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PatsPropaganda 2016 Patriots Season Preview Book

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PatsPropaganda’s 2016 Patriots season preview book features 40 pages dedicated to everything needed to prepare you for the upcoming campaign. 90 player previews, extensive stats and depth charts, along with a full game-by-game season preview and predictions — this preview book has it all and more.

Get it here: PatsPropaganda 2016 Patriots Season Preview Book – PatsPropaganda

Taking a little vacation this week as obviously it’s the deadest of the deadest period of the offseason. But it’s also the perfect time to catch up on anything you might’ve missed this offseason and get some in-depth analysis of what’s to come in training camp and in the 2016 season. My season preview book is packed full of information and stats, and for just $4 I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Boston Herald/Howe – 5 questions for Patriots minicamp

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The Patriots open their mandatory three-day minicamp Tuesday at Gillette Stadium.

Source: 5 questions for Patriots minicamp | Boston Herald

Good read here from Jeff Howe, breaking down some of the specifics to look for over the next three days. But let’s be honest, it’s really just like we’re spinning our wheels because there won’t be anything monumental to take away from mini-camp. Maybe someone like Dion Lewis is out there, and that’d be a great sign that his knee is returning to healthy, but otherwise everyone is there to learn not compete for a job just yet.

I will be curious to see if we can decipher who’s playing receiver along with Chris Hogan, since Edelman and Amendola are probably sitting. Keyshawn Martin probably makes the most sense. But there will be plenty of rotation and with Brady’s possible suspension, things will be even more mixed up that usual. I also wonder at what point do the Pats start managing Brady’s throws moreso anyway. His arm showed no signs of slowing down at the end of last year, but it’s something to think about.

This will be the last time we see the boys on the field before the long break until training camp opens at the end of July. Yes, it’s the final push of the offseason, but make no mistake, football is coming.

Report: Malcolm Butler looking for a raise

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Cornerback Malcolm Butler was one of 17 players who didn’t participate in Thursday’s voluntary organized team activity. While the reason for his absence is not known, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was related to his contract status. Butler has told teammates and friends he plans to push for an adjustment to his contract before the 2016 season, and staying off the field in voluntary workouts would be a decision that limits injury risk and also could be viewed as a statement to the organization that he’s unhappy with the status quo and/or the movement/specifics of contract talks.

Source: New England Patriots- ESPN

Malcolm Butler Contract Analysis

Mike Reiss reports today in his must-read Sunday notes column that Malcolm Butler’s absence from at least media access to Thursday’s OTAs could be related to that he’s looking for the Patriots to sweeten his contract.

Butler is one of the big four of free agents the Patriots will have to deal with next offseason, the others being Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins and Jabaal Sheard. Hightower seemed like the one that most of us thought would get done first since his high cap number could be reduced to open up more overall cap space.

malcolm butler contractNow Butler could change things, or perhaps accelerate the timeline a bit. It’s been a while since the Pats have had a contract hold out during the offseason, and it brings back some bad memories, often in the past this has not ended well.

There’s no question, Butler deserves a raise but as is always the case with the Patriots and money, there could be a disconnect between how much Butler thinks he should get and what the Patriots are willing to pay him.

Butler stepped right into the top cornerback spot last season and despite some hiccups, he always bounced back and had a Pro Bowl season. The Patriots deployed him on the quickest opposing receiver, including the likes of Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham Jr.. Even when Butler gave up catches he was always right around the ball.

I feel comfortable calling Butler the most promising young Patriots cornerback since Ty Law. He has it all — can play press man, has a short memory and is physical in every aspect.

Butler will be a restricted free agent next offseason, so the Patriots were hoping they could get him for both 2016 and 2017 at a far lower rate than a team would have to pay their best corner.

Put it this way — last season Butler was making 1/32nd what Darrelle Revis made. That’s obscene value and Butler surely took note.

So now the Patriots money dance begins once again. We’ve seen both ends of the spectrum — in Deion Branch’s case in 2006 it ended with the player getting shipped out of town long before he should’ve been. Or in Richard Seymour’s case the Pats gave him a raise for the final year of his rookie deal after he held out, then worked out another deal the following offseason.

The Pats have been hesitant to give out top dollar long-term deals to cornerbacks in the past, but Butler is different as is the game now. You need man coverage corners to compete against good quarterbacks and Butler is the Pats best man coverage corner.

Hopefully they can avoid things unravelling like they did with Branch and find some common ground sooner than later. Is Butler willing to keep sitting out into training camp? Or was this a one-time message hoped to spur some early action?

