The glass is very half full on this roster at this point

[BTTA]

Every single grouping on the roster has at least competent, if not outstanding, veterans in leadership roles plus one or more young players with a ton of upside.

McCourty/Phillips/Mills + Dugger
Gilmore/Jackson/Jones + Jackson/Bryant
Hightower/Bentley/McMillan + Jennings
KVN/Judon + Uche/Winovich/Perkins
Cowart/Davis/Guy/Godchaux/Wise + Barmore
Brown/Ferentz/Karras/Mason/Wynn/Andrews + Onwenu
Hunter/Smith + Assiasi
Harris/White/Michel + Taylor/Stevenson
Meyers/Agholor/Bourne + Olszewski/Wilkerson

There's even a succession plan for Slater. And a possible "look what we found and repaired" outstanding kicker on bottom dollar salary.

We all have our mindset about Jones, but he did just have the most competent showing in a first exhibition game of any rookie QB in Patriot's history, right? Who was better at this point?

The drafting in the past couple of years has been excellent by any NFL standard.

Yes, better depth at a couple of positions would be nice, but that's exactly the kind of problem good teams are supposed to have right now.

 

[jimnance]

The arrow is pointing up but theres some fragility there. Gilmore and Jackson both fa's after season. Key vets could well retire High Dmac.
I feel like theres an urgency to this season: don't waste it. Hand the keys over to Mac. Hes a rook and therell be growing pains but he gives them the best chance to win. Cam can come in occasionally as a change of pace backup. If the Pats have decent success this year i.e. make playoffs, win one playoff game- that gives you a better chance of keeping one or both of Gilmore and Jackson. Neither one of those guys is about just the $- they want to win.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Really good secondary, LB corps, OLine, RBs, and $230M spent in the offseason. This team can really go far if 2 keys happen:

- on defense against the run stop 3rd and short and red zone goalline. See if that run defense is fixed, particularly on the DLine.

- on offense the QB takes care of the ball, and gets a ton of first downs in the 2 TE offense via runs, play action, and quick throws.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

The arrow is pointing up but theres some fragility there. Gilmore and Jackson both fa's after season. Key vets could well retire High Dmac.
I feel like theres an urgency to this season: don't waste it. Hand the keys over to Mac. Hes a rook and therell be growing pains but he gives them the best chance to win. Cam can come in occasionally as a change of pace backup. If the Pats have decent success this year i.e. make playoffs, win one playoff game- that gives you a better chance of keeping one or both of Gilmore and Jackson. Neither one of those guys is about just the $- they want to win.

Good post . I agree on the urgency to win but for me that means not rushing a rookie QB and seeing if Cam can pull it off. I don't think the Pats spent big in free agency to contend using a rookie QB.

 

[moosekill]

Really good secondary, LB corps, OLine, RBs, and $230M spent in the offseason. This team can really go far if 2 keys happen:

- on defense against the run stop 3rd and short and red zone goalline. See if that run defense is fixed, particularly on the DLine.

- on offense the QB takes care of the ball, and gets a ton of first downs via the 2 TE offense via runs, play action, and quick theows.

You forgot "and they get rid of that idiot Josh McDaniels"

 

[DropKickFlutie]

You forgot "and they get rid of that idiot Josh McDaniels"

No need as you did it for me. I've noticed I can lay off this point and people still read it in their heads , so it's great to live in your head like that. Thank you.

 

[mgteich]

You forgot "and they get rid of that idiot Josh McDaniels"

It is good to know that NEM lives on.

 

[Bill Lee]

We all have our mindset about Jones, but he did just have the most competent showing in a first exhibition game of any rookie QB in Patriot's history, right? Who was better at this point?

Pretty decent list of backups of the Brady Era (not including Stid) at: Where are they now? Tom Brady's former backups

Gotta say none looked as poised out of the gate as Mac does right now, but this is what we expected, no?

The question is about Mac always has been about his ceiling not his floor, but that doesn't mean we should be pessimistic, he's got a long time to develop.

 

[Wozzy]

Staying healthy describes a need of 100% of the teams in this league. Health and Mac Jones will determine how successful this team is. The young players need to continue developing and improving, but there’s enough of a veteran presence on this team to keep volatility to a minimum.

 

[BobDigital]

The arrow is pointing up but theres some fragility there. Gilmore and Jackson both fa's after season. Key vets could well retire High Dmac.
I feel like theres an urgency to this season: don't waste it. Hand the keys over to Mac. Hes a rook and therell be growing pains but he gives them the best chance to win. Cam can come in occasionally as a change of pace backup. If the Pats have decent success this year i.e. make playoffs, win one playoff game- that gives you a better chance of keeping one or both of Gilmore and Jackson. Neither one of those guys is about just the $- they want to win.

I agree there. This season really comes down to making the playoffs and giving Mac a taste of his first playoff game. Win or lose. Is it possible a QB wins their first time in the playoffs? Yes, but it is pretty rare I think. Most players have to learn how to win by losing first. And most of the first time QBs that do win it all are clearly carried.

Pretty sure the last QB to win it all his first time in was Brady. Hell even Nick Foles had a game under his belt before his run. To me the plan is simple. Hope that Mac can be a good QB and maximize the rookie window before he cost us 30M/yr. That means getting him to play most of this year and getting him into the playoff this year.

I don't want to have him sit a full year this year, only to make the playoffs next year and lose (because that is what tends to happen to young QBs who get their first taste). This waste 2 of his 4 cheapest years with the team. let's get it all out of the way year 1 and really try to go all in the next 3 years.

