PatsPropaganda

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Mike Dussault

Tweets of Note: Patriots Training Camp Practice #3 (with pads on)

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The pads came on today and guess what came with them? Our first injuries! Boo. But that’s how it goes.

Here are the tweets that stood out:

Enjoyed this bit of insight from former Patriots receiver T.J. Moe into Aaron Dobson. Dobson stood out again, but as I said yesterday, he’s always stood out when it comes to one-on-one drills and in the red zone. But when there’s more field to work with he struggles to separate himself/stay standing up after he catches the ball. We’ll see. Always a tough climb when you don’t play special teams and you’re not one of the top two receivers on the team.

We’ll see how this plays out, but…

Hey, it’s not a season-ender, but it doesn’t sound like he’s going to be fully healthy any time soon. So even when he’s back this is something that will have to be managed, and with a ton of young depth at guard, you wonder how patient the Pats will be with Cooper.

First, congrats to Courtney Fallon on the new gig for NFL Media covering the Pats. Not only does she share a birthday with me and Bill Belichick, but she’s been grinding for a while before now landing this dream gig. Nice to know we’ve got someone we can trust in this job.

Never rule out a tight end like this with Belichick. With Bennett possibly only here for a year it would be smart to do everything they can to keep Williams in-house this year.

#Blessed

My goodness, this front seven is going to be moving all over the place. Good luck identifying who’s who pre-snap. Hopefully this means more chance for Hightower to get after the quarterback.


My expectations for Donald Brown are non-existant but it looks like he’s going to get every chance there is to be a significant part of this team.

Nice to see Hogan showing up.


I love Stork but man, the guy is constantly getting dinged. Makes you wonder how much injuries will factor into this key competition.

Another camp practice tomorrow, then we’ll have Rick Stark covering the in-stadium practice on Monday night along with Kevin Faulk’s induction. August is almost here!

 

 

Tweets of Note: Patriots Training Camp Practice #2

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The Pats were back at it today, still in shells and helmets. Tomorrow the pads come on and that’s what we’re all really looking forward to.

Here are the tweets that stood out most from Friday’s practice:

My money’s on Ben Volin who asked this question of Garoppolo could take Brady’s starting job. Classic Belichick response. And I still just don’t get idiots who purposely ask questions that they know will draw BB’s ire. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of these kind of questions either. Just imagine if Jimmy does look really good in the four games.

And yes, Belichick is once again rocking the 2013 hoodie that he had on yesterday. The sleeves are incredibly short. Considering he didn’t wear a cutoff hoodie at all last year this is quite the development. I have a feeling this is the same mock 2013 sweatshirt he busted out late last season. Then he had only cut out the collar of it. Now it looks like he really let his sleeve-cutting freak flag fly.

Garoppolo has quite the quick release and anyone who thinks he can’t get the job done in the first four games of the season is kidding themselves. He should know the offense at this point and has two of the best tight ends in the game at his disposal. I’m really looking forward how he does. And not really in the preseason. I want to see him in the regular season with a full gameplan designed around his skillset.

Lewis is the one to watch but they should of course be smart with him. I think we’ll see him mid-camp and they’ll ease him back in slowly.

That’s a good sign. The season-long health of those two is critical.

Harper ready to put his muff in Denver behind him? Very curious to see how Hogan looks compared to what we saw from LaFell in 2014.

One of the under-the-radar guys that we need to keep any eye. I continue to believe developing a “get-open-quick” guy behind Edelman and Amendola is vital, even if someone like Carter or Harper are on the Edelman-esque four-year development plan.
 

Back and forth and back and forth, all summer long we go.

This one will be going back and forth all summer. Gotta admit I’m rooting for Stork just because he’s such a Belichick weirdo type. Short shorts. Great beard. Zero to say to the media. He’s as close to Logan Mankins as we’ve got right now.

Tweets of Note: Patriots Training Camp Day #1

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And we’re off! The long, cold offseason is over and the Patriots are back on the field. Truth be told, I have a love/hate relationship with training camp. I can’t see anything for myself because I’m not there. Thus we have to rely on the reporters who are there and take their collective opinions and observations to get a sense of how things are shaking out.

But football is back and it’s hard to really complain about anything at the moment. Here are the tweets that stood out most from practice number one.

This was to be expected and I still think that Ninkovich will skew more DE while McClellin will skew more toward LB. The hard thing for offenses will be identifying who’s who before the snap, especially if the Pats throw some changeups at them. Know how a quarterback always picks out the “mike” before the snap? Yeah, we still have no idea who the Patriots mike will be at this point.
 

