There's no way we can afford the FA approach being similar to what we saw last season, correct?

[upstater1]

What was one of the big complaints about Belichick in his later years? That he let talented players go over relatively small amounts of money (e.g., Thuney and Karras). Barmore was literally drawing double teams at about the same rate as Aaron Donald. It was bad luck, not a bad deal.

Thuney is the only problem I saw with that spending. The Shaq Mason contract is what killed them. That money should have gone to Thuney.

Karras was misfit as a guard. He can only play center. He was not good as a guard that year.

 

[Pape]

Agreed, and while others might have different opinions on this, I think Onwenu was the most egregiously bad signing out of all of them. They made him the highest paid player on the team, and he wasn't much better than anyone else on that line.

Yeah, in hindsight it looks really bad. The only saving grace "might" be is a return to form; predicated on the new regime not pinballing him here and there every other week... still an overpay, but maybe not as egregious?

 

[upstater1]

Agreed on all except Barmore. Coming out of 2023, I think he was worth the extension.

All these players are better than they showed this year.

It's really telling that players were out of position when they were in position and making plays in prior years.

This isn't a player problem, it's a coaching problem.

Dugger was playing at Pro Bowl levels in 2022 and then we're supposed to believe he's the deep safety even though he's lining up at the LOS? How is he supposed to play deep safety from there?

When players like Jon Jones look lost, you know there is something wrong with the scheme and the design.

I don't blame the players.

 

[TommyD4207]

Yeah, in hindsight it looks really bad. The only saving grace "might" be is a return to form; predicated on the new regime not pinballing him here and there every other week... still an overpay, but maybe not as egregious?

$19 million/yr fully guaranteed for the next 2 years...he'd have to be an all-pro to make up for this year.

 

[Pape]

$19 million/yr fully guaranteed for the next 2 years...he'd have to be an all-pro to make up for this year.

LOL, fair enough... i did say "not as egregious"... read that as meaning i didn't remember/look up what the deal actually was

 

[Pape]

I don't blame the players.

Either do I... Its a business... they play to get paid

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The good news is I don’t think they can avoid spending even if they wanted to. Even if they wanted to roll 40m to next year again, which im no math whiz so not sure if they can even do that and stay under the 4 year required spending , theyd still hafta spend at least around 60m on new players after resignings, rookie alottment, and incentives met. So even if they wanted to take a ridiculously conservative approach again they still probably can’t

 

[PatsFan2]

Regardless of who the guy is calling the shots, I can't see anyway it would be justifiable to run with the same "sitting on your hands" approach to things we saw last offseason. You could understand it to extents last year, as it felt like they were focused on retaining guys on the market and having sort of a reset season. I didn't completely agree, but it made sense in that perspective.

I really feel like you can't pull that crap again this year. Losing the number 1 pick made you lose that privilege entirely. I think I could have understood the build primarily through the draft approach had we been in a position to stockpile picks, but now you will very likely not be in that position at pick 4. The teams that can afford doing this are teams like Detroit that pretty much fell into a gold mine of picks from the Stafford trade, or Houston with the Watson trade. I love that approach IF you have the draft capital and talent on the roster that you can sell off for that capital. But that's not our situation.

You are going to have to be more aggressive with your money if you want this team to show any signs of growth next year. Your best signing can't be a backup running back. The draft simply won't be enough. You have more money than anyone else with next to no one to resign. Use it.

Get us Tee Higgins or give us death. I hear talk about Cincy wanting to retain him: and they already have Ja'Marr Chase. Tee Higgins Agent would be Foolish to give them a hometown discount when he could get a Brinks haul in FA.

 

[imahobgoblin]

I believe in fixing the trenches first. The priority of free agency needs to be having a starting team in place prior to the draft, and stop this foolishness of a o-lineman can play any position on the line. Not every FA is versatile. That was a total Wolf failure. We need a left tackle. Get two in FA. Don't get a right tackle or guard and pray he works out at left. We need a right tackle. Get two. If Andrews and Strange are healthy, they are fine at left guard and center. Onwenu is a right guard. Put him there. In case of emergencies only, break the glass and use Strange and Onwenu at other positions. This is an emergency and not a norm.

