PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

Pats Posits: Let the Tampering Begin!

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It’s an exciting time to be a football fan with the start of free agency this week, the 2018 season will finally start to take shape. For the Patriots, they already grabbed Danny Shelton and another draft pick for what will likely be a 2019 3rd round pick, making a solid investment in this coming fall without sacrificing much more than a couple million in cap space this season.

There are still plenty of moves for them to make, starting with Nate Solder and the tackle position.

From there they can move on to running back, linebacker and cornerback, doing what they always do — targeting the cost-effective vets in the middle-to-lower tiers. 2017 was a shocker when they made a big splash on a cornerback. Since Adalius Thomas they really had avoided big time external free agent deals, with consideration to Darrelle Revis, who was expensive but really just a one-year rental.

They had the cap space last year, this year they don’t. So until Solder is resolved I don’t expect any big moves. After that there should be quite a bit of action.

More on that and everything else that might come at us this week in a very offseason Posits!

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Report: Patriots Acquire DT Danny Shelton

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After spending the better part of two days wondering how a large contingent of Patriots Nation thought cornerback was the biggest need for this defense, the Patriots made the kind of splash I wanted them to in the front seven, acquiring monstrous defensive tackle Danny Shelton and a 2018 pick from the Cleveland Browns for a 2019 mid-round pick..

Shelton is entering the last year of his rookie deal at an affordable $2 million, with an option for 2019 that @Patscap estimates would be in the $6-7 million range. Shelton was the 12th overall pick in 2015 and is really the perfect fit for the Patriots’ defense that looks for their two defensive tackles to control the interior of the offensive line while the ends and linebackers make the plays.

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Patriots Cut Bennett, Continue Opening Cap Space

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As expected, the Patriots parted ways with Martellus Bennett yesterday, a move that opened up over $6 million more in cap space. Now, per the reliable Patscap maestro Miguel Benzan, the team is sitting on $24.4 million in cap space. Other moves that opened up space include the retirement of David Harris as well as the decline of Alan Branch’s option.

All of this is of course setting the stage for free agency, which opens next week, and in usual Patriots fashion, there hasn’t been much to get excited about, even as we hope for extensions for Trey Flowers and Shaq Mason, and perhaps a couple other moves that could open up some space.

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Top 10 Patriots Draft Prospect Traits

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It felt like the NFL scouting combine snuck up out of nowhere this year. We’re no strangers to having a quick turnaround from the Super Bowl to the combine in just a few short weeks, but for some reason it flew by this year for me and honestly I’m kind of happy it did, and for more reasons that having a palate-cleansing good guy Bill Belichick appearance on NFL Network.

The advantage for me jumping into the draft now is that all the measurements and times are already recorded and readily available. I don’t touch the NFL draft until, well, now. I come at it with a fresh set of eyes and for the past seven seasons I’ve tried to hold myself to some level of accountability by sticking to the same formula — a 50 prospect draft board where I try to hit as many picks and signings as possible and one solitary mock draft.

 

Last year I got back on track after my worst Top 50 performance ever, when Cyrus Jones was the lone pick I hit, however I still haven’t hit a mock draft pick in two years after hitting at least two in four of my first five mock drafts. Something to shoot for this year when I release my mock a week or so before the draft.

Before I start jumping into prospect articles I thought a better place to start is with what I look for when “scouting” players. The advantage of focusing solely on one team’s drafts is that you start to get a sense of what they look for.

Here are the top 10 things I look for in Patriots draft prospects.

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Patriots Should Overstock Front Seven, Not Add Costly Corner

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My takeaway from the 2017 defensive season was that a high-priced secondary isn’t worth much if the front seven stinks, so I was surprised by reports connecting Aqib Talib and Richard Sherman to the Patriots. Yes, the Pats will probably (definitely) lose Malcolm Butler, but with Eric Rowe still there, Jonathan Jones returning and the veteran trio back at safety, maybe it’s best to not make a drastic move at cornerback for a second year in a row?

I know corners like Talib and Sherman are shiny objects, but I’d far prefer my Patriots shiny defensive objects to be defensive end and linebacker types. There was just so much attrition at those spots in 2017, basically losing four veteran edge players who made some of the biggest plays of the last few seasons. The position group needs to be flooded with as much camp competition as possible, to let the next Ninkovich emerge and also find out how good guys like Dietrich Wise, Adam Butler, Derek Rivers and Eric Lee really are.

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10 Patriots Free Agency Targets

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It’s March!! We will officially change the football calendar over to 2018 this month with the start of the new league year and free agency on March 15th. The Patriots have plenty of internal moves to make before hitting the external market, but here are 10 guys that stuck out to me based on what I see the needs being after they make some cuts and new deals.

I could see the Patriots letting Nate Solder test the market, but he’s got to be the first priority and domino to fall. From there the running back and defensive front seven positions must be addressed. There’s some uncertainty at tight end as well, as the endless search for a perfect compliment to Rob Gronkowski continues.

While the Pats have made plenty of recent splashy signings in free agency, these names are primarily in the Pats’ wheelhouse — promising players who disappointed or got hurt, and vets maybe looking for one last shot at a ring. If the Pats do make a big move I’d hope it would be in the defensive front.

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2017 Pats Left More Questions Than Answers

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The strange turns of the 2017 spilled over into the offseason once again yesterday with Tom E. Curran writing that Rob Gronkowski was in fact unhappy with football this season dating all the way back to training camp. In retrospect this article from Ryan Hannable is even more interesting.

There were rumors of Gronk wanting to retire, to maybe give WWE a try instead, just after the Super Bowl but I mostly dismissed those as just being end-of-disappointing-year grumblings. But when taken as part of the big picture of the Pats 2017 season and it’s hard not to think things were different behind the scenes this year, no matter how much you do or don’t want to buy into the old Seth Wickersham piece, the rumors about Brady, Guerrero, Kraft, Belichick, Malcolm Butler and now even Curran’s piece about Gronk.

For the most part, fans want to dismiss these things because distrusting the media is all the rage these days, but there’s so much smoke from a variety of places that it feels like something most definitely was off with this team. Here we are, 17 years in, and the closest kind of contemptuous season to 2017 came in 2009.

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