 Strange subplot but likely nothing. Tom E. Curran mentioned it was not contract related so Collins must be working through some minor issue they don’t want to exacerbate at this point in training camp.


  Gotta love the support from Belichick and the Patriots for Ebner’s Olympic pursuits.

 Kline, Mason and Jackson are all working their way back from offseason injury issues so this is far from written in stone. Still, it wouldn’t be a bad combination to enter the regular season with. Logan Mankins stepped right in at left guard as a rookie, maybe Thuney can do the same. 

Yeah, Dobson making impressive catches in the red zone is nothing new. He’s got good size and uses it to his advantage. Where his game has traditionally fallen apart (aside from when he’s hurt) is in the other 80 yards of field where he has demonstrated little after-the-catch playmaking ability. Even last season, his third year as a pro, he continued to catch the ball with arms, often double-catching it, and rarely making anything happen in the open field. So no matter how many nice catches in the end zone he makes, he still has a lot to prove if he wants to make the roster.

 Everyone seems so concerned with how the quarterback reps will play out. Seems kinda pointless to me. Obviously both guys need work with the 1s and I’m sure Belichick and McDaniels will know how to divide up the reps so they both are comfortable with all the receivers. Tracking who plays with who when seems like an exercise in futility, but so does a good chunk of football coverage these days.

This is going to be one heck of a position battle to watch. Never have the Pats had so much interesting depth at cornerback. They’re well prepared to deal with injuries. And with Logan Ryan in a red no-contact jersey, we’ll see a lot of rotation both outside and inside, with the probably exception of Malcolm Butler.

Patriots Training Camp Positional Battles

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Patriots Training Camp

Unlike many teams in the NFL, the Patriots don’t really care what players have done previously or how they were acquired. At the start of training camp, it’s a blank slate for all and the players who stay healthy and perform are the ones who earn the jobs. Nowhere is this more apparent than the undrafted rookie free agents who make a seemingly stacked team almost every single year, and often play significant roles during the season.

This year there wasn’t a ton of roster turnover so the true competition spots are mostly in backup roles, but you can’t rule anything out with how the Patriots level the playing field each summer.

Here’s a list of interesting position competitions to keep an eye on.

(Note – the following appears in the 2016 PatsPropaganda Season Preview Book. You can pick up a digital download of the full 40-page preview here.)

LaAdrian Waddle vs. Marcus Cannon – Backup Swing Tackle

Cannon has a $4.75 million cap hit in this, the final year of his contract, and he’d cost just $1.07 million in dead cap space if they were to cut him. That contract, along with his up and down performance last year certainly puts a target on his back as the swing tackle. Waddle can play both sides as well, and though we didn’t see much of him in game action last year, the Pats thought enough of him to give him a two-year, $2.4 million deal this offseason. This season Waddle is making roughly one-fifth what Cannon is due to make and that could give him not only the inside track on the swing role this year, but possibly a shot to take over as the starting right tackle in 2017. Waddle was at left tackle in minicamp, while Cannon was on the right side with both Solder and Vollmer out.

Donald Brown vs. Tyler Gaffney – Early Down Running Back

Unless Dion Lewis is ready to go in Week 1, it’s probable that there will be a new running back in the mix at the start of the season. We’ve been waiting on Gaffney for two years now, and while Brown had a disappointing stint in San Diego, his overall versatility could make him a better fit in New England. Both can catch the ball, but have the size to take some early down punishment as well. James White’s job is far from safe as well, as it seems the Pats consider him just a receiving back and almost completely refused to hand the ball off to him last season. Undrafted rookie DJ Foster, could also be in the mix, but he fits the receiving back mold as well. It seems like it’s Brown vs. Gaffney at this point.

Cyrus Jones vs. Justin Coleman – “Star” Cornerback

The competition at cornerback this summer should be fascinating from top to bottom. I don’t think it’s a lock that Logan Ryan gets handed the starter’s spot opposite Malcolm Butler (the only lock), despite having a really solid year last season. All nine of the corners on the roster are feisty and physical, and capable of playing man-to-man. The easiest place to monitor first will be in the slot, where last year’s starter Justin Coleman will get a tough challenger in Cyrus Jones. Neither have an overwhelming physical advantage so it will boil down to who is showing up most consistently in practice. And really, you can’t rule any of the other corners out of the mix either. Depth in the secondary is always of vital importance and though most of them are thin on experience, their schematic fit is unquestionable across the board. In minicamp, Coleman was on the outside, while Jones was in the slot.