I understand signing four tackles will be tough. Sign the two best starters you can get and then each has a lower rated backup that has had some decent playing time in the league. Allow Lowe, Wallace, Robinson, and Sow compete for a backup role or practice squad position. This gives us draft flexibility and we don't have to pick based on need.

I am sick of Godchaux. The dingbat said they had good game after giving up 140 yards rushing. I don't know what planet he is on. He runs his mouth too much. Time to go. We have to go into next season assuming we have no Barmore and stop hoping he is ok. So we need two massive men in the middle to stop the run. There are a few good ones in the draft.

 

[imahobgoblin]

Get us Tee Higgins or give us death. I hear talk about Cincy wanting to retain him: and they already have Ja'Marr Chase. Tee Higgins Agent would be Foolish to give them a hometown discount when he could get a Brinks haul in FA.

If the player is happy, he is happy. You can't force him take more money. But if we did sign him, we cannot expect him to play 17 games. He does have an injury bug that causes him to miss games. He has played only 12 games for the last 2 seasons. If we sign him, we need depth and a backup plan for when he misses games. Is that worth $35 million per year?

 

[PatsFan2]

If the player is happy, he is happy. You can't force him take more money. But if we did sign him, we cannot expect him to play 17 games. He does have an injury bug that causes him to miss games. He has played only 12 games for the last 2 seasons. If we sign him, we need depth and a backup plan for when he misses games. Is that worth $35 million per year?

That I don't care about: Injuries happen...do you want to watch a ****ty Offense next season like the current?? I know I don't!! Outbid other Teams for Tee Higgins it has come to that. The Patriots Need Him the most.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

https://www.bleacherreport.com/articles/10149530-2025-nfl-free-agency-big-board-ranking-top-50-players-before-wild-card-weekend

I'd kind of like to see them go crazy with DEFENSIVE signings this offseason. Especially if they Vrabel in as HC.

S Jevon Holland
EDGE Azeez Ojulari
CB Charvarius Ward
LB Dre Greenlaw
DT BJ Hill

And then draft EDGE Abdul Carter from Penn State at #4. Defensive depth chart would be:

IDL: Barmore, Hill, Godchaux (White on passing downs too)
EDGE: Ojulari, White, Carter, Jennings (some Tavai as well)
LB: Greenlaw, Bentley, Tavai, Mapu
CB: Gonzalez, Ward, Marcus Jones
S: Holland, Dugger, Peppers

With good coaching I think that can be an elite unit. It's a lot of money, but we have plenty of cap space for them now and in the future.

Offensively, Higgins seems harder to sell so I'm not confident we can pry him from CINC or from teams with more ready-made to excel situations. But even if the offense isn't "solved" next year, they can still add respectability.

LT Dan Moore
RT Morgan Moses
WR Darius Slayton

None of those 3 are on that top 50 list, but I think all would be starters here. Still not enough talent on offense to "solve" things, but if they make a good hire there's be enough to foster Maye's development IMO. Set yourself up so next year your seen as ready to turn the corner on offense, with a great defense in place.

 

[Urgent]

Imagine the money they would've had if they hadn't blown it on Dugger, Owenu, Barmore and Rham. Dugger and Owenu should've been let to walk in FA and Barmore and Rham would be on prove it deals. Just awful GM'ing.

And here's the challenge with spending.
Barmore would have accepted a "prove it" deal - given the market for DT's?? Let Onwenu walk???
But even those deals some of us are regretting.
Same with the year the Pats went out and got Agholor, Bourne, Henry, Jonnu Smith, Trent Brown, Godchaux, and Judon. We regretted half of those.
Plenty of recent exciting free agent deals quickly backfired, like Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson.

So there's some excitement about having >$100M in cap space - but "burning cash" is not a solution to winning.

