That free agency "haul" was crap, as many of us said at the time. Jonnu Smith, Hunter Henry, and Nelson Agholor for roughly $40M AAV? How is that efficient spending? The Pats backloaded those contracts, so now the big money is due.
You seem to say everything the Patriots do is crap, I suspect you said Gilmore other great free agent signings were crap... do you ever come back here and admit when you were wrong?
Big money? They're near the 90 man roster limit now, who do they need to sign? Agholor is in the final year of his deal, he could be traded tomorrow, he could be extended tomorrow and his cap hit would be nothing, it could possibly open up a bunch of cap space... he's essentially on a one year deal in 2022.
And they're not two year contracts for Smith and Henry; trying to get out of them next year would come at a fairly big dead cap hit, so they'd need to extend them to spread it out. Smith, in particular, might be the worst FA signing in the NFL last year. They'd need to take a cap hit of over $13M in 2023 just to part ways with him, as he's almost fully guaranteed for three years. People don't realize just how "all-in" the Patriots were in 2021. They paid very little on their FA signings and backloaded it aggressively, way above the cap spike percentage.
Why the F would they want out from under Hunter Henry's contract, he was one of the best TE's in football last season. He was tied for the most TD's by any TE in the entire NFL last year on an offense that ranked 25th in passing attempts. He was a rookie QB's best friend.
And speaking of rookie QB's, you seriously believe that Agholor and Jonnu's receiving yards and TD's were cut in half from the year prior because their talent fell off? Absurd.
The Patriots didn't sign Aaron Rogers or Patrick Mahomes in the offseason, they drafted a QB. And at the end of one disheartening loss, can't recall whether it was the Miami opener where Harris fumbled on the goal line or the Tampa game where Folk missed the game winner, but Mac was wandering around the field looking upset. Bill literally grabbed his hand and quickly led him off the field like a small lost child so he wouldn't open his mouth to some reporter in frustration.
Mac was a rookie. Many of you guys are acting like he was a ten year vet and the passing game should reflect that because the Pats went out and bought a bunch of high priced free agent weapons... laughable. He was a rookie, they ranked 25th in pass attempts for that reason. At one point early in the season he was top ten in pass attempts, then they seriously curtailed his attempts. They were protecting Mac from himself. He needed to be held by the hand and shown the way. You guys act like he was an season All Pro vet who was failed by his weapons... it was the other way around, despite how well he may have played as a rookie.
What do you mean by "maximizes flexibility" ? Sounds like some Billspeak to spin everything into an ingenious move, when in fact the 2021 contracts were completely against the grain of everything Bill has done previously in free agency. These contracts do not maximize flexibility at all; they're merely huge money dumps that tie up cap space to minimize flexibility. They lost a star player (Jackson) and had almost no money to spend this offseason for a reason.
"Billspeak" = typical BB hating rhetoric which shows a clear bias.
When in the history of BB's tenure in New England were they starting completely over, had cleared the entirety of their dead cap, had huge gaping holes on their roster and means to fill them? Never is the answer, of we might have to back to the early 2000's and even then they signed many of their own free agents. It wasn't Bill who did something different, the circumstances were different than any time in his tenure. They were coming off 4 Super Bowls with 3 victories and had burned through all their cap to make it happen. It was a rebuild, from the ground up. Almost every offseason in the two decades in between they were signing their own free agents instead of other teams... that was the major difference.
It's an open question if Agholor is even good enough to make the roster, or maybe he'll be a #4 type of receiver. Smith isn't good and never has been. Henry is a solid, unspectacular tight end. They're paying 43.8M this year for those three. That's embarassing.
This is just a joke. Agholor coming off a season with the Raiders where he had nearly 1000 yards, 8 TD's and led the NFL in yards per reception suddenly fell off... just coincidently when he was paired with a rookie QB and an O-Line that for the first quarter of the season didn't know who to block... so now he's in danger of getting cut or might be a #4 at best. Sounds legit.
Smith wasn't good in Tennessee where they ranked 31st and 30th in pass attempts his last two years there and he had to share targets with AJ Brown and Corey Davis? Does blocking count for anything... is this fantasy football we're talking about? Jonnu was one of the most coveted TE free agents in the league that offseason because he was good, you don't WTF you're talking about.
Hunter Henry has been one of the best TE's in the league anytime he has been healthy, he has obviously had some health issues, but stayed healthy all last season. Embarrassing is the negativity infused in every post you make here, where players on other teams are good or even great but the moment they become Patriots they suddenly suck. Take your meds.