Tre Flowers vs. Geneo Grissom vs. Rufus Johnson – 4th DE

As I wrote earlier in the player previews, one of these guys really needs to emerge this season. Ninkovich isn’t playing forever and there’s no lock that Jabaal Sheard can definitely be re-signed, so this season must be about grooming at least one potential starter replacement. All three of these guys have their strengths – Grissom the most athletic, Flowers the toughest, and Johnson the biggest. How will it all play out in camp is tough to tell, but there’s potential here and hopefully one of these guys can begin with some pass rush time, followed with some long looks at defensive end. Preseason snaps will be critical for all. Another piece is replacing the 30 percent of special teams snaps that Chandler Jones played.

All the Young Guards – Starting Guards

There at least five guards who could be starting for the Patriots in Week 1. Factor in the versatility of center Bryan Stork and David Andrews and the options only expand. So it’s impossible to know how it will play out, especially at a position where injuries happen a lot. Mason and Jackson played well as rookies, but each has their issues (size for Mason, injuries for Jackson). Kline was the best guard last season but what’s his ceiling and how soon will he be back and healthy? Then there’s Cooper, the most gifted of all of them, but he was a big disappointment in Arizona. Can he recapture the magic that had him being the best guard in the 2013 draft? What about rookie Joe Thuney who played all over the line in college? This whole group, except Jackson, has played both guard spots and that complicates things even further.  Throw Dante Scarnecchia back into the mix and this is one of the most fluid camp battles we’ve seen in a long time.

Bryan Stork vs. David Andrews – Center

Assuming Stork and Andrews do stay permanently at their natural center position there might only be room for one of them. This is the most clear head-to-head battle and that was confirmed in minicamp where both players saw time with the top unit. Stork played a number of different spots in 2015 and that boosts his chances for making the team. The loser could be a trade candidate but you’d love to hang on to two great young players who can both do the job.

Other Battles to Watch:

Vincent Valentine vs. Markus Kuhn – 4th DT

AJ Derby vs. Clay Harbor – 3rd TE

DeAndre Carter vs. Keshawn Martin vs. Chris Harper – 5th WR

Jonathan Jones vs. Darryl Roberts – 5th CB

A Last Look Back at the Patriots 2016 Offseason

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Patriots 2016 offseasonAs we stand on the precipice of another campaign, I wanted to take one last quick look back at another Patriots offseason.

In some ways I felt like I never got a true ending for the 2015 Patriots. It all started the Saturday evening before their AFC Championship Game against the Broncos. And by “it” I mean the pukes. I was sick all night, finally getting some rest in the early morning hours. Needless to say this completely derailed all excitement and preparation for the big game.

Instead of putting together a ton of good food and drinks, I watched the 2015 Patriots’ demise trying to hold down saltine crackers with a bit of Gatorade. I just didn’t have the mental nor physical energy to deal with such a frustrating loss as that one. Going in I knew if it was a “clean” game the Patriots should win. If it was a fluky game, the Pats would get upset.

Surprise, surprise it was a fluky game. Gostkowski missed his first extra point since his rookie year. The offensive line was completely unprepared to deal with Denver’s pass rush. Jamie Collins, coming off an excellent year in pass coverage, was toasted twice for touchdowns. And all Peyton Manning‘s ducks somehow avoided interception.

Still, Brady put together a miracle drive and if he’d found the open Gronk for the two-pointer we really woulda/shoulda been headed to overtime. But the disappointment of laying another unrepresentative turd in Denver quickly subsided as I crawled back into bed and continued what would be a two-week fight against the flu that cost me over ten pounds.

The biggest offseason headline was the continuation and ending of Deflategate. Brady’s lawyers got hammered by the three judge panel in the Second Circuit. A couple months later Brady’s suspension was re-instated and his last appeal later denied.

By the time Brady decided to just accept a four-game vacation to start the season, everyone was done with Deflategate. Once October hits it will be nice to know the whole charade is in the rearview mirror. Until we have to eat that final fourth-round pick in next year’s draft. Then it’s really over.

Free agency was interesting as usual. Martellus Bennett, Chris Long, Chris Hogan and Shea McClellin were the key additions. Dominique Easley and Brandon LaFell were the surprise (ish) departures. Bennett alone was enough to inspire excitement that the Patriots’ offense will have an unstoppable new dimension.

