The Official Patriots Opt Out Thread

[libra957]

We can still go 10-6. Belichick coach of the year, book it!

 

[IllegalContact]

It’s funny that people still think there’s going to be a season

 

[Sully]

We can still go 10-6. Belichick coach of the year, book it!

Will do! It’s such a weird year. The team that can stay disciplined & healthy will have a real shot this year. And BB is the guy to orchestrate it.

 

[patfanken]

My 2 cents:

1. I perfectly comfortable with ANY player who decides to opt out. This is a serious contagion that has been MIGHTILY mishandled on the national level.

2. On a strictly football sense here are my views on the losses.

a. Bolden - The running back position is loaded, and while they will likely miss Brandon on ST's, they should be able to fill that slot. No big deal.

b. Vitale - Can't miss what you've never seen. FB is an important position on this team. But I think this might accelerate the timeline of Keane moving full time to the FB position, or perhaps the German kid will continue to develop, or a 3rd option will present itself. Small deal

c. Chung - I think this looks worse on paper than it really is. I think we will be strong at S this year. I think Adrian Phillips would have been an upgrade over Chung this season as it is. The guy has gotten the sh!t beat out of him the last couple of years and it started to show. This might open up some playing time for JJWilliams at S. In my mind a S group consisting of DMcCourty, Phillips, Brooks, Dugger, and JJWilliams is a damned good group. So in my mind, no big deal.

d. Cannon - Another guy who has spent the last few years playing hurt. But again, I feel this is a position where there is a chance for someone to emerge as an effective alternative. If someone like Frodholt starts to play to his potential, moving Joe Thuney to RT might actually upgrade the OL. Or perhaps Cajuste shows why he was so highly regarded before his injury.

Make no mistake. This one hurts, especially for the depth of the OL, but I don't think its a disaster....just yet. Only if no one emerges from the OL depth will this really hurt. But given how poorly the RT position played last year, the bar is going to be set pretty low. It's a small deal.

e. Hightower - This one hurts - He's one of the best players on the defense when healthy, and plays a position that was thin and inexperienced to begin with. There isn't anyone on the CURRENT roster who is even a close to a possible replacement, nor does it look like there is anyone in FA that jumps off the list at inside LB. This is a big deal, though as a diabetic myself, he's doing the right thing for his family.

3 .Things the Pat can possibly do.

a. I think the lack of LB depth across the board means the Pats will likely play a lot more 4-3 alignments this year and hope Bentley can blossom.

b. I'm guessing that these opt outs is going to open up an additional $13-15MM in cap space (just a guess). I think that might open up some FA options. The picking are slim, as I mentioned, at ILB, but signing someone like Clowney, Ngakuae, or even Markus Golden, might be an option.

Regardless, replacing Hightower will be the toughest aspect of these opt outs. The other 4 guys I think can be worked around. But that's just my 2 cents

 

[lancerman]

How the **** is the rb position loaded? Is there a single back that would be a top 20 in this league on our team? We are rbbc. That requires depth. We lost our fullbacks. In addition we lost a very good lineman that would have helped with the run game.

 

[FCB02062]

Wonder if these guys are going to opt out for flu season 2021...

 

[RASTAN99]

Next man up.

Play ball...

 

[Uptown]

 

[patfanken]

How the **** is the rb position loaded? Is there a single back that would be a top 20 in this league on our team? We are rbbc. That requires depth. We lost our fullbacks. In addition we lost a very good lineman that would have helped with the run game.

That was of course, my personal opinion and that opinion was that a RB position of Michel, Burkhead, Harris, and White is more than adequate group of RB's to start the season. With a weaker OL, Michel averaged 4.5 ypc. Burkhead averaged 4.6 ypc Even James White who's receiving prowess is unquestioned, rushed for 4.0 ypc and he's a guy I've been very critical of when it comes to running the football.

Granted there are no superstars in the group. No one who is likely to be an all pro,, but the RB position is in good hands, and will only grow stronger with the additions of Andrews, Frodholt and Cajuste to the mix.

 

[Uptown]

Why is it that NE has a higher rate of opt out than other teams?

