But if they lose him it means they could sign a corresponding player without losing a pick, right? So if no pick gained, at least one less pick lost?
Former Patriot Michael Floyd Signs with Vikings
- Thread starter jsinger121
- Start date
Yep, was going to write what Stitch did, too, though he did better than I would have. So...um...ditto: No he can't be a regular receiver, but as a 4th option with a very limited set of plays in specific situations -- and with his undeniable physical talents -- this seems like a great play.
They dressed three WRs on Sunday...while often using a 3 WR Set during the game. When Hogan hurt his hand and started to come off the field, the guy grabbing his helmet and replacing him was Slater....uggghhh. A timeout was called and Hogan came back before the next play but the point still stands. They have no WR depth right now. I'm not in love with Floyd either but as insurance, you're not gonna find better talent. Plus he played under Weis so he probably has at semblance of the offensive lingo.
I can't understand why anyone wouldn't like this move. They are thin at WR right now with Amendola's ankle situation. If Hogan, Mitchell or Edelman gets rolled up on this Sunday then we are looking at Matt Slater playing more snaps at WR.
Sure Floyd has had a down year but if the choice for next man up in the WR depth chart is Michael Floyd or any of the available street FAs, then the choice is Floyd every time.
Sure Floyd has had a down year but if the choice for next man up in the WR depth chart is Michael Floyd or any of the available street FAs, then the choice is Floyd every time.
He's due about $1.25 million for 3/17 of this year. That's a pretty expensive proposition for the Patriots. They have cap room left, but this reduces the amount that carries over to next year. With a lot of priorities, blowing $1.25 million of next year's cap for a longshot gives this move some downside.
I'm not sure whether they get cap relief for dui suspensions, though -- I think they definitely would for a drug policy escalated 4, 8 or season suspension, but I can't find on the internet whether this applies to DUI.
I'm not sure whether they get cap relief for dui suspensions, though -- I think they definitely would for a drug policy escalated 4, 8 or season suspension, but I can't find on the internet whether this applies to DUI.
By all means he's been a big bust as a first rounder and hasn't been good this year but I think there's reason to be optimistic. He played very, very well down the stretch for Arizona last season and Palmer's decline has been both precipitous and real enough that it's reasonable to assign him a sizable chunk of the blame. It's needed depth and a direct look at a guy that was probably on their 2017 radar in a big way 4 months ago.
So they'll be down to like 77 million to spend next offseason?
I was having a difficult time figuring out exactly how they were going to use that much money, so this certainly seems a risk worth taking.
They have a lot of players to sign, and every dollar they don't spend next year (assuming they meet the cash requirement) gets carried over.
They certainly have built up a nice surplus, but $1.2 million is not chicken feed for a potentially suspended rental who needs to move cross country and learn the playbook.
DH: "Well, I have lost a lot of my speed."
BB: "Can you make some fair catches?"
DH: "Yes."
BB: "We'll see you on Thursday, then."
How is he getting suspended this season? The league can't suspend (2 games) for a DUI absent a conviction, right? Unless he decides to plead guilty, there seems little chance he'd be tried before the end of the season.
I'm hazy on the exact details of the CBA at this point, but do they no longer await a conviction before suspension comes into play? I'd imagine it wouldn't be hard for his lawyer to stall it out long enough to prevent that from occurring before the Super Bowl. A 7 week turn around on a DUI seems aggressive.
Even if they don't isn't a first DUI (I realize he had one in college, but they only account for repeat offenses while part of the union) only one game?
Yeah, that's a good point -- I'm not sure. I'm also not sure whether he would get credit for the game he didn't play last week.
A suspension would be fine from the Pats point of view.
Assuming it takes a couple of weeks for a suspension to come and then a few weeks for an appeal. At that point Amendola is back healthy and they would get a roster exemption for Floyd. After all the process time, the roster exemption hopefully gets them through the Super Bowl and then they sit and hope for a comp pick. All it costs them is money.
Assuming it takes a couple of weeks for a suspension to come and then a few weeks for an appeal. At that point Amendola is back healthy and they would get a roster exemption for Floyd. After all the process time, the roster exemption hopefully gets them through the Super Bowl and then they sit and hope for a comp pick. All it costs them is money.