The most significant subtraction came when Chandler Jones was traded in one of the most predictable “surprise” moves Bill Belichick has ever made. Jones was entering the last year of his deal and was a lock to command way more than the Patriots would ever pay him. This was a classic Belichick move. A year early rather than a year late. And if Jonathan Cooper lives up to his draft billing, the Pats could come away with a steal.

But most of the football-related attention of the offseason focused not on 2016 but on 2017. That’s when Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Jabaal Sheard and Malcolm Butler (RFA) are due to hit free agency. “How can we keep everyone?”… “Who walks if one of them has to walk?”… Yes, we’re already burned out on these questions that we’ll be rehashing in seven months.

The draft ended up being a head scratcher as usual. With no proven healthy running back on the roster the Pats still passed on selecting one in the draft. This is an area of major interest going into camp, because no one forgets how one-dimensional the Pats were at the end of 2015.

Still, the Pats did what they always do in the draft. Take the players who fit, worry about lack of depth later. Cyrus Jones and Joe Thuney should step right into significant roles, while expectations for Malcolm Mitchell are high. The list of failed wide receivers in New England is long. But there’s hope Mitchell can click.

As for things here on the site, this will be the seventh full season of PatsPropaganda and the tenth overall that I’ve blogged excessively about the Pats. There were major changes to the site this offseason, including a migration from the Tumblr platform to a fully hosted site. I’ve added a collection of great contributors who should push the level and frequency of the content here to an unprecedented level.

The Prop Shop is back. We’re adding new partnerships with brands every week, including a near-daily short podcast that will be featured on RotoGab. It’s my hope that we can continue to carve out a unique niche within the landscape of outlets who cover the team professionally. We’re still just a blog, but I’ll put our coverage of the team up against any other outlet, including those who do it as a full time job.

2016 is an exciting year for the Patriots. We must realize that we’re closer to the end of Brady and Belichick than the start. And the end can come quickly and unexpectedly. We have to enjoy every snap this season and unfortunately, take it a little more seriously, because this very well could be the best last shot at ring number five.

We’ll get a glimpse of Jimmy Garoppolo as a small potential post-Brady preview and that should only serve to have us all appreciate TB12 that much more. But with Peyton and the Broncos seemingly out of the way, there really should be no excuses to fall short of the Super Bowl this year.

That’s a lot of pressure, but would we really have it any other way?

Here’s to another great season and most of all, NO INJURIES!!!!

Reiss/ESPNBoston: Patriots PUP List

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One of the last gut punches of the offseason is usually the announcement of the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, which quickly tells you who isn’t quite fully recovered from offseason injury/surgeries. Often this list comes with surprises, but this year everything looks pretty straightforward.

Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola both recently underwent surgery after injury-plagued seasons. Dion Lewis and Shaq Mason made appearances at the final day of mini-camp but aren’t quite ready to jump into the action this week. Sebastian Vollmer’s status has been under-the-radar this offseason, but he went through plenty of small injury issues last season as well.

All had lingering issues that will need to managed early on.

The good news is that left tackle Nate Solder, who played just three full games in 2015, is not on the list. Also that zero members of the defense will start out on the sideline. That’s a great start for them, especially with so many physical players who had their fair share of injury issues last season.

The offensive pieces that are out will be vital in the long haul, especially Edelman and Lewis. Their absences will give more reps to younger players and hopefully spur their development. Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell would do well to take advantage of the extra time with Brady.

Players can come off the PUP list at any time. If they aren’t removed from the PUP list by the start of the regular season, they can be kept on it through the first six weeks of the season. At this point, it wouldn’t appear any of those opening camp on the list would be likely candidates to remain on the list into the season, but there can be a roster advantage to stashing someone away.

Pre-Training Camp Patriots 53-Man Roster Roundup

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The PatsPropaganda staff all projected their pre-Training Camp 53-man rosters, giving us a general picture of how we see things shaking out. The biggest unknowns are, of course, injuries. Nothing unravels the best laid plans of the offseason faster. But there are plenty of big questions as we get ready to kick off camp next week.

Who will start of the PUP list in camp, and in season? Who can’t pass the conditioning test? Or worse, who gets hurt in camp and leaves a hole for someone new to fill?

Generally the Pats Prop team seemed mostly on the same page as to the locks and the bubble guys. Here’s how things shook out, and where the areas of most intrigue are.

