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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 1, 2016 16:24:49 GMT -5
Pats currently have 78 players on the roster(way more than the usually have at this point) and the max is 90. If they used all 11 draft picks they could only add one additional player.
They have 4 comp picks, which cannot be traded. So my bet would be they try to package the two 6's that can be traded and the two 7's for a high 5th or low 4th rounder. Also possible they will try to trade into the high second round. I could see them packaging both two's to move up into the 30's or high 40's.
This Patriots team is really stacked at the moment and there are not that many players who they could draft that will see much action in 2016. The exception would probably be a power RB, who still wouldn't start but would be a nice rotational piece. Otherwise I don't think anyone they draft is going to play much in 2016. I think there is a good chance they will trade up for an OT. They don't need a guy this year, but Vollmer and Cannon are set to be free agents next year and I don't see Vollmer coming back with his age and injury history. They drafted Solder in the 1st round, one year before Light retired.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 3, 2016 12:27:00 GMT -5
Scott Chandler had knee surgery, that he said will likely end his career. I am not surprised at all at this news. While he didn't miss any games, he barely played during the second half of the season and when he did, he really struggled to run. Tough break for a very solid TE and very classy person.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 5, 2016 10:58:17 GMT -5
Pats contracts with Harbor and Knighton were made official yesterday, so the contract details should come out today. Money will be interesting for both players for different reasons.
Knighton's contract was reported at 1 year 4.5 million. While I think he is worth that type of money, I would be a little bit surprised if his deal is that straight forward. I think it is more likely 1 year 3 million, with 1.5 million in incentives and most of those incentives unlikely to hit.
I think Harbor is very valuable in this offense. He is more of a move TE, like Hernandez(obviously no where near that talent level), but in the sense that he can line up at WR, in the slot, inline TE, FB, and HB. I would really be surprised if he doesn't make this team, but the money will give us a bigger sense on how the Pats view him. Most people don't think it will be more than the minimum. I think that is possible, but there is also a chance they gave him a little more money on a two or three year deal.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 5, 2016 18:14:32 GMT -5
Clay Harbor got a 2 year deal worth 3 million, with a $400,000 signing bonus. Shows that the Pats fully expect him to be on the team.
Pats TE depth is significantly better this year. Last year it was just Chandler and Williams. Chandler was basically just a receiver, he was a terrible blocker and then suffered a serious knee injury late in the season and was never the same. Williams was literally just an OT with decent hands. Harbor can play multiple different positions and Bennett is a legit top 5 threat as a blocking TE or pass catching TE.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 6, 2016 22:54:28 GMT -5
Knighton's cap hit is only 2.018 million, way less than the original reported 4.5 million, and further proof of why you should wait till the official numbers come out. It can be worth up to 4.5 million, although most of the incentives have virtually no chance of being reached, and if that was to happen it counts out of the 2017 cap. It sounds like Knighton dropped about 30 pounds and is in the best shape of his football career. Whats really interesting is Knighton's cap hit is about the same amount it would have cost to tender DT Sealver Siliga, who ended up signing with Seattle.
Sounds like Legarrette Blount has resigned with the Pats. There are no contract details yet or even reports that he has signed, but he was in parts of Gillete stadium that he could have only been in if he was a member of the team, and it has been predicted that he would resign for a long time now. His best fit has always been in New England.
Pats cap space is now at $6,447,756. If they do not make any trades, it will cost about $700,000 to sign the entire 11 pick draft class.
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Post by Juggs on Apr 7, 2016 12:53:51 GMT -5
2018 million? Damn. Just kidding but I did read it that way at first.
6 mil is below average these days for rolling cap because of the increased prevelancy of extensions. However, it only takes one year to rack up some extras. Do that Pats have a lot of guys they're looking to extend?
Spotrac tells me they might want to extend: Solder Hightower Edelman Easley Collins Ninkovich Cooper if he's good
Obviously not all of those guys, but probably some of them won't hit the market.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 7, 2016 23:01:08 GMT -5
2018 million? Damn. Just kidding but I did read it that way at first. 6 mil is below average these days for rolling cap because of the increased prevelancy of extensions. However, it only takes one year to rack up some extras. Do that Pats have a lot of guys they're looking to extend? Spotrac tells me they might want to extend: Solder Hightower Edelman Easley Collins Ninkovich Cooper if he's good Obviously not all of those guys, but probably some of them won't hit the market. Pats are usually pretty close to 2-3 million in space at this point in the offseason, so it is better than average for them. Danny Amendola will very likely restructure his deal, saving 2-4 million more in space. Pats could also cut swing tackle Marcus Cannon and save 4 million in cap space, or I suppose he could restructure. Pats will want to extend Collins, Hightower, Sheard, and Butler in that order. Solder, Edelman, and Easley contracts don't expired for two more years and the expectation is that Ninkovich will sign a fairly cheap team friendly deal. I know they really liked Cooper coming out of the draft(he was in the top 3 on there board). A lot of media guys said he was just a throw in to the Chandler Jones trade. Maybe that is true from an Arizona standpoint, but that really isn't true from the Pats standpoint. I think Cooper is going to have a nice comeback season and he will be the starting LG with Mason at RG. It will give us one of the most athletic guard units in the league. I very much doubt they will try to extend him anytime soon though. I expect Hightower and Collins extensions will be done before the season starts, but not before the draft. Extending Hightower will save 3-4 million in cap space this year, while Collins will likely cost 4-6 million in space. The market for good quality LB's is pretty team friendly in comparison to CB's or Dline. Sheard is a tricky one and I am not so sure that deal gets done after seeing what the DE's got on the open market this year, but it could benefit him to take a little less money and not risk getting hurt or something that messes up his value on the open market. I am not sure what they will do with Butler. He is scheduled to be an RFA next season, so it is unlikely another team will sign him because they would have to forfeit a first rounder, but you cant completely rule that out. Pats have never gave out a huge contract to a CB. They weren't willing to give Talib more than 5 million a year, although compared to the current market that was more like 9-10 million. They basically gave out 18 million for one year of Revis(13 million in the first year, 5 million in dead money the second year), but they weren't willing to give him a long term deal with that type of money. I think it would be beneficial to both sides to agree to an extension this offseason. They could do a 5 year deal with about 8 million a year. It would likely be a a few million less per year than what Butler would get as a UFA, but it would give him money two years early and avoid an injury risk. Two interesting players are Duron Harmon and Logan Ryan. These guys have been really under the radar players, but have both been consistently good since they entered the league. Ryan played really good football last year as the starting CB next to Butler. I think he will land a big contract this offseason elsewhere. Pats play 3 safety packages more than 60 percent of the time, which means Harmon really is a starter. He is used as a deep range safety and he has consistently been one of the best in the league at it. Where he struggles is his open field tackling, but his deep coverage skills are as good as anyone in the league. He will probably also land a big contract elsewhere.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 11, 2016 22:07:40 GMT -5
Pats release RB Tyler Gaffney. Never played a snap for us and spent two years on IR. I expect a few more cuts like this before the draft. Right now the Pats would only be able to sign 3 UDFA's if they used all of their draft picks, which would be a significantly lower number than usual.
