The Official Patriots Opt Out Thread

[ctpatsfan77]

The 4 #Patriots players that opted out today are 32, 30, 30 & 32 yrs old respectively. Different stuff going on at that life stage for an NFL player, not nearly as big of a surprise as it may seem. We start seeing 26/27 yr olds in midst of their 1st big FA deal, different story.

 

[BelichickFan]

 

[Spiral]

Player opts out of Patriots in 2020.
Patriots opt out of player in 2021.

 

[Wax Frog]

They will start the season no matter what. A lot can change in a month. We are seeing some states go through their peak highs. MLB has continued their season but we shall see how long it last.

I'll be happy to be wrong, but I'm a hard sell (not as far as an attempted start, maybe, but seeing things sustained). It just seems like every time a life-with-COVID-19 leak gets plugged a new one appears. Going to keep humming the Jeopardy theme. Maybe it'll be like '87

 

[JPsPats]

I think the reason a lot of pats are opting out compared to other teams, is most of them have their rings and money.

The reward for playing in a joke of a season is not as appealing.

On a positive note, BB is getting a ton of cap space and can sign players like clowney to help fill the void.

 

[TheRainMaker]

?

You assume a vaccine will make it magically disappear. Hasn't worked for the flu.

 

[203Pat]

Why would they do that? If fans are allowed, they want to have fans and the fans will want to go. It would be unwise to set a season-long policy regarding fans in the stands in mid June.

Health and safety

Weaksauce. It was a labor negotiation. Oftentimes you need a deadline to get things moving. Things are starting on time, so it is pretty weak to criticize them for waiting too long.

Health and safety should be top priority. Should have had the deadline earlier.

That also would have been unwise, and quite likely unfair to the players. I doubt the players would have accepted so early of an opt out date.

Things are worse than they were a month ago. Any reasonable person could see the way this is trending with how stupid most of the country is proving itself to be. Worse case scenario build an "opt in" by week 4 or 8 or whenever. Treat it like IR to return.

 

[JayNM]

ahahahhahahahahahahahha

this is actually gold. I 100% imagine a bunch of suits panicking bc they don't know what BB is thinking

Now get ready for my new hill, r u ready patsfan? Outside Marcus Cannon, I think these opt-outs might be good for us in the long game

 

[TheRainMaker]

On a positive note, BB is getting a ton of cap space and can sign players like clowney to help fill the void.

If I want to watch people disappear, I'd rather watch David Copperfield do it.

 

[FCB02062]

I find it hilarious and painfully ironic that the wuhan flu is going to kill Patriots football. All they need is Edelman to opt out and the season is cooked, and I'd say they're halfway to 6 wins with the opt outs they've had. Especially when all signs point to the team already having it back in December when half the team was so Ill they had to take 2 planes to Houston. If the 2020 Pats sh#t the bed, you can rest assured that if the overlords allow Fannie's in the seats in 2021 Jonathan City will be 50% capacity in December when Stidham is commandeering a 4-8 club.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Do the Pats get an exemption for the Cap?

Not exactly. The money does come off this year's cap, since it's not getting paid this year, but all the remaining cap hits are pushed forward a year. So they gained cap space in 2020, and lost it in 2021.

 

[Spiral]

It's usually not a good idea to challenge your employer to see if they can do without you.

 

[luuked]

The deadline is saturday. No team has been hit harder than us.

 

[ensoul]

Hard to blame them especially when 12 baseball players already have it and they are barely next to each other on the field.

Since Goodell is a joke I fully expect a full season. Of course should be interesting to see how rampant COVID spreads with these guys flying all over the country, not following guidelines, and bleeding, spitting, grabbing and wrestling with each other on the field.

 

[Tottie]

Imagine being an actual team executive and actually believing BB has anything to do with these opt-outs. If they actually believe that, they should be fired. I wouldn't give my name either, it's an embarrassing statement. Our team is old and the old guys are bowing out.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Clearly they all hate their coach.



EDIT: I guess I have to make it even more clear than a that this is sarcasm.

Bill may be punting this year anyway, knowing very well that NE has little chance to win the SB...I honestly thought with Cam at QB we had a shot at a 3 seed. Now, we'd be lucky to go 9-7.

 

[XLIX]

Health and safety should be top priority. Should have had the deadline earlier.

Right now, they are scheduled to start on time. You look silly complaining about how they waited too long to make a deal when things are starting on time.

Things are worse than they were a month ago. Any reasonable person could see the way this is trending with how stupid most of the country is proving itself to be.

Bullcrap.

In mid-June, things were trending downward in both cases and deaths. The cases started trending up but deaths kept trending down until early July. Right now daily cases seems to have plateaued, and deaths are trending up at a slow rate.

You have no clue whatsoever what things are going to look like in Sept/Oct/Nov. So stop acting like the NFL should have known in May what things were going to look like on July 28.

Worse case scenario build an "opt in" by week 4 or 8 or whenever. Treat it like IR to return.

uhhhhhhhhhh no. Just no. There should not be an "opt in" for players who opted out.

You're not even being intellectually consistent. You complain about how tough it is for teams to build rosters because of how late the opt out date is, but then you want to allow those players the potential to opt back in?? So the Patriots would have to go 4-8 weeks without knowing if any of their 6 players are just going to show up out of nowhere? That would be an atrocious idea.

I have no problem whatsoever with a player who chooses to opt out but once they've made that decision, that's that.

 

[catent]

Just cancel the season.

 

[catent]

I hope every team deals with really good players opting out, because it's gonna suck if we're the only ones with top players sitting out...

With Hightower sitting out, you can kiss his patriots career goodbye...the dude will be a FA in 2021

Hightower is about finished. He has 1-2 ... maybe 3 productive years left.

At this age, size, position, and injury history, I don't see this as a massive blow.

 

[Ross12]

Tbh, purely from a football perspective, Hightower and Chung could both use a year off. Both have a couple good years left in them but probably not more than a couple. Both have had quite a few injuries in recent years. Seems like a really good time to give the body a year off.