The Black Unicorn: TE Martellus Bennett in NE
- Thread starter ScubaSteveAvery
- Start date
Posting this from my phone, so if that link fails, here's the quote from Lance Briggs' twitter.
"The Black Unicorn and Gronk in the same position meeting room..."
Love this trade. I live outside of Chicago, and I am getting lots of Bears fans letting me know they are none too pleased about this trade.
How is Bennett at all like two players that were basically done? The only similarity seems to be that the Pats traded picks for them.
It really is amazing to watch this team each and every year. The first couple of days of free agency come and go, ridiculous contracts are bandied about all over the NFL whilst the Pats sit tight, and in the span of a few days we add Chris Hogan, Chris Long, Jonathan Cooper, and Martellus Bennett for very reasonable contracts, Chandler Jones, and a 4th round pick. Amazing work by the front office.
So the way I'm looking at this is the Bears doing a Chandler Jones type deal-- a salary dump and getting the present value of a 4th today (less a 6th) versus ! year of service and getting a potential 3rd or a 4th 2 years from now.
@ProFootballTalk
Unless they start playing with two footballs, somebody in the NE offense isn't going to be happy with his targets and catches.
This makes literally zero fucking sense. The Pats spread the ball around better than any team in the league.
We saw how dangerous the goal line offense was at the start of the year with a functioning Scott Chandler. Replacing him with Martellus Bennett? Scary.
Ian RapoportVerified account @RapSheet 1h1 hour ago
The #Bears had decided Martellus Bennett needed to go. They tried to trade him for about 18 months. Finally found a taker: The #Patriots.
The #Bears had decided Martellus Bennett needed to go. They tried to trade him for about 18 months. Finally found a taker: The #Patriots.
What I'm interested in is seeing how they effectively use two TE sets in regular play as well. I feel like they can do more hurry up and more odd looks with these two guys. I also feel like BB has been waiting to get back to the days of Gronk and AH...he was just starting to figure out how he could use those two to his advantage at the end of that season. I feel like we're going to see a lot of forced physical mismatches just based on how the Pats line up and then change formation.
Bennett played about 400 more snaps last year than Chadler did, so I suppose there's something to the notion that someone (Amendola?) is going to end up playing fewer snaps than they are accustomed to playing if the Patriots play in two tight end sets. But it's pretty minor. This probably permits the Patriots to reduce Gronk's work load some, and that's a good thing.
If you just look at it as a plug Bennet in for Chandler's snaps last year I'd imagine they win another two games at least. In strictly an upgrading Scott Chandler sense, even if Bennet is 1/2 as good as he usually is, it's still a massive upgrade on Chandler.
He says Bennett will remain "disgruntled" because he will be at best the third option in the passing game in his walk year.
Of course being the third receiving option in an offense that throws (accurately) 55 times a game might not be so bad.
Michael Williams played a whole bunch of snaps(I did look and couldn't find an exact number) and will likely be the person whose time on the field is most affected. Williams only had 6 targets though so obviously those are coming from someone else.
He wasn't better than the 3rd option behind Jeffrey and Marshall in Chicago for his big years there. I think he'll probably be fine with it.
It's ok. You just have TB12 pull whomever is complaining aside and apologize for ruining their market value because they're getting limited attention from a QB who's paid in the bottom half of the league at his position.
Right, because no one ever gets injured/misses games in the NFL.
Last year, only Gronkowski, Lewis, Blount, Chandler, Edelman, LaFell and Amendola missed time.
Can I be the first this year to predict 19-0?
I think Bennett will be upset how much less he'll be targeted than what he's used to. Welcome to NE Martellus!
Too bad we only have him for one year with all it takes for Brady or any QB to establish a chemistry with a new receiver. Although franchising him in 2017 might be an option if he works out
I think Bennett will be upset how much less he'll be targeted than what he's used to. Welcome to NE Martellus!
Too bad we only have him for one year with all it takes for Brady or any QB to establish a chemistry with a new receiver. Although franchising him in 2017 might be an option if he works out
One more thing to what others have respond with concerning this...Take a lot of those hurried passes and thrown away balls that we saw in the latter part of the season and with some decent pass protection, you'll be converting those into receptions for someone.
Pats fans must have gotten salty with PFT.
ProFootballTalk @ProFootballTalk 32m32 minutes ago
To Pats fans who object to the notion that the Benett trade may not work, I was wrong. They'll win the next seven Super Bowls. That better?
