Who do you want back in 2006?

[Miguel]

Read this online today. Might make it easier to sign Givens and Seymour
to long-term contracts. If 07 is uncapped. Givens and Sey will want to
wait until then. However, Givens is only a RFA if 07 uncapped. Does he
take a big signing bonus this year.

Why would Givens sign a one-year deal with the Patriots taking on the injury risk for another year when he can get a longer deal in free agency passing on the injury risk to his new team??

 

[Mike the Brit]

Christian Fauria, TE - Must not be resigned at all costs. My wife thinks that he is a Greek God.

Informed sources say that Mrs F. is not so shabby. So, if the worst comes to the worst ...

David Givens, WR - Consider him as good as gone. He will do much better in free agency than he would with the Pats.

Givens, Branch and Brady have been better than ever together this season.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Exclusive Rights Free Agents (in other words, not really FAs yet):
Randall Gay, CB - Keep
Gene Mruczkowski, C - Keep
Guss Scott, S - Keep
Billy Yates, G - Keep

Unrestricted Free Agents:
Tom Ashworth, OT - Pay him the going rate for a swing tackle backup
Matt Chatham, LB - Vet min
Troy Brown, WR - Vet min
Andre Davis, WR - Same deal as Beisel. Two-year deal averaging $840,000 on the cap
Don Davis, LB - Vet min
Tim Dwight, WR - Same deal as Beisel. Two-year deal averaging $840,000 on the cap
Heath Evans, FB - Vet min
Christian Fauria, TE - Must not be resigned at all costs. My wife thinks that he is a Greek God. Oh sure, make your wife happy, give him more time TV time as an analyst and cut the best reserve TE in the business. Some guys are just slaves to their wives every wish, sigh.
Doug Flutie, QB - Vet min
David Givens, WR - Consider him as good as gone. He will do much better in free agency than he would with the Pats.
Antrell Hawkins, CB - Slightly better deal than Beisel's. Two year deal averaging $900,000 on the cap.
Stephen Neal, G - Suspect that he will give the Pats a hometown discount. 5-year deal averaging $2.5 million. That average is less than the average of the deals that Woody, Adam Timmerman, and Jeno James and a little bit more than Andruzzi's deal.
Hank Poteat, CB - Vet min.
Chad Scott, CB - Vet min
Michael Stone, S - Slightly better deal as Izzo. 4 year deal. $300,000 signing bonus. Average cap hit in the $700,000 area.
Ross Tucker, OL - Vet min
Adam Vinatieri, PK - Signed to a front-loaded long-term deal averaging $2 million. Is he worth the $3 million it would take to tag him??Akers' average per year is $2.293 million, Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski's average is $1.74 million, Rackers' average is $1.625 million and Wilkins' average is $1.569 million.

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[Miguel]

Oh sure, make your wife happy, give him more time TV time as an analyst and cut the best reserve TE in the business. Some guys are just slaves to their wives every wish, sigh.

I did not think of that. I was hoping that Fauria would catch on with another team. If Fauria becomes a TV analyst, then she will be watching every game with me.

 

[fgssand]

Ashworth, Givens and Vinatieri!!

Can anyone explain why Adam has not gotten an extension??

His agent ws suspended for a year last summer......A.V will play his entire career in New England, even if we have to franchise him every year!

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I did not think of that. I was hoping that Fauria would catch on with another team. If Fauria becomes a TV analyst, then she will be watching every game with me.

That should civilize you fast!

 

[mgteich]

IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
My first priority would be to cut Poole, sign Chad Scott, Hawkins, Poteat and Stone so we could then focus on the offense.
===============================================
DEFENSE

The defense could easily be ready to the first week of free agency.

The consensus is to sign all at the "right price", except for Poole and Starks. I guess so. The defense is in great shape. Miguel gives reasonable potential deals. I would pay more for Chad Scott if we are going to cut Starks and Poole, and sign him to a 3-year deal. Here is our 2006 defense before signing free agents.

7 DL Seymour, Wilfork, Warren, Green, Wright, Hill, and Klecko
9 LB McGinist,Vrabel,Bruschi,Colvin
Brown,Beisel,Izzo,Claridge,TBC
3 DB Samuel,Hobbs,Gay
3 S Wilson,Sanders,G.Scott
3 FA DB C. Scott, Hawkins, Poteat
3 bubble Chatham, Stone, Davis (need to beat out 3 of above)

BOTTOM LINE
Sign the ERFA's (Gay and Guss Scott)
Cut Poole ASAP
Decide whether to bring Starks to camp (no roster bonus)
Sign Chad Scott, Hawkins, Poteat, and Stone (wait on Chatham and Davis)
(or other jags)
Look for a backup DL or two and a DB or two (but no panic)
========================================

OFFENSE

The signed 2006 offense needs help. We NEED to sign some of our free agents and get help from the draft or free agency.

2 QB: Brady, Cassell
3 RB: Dillon, Faulk, Pass
2 TE: Graham, Watson
2 WR: Branch, Johnson
4 C/OG: Koppen, Mankins, Hochstein,Mruczkowksi/Yates
3 OT: Light, Kaycur, Gorin

This fills only 16 positions. We need at least eight more
1 backup QB
1 starting OG
1 backup swing OT
3-4 wide receivers
1 backup tight end
1 backup rb/fb

We're OK if we sign ALL of our free agents
Flutie, Neal, Ashworth, Givens, Brown, Dwight, Davis, Fauria and Evans.
For each NOT signed, we need to replace them, and even then we need to sign several more players for competition.

BOTTOM LINE
I think there is a lot of work to do to bring back our offense for 2006. The biggest decisions will be at wide receiver.
=================================

SPECIAL TEAMS
As long as he performs, I suppose we can continue to pay Vinatieri at 30% more than any kicker in the history of the game.
=================================================

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Miguel, I too have the Fauria problem but do you think re:Givens extremely likely departure that the Pats are saving their future WR cap money for one WR, The Twig? Or maybe they plan to spend above Pats norm to try to keep Big Sey?

 

[fgssand]

Miguel, I too have the Fauria problem but do you think re:Givens extremely likely departure that the Pats are saving their future WR cap money for one WR, The Twig? Or maybe they plan to spend above Pats norm to try to keep Big Sey?

I really think there is room for all three ( Sey, DGIV & AV) and Neal as well. There is no reason, barring rediculous competitive contracts being thrown at any of them for this not to happen. I really think you will see these four on this team long term.

 

[BionicPatriot]

My top guys are Gay, Neal, Givens and Adam. The rest can walk..Others I want for depth purposes..

Chatam and Davis.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I really think there is room for all three ( Sey, DGIV & AV) and Neal as well. There is no reason, barring rediculous competitive contracts being thrown at any of them for this not to happen. I really think you will see these four on this team long term.

Dead wrong.
Big money will be thrown at Givens, whom I really like, but sayonara.
Bigger money will be thrown at Big Sey.

 

[fgssand]

Dead wrong.
Big money will be thrown at Givens, whom I really like, but sayonara.
Bigger money will be thrown at Big Sey.

Hey we can hope we keep DGIV anyway, maybe you are right though, someone coudl come along and overpay for him as they did for David Patten. Seymour isn't going anywhere next year, but we should pay him what he is worth after that and keep Richard Seymour in NE. Players of his worth do not often come along. He is a crucial member of the "must keep" nucleus, that will keep this dynasty alive.