2019 Patriots: Post-SB Roster Thread

mwonow

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Maybe it's just working out this way, but it really feels as though Bill is putting very heavy stock in getting guys he knows.

With Brady playing at his all time high cap number and with the Patriots having other cap challenges even with Gronk's retirement, and with the turnover of coaches, Bill seems to be taking refuge in seeing if he can be competitive in a tough year by going with known quantities. You sort of wonder if he could have foreseen some of the moves that would free up cap space when he was looking for a receiver if he would have taken a harder look at Amendola. At the time, the cap space situation looked really rough, but in retrospect it sort of looks like it would have been a move that would have fit in pretty well with some of the other stuff he's doing.
Maybe, but fwiw, Collins is five years younger than Danny, and Shelton is closer to 10 years younger. It's tough to thread the needle between 'experienced' and 'old', but adding Amendola to fellow 30+ receivers Edelman and Hogan (and Thomas) might be too much of the latter.
 

Super Nomario

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Maybe, but fwiw, Collins is five years younger than Danny, and Shelton is closer to 10 years younger. It's tough to thread the needle between 'experienced' and 'old', but adding Amendola to fellow 30+ receivers Edelman and Hogan (and Thomas) might be too much of the latter.
Amendola also got $4.25 MM guaranteed. Most of the other guys signed deals where they can be cut.
 

Red Averages

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Patriots are going to turn Trey Flowers into Gerald McCoy, Michael Bennett, Ben Watson, and Demaryius Thomas.
 

mcpickl

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I would have preferred him to Thomas at $3 million. The extra 1.4 m or so doesn’t seem like much anymore though it seemed like a lot at the time.
Thomas only got 300K guaranteed.

To get to 3M he'd either have to be active every game, or have at least 60 catches or 800 yards.

If the Patriots end up paying him 3M, he'll be worth it.

Can't say the same for Amendola since he's getting almost all of his money whether he produces or not.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Thomas only got 300K guaranteed.

To get to 3M he'd either have to be active every game, or have at least 60 catches or 800 yards.

If the Patriots end up paying him 3M, he'll be worth it.

Can't say the same for Amendola since he's getting almost all of his money whether he produces or not.
I was talking about cap space. Thomas is a bit over 2.9m because his lower tier incentives are LTBE so he is a nearly $3m cap hit this year no matter what unless cut*. It is true that he could fail to meet the incentives and give the Patriots cap relief but not until 2020. And of course he also could earn the other incentives and earn up to $6m but as you say in that case we will be happy.

But 2020 cap room isn’t a huge concern. Apples to apples I would have preferred Amendola at the moderately higher 2019 cap number.

*I am pretty sure this is correct even for roster bonuses. That they come back to you the following year but perhaps I am wrong and you get the cap relief in the year they are not earned.
 

Super Nomario

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I was talking about cap space. Thomas is a bit over 2.9m because his lower tier incentives are LTBE so he is a nearly $3m cap hit this year no matter what unless cut*. It is true that he could fail to meet the incentives and give the Patriots cap relief but not until 2020. And of course he also could earn the other incentives and earn up to $6m but as you say in that case we will be happy.

But 2020 cap room isn’t a huge concern. Apples to apples I would have preferred Amendola at the moderately higher 2019 cap number.

*I am pretty sure this is correct even for roster bonuses. That they come back to you the following year but perhaps I am wrong and you get the cap relief in the year they are not earned.
My reading is that you're right about the incentives and the Pats won't get relief on unearned LTBE until 2020. But the ability to walk away from the whole deal with just a hit of $300 K is really appealing to me. Thomas is 31 and coming off a big injury; Amendola is 33 and his medical history ain't exactly squeaky-clean. Either or both of these guys could be done; I much prefer the contract where they don't have to keep him even if he is.

Amendola brings familiarity but in the years where Edelman is healthy, he's been like a 250-yard guy for the Pats. He does bring punt return and Edelman insurance, but I think Thomas complements the receiving corps better. And Thomas clearly brings more upside; his 2017 was better than anything Amendola has ever done, and that's a far cry from his prime.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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My reading is that you're right about the incentives and the Pats won't get relief on unearned LTBE until 2020. But the ability to walk away from the whole deal with just a hit of $300 K is really appealing to me. Thomas is 31 and coming off a big injury; Amendola is 33 and his medical history ain't exactly squeaky-clean. Either or both of these guys could be done; I much prefer the contract where they don't have to keep him even if he is.

Amendola brings familiarity but in the years where Edelman is healthy, he's been like a 250-yard guy for the Pats. He does bring punt return and Edelman insurance, but I think Thomas complements the receiving corps better. And Thomas clearly brings more upside; his 2017 was better than anything Amendola has ever done, and that's a far cry from his prime.
Good points. More upside for sure. If we were otherwise set at receiver I probably would feel differently but they need some bodies and he can play with Brady and field kicks. Maybe the risks are about the same. Just feels like a year where a bird in the hand might be nice.
 

DJnVa

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Kick return? They drawing up some crazy reverse throwback kickoff return or something? What the hell is a QB doing on kick return?
He's likely not going to be a QB much longer if Stidham pans out. He's trying to find a role.
 

boca

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Mike Reiss@MikeReiss

Veteran OT Jared Veldheer has informed the Patriots that he plans to retire, per a source.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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How much are they freeing up with Edelman's deal?
Haven't seen anything public. Just a wild ass guess but if the signing bonus is around $8 million as reported they can probably get the 2019 cap number down to around 4.2 to 4.4 million, which would save 1 to 1.2 million.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Kick return? They drawing up some crazy reverse throwback kickoff return or something? What the hell is a QB doing on kick return?
You need backups for every special teams position on the roster and they need to come from the 53. If the possibility of carrying 3 QBs on the 53 is on the table you need to know that you have some of the backup positions covered.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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From the Edelman thread

Great -- I will take it that thread. But, yeah, $12 million guaranteed. Not much room to do anything since he has to make at least the vet minimum in salary this year. I thought it was $8 million. That's a nice pay day for Jules.
 

PedroKsBambino

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Mike Reiss@MikeReiss

Veteran OT Jared Veldheer has informed the Patriots that he plans to retire, per a source.
He knows he has to make it to the regular season in order to get a ring next February, right?
 

DJnVa

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More seriously, his extension would make him the highest paid TE in football? If that's the case, dude was never coming here. Or at least, it was always gonna be a 1 year thing, because we wouldn't offer that much cash, which means our offer to Vikes wouldn't have been too much.
 

tims4wins

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Ok that clip had like 5 seconds of film but I did notice #80 is lined up opposite Harry off the line. Could he be the new Assistant WR coach? They allude to it in the video but I wonder if it is purely an informal role?
80 and 33 were guest coaches for the day
 

DJnVa

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I mean, if the Brown and Colts can offer a lot of cash, then he can say he's going to a place he can win.
 

Marciano490

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Good for him for being honest and lol at the NFL and society for being chill with pain pills and shots but stupid about steroids.
 

ilol@u

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I wish players would silently accept these infractions without being "well, sure I did it, but here's some justification for it!!!"

Not expecting too much from Watson this year. Is Rudolph coming or not?