Also, the Patriots are not renowned excellent cap managers, they are cheap and get rid of players before they get expensive, lol
A lot of the time they make the right move, but let's not pretend they manage the cap beautifully, because they don't
Couple of points to add to your thoughts:
1) I don't disagree with you that Romo would be a solid move for any number of teams, and I'm sure that we'll see several who are interested. As
@AndyJohnson reminds us, Romo does have an injury history, so it may/may not ultimately work out for them, but I certainly agree with you that he instantly makes a team like the Broncos much more formidable than they already are. Even a team like the NYJ probably compete for a wildcard spot if he's able to stay healthy.
As noted, that's a big "if." That said, I also believe that some of Romo's injury concerns may be a bit overstated; after all, he's played in 13+ games in 9/11 past seasons. He had some bad luck with the collarbone thing and will probably have to manage some back pain, but I don't think we can automatically assume either way that he'll be healthy or injury prone. People said the same thing about Manning, who came back and threw 55 touchdown passes, then later went on to win another Super Bowl. In the end, it's possible that both sides could be correct (and obviously also wrong on some level). Romo may miss 4-5 games per year in his next couple of seasons and he may
still be a major upgrade for that team.
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2) I strongly disagree with you opinion that "
the Patriots are not renowned excellent cap managers," and I also disagree with the notion that "
they are cheap and get rid of players before they get expensive." As a matter of fact, that's what allows them to be so effective at managing the cap. They draft pretty well when compared to the other 31 teams, and their success is predicated on utilizing those cheap, rookie contracts. They are not "cheap," but rather careful about who they give major, long-term deals to. Those are reserved for players who are versatile, show good leadership, have an excellent work ethic, and lots of talent. Belichick is obviously the one who makes that decision based on whatever criteria he sees fit, but I know that I'm damn glad that we didn't overpay for some guys that so many wanted to keep.
Let's also remember that they're projected to have approx. 60-70m dollars in available cap space this offseason, so Belichick has checked off both boxes in terms of the usual 12-4 record and AFCCG appearances, PLUS the flexibility to manage his team for the future in many different ways. That's very impressive in my opinion.
