Stay or go?

[masterbouncer]

it’s hard to gauge Hightower. Does he think he’s cooked and should retire or does he feel like he’s still shaking off rust from the season off?

no matter what he thinks, the reality is, he was one of the slower LBs before 2020, he is now older and even more slower while the game has become more athletic with far more speed

HT as great and clutch as he was in the most important games for the Pats in the past isn't it anymore and thats absolutly fine, the team has to move on...

Is KVN signed up through next year?

yes KVN has contract in 2022 as well, HT, Bentley, Collins etc are all FA after this season

 

[Schmo]

D-Mac - unfortunately bye, S isn't our problem in the secondary with Phillips and Dugger
Brown - stay at LT w/ Wynn at LG
Hightower - unfortunately bye.... I keep wanting him to be what he was, but he isn't anymore
JCJ - need him break the bank
Karras - stay, solidify the inside OL like we saw this year
Slater - stay
White - stay... or we need a legit slot ala Welker/ Edelman that can give mac some relief
Bolden - stay until he's 50
Hoyer - who?
Folk - stay
Collins - with how much he played, doesn't really matter
Bentley - stay

 

[Froob]

Pretty sure McCourty, Hightower and Slater will retire

Reiss said like two weeks ago he expects DMac to continue playing and not retire.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Reiss said like two weeks ago he expects DMac to continue playing and not retire.

Even if he continues to play, Bill should not resign him. Bill got rid of the greatest player ever because he was supposedly too old why should we now hold on to defensive players that are on their last legs.

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

Bentley needs to go, he is slow can’t cover and I honestly dont see how he gets his run defense grades, very suspect. HT Collins as well, we need two new starters at LB.
I would cut henry Anderson as well

It doesn’t look like a great defense FA class so it will be tough to rebuild them
Basically we need right now with our free agents a FS CB1 CB2 MLB MLB DE and DT, draft needs to be good and our Coordinators might think about including Uche in the defense scheme, other teams don’t use those big lb and have solld run defenses as well

Jc Jaxkson Brown Karras would be my priority, DMac as well, for resigning

 

[italian pat patriot]

I put the same offer to Hightower, McCourty, Collins, KVN, etc: if you want to be here, it’s going to be for cheap, with a reduced role, and to help groom your replacements.

Hightower and McCourty were great...GREAT...
But now age is there...
Collins and VanNoy bye bye
Probably Bentley too

Keep of course Judon Uche and let s still hope for Jennings...

 

[masterbouncer]

Bentley needs to go, he is slow can’t cover and I honestly dont see how he gets his run defense grades, very suspect. HT Collins as well, we need two new starters at LB.
I would cut henry Anderson as well

It doesn’t look like a great defense FA class so it will be tough to rebuild them
Basically we need right now with our free agents a FS CB1 CB2 MLB MLB DE and DT, draft needs to be good and our Coordinators might think about including Uche in the defense scheme, other teams don’t use those big lb and have solld run defenses as well

Jc Jaxkson Brown Karras would be my priority, DMac as well, for resigning

its not that bad, JCJ might and most probably will be franchised, at least to have the possibility to get a draft pick for him, perhaps a 1st rounder if they decide not to extend him for a longer contract, he has had his best year there will be some interessted teams either way

JJ should be back and Mills didn't play that bad in the end of the season, if you let JCJ go, you open up another hole in the D# you have to fix via Draft or FA, so not sure about that and we have seen that the back ups are not really good against anyone out there

for LB, McGrone was drafted last year and should he pick up to his potential he would already be the fastest LB out there with Uche with far better tackling and also good against the run, and with McMillan you have as well a MLB that is quite smart and can play inside/outside, FS Bledsoe was drafted as well last year, so its not that bad we have Dugger and Philips as SS, its not like starting from zero

the thing might be that BB has to overthink his strategy, because he likes more the bigger slower LBs that are more suited for run D rather than for nowdays fast game, I'd rather have at least one real huge NT for run D next to Barmore who is more suited for pass rush and faster sideline to sideline LBs, Perkins on the edge opposite to Judon might also be an upgrade to what we have right now, but again we can only hope that those draft picks pan out, thats the same every year with all of them