The locks (41):

  • QB: Garoppolo, Brissett
  • RB: Blount, Bolden, Develin
  • WR: Edelman, Amendola, Hogan, Mitchell, Slater (ST)
  • TE: Gronk, Bennett, Harbor
  • OL: Thuney, Mason, Solder, Vollmer, Cannon, Waddle
  • DE: Ninkovich, Sheard, Long, Grissom
  • DT: Brown, Branch, Knighton, Valentine
  • LB: Hightower, Collins, McClellin, Freeny, Grugier-Hill
  • CB: Butler, Ryan, Coleman, Jones
  • S: McCourty, Chung, Harmon, Richards, King
  • Roster Exempt: Brady, Ebner

This leaves 12 roster spots that were up for debate. Let’s take a closer look at the areas where the projections differed most and what position battles to focus on.

RBs, Dion Lewis and the PUP

The only ones who left Dion Lewis off had him on the PUP list, meaning the Pats would sit him for the first six weeks of the regular season. That would appear to leave things a little thin. White, Gaffney, Brown and Foster all made some of the rosters. No one seems quite sure what to make of them at this point.

Niko: I gave White the nod because of his explosiveness as a receiver out of the backfield, but ask me again in a couple of weeks and I could go another way. I expect James to be pushed by the other backs I mentioned, who both may be more effective running between the tackles.

Rick: Going youth + proven commodities at RB: Foster over James White, and due to various roster exemptions, keeping both Gaffney and Brown active to start the year, Gaffney probably not making the gameday 46. This is where I see the largest likelihood of being incorrect, as 6 deep at RB is a lot.

Jamie: I think Pats have a lot to choose from and I was pretty afraid to make those choices: I forced myself to trim so Develin could make the team. I think upside of someone like Foster is exciting, but if it’s possible I think he begins the year on the practice squad. Probably dangerous, but maybe.

Interior Offensive Line

Everyone was in sync on the tackles with Waddle beating out Fleming, but there was a lot of differing opinions on Stork, Andrews, Jackson and Kline.

Jamie:  I think Stork and Andrews are redundant and neither are great or bad, if one could move to other spots effectively that’d be great, but we haven’t seen that. I’d imagine Stork has a better trade value so maybe that’s the route if there’s a center hungry team. I do think the Pats probably will try to stash some of their young OL talent on the practice squad, but as of now, I think they roll the dice and keep 10 O lineman, sans Stork and try to find a guard who can swing to center in a pinch.

Niko:  Offensive line is clearly an area of focus, and may be the most unpredictable and intense competition on the roster. I left David Andrews off because of Thuney’s ability to play anywhere up front, and Tre Jackson off because of his uneven health. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jackson was stashed on the “PUP” list at the beginning of the season as a way to buy time for last year’s 4th round pick.

Cornerback

Half of the projections had Darryl Roberts as the fifth cornerback, the other half had undrafted rookie Jonathan Jones. This matchup and Stork vs. Andrews are the most clear-cut head-to-head position battles in camp.

Niko: There should be a solid clash for the final cornerback spot(s) behind the top 3 locks (Butler, Ryan, Jones). I currently have Coleman and Jones edging out Biggers, Roberts, Bentley, and LeBlanc. Out of the cuts, Roberts has the best chance to stick.

Other Notes:

LB/DE

Niko: Two tough cuts on the defensive line: Trey Flowers and Markus Kuhn. Grissom edges out Flowers because of (you guessed it) special teams contributions, and there’s simply no room for Kuhn with Branch, Brown, “Pot Roast”, and Valentine presumably being locks.  My thinking is that McClellin could and will be used on the defensive line, and a few of the safeties are chiefly special teams studs.

Rick: I can see both Grissom and Nink playing standing up, which increases linebacker depth.

Jamie: I projected that the Pats keep all of their DE on the 90 man because that’s just how they roll, they like the versatility on the edge and they have plenty to choose from. There’s a possibility they move on from one and keep an extra man in LB core.

WR

Niko: Keyshawn Martin over Nate Washington and Aaron Dobson.  I went with Martin mainly because of his contributions on special teams.

Jamie: Devin Lucien on the roster: he could probably be snuck onto the practice squad and have Nate Washington or Keyshawn Martin on the roster, but, did you ever actually watch his college highlights? He runs the exact route tree that Troy Brown/Deion Branch/Tim Dwight/Wes Welker/Edelman/Amendola have made their bones with in New England and absolutely crushes it. HELLO. Fits like a glove. Probably a gameday inactive, but if not, spells either one to keep them fresh down the stretch. Nate Washington reeks of “veteran callback in week 11 roster emergency” if anything to me, though.

Adam: I really wanted to keep Tyler Gaffney but I just could not bring myself to do it. Excited about the return of James Develin. I think he’ll be a key to keeping Garoppolo in good shape for the first quarter of the season.