Some news and notes for this morning:
Internal ‘Blowback’ From Barmore Deal?
One of the issues that typically comes into play when extending players is it often resets the market not just at the NFL level, but sometimes internally.
It sounds like Christian Barmore’s deal this offseason potentially has had that impact for the Patriots.
We’ve mentioned Davon Godchaux in this space the last couple of days, with the 29-year-old veteran clearly not happy about heading into the final year of his deal ahead of training camp.
Godchaux is a solid player up front, with both he and Barmore becoming a pretty good duo and last season was definitely a good example of it. Barmore ended up being rewarded with a four-year deal with a maximum value of $92 million extension, which included $41.8 of that money guaranteed.
According to Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal, that deal seemingly raised some eyebrows internally among players, and it’s going to be interesting to see the long-term effects we see from other negotiations.
“It certainly has its pitfalls, about like, ‘If you pay player ‘x’ a certain amount, what’s player ‘y’ going to think?'” said Bedard. “And I do think, maybe the Patriots, I don’t know if they’ve been surprised by it, but they have gotten blowback internally on the Christian Barmore contract. And it’s going to be interesting to see how they go forward with that.”
It’s a tough situation, and it’s difficult to say how Godchaux, who obviously has spent a lot of time with the young defensive tackle, ultimately views himself against his teammate.
The problem is, Godchaux is 29 and Barmore is only 24. So the window for both players is significantly different. Barmore is in his prime, while Godchaux is likely facing one of his last NFL contracts.
Still, the fact Barmore – who has arguably been one of the most significant additions on defense in years – was retained is huge, given that it helps maintain a key piece up front for them to build around. At the same time, as Bedard points out, he’s also now a measuring stick guys will now be comparing themselves against as more players begin hitting the end of their deals.
Wilfork Sees a little Seymour in Barmore
Former Patriot Vince Wilfork appeared on The Patriots Report with Price & Hogan this week and gave his thoughts on Barmore.
Wilfork says that when he looks at Barmore, he’s reminded of Patriots great Richard Seymour, and believes Barmore is still just getting started.
“When I look at him, I see a younger Seymour. I mean, he just has all the attributes,” said Wilfork. “He will get even better once he gets a little older and he starts understanding a lot more and understanding the game a lot more. That’s when you’re going to see his game really elevate to another level. But I definitely do see Seymour. He’s long, he’s strong, athletic. He loved the game, but he’s still young. So you got to give him time to come into his own. And once he does, you’re going to see a pretty solid, good player.”
“He’s going to be one of those players that you’re going to check down the list and say, ‘Okay, guys that came through New England, who some of the top guys are?’ he’s going to be on that list. So if he just keeps going in the direction that he’s going, he’ll be an amazing football player.”
Wilfork also gave his thoughts on the situation with Godchaux, noting that he’s spoken to Godchaux and he sees a little bit of himself in the veteran, which he feels should the club work things out would help the Patriots maintain a solid nucleus up front.
“But the thing is, you know, he’s, you have a Seymour and then you have a Wilfork, right?” said Wilfork, referring to his playing days with his former teammate. “So, Godchaux, he’s more like you say, he’s more like me. And he has to understand the game. He has to understand like, you know, you’re older, what they’re going to ask you to do, it’s not going to be a lot, you know? But it’s important. And he has to understand what his role is going to be.”
“And it’s nothing against him. It’s just the nature of the beast. And I told him, I said, ‘Hey, once you get to that 30 year old range where we are in a position that we play, we’re old.’ So I know New England would love to keep him. I hope he stays because I think that defense is a lot better with him than without him. And I would love to see him and Barmore together.”
“But, you know, business is business. But hopefully, they can stay together because I think that’ll be special for New England. They can do some things defensively with those two guys that keep us pretty solid defensively.”
Patriots Culture Reset
The narrative still being floated out there remains that the club was unable to sign any impactful free agents this offseason, despite having a significant amount of cap space and money to spend. However, as we saw during the Calvin Ridley negotiations, the Patriots started off free agency without a quarterback and with quite a bit of uncertainty.
With so many questions and very few answers, those players simply balked at the idea of relocating their families without any shot at postseason incentives and possibly being part of a bad football team. So they went elsewhere.
For those of us who have gotten used to seeing the team be in contention, it ended up being an up-close glimpse of how the other half lives, especially coming off a 4-13 finish and the team parting ways with Bill Belichick.
Now they’re starting over with an unknown head coach in Jerod Mayo, and back in March, not enough talent on the roster to make guys want to uproot their families to a poor team in a bad-weather city.
Things might look different a year from now considering that since then, Drake Maye is here and the discussion seems to be ticking upward in terms of how the future might look. But there’s still a lot of work ahead.
