Which one of our sloppy seconds will Denver sign?

[TBR]

I believe Amendola will be extended and restructured to reflect his role as kick returner, short punt returner and as a receiver. His value to the Patriots is clearer as his role evolved this year.

I also think Vereen will get a deal that looks like the Eagles' Darren Sproles - three years, $10.5 million, $5.5 million guaranteed, $3.5 cap hit including performance incentives. That's about what the market is for Vereen. Good money, but not a cap buster like Revis or Mayo.

I want to believe Vereen will be signed. But why would they draft James White last year then? Is he not a very similar RB in terms of catching it out the backfield?

 

[supafly]

If the WR Demaryius Thomas is tagged, that will be $12.8 million against the cap, up from $4.7 million in 2014.

But you keep failing to realize that they have sufficient cap space, so what is this big "problem" that you speak of?

You're analysis seems to be quite one-sided to me, which is understandable to some extent since we're on a Patriots fan site. If we're being honest though, DEN and NE aren't really any different, considering that DEN has less players of significance and much more cap space at their disposal.

Like I said, they are saying the same exact thing about us being in bad shape on their forum. The truth of the matter is that neither team will likely be that much different for 2015, in terms of projected victories. Players come and go, for every team in every year. The trick is being able to field a competitive team with successfully managing the turnover with cheap, rookie contracts via the draft.

With Peyton Manning, Demarius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, and Julius Thomas (if they choose), they are likely to be quite competitive still and looking at double digit victories barring major injuries at positions of importance.

What happens in 2016 and beyond is irrelevant to me, because they are likely to go into a rebuilding phase with the loss of Peyton Manning at QB. It should be noted however, that would also free up 20+ million in cap room whenever that happens, which will obviously even things out on some level.

 

[supafly]

I want to believe Vereen will be signed. But why would they draft James White last year then? Is he not a very similar RB in terms of catching it out the backfield?

While J.White was likely drafted to potentially replace Vereen should it come to it, he is still way behind in his ability to pick up the blitz, along with limited experience/knowledge of our system. That isn't even bringing his talent level into the equation.

Life would go on without Vereen and plans have been put in place to address that loss, but it would still be a big obstacle to overcome and there's certainly no guarantee that White could do what Vereen does.

 

[goheels22002]

But you keep failing to realize that they have sufficient cap space, so what is this big "problem" that you speak of?

You're analysis seems to be quite one-sided to me, which is understandable to some extent since we're on a Patriots fan site. If we're being honest though, DEN and NE aren't really any different, considering that DEN has less players of significance and much more cap space at their disposal.

Like I said, they are saying the same exact thing about us being in bad shape on their forum. The truth of the matter is that neither team will likely be that much different for 2015.

This chart has them at $122 million right now. http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/denver-broncos/

If the cap is $142 million, the Broncos have $20 million left to sign their own free agents, their draft choices and leave room for mid-season acquisitions and performance bonuses. If they tag D. Thomas, that eats $12.8 million of their remaining $20 million.

How much will it cost them to re-sign starters TE Julius Thomas, TE Jacob Tamme, DL Pot Roast, C Will Montgomery, G Orlando Franklin, LB Steven Johnson, LB Brandon Marshall, S Rahim Moore?

The way it stands right now, they cannot sign any of those guys.

They need a running back, and their biggest issue late in the season was that their quarterback sucked and will cost them $21.5 million against the cap in 2015, or 14% of their salary cap.

 

[supafly]

This chart has them at $122 million right now. http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/denver-broncos/

If the cap is $142 million, the Broncos have $20 million left to sign their own free agents, their draft choices and leave room for mid-season acquisitions and performance bonuses. If they tag D. Thomas, that eats $12.8 million of their remaining $20 million.

How much will it cost them to re-sign starters TE Julius Thomas, TE Jacob Tamme, DL Pot Roast, C Will Montgomery, G Orlando Franklin, LB Steven Johnson, LB Brandon Marshall, S Rahim Moore?

The way it stands right now, they cannot sign any of those guys.

They need a running back, and their biggest issue late in the season was that their quarterback sucked and will cost them $21.5 million against the cap in 2015, or 14% of their salary cap.

Again...we've gone over this many times in the past month or two, and Miguel would disagree with you. He has stated several scenarios where they can easily have 30-35 million of room. As you said, they currently have 20 million right now.

I highly doubt that DEN (or anyone else for that matter) is going to stand pat and refuse to free up another penny. There will be restructures/cuts/moves just like any other team.

I'm much more concerned with our situation to be honest with you. I think we go through this dog and pony show just about every year, and yet the AFC still remains competitive with the usual suspects.

 

[supafly]

their biggest issue late in the season was that their quarterback sucked and will cost them $21.5 million against the cap in 2015, or 14% of their salary cap.

Our own Bill Belichick has pointed to the "12 percent rule" in terms of franchise QBs and cap space alloted, so Peyton Manning taking up 14 percent really isn't that big of a deal; particularly since it's likely only going to be for one more year anyway.

 

[BingoBrown]

Welker is not coming back because this.

 

[supafly]

I could see both Indy and Denver making a run at Vereen. I think he'd be a nice compliment to both of their offenses.

Then again, you could probably say that for all of the other 31 teams.

 

[strngplyr]

I think Denver makes a strong push to trade for Tom Brady before they finally decide to accept PM's return to stat padding.



As for our free agents, they'll try to sign them all to simply say "we have X amount of SB winners", but fortunately, none of them will actually sign.

Vereen returns, Ridley returns, Ghost returns, McCourty and Revis return.

Wilfork is cut and signs elsewhere pissed off that he isn't worth 8m anymore and played his hardball negotiator roll once again, but still loves NE enough to not join Denver.

Mayo accepts a paycut because he's missed 20 of 32 games in the past 2 seasons.

Danny Aiken retired a Super Bowl winner and we sign the hottest long snapper prospect in recent league history "XXXXX XXXXX" ...I'd say his name but i "forgot" it.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

I don't think Welker and Bill ever saw eye to eye and I'm not sure that he ever really bought into the Patriot way either. He seemed to be really eager to break out of the media lockdown here. I'd be as surprised to see him coming back as if Brandon Spikes came back to NE.

 

[pctronics0072]

I do not think we as fans have seen enough from White to know, but the coaches in practice and whatever already know what they have in White. As such, Vereen getting resigned or not will be be decided by that.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

I want to believe Vereen will be signed. But why would they draft James White last year then? Is he not a very similar RB in terms of catching it out the backfield?

white is no where near as physically gifted as Vereen is, so he would be a pretty big drop off from a play making stand point

I could be wrong, when I get home I'll look up their combine numbers, but I thought I remembered Whites being pretty average