2020 Pats: General/Non-QB Off-Season Discussion
- Thread starter Devizier
- Start date
Considering the holes they have to fill, $50mn is not a lot of cap space. They have a half dozen starters hitting free agency, no starting QB, and that’s before they sign draft picks. The Pats don’t have a ton of wiggle room.
If Carolina is entertaining a Tank for Trevor, what would it take to pry G-Reg Olsen away (assuming Brady is back)? He’s got one year left and there are rumors he’s considering retirement but maybe he’d be up for one more season if he had a legit SuperBowl shot.
Contract looks like just under $8mm for the year.
Contract looks like just under $8mm for the year.
GP last 3 years:
7
9
14
That's rich for someone who *will* miss time and is on the wrong end of the age stick.
The one who plays a different position and blocks on many of the plays he's on the field for? Sure.
Edit: not to mention, Gronk was also sharing the field and the TE targets with another guy in front of Michel on that list. There's nothing impressive about that tweet for Michel.
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A preliminary plan that I've outlined for the Pats offseason. Still working through some things. Figures are from OverTheCap. I did a draft simulator to see what I'd get after I did the free agency/trades.
Cap Space starts out at $46.9 million
Cut Jason McCourty and Rex Burkhead--saves $7 million
Extend Dont'a Hightower and Stephon Gilmore--gives team an additional $12.89 million in cap space
Re-sign Tom Brady to a 3 year, $75 million contract(not going into boring details with signing bonus numbers but $20 million cap hit in 2020)
Re-sign Devin McCourty to a 2-year, $15 million contract
Re-sign Jame Collins to a 2 year, $16 million contract
Re-sign Ted Karras to a 2 year, $4 million contract
Re-sign Matthew Slater to a 1 year, $3 million contract
Sign A'Shawn Robinson to a 2 year, $8 million contract
Sign Michael Schofield to a 3-year, $12 million contract
Sign Danny Amendola to a 1-year, $4 million contract
Trade a 2020 3rd(#115) and a 2021 2nd for OJ Howard($1.9 million owed)
Draft
#23 Tee Higgins/WR/Clemson
#87 Cole Kmet/TE/ND
#175 Mike Panasiuk/DT/Michigan St
#184 Jonathan Garvin/EDGE/Miami
#207 Khalil Tate/QB/Arizona
#212 Jacob Breeland/TE/Oregon
#218 Khaleke Hudson/S/Michigan
Offensive Starters/Contributors
QB: Brady
RB: White, Michel, Harris
FB: Develin
WR: Edelman, Sanu, Higgins, Harry, Amendola
TE: Howard, LaCosse, Kmet
Starting OL: Wynn, Schofield, Andrews or Karras, Mason, Cannon
Defensive Starters
Simon-Guy-Robinson-Winovich
Collins-Hightower
Gilmore-DMC-Chung-Jones-Jackson
Cap Space starts out at $46.9 million
Cut Jason McCourty and Rex Burkhead--saves $7 million
Extend Dont'a Hightower and Stephon Gilmore--gives team an additional $12.89 million in cap space
Re-sign Tom Brady to a 3 year, $75 million contract(not going into boring details with signing bonus numbers but $20 million cap hit in 2020)
Re-sign Devin McCourty to a 2-year, $15 million contract
Re-sign Jame Collins to a 2 year, $16 million contract
Re-sign Ted Karras to a 2 year, $4 million contract
Re-sign Matthew Slater to a 1 year, $3 million contract
Sign A'Shawn Robinson to a 2 year, $8 million contract
Sign Michael Schofield to a 3-year, $12 million contract
Sign Danny Amendola to a 1-year, $4 million contract
Trade a 2020 3rd(#115) and a 2021 2nd for OJ Howard($1.9 million owed)
Draft
#23 Tee Higgins/WR/Clemson
#87 Cole Kmet/TE/ND
#175 Mike Panasiuk/DT/Michigan St
#184 Jonathan Garvin/EDGE/Miami
#207 Khalil Tate/QB/Arizona
#212 Jacob Breeland/TE/Oregon
#218 Khaleke Hudson/S/Michigan
Offensive Starters/Contributors
QB: Brady
RB: White, Michel, Harris
FB: Develin
WR: Edelman, Sanu, Higgins, Harry, Amendola
TE: Howard, LaCosse, Kmet
Starting OL: Wynn, Schofield, Andrews or Karras, Mason, Cannon
Defensive Starters
Simon-Guy-Robinson-Winovich
Collins-Hightower
Gilmore-DMC-Chung-Jones-Jackson
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Curious about what they try to do with Collins, but not sure I would want to pay him $8mm/year after what seemed to me like a poor second half to the season.
It could seem like an overpay at first glance.