In the meantime, they focused on bringing back the key guys who – despite the talk of ‘signing guys who were part of a 4-13 team’ – are foundational players and part of the culture Mayo is trying to instill. Among them were players like Hunter Henry, Mike Onwenu, Kendrick Bourne, and Kyle Dugger, all of whom were also part of the 10-7 team from 2021.
People weren’t happy about it. Yet it would have been tough because they would have had even more holes to fill had they not re-signed them. Some even went on to say the Patriots brought back players no one else wanted, which is a narrative Bedard disagreed with, noting that culture-wise, they were good moves.
“I don’t think it was because no one else wanted their guys. I don’t think that’s in fact, correct. I think all the players that they paid have some value out there. A lot of value, in a lot of cases,” said Bedard. “I don’t disagree with them spending on any of the guys that they did. They are guys that have been in the program. They do the right things. But I do think it is sort of starting off the Mayo regime on the right foot.”
There have been other comparisons to the signings falling into a similar category of what both Bill Parcells and Belichick did when the two coaches each came to the Patriots. They signed guys they worked with previously who did the right things and set a bar for others to follow in the locker room, helping establish a culture as they each rebuilt the roster.
In Mayo’s case, he was already here, and it was just a matter of taking the extra step of keeping guys who were already doing the right things in-house.
Granted, it’s tough to put some of those players in the same category as names like Bobby Hamilton, Brian Cox, Dave Meggett, or several others from that era. But at the end of the day, the idea is still the same.
The club needs everyone moving in the same direction and they kept enough of them around – in addition to the guys mentioned – to help Mayo and this coaching staff have success as they embark on this upcoming season.
Odds and Ends
Wilfork was asked in the interview with Price whether or not he could see himself coaching. He shot that down, but mentioned that he’s already told Mayo he’s around to help in another capacity if he’s needed and plans on attending practices when camp opens next month. “No, I don’t. I don’t want to coach,” said Wilfork. “You know, I loved it. But, you know, coaching at that level is demanding. And I don’t think my life is set up that way anymore. That is the reason I retired, because, it came a point where I was like, I’ve been doing this for 13 years. I’ve been listening to the same meetings and, the same this, and I’ve been doing the same exercise of it. I had to change some stuff up in life, and that’s why I got out of it, because it became too demanding. I wanted to do other things in life, but I will spend as much time I possibly can up there to help Jerod, whatever he may need. And I told him that, I’ve been to many camps. I’ve seen him, I’ve been around the players. So I’m going back up for training camp. So anything that I can possibly do for him, to help him, if I can come in and help him on some things, I’m totally for it, and he knows that.” … Wilfork also believes that last season won’t affect Belichick’s legacy and that we’ll see the future Hall of Fame coach back in the NFL coaching again at some point. “I don’t think [it will] have impact on his legacy, and, yes, I do think he will coach again,” said Wilfork. “I would love for him to coach again because I would love for him to get the record of all time, just for that selfish reason. Because I think he’s too close, and he deserves it. When you win, people are going to hate you. And when you win, it’s a microscope that’s is going to have every part of your life looked into always. That’s what happens when you’re a winner. Because they have to find something. So his legacy will live on. My kids’, kids will be reading about Bill Belichick, put it that way. And it should be that way.” … He was also asked about whether or not he’d like to be in Canton, and Wilfork said it’s not something he thinks about, but that it’s also tough for a nose tackle to make it due to the fact they don’t put up the same numbers on the stat sheet as other players. “I would love to be a Hall of famer, but if it doesn’t happen, I won’t lose no sleep,” said Wilfork. “And I know how hard it is. You know, I’m a nose tackle competing against guys like Warren Sapp. So I’m like, ‘I don’t have a number, you know, I mean, but my, I always ask people, what is the criteria? If you’re talking about sacks, stats, and numbers, okay, I don’t have those. But if you’re talking about a guy that impacted the game and changed the landscape of game, absolutely 100%. Because there’s no team I played against that didn’t have any game plan [against me]. There’s none. So when you talk about impacting the game, I did that. And I did that from a nose tackle position. I made plays from a nose tackle position that defensive ends don’t make.” … Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia are still coaching together, with Aaron Schultz of Bleacher Report pointing out that the two were spotted recently at the Manning Passing camp, working with Alabama QB Jalen Milroe.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
That topic of spending on your own players and not going nuts in free agency is a joke. And it was fueled by the media dangling lists of: (1) the offseason toys we can buy, and (2) the media fresh off a 4 win season over-reacting that this team’s roster is void and needing more that a few years rebuild. They condemned the team holistically in some statements. Reality in sports today is often blurred by the need for drama storys, Drama is a proven seller to new generations of fans. Reality/smelling salts: Big FA contracts has histrocially been a… Read more »