 

[jimnance]

Good post . I agree on the urgency to win but for me that means not rushing a rookie QB and seeing if Cam can pull it off. I don't think the Pats spent big in free agency to contend using a rookie QB.

I agree until the last sentence. I dont think Pats spent big in free agency to contend using the worst starting qb in the nfl who throws more bounce passes than Bob Cousy.

 

[Ring 6]

The arrow is pointing up but theres some fragility there. Gilmore and Jackson both fa's after season. Key vets could well retire High Dmac.
I feel like theres an urgency to this season: don't waste it. Hand the keys over to Mac. Hes a rook and therell be growing pains but he gives them the best chance to win. Cam can come in occasionally as a change of pace backup. If the Pats have decent success this year i.e. make playoffs, win one playoff game- that gives you a better chance of keeping one or both of Gilmore and Jackson. Neither one of those guys is about just the $- they want to win.

There is enough talent on this team and particularly the defense to start Jones, take it slow and increase his load as the season wears on. He only needs to take the easy throw, not make mistakes and accept that a punt isn’t a disaster at the beginning of the season and we will be fine.
In 2019 we literally won 11 games that an average Qb not being asked to carry much of a load would have won because the defense was THAT good 11 times.

 

[Ring 6]

I agree until the last sentence. I dont think Pats spent big in free agency to contend using the worst starting qb in the nfl who throws more bounce passes than Bob Cousy.

It’s more than that too. If you really watch newton play last year his reactions, thought process and apparent understanding of what he is doing in the pocket is worse than rookie level.

 

[Jim Beankie]

We all have our mindset about Jones, but he did just have the most competent showing in a first exhibition game of any rookie QB in Patriot's history, right? Who was better at this point?

El Guapo 9/13 157yds TD
Stid 14/24 179yds TD (with a dropped ~50airyds perfect "in the bucket" throw, too)
Mallet 12/19 164yds TD

Lots of throws, low yardage, stalled drives resulting in a FG - sounds like last year. Still very excited, though.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

It’s more than that too. If you really watch newton play last year his reactions, thought process and apparent understanding of what he is doing in the pocket is worse than rookie level.

How do you know?

 

[Mack Herron]

Every single grouping on the roster has at least competent, if not outstanding, veterans in leadership roles plus one or more young players with a ton of upside.

McCourty/Phillips/Mills + Dugger
Gilmore/Jackson/Jones + Jackson/Bryant
Hightower/Bentley/McMillan + Jennings
KVN/Judon + Uche/Winovich/Perkins
Cowart/Davis/Guy/Godchaux/Wise + Barmore
Brown/Ferentz/Karras/Mason/Wynn/Andrews + Onwenu
Hunter/Smith + Assiasi
Harris/White/Michel + Taylor/Stevenson
Meyers/Agholor/Bourne + Olszewski/Wilkerson

There's even a succession plan for Slater. And a possible "look what we found and repaired" outstanding kicker on bottom dollar salary.

We all have our mindset about Jones, but he did just have the most competent showing in a first exhibition game of any rookie QB in Patriot's history, right? Who was better at this point?

The drafting in the past couple of years has been excellent by any NFL standard.

Yes, better depth at a couple of positions would be nice, but that's exactly the kind of problem good teams are supposed to have right now.

It might be worth noting that financially keeping QN over Folk would actually cost us a bit this year as Folk's salary is guaranteed. Savings would not kick in until next year. Personally I favor QN. He has an unusually strong leg and has worked diligently to overcome his accuracy problem. While it's too early to know how accurate he will be, he has clearly made excellent progress and the trajectory is pointing to an unusual talent. I just can't see foregoing that potential for a steady but weak-legged kicker on the down side of his career. I think Folk misses more kicks that Nordin makes beyond Folk's range.

 

[Ivan]

I agree until the last sentence. I dont think Pats spent big in free agency to contend using the worst starting qb in the nfl who throws more bounce passes than Bob Cousy.

I think the reality is in the middle. I think Belichick would prefer to have Jones sit and learn for a season, but that requires a veteran starter who can win consistently, and get them to the playoffs, and unless Newton does a 180, which is highly unlikely, that isn’t going to happen. So if Jones continues to develop and demonstrates the ability to get them wins then Belichick will go with him and stick with him. I don’t believe Newton will be able to adjust to a back up role, so Belichick will oblige him and release him.

 

[Ring 6]

How do you know?

I really am your hero aren’t I?
But the rest of the board doesn’t need you to clog threads up over your obsession with me. I’m not interested, find your dates a different way.

 

[BTTA]

It might be worth noting that financially keeping QN over Folk would actually cost us a bit this year ads Folk's salary is guaranteed. Savings would not kick in until next year. Personally I favor QN. He has an unusually strong leg and has worked diligently to overcome his accuracy problem. While it's too early to know how accurate he will be, he has clearly made excellent progress and the trajectory is pointing to an unusual talent. I just can't see foregoing that potential for a steady but weak-legged kicker on the down side of his career. I think Folk misses more kicks that Nordin makes beyond Folk's range.

Keeping QN would cost one NFL minimum salary (Nordin's).

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I really am your hero aren’t I?
But the rest of the board doesn’t need you to clog threads up over your obsession with me. I’m not interested, find your dates a different way.

Huh? I asked you how you know Cam’s thought process. What a weird answer.