I just think that something might need to change as well on the coaching side, the sloppiness and effortless play on D really was frustrating throughout the year after the bye, some players seem to not have the right focus, so get rid of them asap

depending on if the draft 22 will be a home run, next season will still be kind of a transition year (also to get rid of that freaking contracts that have been signed this offseason), so if the Pats do their homework and get lucky to hit another 2 great drafts 2023 might be the real start when the Pats are competitive again, but not next year, I think it might be even worse than this years looking at the schedule and the issues on the D with lack of speed, run D and pass rush

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

its not that bad, JCJ might and most probably will be franchised, at least to have the possibility to get a draft pick for him, perhaps a 1st rounder if they decide not to extend him for a longer contract, he has had his best year there will be some interessted teams either way

JJ should be back and Mills didn't play that bad in the end of the season, if you let JCJ go, you open up another hole in the D# you have to fix via Draft or FA, so not sure about that and we have seen that the back ups are not really good against anyone out there

for LB, McGrone was drafted last year and should he pick up to his potential he would already be the fastest LB out there with Uche with far better tackling and also good against the run, and with McMillan you have as well a MLB that is quite smart and can play inside/outside, FS Bledsoe was drafted as well last year, so its not that bad we have Dugger and Philips as SS, its not like starting from zero

I agree the secondary is solid if we keep JCJ , could use another outside cb to keep Mills at CB3 outside and S option.
I hope McGrone and Perlins can provide more speed and juice for our defense. But there I hope there is still another DE/MLB addition for the modern NFL
I hope we Test Uche at MLB his athletic and open field tackling is what we need there . If you look at top LB in other teams you see their best guys aren’t those 250+ pounds LB. You Need a better d line and Play aggressive and not as soft as our defense. I agree that BB needs to change his approach here

the thing might be that BB has to overthink his strategy, because he likes more the bigger slower LBs that are more suited for run D rather than for nowdays fast game, I'd rather have at least one real huge NT for run D next to Barmore who is more suited for pass rush and faster sideline to sideline LBs, Perkins on the edge opposite to Judon might also be an upgrade to what we have right now, but again we can only hope that those draft picks pan out, thats the same every year with all of them

I just think that something might need to change as well on the coaching side, the sloppiness and effortless play on D really was frustrating throughout the year after the bye, some players seem to not have the right focus, so get rid of them asap

depending on if the draft 22 will be a home run, next season will still be kind of a transition year (also to get rid of that freaking contracts that have been signed this offseason), so if the Pats do their homework and get lucky to hit another 2 great drafts 2023 might be the real start when the Pats are competitive again, but not next year, I think it might be even worse than this years looking at the schedule and the issues on the D with lack of speed, run D and pass rush

 

[Brotherblues]

The epic meltdown of the defense whenever it was faced with a competent opponent not affected by injuries or weather is an issue. The Dallas game and the last 2 Bills games are prime examples. Stat padding against rookie qbs in bad teams, and teams missing all their best players is cool while it's happening but is ultimately meaningless.

How much is on the coaches and how much on the players? Right now I want to let just about everyone test free agency.

 

[Ollie]

This season was hopefully Bill realising that his strategy of big LBs in the modern NFL doesn't work unless you have a pretty dominate D line. Our D line gets blown off the ball over and over by 5 yards at least and not even by great running teams or great backs. Collins KVN and HT aren't what we need. KVN can work if there is speed around him but i think the others are just too old and slow.

 

[Huckleberry1]

JC showed again tonight he is not a premier number 1 but a fringe number 1 high end number 2 shouldn’t make more than 14 mill a season.
Brown should be back
Bolden and Bentley that’s it.

I don’t think this is a fair judgement. Their entire team sh.t the bed, and it’s not reasonable to expect one player to hold the line when everything around them has collapsed. The secondary operates as a unit, and the units work in conjunction with each other. Allen and the Bills dominated their defense in a way we haven’t seen in years, so expecting JC Jackson to shut receivers down when there is no pass rush, and absolutely no support is foolhardy.

 

[BTTA]

I don’t think this is a fair judgement. Their entire team sh.t the bed, and it’s not reasonable to expect one player to hold the line when everything around them has collapsed. The secondary operates as a unit, and the units work in conjunction with each other. Allen and the Bills dominated their defense in a way we haven’t seen in years, so expecting JC Jackson to shut receivers down when there is no pass rush, and absolutely no support is foolhardy.