ProFootballTalk @ProFootballTalk 32m32 minutes ago
To Pats fans who object to the notion that the Benett trade may not work, I was wrong. They'll win the next seven Super Bowls. That better?
I think you show him the numbers Aaron Hernandez put up.
Even if you ignore that Hernandez was a young player still getting his grip on the league, he was using insane amount of drugs, and that he was murdering people in his spare time, he still put up 0.47 TD/g, 51.5 yd/g, and 4.6 rec/g. In the last three years of Bennett's career, he's put up 0.32 TD/g, 49.1 yd/g, and 4.83 rec/g.
Basically: do the Hernandez thing (outside of the drugs and murder) and you'll put up better numbers than your average season in Chicago.
Even if you ignore that Hernandez was a young player still getting his grip on the league, he was using insane amount of drugs, and that he was murdering people in his spare time, he still put up 0.47 TD/g, 51.5 yd/g, and 4.6 rec/g. In the last three years of Bennett's career, he's put up 0.32 TD/g, 49.1 yd/g, and 4.83 rec/g.
Basically: do the Hernandez thing (outside of the drugs and murder) and you'll put up better numbers than your average season in Chicago.
This is just a tremendous move by the Patriots. Now, there is only one ball to go around, and even if the Patriots throw 40 times a game, that's only 26 completions a game (at Brady's 65% completion rate). Among Gronk, Edelman, Amendola, Hogan, Bennett, Lewis, White/Brown, and Martin, it's only about 3 completions a game per player, and obviously the distribution won't be even. So not everyone is going to put up huge numbers.
But here's the key. It will open everything up for everyone else, and this offense could be downright frighteningly good. An elite offense combined with a near-elite defense = huge, huge season.
But here's the key. It will open everything up for everyone else, and this offense could be downright frighteningly good. An elite offense combined with a near-elite defense = huge, huge season.
Here's an overview of Bennett's issues while with the Bears. Certainly heavy on the club's perspective, but certainly plenty of issues to write about. Bennet is a quirky, out there personality ("The Black Unicorn" and all that), so a lot of this could be about the team culture. We've seen guys like Dillon and Moss, who were "problems" elsewhere, come to Foxboro and be great team players. The Pats obviously think their organizational culture can handle it.
This reminds me so much of the Jets trading for another talented yet mercurial former Bear, Brandon Marshall.
At the very least it's nice to add a redundancy for the human target Gronk. I take everything coming out of Chicago with a huge grain of salt. That franchise has reeked of death and decay over the last two seasons.
Here is a fun article about Bennett from last offseason that I recommend to anyone. He's clearly a character, one who I think will be a lot of fun to root for. Relevant football quote that stuck out in my mind:
Something tells me Bennett would be more than happy to work at Brady Corp.
I know. wish he had a nickname that'll make it clear for everyone.
More on Marshall vs. Bennett comparison. You just can't underestimate the shithole Chicago was the past few years (5-11 last year, 8-8 the year before).
Before Marshall got his career resurrected by going 109 rec/1502 yards with Fitzy throwing him the ball, he had his worst year since his rookie campaign in 2013 -- just 61 catches for 721 yards while missing 3 games.
I can't imagine Bennett going anywhere near his 2014 production -- seems like an outlier -- I'd be more than thrilled with his 2013 numbers (65 rec. on 94 targets for 759 yards) or even his one-and-only year with the 2012 Giants (55 rec. on 89 targets for 626 yards).
Edit: since the SweetPsycho's name was mentioned, here are his 3-year stats:
- 2010: 45 rec. on 64 targets for 563 yards (14 games)
- 2011: 79 rec. on 113 targets for 910 yards (14 games)
- 2012: 51 rec. on 83 targets for 483 yards (10 games)
Still confused why Da Bears were compelled to add a 6th round pick but thank you. Even though 6th round picks never amount to anything.
Only bad part of this trade is that he's the brother of a tool
Only bad part of this trade is that he's the brother of a tool
You say shithole, Belichick says "undervalued assets." Bennet, McClellin...Cutler next?
Bennett clearly didn't enjoy his role in the Fox/Gase offense. His yard per catch dropped 2 full yards last season, his lowest since 2010 in Dallas, and Bennett publicly complained about his use in the red zone.
Seeing that the Bears just resigned Zach Miller and Rob Housler, Fox is either rolling with an offense that minimizes the TE in the passing game or the team is setting up to move for a new #1 TE, whether draft or trade.