He dropped to a 54.7 PFF grade last year and pretty much average to below-average in all relevant categories in a (reluctantly?) pass-happy Bucs offense. TB had the 7th highest passing play percentage among all teams:
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/passing-play-pct
Howard is also on his last year of his rookie contract, assuming his 5h year option does not get picked up. He also hasn't played a full season in his 3-year career. The former 19th-overall pick logged 14, 10, and 14 games so far.
However...
In 2018, his outgraded Kelce in PFF numbers 89.4 to 88.6. Importantly, he held himself up both in run blocking and pass protection. He improved on that last season and it's been reported that Howard was underutitlized under Arians:
https://thepewterplank.com/2020/01/20/tampa-bay-buccaneers-te-o-j-howard-immensely-underused/
Given the concern over the health of WR Michael Thomas (I was suprised to see that he played in 13 games in 2019) I'm not sure if TB will trade Howard. IF he is available, a 2020 third and a 2021 second round pick would be a price I'd be happy to pay.
Benjamin Watson's next position ... movie producer
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/patriots-benjamin-watson-producing-abortion-documentary-1270926
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/patriots-benjamin-watson-producing-abortion-documentary-1270926
Is this an extremely crazy scenario? SF doesn't 100% think Jimmy G is the guy moving forward, Brady makes it known to SF that he's interested, they have the ability to release Jimmy G before 4/1 with $22.4 million saved against the cap, Brady goes to SF, Jimmy G is a free agent.
I’d say it’s got a lot of potential as a theory, next step to test it is here
https://985thesportshub.com/contact-us/
SF trades Jimmy G to Pats and Signs Brady, I think Felger and Mazz would get a solid week or two from that call.
Ha, yeah. Only thing that makes it even a possibility is that Jimmy's salary is not fully guaranteed until after 4/1 for each year of his contract going forward so SF has the flexibility to evaluate the QB position.
Slater wants to play next year and for the Patriots.
https://theathletic.com/1554304/2020/01/22/matthew-slater/?source=shared-article
https://theathletic.com/1554304/2020/01/22/matthew-slater/?source=shared-article
Josh is at the senior bowl with BB (among others). To me that is good news on a few levels - I still hope he is next man up, and that BB is continuing to show him the ropes.
A lot of assistant coaches go to the Senior Bowl to check out prospects at the positions they coach.
Fair enough. And I get that it's normal for position coaches to attend. But any "extra" time he is spending with BB is a positive in my book.
I consider it a positive that they get to go to the Senior Bowl and get to spend extra time with prospects. Sucks they aren't playing, but considering their recent draft history any extra time they get to see players in person the better.
Not sure where to put this, but on Curran's podcast, Curran and Phil Perry did a deep-dive on the "reset" the Pats undertook after the 2009 season to see if you could compare it to what they need to do this year. Their main conclusion was that the Pats had tons of up-and-coming talent in 2009 due to solid drafts in prior years (notably Mayo, Slater, Vollmer, Chung and Edelman) and then had a great 2010 draft (McCourty, Gronk, Spikes, Hernandez, Mesko, Deaderick). For the current team, the 2018-9 drafts don't compare favorably to the 2008-9 drafts, so they are already starting from behind, and it's unrealistic to expect them to have a draft this year that is as good as 2010's draft. And, of course, the QB then isn't the same guy he was then, assuming he even stays with the team. Although it was pessimistic, I thought it was a pretty interesting podcast.
Just curious as to why highway patrol would be able / feel compelled to search his vehicle?
Perhaps they had probable cause? Smell of weed, baggie on the floor, blunt on the console. Something like that?
There's a name from a BBtL binkie past! His time with the Pats were short (PS in 2016) as the injuries really did him in. I am glad he is continuing his career as a coach.
Is Williams' likely to get some sort of suspension from the league? I have no idea what the precedent for that kind of stuff is.
My inner fifth grader is obliged to remind you that dolphins aren’t fisch
My inner third-grader says ... hold my root beer
https://www.thoughtco.com/dolphin-fish-facts-mahi-mahi-4582602
Eric Berry is set to return next year. He's seemingly healthy and only 31. With as much as the Pats utilize their safeties, he may be worth a look.
Updated details on Joejuan Williams’ arest. The curse of Pats DB’s selected in the second round continues.
It’s getting to the point the Pats should maybe just forgo drafting all together.
https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2020/01/26/joejuan-williams-arrest-patriots-cornerback
It’s getting to the point the Pats should maybe just forgo drafting all together.
https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2020/01/26/joejuan-williams-arrest-patriots-cornerback
Probably we shouldn’t write him off quite yet, though, right? Seemed like on the field, Williams shows some promise.
The charges are different but BB showed a lot of patience for former 2012 7th-rounder Alfonzo Dennard. He was arrested in Nebraska for DUI and probation violation.
My guess is Williams will get more benefit of the doubt, given his draft position and potential.