If you don't like this signing now, just wait until one more receiver gets hurt. This roster is one injury away from 2013 playoffs emergency mode. Remember Austin Collie?
May never see the field for the Pats, but it's still a good move.
May never see the field for the Pats, but it's still a good move.
Hester has five fumbles this year and looked terrible on Monday night. Pass. Would rather they just get by with whatever they have on the roster.
Good question although injuries sometimes help solve that. Coleman or Elandon Roberts came to mind first.
This is probably a good move. The Pats were thin at receiver, Griff Whalen was an underwhelming signing and Devin Lucien is probably not blowing them away in practice. Floyd has never lived up to the billing but he has talent and his new QB just might be able to make use of that.
But I just love the unrepentant nature of this.
"Any of you out there in the big world who expected me only to sign Boy Scouts post-Hernandez, go eat a bag of dicks, I'll sign whoever the hell I want."
I'd say Bill is trolling the mediots but it's better than that. He is just demonstrating the extent to which he doesn't give a damn about what anyone thinks. The ONLY measure is "could this make us better?"
But I just love the unrepentant nature of this.
"Any of you out there in the big world who expected me only to sign Boy Scouts post-Hernandez, go eat a bag of dicks, I'll sign whoever the hell I want."
I'd say Bill is trolling the mediots but it's better than that. He is just demonstrating the extent to which he doesn't give a damn about what anyone thinks. The ONLY measure is "could this make us better?"
It's pretty much chicken feed, given their roster construction moving forward. They will not be so crunched for a million bucks that it would override mitigating risk and potentially improving an 11-2 team in prime position for a Superbowl run. They could re-sign all their guys and still have 30+ million left basically to shore up depth or add a pass rusher or two. They are in amazing shape financially right now.
The only people who ever believed that the Patriot Way was ever a thing were......well....you to be honest. This was DUI not wife beating or pointing a gun at people. While I am shocked that Floyd went this far in waivers, every team in the league evaluated it as a business decision. Real in the Beli-boner.
My comment wasn't about the Patriot Way and I agree that stuff is wildly overblown. Belichick's Way, broadly speaking, is to coach guys with a single minded focus on winning, eliminate distractions and require players to focus only on what's in front of them, among other related themes. Whatever narrative exists out there about being "a cut above" is meaningless to me.
Regardless, I love that Bill made a move that was aimed at making the Pats better and ignored or severely minimized any concerns about the DUI and whatever anyone might say about signing such a player. And yes, a DUI of course isn't murder but one could have imagined the Pats being extra gunshy after the Hernandez thing. I'm just glad, and thoroughly enjoy, that they are not.
Except the Cardinals, right? Makes you wonder if they maybe are thinking they over-reacted now that they see a team took him. Though, given the Bidwells, I wonder if maybe it was a business decision to try to save a million bucks.
My guess, only teams still alive in the post-season hunt and in need of a WR, might view Floyd as a worthwhile pursuit. Would a non post-season team with 3-games left pick up a FA? They probably said why bother and lets save the dough.
BB bothered and saw the reward worth the risk,
This coupled with his salary is likely why teams passed on him.
One DUI can happen and the one as a student, while horrible, can be explained away. Passing out in your car at an intersection at age 27, after you have already had one DUI and been punished for it suggests there is a deeper problem here.
Now maybe this is his wake-up call and he will get himself in line. However the way this went down suggests there are larger issues than simply foregoing an Uber home from the bar.
That was a mid-season trade of a guy who was viewed as a athletic defensive freak that for reasons unexplained did not fit the BB mold, buy into the sytem etc.
IMO BB was seen as selling low and the buyer was seen as having little to lose adding a athletic defensive freak to a roster mostly empty of such talent.
My guess is that if BB cut Collins, he would have been claimed by the Browns.
So he got a conditional 3rd for him
Last edited:
Kind of funny, I saw him cut and thought "hey, the Pats could use him - nah, Belichick will never sign him."
Shows you what I know.