 

[imahobgoblin]

That I don't care about: Injuries happen...do you want to watch a ****ty Offense next season like the current?? I know I don't!! Outbid other Teams for Tee Higgins it has come to that. The Patriots Need Him the most.

Yes, every Pats fan on here wants to watch a horrible offense. How did you know?

I get that you think its as easy as outbidding people and you automatically get the player because your fantasy football and video games say so, but that is not reality. Calvin Ridley didn't want to come here even though we outbid everyone. Brandon Aiyuk didn't want to come here even though we would pay the most. One week ago, Higgins said he wanted to stay with the Bengals. “Being paid as a wide receiver 1 isn’t the top motivator: I’m playing with one of the best QBs, one of the best WRs. That opens things up for me. In this offense, everyone gets a chance to be spotlighted.”

Oh no Tee, you can't do that because PatsFan2 says you are not allowed. You have to take the Patriots money because he says so. Ya right, whatever dude.

Of course we contact him if he becomes a free agent. By all means be the highest bidder. There is no guarantee he comes here. You have to have other plants to build a football team. There are other WR to help develop Maye and help us win in FA and draft. We have to cover all basis. Its not Higgins or die.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Barmore would have accepted a "prove it" deal - given the market for DT's?? Let Onwenu walk???

Given his current health situation, he's a massive risk. He'd be on a 1 year deal. With that said, I don't think he ever plays again.

As far as Onwenu goes, why pay him top 5 tackle money? He's not even that good.

 

[Ring 6]

Get us Tee Higgins or give us death. I hear talk about Cincy wanting to retain him: and they already have Ja'Marr Chase. Tee Higgins Agent would be Foolish to give them a hometown discount when he could get a Brinks haul in FA.

Will Tee Higgins really be impacted by getting 110 mill instead of 120 mill?
Conceivably he will never spend it all either way. What is really at stake is whether he puts more value on the ego of how his contract compares to others or being in the best situation
We’ve reached the point where contracts are more money than they could ever spend so bidding wars shouldn’t mean much for the top guys.
But you cannot underestimate “I’m better than so and do, f u if you won’t pay me more”

 

[Ring 6]

And here's the challenge with spending.
Barmore would have accepted a "prove it" deal - given the market for DT's?? Let Onwenu walk???
But even those deals some of us are regretting.
Same with the year the Pats went out and got Agholor, Bourne, Henry, Jonnu Smith, Trent Brown, Godchaux, and Judon. We regretted half of those.
Plenty of recent exciting free agent deals quickly backfired, like Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson.

So there's some excitement about having >$100M in cap space - but "burning cash" is not a solution to winning.

I disagree. You have to burn the cash. You have to maximize every penny.
You will never win on every signing. Every team has a percentage of their cap tied up in overpayment vs what they get. So what. It’s not better to have no one and pocket the money. We could have signed 3 $10 million busts this year and we’d be pretty much right where we are. Kraft keeping it in the bank isn’t better than a player getting it

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Huge splashes in free agency rarely if ever work out. We need to build up depth and find solid starters for good money, not Brinks money. If there's any Brinks signings, they should be of the VERY short term variety.

 

[Ring 6]

Huge splashes in free agency rarely if ever work out. We need to build up depth and find solid starters for good money, not Brinks money. If there's any Brinks signings, they should be of the VERY short term variety.

How so? Spending the available cap money will always work out better than not sounding it. How you spend it matters but we are talking about committing to spend as freely as the other teams do and not having one arm tied behind our back. Being last in cash spent on players since he took ownership means Kraft had put us at a financial disadvantage to compete. We overcame it for many years but without the best player and best coach ever we are just another team, and the impact is dreadful. We look like a team that spends the least money on players. Thats not a coincidence.

 

[Hogo145]

Imagine the money they would've had if they hadn't blown it on Dugger, Owenu, Barmore and Rham. Dugger and Owenu should've been let to walk in FA and Barmore and Rham would be on prove it deals. Just awful GM'ing.

I have zero problem with the Barmore contract. The bloodclot thing happened after the extension and before that he looked like everything you wanted in a young DLineman. That's just bad luck.