PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Archives for March 10, 2016

Patriots Bargain Bin Visits Continue

by

More visits to Foxboro are being reported with RB James Starks, TE Clay Harbor and WR Rod Streater the latest bargain bin free agents to take a tour of facilities. I know none of these names get people excited, but again, it’s just what the Pats do, and all of them fit needs.

Biggest thing to take away from free agency so far, at least based on rumored interest and visits, is that we were pretty dead on with what the Patriots viewed as their needs that must be filled during the silly season. For all the attention that the offensive line got in the wake of the season-ender, it was indeed the skill positions that needed reinforcements.

Harbor seems like a decent option to fill the second TE role that was vacated by Scott Chandler. Here’s what Bill Belichick had to say on Harbor this past season:

Streater is one of the more interesting players and was pointed out by Mike Reiss as an under-the-radar type:

The five-year veteran had 60 catches for 888 yards and four touchdowns in 2013 for the Raiders, but has fallen off the radar since — first because of injury in 2014 and then as a result of a scheme/coaching change and stacked depth chart that remained healthy in 2015. He’s the type of undervalued asset on the market that could be appealing to the Patriots at a position of need.

Streater was the Raiders number one receiver during that 2013 season and if he had put up those numbers last year it would certainly be getting people’s attention. Interestingly, no one could really tell why he fell out of favor last season with the new regime.

Finally comes Starks, who is coming off a career-best 601 yards rushing and 392 yards receiving. Starks has good size (6’1″, 203) and would seem to fit the bill for a do-it-all back in the Pats’ system.

There’s just no telling how these guys would blossom in New England. Two of them would be coming from teams that have had far-worse quarterbacks than Tom Brady. Can they pick up the system? How will they respond to a system that is cemented in place and expects them to be in the exact right spot after making post-snap reads? This mostly applies to Streater, but it’s also easy to insert Harbor and Starks into the holes the Pats have and expect they’d be okay.

That’s ultimately what free agency is about. Players like these set the stage before the draft, enabling the Pats to not have to reach to fill a need. And if the perfect tight end, running back or receiver falls to them it could make any one of these low risk free agents expendable.

Patriots Free Agency: Day #2 Updates

by

The Patriots are once again following their model of allowing the market to settle before pouncing on all the value deals that will be available after the first 24-48 hours of free agency. Of course, this drives Patriots fans nuts and this year the main target of their ire is how quickly the wide receiver market has been cleaned out.

There’s little question the Pats need to add a starting-quality receiver in free agency. And despite being linked to almost every top wide out on the market, the Pats have yet to land anyone and the pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer. Mohamed Sanu is visiting Atlanta today but no one expects him to actually leave there for New England as he said he planned to do.

Rishard Matthews, the next in line target after Sanu, signed in Tennessee last night. So there’s not much left for the Pats, other than 35-year old Anquan Bolden, who could certainly fill a role in New England but is no longer an every down impact player who could extend the field horizontally and vertically.

Today’s latest update is that Chris Hogan, a receiver with a low RFA tender from Buffalo, will be visiting the team. Hogan has had a couple good performances against the Pats (2014 – 5/72, 1 TD, 2015 – 6/95) and is a former lacrosse player and even has punting experience. Yes, a lot of this seems right up Bill Belichick and the Patriots alley. Add in his 6’1″, 220 pound size and it seems like Hogan could be an undercover gem. You also might remember his nickname “7-11” because he was always open as a rookie free agent in Dolphins camp during Hard Knocks.

So yes, Hogan makes sense, but he’s certainly not the flashy name many are hoping for, but you know, that’s just how the Pats build their team, especially at the receiver position.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3-_rGZmymM

Running back is the other position of need and what’s been most interesting to me is that the Pats have been connected to Bilal Powell (who is re-signing with the Jets) and Benny Cunningham (scheduled to visit NE). My main focus of need was an early down pounder. CJ Anderson (also due for a visit) is a perfect model, as would fallback option Khiry Robinson (signed with Jets), but Powell and Cunningham are more receiving backs and the Pats have James White and Dion Lewis seemingly entrenched in that role.

So this makes me wonder how good the Pats feel about White. He certainly flashed some big plays once Lewis went down, but he also had just six catches on 14 targets in the AFC Championship. He also seems to bring little-to-no value actually running the ball, unlike Lewis who the Pats clearly love for obvious reasons.

At the very least it seems like the Pats want another option to pair with White until Lewis is fully recovered from ACL surgery. The Pats schedule is a tough one this year and will likely have some tough tests right out of the gate. There’s also the chance Tom Brady is suspended. It’d appear they’re taking no chances by having dynamic threats for September.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3a9lxi_alI