Seems like a low risk low upside depth addition, who just happens to have a known name/1st round pedigree. Whatever.
Shows you what I know.
Seems like a low risk low upside depth addition, who just happens to have a known name/1st round pedigree. Whatever.
I'm not seeing the 'never lived up to his billing talk'. As someone else noted, he played the last season and a half with a QB who can't throw long and outside anymore and the previous season had a revolving door. Those last two he still up 850ish yards. I know he was the 13th pick and people expect a superstar, but that's exactly what he looked like he was turning into when the QB situation went to shit. He may not help a Tom this year, but opposing teams will have to account for him and if they resigned him, I would expect him to have a huge year with Brady with some time in the system.
Im not sure that it is a bad move for the Cardinals. They aren't exactly firing on all cylinders and while I have no data at all to support this thought, given all the stuff that came put about guy-who-sure-seemed-to-have-his-head-on-straight Jamie Collins after his departure, I have a feeling that this wasn't strike one for Floyd.
The Bidwells are horrible people, but I can't hammer the Cardinals for this move.
In the year the Pats lost their own first rounder, how many former first rounders did they add?
-- Cooper
-- McClellin
-- Long
-- Mingo
-- Floyd
Plus three more guys who were 2nd rounders
-- Cooper
-- McClellin
-- Long
-- Mingo
-- Floyd
Plus three more guys who were 2nd rounders
Saw almost every snap of his college career. He was our only offensive deep threat on the field. Can't count how many times a ball would be chucked 40 yards downfield and he'd come down with it. He's the type of guy that can go up and snatch it over a DB.
Don't know what happened in Arizona. I suspect it had more to do with Palmer and Fitzgerald declining more than anything.
Don't know what happened in Arizona. I suspect it had more to do with Palmer and Fitzgerald declining more than anything.
Despite playing in Arizona for the last year and a half, he's never had more than 65 catches and had one 1000 yard season. I think expectations coming out of college were higher. I know the comparison is impossibly hard, but Fitzgerald caught 109 balls last year in Arizona. Not that Floyd should have been expected to match one of the better receivers in the game, but increased production was certainly possible.
As to having a huge year with Brady, I can see that, too. We know that some guys -- players who aren't able to sync up with Tom's thought process and make the right read/reactions on the fly -- don't have success in NE, so it's unclear now whether he'd fall into the broad Branch/Brown/Edelman/Welker/Hogan category or the broad Ocho/Galloway/Wayne category. But I love his size and general ability, and am also optimistic about the possibilities. In short, I think this is a great move, even while thus far in his career he has performed at a lower level than expected.
I suspect this acquisition is about more than depth and insurance for this year. I think it has forward looking aspects if Floyd fits in well. He has size and speed. He was drafted at 13. He is the type of player who wouldn't fall to the Pats in the first round and who the Pats would rarely, if ever, trade up to snag at the position he plays.
Some comments here from Larry Fitzgerald: http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/larry-fitzgerald-new-england-patriots-michael-floyd-was-never-immature-guy
Weis: Where are you going to go where you already know 75 percent of the verbage walking in the door?
One of the things I like about Floyd is red zone slants. One play that he has is one that we've seen from Gronk from time to time, where he lines up wide on the long side when the ball is on the opposite hash, and then has the option to run the fade or the slant if he has single coverage and it looks like the backs are blitzing. Fake outside and then slant in for a low throw catch at the goal line while being big enough to be able to sheild the corner. Nobody else on the current roster has that play, except maybe Bennett. (It's basically the play, I think, from the Ravens playoff game a couple of years ago where Brady signaled to Gronk right before he took the snap, although that was from the near hash and Brady sniffed out the blitz.) I mean, you could run it with Edelman or Hogan, but it has a better chance of success with a guy like Floyd where you have to respect the fade and he's big and strong enough to hold off the defender. I've seen Floyd run that play in Arizona a few times. He can also run it from a bunched formation trying to get a natural pick -- the Malcolm Butler play. Go to 1:45 of this video, for example, to see it.
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/0ap3000000566690/Ravens-vs-Cardinals-highlights
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/0ap3000000566690/Ravens-vs-Cardinals-highlights