Get with the program. Fan disappointment = bad individual player or bad individual coach. Its like a law of physics.

 

[Love The Drake]

I don’t think this is a fair judgement. Their entire team sh.t the bed, and it’s not reasonable to expect one player to hold the line when everything around them has collapsed. The secondary operates as a unit, and the units work in conjunction with each other. Allen and the Bills dominated their defense in a way we haven’t seen in years, so expecting JC Jackson to shut receivers down when there is no pass rush, and absolutely no support is foolhardy.

Let me elaborate.
I don’t want to invest a ton of cap to JC Jackson we need to rebuild the D line, the Linebackers, O line, WRs. Spending so much cap on one player is not the solution.
We need new talent all over the team as well as new coaches.
Honestly this would be a terrible end for Belichick. If im Kraft right now everything’s on the table including looking at Belichick.
Maybe you trade Belichick to the Giants for some picks.
I’d franchise and trade JC, we need all the picks we can get.
Honestly that post someone made about the Colts pain in the locker room was Karma that led up to this.
We need to scrap the old ways todays NFL is not the NFL from
20 years ago. We need Mac to work on throwing power and getting stronger.
I would love to be a fly on the wall for Belichicks, Krafts meeting.

 

[stephens44]

Meyers is an RFA.

Most of that list unfortunately is a go. Wish Brown could stay on the field. JCJ is hopefully a stay.

Who else do you cut?

UFA:
D-Mac - Stay on a short ext
Brown - Go
Hightower - Short ext or retire
JCJ - Go, good talent but will command "great" money
Karras - Stay (depth)
Slater - Stay, short ext.
White - Stay
Bolden - Go
Hoyer - Stay as a coach
Folk - Depends how long he can keep it up at his age
Collins - Go
Bentley - Go
"Who else do you cut?" H A R R Y, tomorrow....

 

[TomPatriot]

I think Slater and possibly D Mac are going to retire this off-season. Something about their pressers just made me feel like “this person is one slip away from announcing their retirement right now”

it’s hard to gauge Hightower. Does he think he’s cooked and should retire or does he feel like he’s still shaking off rust from the season off?

HT is done. He used to look slow in coverage now he looks old and slow in every role.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

JC showed again tonight he is not a premier number 1 but a fringe number 1 high end number 2 shouldn’t make more than 14 mill a season.
Brown should be back
Bolden and Bentley that’s it.

Agree on JCJ

 

[203Pat]

UFA:
D-Mac
Brown
Hightower
JCJ
Karras
Slater
White
Bolden
Hoyer
Folk
Collins
Bentley

Meyers is an RFA.

Most of that list unfortunately is a go. Wish Brown could stay on the field. JCJ is hopefully a stay.

Who else do you cut?

The defense needs to be overhauled particularly the line backing core. They desperately need some speed in the front 7 and if Wino and Uche aren’t the guys for it then they need to draft a couple who can play. The crossers, the RB’s in the flat, and any QB who could scramble killed us all year.

 

[203Pat]

HT is done. He used to look slow in coverage now he looks old and slow in every role.

There have been a few plays this year where someone was running Hightower’s direction in the open field and it looked like Donta was standing still as they blew past him. He had a great run here and got a good paycheck this season. Whether he hangs it up altogether who tests free agency I think it’s time to move on.

 

[farn]

There have been a few plays this year where someone was running Hightower’s direction in the open field and it looked like Donta was standing still as they blew pats him. He had a great run here and got a good paycheck this season. Whether he hangs it up altogether who tests free agency I think it’s time to move on.

Sadly it’s time. DH could be counted upon to make the massive, championship play. Twice, in different SBs, you could argue he was a catalyst (getting BeastMode down & sack/fumble on Ryan) leading to a swing/a win. Invaluable.

LB strength was key in both dynasties : 2001-2004 & 2014-2018. And both of those groups regressed when the LBs started aging. Time to get a new core.

 

[Triumph]

Agahlor GO
Bourne KEEP
Henry KEEP
Smith GO
Wynn GO
Harry - I will help him move