PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

Patriots Stocking Brady’s Potential Weaponry with Matthews, Niklas

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The Patriots continued to round out the middle portion of their roster this week with three moves, all on the offensive side of the ball, starting with offensive linemen Luke Bowanko and TE Troy Niklas, and ending for now with wide receiver Jordan Matthews.

Matthews was a second-round pick in 2014, was traded to the Bills last preseason but ended the year on injured reserve, meaning the Patriots got him a good discount. He works primarily out of the slot, which makes him a good candidate to help replace Danny Amendola. However, Matthews isn’t exactly the quick-open kind of guy that Amendola or Julian Edelman are. He’s a bigger slot receiver but with good hands and a good feel for getting open.

More on him and Niklas as we get closer and closer to the draft!

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First Two Rounds Will Be Patriots’ Playground

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After moving Brandin Cooks and picking up their second first-round pick for 2018’s NFL Draft, there’s much speculation as to what the Patriots will do with the capital that includes two second-round picks as well. Could they trade up for a quarterback? Or an offensive tackle? Or a linebacker? Or just trade them all for dozens of picks in 2019?

What happens will depend entirely on how things unfold above them, but after the top ten has passed the Patriots are in play for almost every pick during the first two days of the draft. Up, down, into the future…picks will be flying and it should make for an exciting weekend for Patriots fans.

The more I dig into this draft the more excited I am about the potential players that could be available at 23 that would not have been available at 31. Someone at a position of need will fall, and who knows, maybe they’ll move up to grab the right guy.

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Patriots Trade Cooks to Rams, Pick Up Another First-Round Pick

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Brandin Cooks had one of the more interesting first seasons for a new Patriots receiver. He put up over 1,000 yards on 65 catches with seven touchdowns, yet there was still debate if Cooks was everything Patriots fans expected him to be. After all, these same fans had been complaining about the lack of a deep threat since Belichick traded away Randy Moss, and yet now Cooks is gone after just one season, traded to the Rams for a first round pick, while also swapping a fourth-rounder down to a sixth rounder.

The Pats’ picks are now:

1.23 (LAR)
1.31
2.43 (SF)
2.63
3.95
6.TBD (LAR)
6.210
7.219

That’s plenty of ammo to move up and down the draft board to give a much-needed influx of talent in necessary spots such as left tackle, linebacker and defensive end. Just for fun, based on the draft value chart the Patriots could get all the way up to ninth overall with a package of the 23rd and 31st pick. But I doubt they’ll do that.

The trade of Cooks isn’t a total shocker and re-allocates some capital into the first round of the draft.They’ve made just two first-round picks in the last five years, and only Malcom Brown is still on the roster. Now, with two first rounders the Pats look ready to do some damage. It will also open up more cap space, with @Patscap currently having their number at $14.7 million.

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A Gronking to Forget

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As it was reported by ESPN/Jeff Darlington over the weekend, Rob Gronkowski is “pretty certain” he’ll return to the Patriots in 2018. He’ll probably come back but maybe there’s still kind of a slight chance he might retire or want a new contract or BB to say sorry or force a trade or go to the WWE or become an actor or something.

It’s so hard to be mad at Gronk, but this wishy-washy stuff is getting old. I don’t know if this is coming from Gronk or his agents in a push to get him out of New England and into a monster deal somewhere else or what but it’s really dragging on.

The South Florida connection of Darling to Drew Rosenhaus is an easy one to make. Earlier this offseason Tom E. Curran had the first “Gronk No Happy” report.

From Darlington:

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A Brief History of Patriots-Influenced NFL Rule Changes

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

The Patriots’ dominance of the past 17 years has transformed the NFL landscape in a number of ways. First, their constant iron fist rule over the Dolphins, Jets and Bills has sent all three teams into endless cycles of GM/Coach/QB combos. Every now and then they’ll get lucky in their home stadium and get an early season-defining win over Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, but outside of the 2010 Jets, no AFC East team has beaten the Patriots in a meaningful game in a long, long time.

That goes for most of the rest of the NFL, with notable challengers the 2000s Colts, 2009-2012 Ravens, and the 2005/Peyton Manning Broncos. For almost two decades the division and conference teams outside New England were built to take down the Patriots and yet none could find the “blueprint” to beat the Pats outside of play a near-perfect 60-minute game. It’s amazing how hard that is for the great majority of NFL teams most of the time.

That competitive push against extended into the offseason, especially after the Pats’ dynastic run got kicked off with a game-saving, stupid-rule-called-correct, it’s no surprise that with increasing frequency rules that benefit, or are exploited by, the Patriots get put under the microscope each time the geniuses running the NFL competition committee decide what will improve the game.

Let’s take a look back at some NFL rule changes made because of the Patriots.

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Will the right left tackle fall to the Pats?

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The attention of Patriots draft pundits is locked on potential Nate Solder replacements and there are definitely some intriguing prospects. The Patriots’ position on NFL betting sites largely depends on who will be protecting Tom Brady‘s blind side.

There’s no question the Pats will add multiple rookie tackles, it’s just a question of how much draft capital they ‘re willing to give up. A first-round pick? Multiple picks to move up, ala Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower? Or will they just not value any of the available tackles as first-round picks and thus trade down and use the throw-it-all-at-the-wall approach?

Here’s a closer look at some of the first-round tackles and measure how well they all really fit in the Patriots’ offensive system and preferences.

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5 Patriots Draft Needs and Prospect Posits

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I’ve finally jumped into the NFL draft with both feet this week, it’s always a fascinating process for me as I pay zero attention to college football or any prospects until now. I think in some ways that kind of unbiased and fresh perspective gives me some advantages, but it’s a lot of work going through all the prospects to get to my Top-50 Big Board for the eighth year.

There are plenty of draft gurus who do this year-round and put up great GIF and play studies. Credit to them because in two months the Pats will have a handful of new guys and everyone else will be someone else’s concern.

Here’s my mock draft/big board accountability chart. The big goal this year is to get back on track by hitting a pick in my mock draft, something I haven’t done in two years after getting at least two in four of the previous five seasons.

 

Here are 5 early thoughts on some prospects who are getting connected to the Pats a lot.

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