So we can sign Clowney/Snacks/Griffen, then Hightower, Chung, Cannon & Vitale will come back & play for free...Super Bowl

#IBBWT

 

[luuked]

a. Bolden - The running back position is loaded, and while they will likely miss Brandon on ST's, they should be able to fill that slot. No big deal.

I think you are sleeping on how problematic prep and evaluation of ST players will be this season.

Camp -- which generally is already light on full speed ST snaps -- was cut in half and all preseason games are gone. The latter specifically is a problem for players that could have made the team via their ST contributions (e.g. Jonathan Jones in the past). How do you evaluate ST players without full speed snaps ?

The more vets you have returning on ST the better off you are in this (hopefully) unique year.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Unlikely when a vaccine comes this winter.

Multiple strains already, and there is no guarantee that A) a vaccine will be produced and B) that the vaccine will be 100% effective against all strains

We have a flu vaccine, but it doesnt protect against all types of flu. It will be the same for COVID-19, we'll likely develop a vaccine against some popular strains, but not all of them

 

[BTTA]

Multiple strains already, and there is no guarantee that A) a vaccine will be produced and B) that the vaccine will be 100% effective against all strains

We have a flu vaccine, but it doesnt protect against all types of flu. It will be the same for COVID-19, we'll likely develop a vaccine against some popular strains, but not all of them

From what I've read, the differences in the mutations of C19 are very small, particularly when compared to the flu. There's more hope in that regard that a vaccine will have broad effectiveness.

But just getting a vaccine is such a challenge. We could always do what the Chinese and Russians are doing...use our population as Phase II and Phase III trail subjects.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

We have a flu vaccine, but it doesnt protect against all types of flu. It will be the same for COVID-19, we'll likely develop a vaccine against some popular strains, but not all of them

The diversity of flu strains is enormous. The genetic variability of SARSCoV2 is relatively quite small and represents normal genetic drift. I have confidence that at least one of the top candidate vaccines will create effective neuralizing antibodies to most or all strains.

However, the concern I have is how long-lived the antibody response will be. Will there be immunity for 1 month, 3 months, a year, 5 years? Nobody knows. We will know by the end of the year whether there is 4-5 months of coverage, with phase 3 trials beginning this week for Moderna and in the next few weeks for Pfizer.

 

[ralmat55]

Patfanken. Your 2 cents are always appreciated here. I was listening to Pat Kirwan on SiriusXM last evening driving home. He talked about a camp discussion with Belichick after the lockout in 2011. Belichick told Kirwan the Pats would be running more 4 man fronts to begin that season because of the lack of “installation time”. So, I’m expecting that will be case this season.

Hightower’s leadership, versatility and big play potential will be hard to replace, but I don’t think his loss and/or Chung’s loss will be crippling to this D. I think they can be a pretty darn good defense nonetheless.

 

[203Pat]

How the **** is the rb position loaded? Is there a single back that would be a top 20 in this league on our team? We are rbbc. That requires depth. We lost our fullbacks. In addition we lost a very good lineman that would have helped with the run game.

Agreed. We have an average RB that offers nothing in the passing game. We have a versatile RB who runs well and catches well but is injured a lot. We have an excellent receiving back who is an average runner. Then we have a complete unknown who didn't play last year.

 

[PScottman]

?

An antibody's (stimulated to be produced by the body by a vaccine) ability to combat the virus has a lifespan. While there have been studies on that lifespan, none are definitive (especially with no settled proven vaccine), but those done so far show a short lifespan. Viruses also mutate and while this one hasn't yet, no one can predict the future as to whether it could/would. This virus does not yet show similarities to viruses where a single vaccination produces long term protection.

There will also remain people who will never get vaccinated or have it lapse (whether voluntarily or those not "in the system" such as undocumented aliens, students on visas, vacationers, etc)

Put those things together and even with a vaccine, there will remain risk FOREVER of contracting COVID 19. We can file this under "things we don't like to talk about at parties".

 

[patman12]

Wonder if these guys are going to opt out for flu season 2021...

Ignoring the undeniably greater level of threat with Covid, since none of them has opted out of any prior flu season, then no.