would be guaranteed each year. Like Welker, Talib may ultimately wind up with the team that absorbs the biggest part of the gamble on his health, which is to say the largest number he feels he is likely to see (e.g., guaranteed money).

Agreed.

We'll obviously have the answer on Tuesday, when we see other CB pacts. At this point, it's hard to say whether it will be closer to the deal that Grimes signed, or the one that Shields signed.

I personally don't think it's going to go any higher than Shields' AAV though, so I think double digits may be a bit premature when assessing Talib's market. Someone must really want him badly if they're going to be giving him 10 million a season.