A sleeper pick for the Patriots has to be Navy's Keenan Reynolds. They have worked him out three times now, and two of those times were by Belichick personally. I do not recall any player in years past that they worked out more than once, much less three times. Belichick has had a well known liking of Navy football players and they similarly publicly flirted with LS Joe Cardona last year before drafting him in the 5th round. Reynolds would be a project, but you can certainly see the potential as a joker type RB/WR. My only concerns would be his ball security.
Pats also worked out RB Johnathon Williams and RB Devontae Booker. I still currently believe Booker would be the best fit out of all of these RB's. Kenneth Dixon and Jordan Howard are my next best fits.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 12, 2016 10:46:28 GMT -5
Interesting stat: It has been 5 years since more than 4 RB's were taken inside the top 60.
TE Michael Williams is an interesting player this offseason. I see him as the 4th best TE behind Gronk, Bennett, and Harbor and I don't see the Pats keeping 4 TE's. But where it gets interesting is how certain players are viewed by position. Harbor is technically a TE but he will likely be used more as a WR, in the slot, or at FB/HB then TE. While Williams is more of an OT than a TE. In 2014 Pats used 6 Oline sets 13% of the time. In 2015 they used 6 oline sets just 5% of the time. You can look at that stat a couple of ways. The simple way is to just say they used that set less, but the true reason is because of the addition of Michael Williams, who was basically an OT. Now Pats could very well use Gronk or Bennett in that role as they are both excellent blockers.
That is something that should benefit the Patriots who will very likely draft a RB or two. When projecting RB's for the Pats to draft, the key things to look for are pass protection, ball security, and in most cases ability to catch. Special teams is also typically important as the Pats use most of their RB's in some form of special teams.
Pats are working out BC LB Steven Daniels. Very underrated Brandon Spikes type LB. ILB is not a need, but it wouldn't surprise me if they drafted one in the 2nd or 3rd round for depth. As long as everyone is healthy the Pats have one of the top 3 LB cores in the NFL, but with the way Hightower/Collins play injuries are bound to happen. Pats were pretty bad against the run without Hightower and the pass rush/underneath coverage suffered without Collins. Johnathon Freeny is a solid special teamer and a smart player, but he the defense really suffered with him on the field when Hightower or Collins were hurt last year. Pats tried really hard to add LB depth during the 2015 offseason. They went after Rolondo McClain and ended up signing Brandon Spikes, who didn't work out for off the field issues. They went after McClain again this offseason and ultimately ended up signing McClellin, although I see his fit more on the edge than the inside.
Pats seem to have spent the majority of their scouting resources on CB's and WR's this offseason. It doesn't always mean they are going to draft a CB or a WR, sometimes they have info on other players/positions and are just gathering more info. I think these are two positions that the Pats could draft, but if they don't draft them it wouldn't surprise me either. They have a really solid receiving core right now and any rookie WR would be the number 4 guy at best(more likely the number 5 guy). Still I think they will draft a WR with more of an outside presence. As for CB they really don't need one this year. They have their top 3 CB's back from 2016, plus Daryl Roberts who was expected to start next to Butler until a preseason injury that put him on IR. In 2017 those top 3 CB's will be free agents(Butler/Coleman will be an RFA), so they certainly could draft a CB and essentially redshirt him until 2017.
My current draft expectations:
2nd: OT/RB/ 2nd: OT/RB 3rd: Trade down: could use some picks in the 4th/5th round, plus only have 5 picks next year and are unlikely to receive any comp picks, so could certainly look for them to aquire more picks in 2017. 3rd: WR/LB/Edge Rusher
I could certainly see a move up in the 2nd round. I doubt they try to move into the first round(highest they can go is 29 unless they trade into the first round twice.), but I could see them combining 2nd round picks to move up higher and getting a 4th or 5th rounder back as well. Everyone always thinks of the Pats as the team that always trades down and I always remind them that Belichick has traded up more times than he has traded down in his Patriots tenure. I just think of them at the team that trades.
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Post by patriotsk1d on Apr 12, 2016 10:58:10 GMT -5
Pats have officially resigned Legarrette Blount to a one year deal.
Details are not out, but my bet is it is a little more than the vet minimum with some incentives.
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