Shaq Mason traded to Bucs for a 5th round pick
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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I thought his contract would be an issue given his big cap number and upcoming expiring status, but I did not foresee a trade.
Now they really need a G or G/C that can realistically play big time snaps.
Now they really need a G or G/C that can realistically play big time snaps.
A fifth? What have the Patriots received for Brady, Gronk, Gilmore, Jackson and Mason? Nothing. Terrible asset management.
It was absolutely brutal how they spent that money last year. They should have used to sign a few of them and kept the space for future years. The rush to be a middling contender I think may come back to bite them.
They just paid McCourty $9m. If this is purely a salary move, the McCourty contract makes 0 sense.
It’s hard to believe all they could get for a B+/A- guard on a reasonable 2 year deal is a 5th. They lost both their starting guards and unless they re-sign Brown will be down 3/5 of their starting OL from last year. Onwenu can hopefully slide into RG as that’s his best position and the one he played in college.
This doesn’t make a lot of sense right now. I’m hoping there’s another shoe to drop somewhere. Are they trying to get Mac killed? Both starting guards gone? Possibly RT too? Wynn has been less than good. They needed to add to the o line. Is this Patricia starting with a clean slate?
I'm sure the plan three days into free agency is to get to September with no playable offensive linemen. The goal is to get Mac Jones killed, you are correct. The NFL Draft has been cancelled and there are no other avenues to add players.
This was their best path to freeing up cap space at the moment, but, as always, the going rate for FA OL is pretty hefty so it is hard to see how they will replace him with a comparable player on FA in a way that saves them cap dollars now.
It’s foolish to write a book on this move without seeing the next few months of roster activity, but I am surprised Mason at a 6.5-7M salary for the receiving team was not worth more than a fifth rounder. He’s not worth a second rounder or anything, but that’s a disappointing return. But I would grant that we are dealing with pretty imperfect information about his trade market (ie, value). For instance, how many interior OL trades even happen?
It’s foolish to write a book on this move without seeing the next few months of roster activity, but I am surprised Mason at a 6.5-7M salary for the receiving team was not worth more than a fifth rounder. He’s not worth a second rounder or anything, but that’s a disappointing return. But I would grant that we are dealing with pretty imperfect information about his trade market (ie, value). For instance, how many interior OL trades even happen?
It seems like BB has hit quite a bit on OL with mid-round picks, especially interior guys, so it seems like a position they could fill through the draft. A 5th is a little disappointing but let's see what they do with the cap space here. I'd find it hard to believe they made this move without having at least an idea of what they want to do with the cap space created.
Definitely. Very unlike Belichick to wait things out and receive such limited returns. Of these I am most upset about Gilmore and Jackson. But BB just won Executive of the Year!
P
Two of these men were free agents and one was retired and the Pats had limited leverage?
Would take a separate thread to work through all of the scenarios, but the Brady and Gronk scenarios are particularly unique.
Anyways, thinking about this more I do wonder if the Pats are down on Mason as a player, as they could’ve explored an extension to lower his cap hit or pushed some money out to next year through a restructure. This can’t just be a cap play. Would love to hear from folks like SMU who actually watch boatloads of snaps with an eye toward OL play. I certainly don’t trust my perception based on watching a TV copy live.
They don’t need to come under the cap just yet. And when they do a few strokes of the pen to restructure Barrett, Evans and/or Donovan Smith’s deals, and perhaps extending Godwin or Brady, will do the trick. They don’t care about how much money gets pushed into 2023-4 at this rate.
There will be several such moves ahead of these deals being executed. They’ll just play with the execution dates and restructure dates to ensure they’re under the cap starting tomorrow.
Herald reporting they are among potential trade candidates, or at least among those kicking the tires on La’El Collins:
https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/03/15/patriots-trading-rg-shaq-mason-to-the-buccaneers-per-source/
https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/03/15/patriots-trading-rg-shaq-mason-to-the-buccaneers-per-source/
You mean like Brady was retired and the Bucs had no leverage? They let a lot of talent out of the door with no return.
The Bucs had all the leverage given Brady's options were retire or play for the Bucs. Gilmore's options were sit out the year on IR and become a FA, play for the Pats on current contract, get traded and play out current contract, or get a new contract.
They also received a 3rd and 5th in comp picks. What should they have done to better manage these assets?
Brady will restructure to give them a break. (Just kidding).
I didn't think too hard about it a the time but is weird that they spent so much last year when this was always kind of what would happen and for a team that at the time had a very questionable QB situation. I still like a lot of the guys they got (even Jonnu) but you could have left just a couple of those guys out there, filled those positions with other guys for less guaranteed money, and been in much better shape moving forward after you found a quarterback. They had a close to best case scenario happen at QB, but how often does even the best rookie QB make a deep playoff run?
You tell me. You just said the Bucs had all the leverage with Brady. And they were in the exact same spot with Gronk. Think a 4th was enough?
A 4th for a guy who had already sat out a year and wasn't going to come back and play for them? Yes I think a 4th was perfectly fine.
Gronk was either playing with Brady in Tampa or retiring. He was not coming back to play under Belichick with Cam Newton at QB to miss the playoffs in the cold. Brady was still willing to play with Tampa, which is a legitimate Superbowl contender. It’s not like Gronk was some revation in 2020 either, 45 catches for 600 yards.
A 4th was perfectly reasonable.
I would have liked more in return, but big picture I think BB did a full evaluation of the team and decided that they were not close to being a contender.
I think he might be tearing it down to the studs this year and building from the ground up and looking a year or two into the future.
I think he might be tearing it down to the studs this year and building from the ground up and looking a year or two into the future.
I am a big Chatham fan and Johnson looks legit, but it's also using a huge piece of draft capital to fill a hole the team just created themselves by trading their starting G.
Edit: Forgot to add that the team has a lot of other holes they need to fill and I would prefer they use 21 on one of those.
Gronk's leverage was not play or play with Brady. The Pats didn't have to do anything but I imagine it was a make good given Gronk on the Bucs had minimal impact on the Pats and they wanted to play nice for other players / agents. A 4th seems reasonable enough given the other option is nobody gets anything. I don't think the two situations are analogous at all outside of a very surface level read of it.
You keep casting dispersions without answering questions, so what do you think would have been the best way to play out the Gronk situation?
It's a zero-sum game though. The 21st pick is going to basically what Mason makes this year... in his rookie contract in total (excluding 5th year option).
Sure, they can draft an IOL in round 1. But they also don’t have a ton of picks in this draft and needing to find a day one starter on the OL makes it a much smaller needle to thread. Nevermind the significant holes at CB and LB, either of which could warrant a first round pick.
From where I sit, this deal makes their rebuilding job more challenging.
Only upside? They didn’t have a 5th this year and they no longer have that long gap between picks on day 3.
La'El Collins has a reputation as an elite run-blocker. His contract is pretty affordable too. Why are the Cowboys determined to trade him?
Also, why would the Pats trade Mason to save $7 million only to turn around and take on Collins at $10 million?