The Pats have plenty of contract work to do on defense and while we thought Butler would get a new deal eventually, it might happen sooner than later now. But Hightower and Collins remain the first priorities and that could complicate things if Butler wants to play hard ball now.

Tweets of Note from Patriots OTAs

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We got our first glimpse of the 2016 Patriots on Thursday, albeit a depleted squad that was missing a lot of heavy hitters for whatever reason. Still, there’s some fun stuff to consider as we still sit two months out from the start of training camp.

Here are some tweets that stood out:

That’s a lot of firepower, but if you’re into panicking about guys missing from a practice in late May be my guest. Gronk, Harmon, Vollmer and Branch are probably the biggest surprises. There were no reports of offseason surgery for any of them, but at least with Gronk, there’s no need to risk any of these vets. They all know what they’re doing and at this point it’s probably better to let the new guys and rookies get more reps, especially with the first team.

That’s my quarterback. Enjoy it folks, it’s not going to last forever and we’re getting closer and closer to the end with each passing offseason. But for now… WE STILL GOT TFB!

Never put too much weight into any of this, but generally it sounds like they all looked pretty good and it’s always nice to see a rookie cornerback pop up with an interception in one of his first practices.

End of May? Don’t matter. BB wants everyone locked in at all times and this was probably a surprising first lesson for many newbies.

So, so excited to see what kind of damage Gronk and Bennett will do together this year.

Holy hoodie, how fast do DJ Foster’s legs go? That right there is some quickness.

Poetry in motion.

Princesses, Pirates & Patriots: A Charity Tea with Lil’ Mayo

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVGhOpYkB60

If you missed any of the super cute videos the Patriots put together with Jerod Mayo’s daughter Chya the last couple seasons, they were totes adorbs. And though Jerod retired this year, Lil’ Chya is just starting her career and it looks like she’s got a bright road ahead of her.

Lil' Mayo is back!

Lil’ Mayo is back!

This Sunday, April 24th, Chya will be hosting Princesses, Pirates & Patriots: A Charity Tea with Lil’ Mayo at Mirbeau Inn & Spa in Plymouth from 11am – 2pm. Kids can dress up as their favorite princess, pirate or Patriot and are encouraged to bring an activity, arts & crafts kit or creative toy to donate. All proceeds will benefit the Boston Medical Center.

It will be a memorable family event including balloon artistry, face and nail painting, child-friendly games, and more, as well as a great way to show kids how to give back to the community!

Pricing for this afternoon is $55.00 per adult and $35.00 per child 12 years of age and under, exclusive of tax and gratuity.

To schedule your reservation, please call 877-MIRBEAU (877-647-2328).

Patriots 2016 Preseason Opponents Announced

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The offseason continues to slowly drip by, with the Patriots 2016 preseason opponents being announced. The Pats will play:

  • Aug 11-15: vs NO
  • Aug 18-22: vs CHI
  • Aug 25-28: at CAR
  • Sept 1-2: at NYG

It’s a good bet the Pats will take advantage of the Belichick-Sean Payton connection once again and set up some joint practices early in training camp, and could possibly do the same with the Bears. Those are always a good chance to get some quality work in against another scheme and style.

What I like about this preseason schedule is that it gives the Pats a nice cross section of pretty good teams to prepare them for the regular season. They’ll get to see practice time and a drive or two of a great passer in Drew Brees, a half of an okay passer in Jay Cutler, and one of the best mobile quarterbacks in the game in Cam Newton in the all-important third preseason game.

And yes, the Pats scrubs and hanger-ons will get to see Eli and the Giants for the first time sans Tom Coughlin in the final preseason week.

The full schedule should be released in the next month and that should be fascinating to see how the 2016 campaign lays out. It’s not the cake walk the 2015 schedule was, and is far closer to the hard road 2014 was. Of course as we saw, playing some great teams prepared that 2014 team well for the playoffs, though remaining healthy was the bigger key.

Patriots 2016 Opponents

Introducing the PatsPropaganda Forum

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As you’ve probably noticed things have been slowly evolving here on the new version of the site and today I’ve added a forum where we can chat. After moving on from Tumblr one of the things I liked but lost was the ability to take and answer questions through their platform, so I’m hoping that this forum will help replace that and give me a chance for some back and forth with you guys.

I’ve kicked things off with a couple questions about two areas I think are at the forefront this offseason — what kind of a third linebacker should the Pats pursue and what to do with Chandler Jones. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these topics and anything else that is weighing on your mind as we get going into Free Agency and then the draft.

You’ll find an easy link to the forum in the top navigation menu and as always, any thoughts, comments, tips, ideas, etc for the new version of the site are always welcome.