PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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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Pats Keep Linebacker Marquis Flowers for Another Year

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Linebacker remains one of the biggest needs on the roster, but the Patriots made a solid depth move at the position by re-signing Marquis Flowers to a one-year deal worth $2.55 million. This is a significant raise after Flowers was making just under $700K after being traded from the Bengals to the Patriots for a seventh-round pick.

Thought to be just a special teamer, Flowers really started to come on at the end of the season, logging 3.5 sacks and nine tackles in the final two games of the regular season. He added a sack and four tackles against the Titans in the AFCDG. After playing just 72 snaps on defense in Cinci, he played 238 for the Patriots and added 123 in the three playoff games, including 18 in the Super Bowl. Yes, the Pats injury apocalypse at linebacker had something to do with Flowers ascension, but he made the most of the opportunity and brings much-needed athleticism to the position group and having just turned 26 he still has some potential.

With the release of Shea McClellan there really is no bad signing at linebacker these days for the Pats, and given Flowers’ progression over the course of the year and his ability to play special teams, Flowers could once again find himself being a significant player in 2018 and should be aiming to cash in even further with another solid year.

 

 

Matthew Slater Signs Two-Year Deal with Pats

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Patriots fans can breathe a sigh of relief as Matthew Slater has re-signed with the team after a brief flirtation with the Steelers. The core special teamer and team leader has become the heart and soul of the Patriots locker room, most often leading the Patriots post-game cheer that was started by Tedy Bruschi over a decade ago.

Many of us wondered if the signing of Cordarrelle Patterson, a core special teamer and gunner himself, signaled an end to the Slater era, but alas the Patriots will now have two lightning fast players on the punt team who can get downfield and snuff out any potential punt returns.

The return of Slater also bodes well for a Patriots team looking for somewhat of a locker room reset after a season filled with more off-field drama than usual.

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Patshow #125 Offseason Free Agency Show (via Shindig)

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Today Nick and I jumped in on a cool new app that will allow us to bring you some stripped-down Patshows this offseason. It was a little wonky for us at first but we already got a pretty good handle on it and should be able to deliver even better results going forward. In this episode, we talked everything that has transpired in the past couple weeks — all the players who left, all the player who arrived and every little bit of Patriots new in between. It was good to be back talking Patriots football with my old pal Fitzy!

Patrick Chung Extended Through 2020

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When I started this blog, Patrick Chung was one of the early favorites. Seriously there are 42 pages of posts about Chung, or as I dubbed him early on, Patchung! because he played with reckless abandon and just patchunged the hell out of guys. That fearless playing style was what endeared him to us all, and made him an early favorite to replace Rodney Harrison who retired the year before Chung entered the league.

It didn’t quite work that way out of the gate, but ever since taking a brief hiatus in Philadelphia for a year, Chung has more than lived up to the lofty expectation of replacing maybe the toughest safety to ever don a Patriots uniform. Chung has now signed another contract extension, his third since rejoining the team, locking him up through 2020 and solidifying an area that I thought could possibly transition sooner than many thought.

With guys like Kenny Vaccaro and later Tyrann Mathieu available and Chung set to turn 31 in August with a $3.8 million cap hit, I wondered if it might be one of those year-too-early situations, but happily, I was wrong and Chung isn’t going anywhere.

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Patriots Trade Parade Continues with Cordarrelle Patterson

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After the season ends I dive into the free agency lists and try to figure out who might be a good fit for the Patriots. Then the Patriots go and blow all my study out of the water as they focus on trades like they did with their third of the past two weeks, acquiring Cordarrelle Patterson from the Raiders for a swap of late-round picks. Just as I got keen to the Patriots’ restricted free agency ways, they continue to keep me on my toes and that’s why sometimes it’s best to just sit back and let them do their thing.

Patterson’s addition was a bit surprising on the surface but as you dig a little further it’s a move that shores up a few different spots that have been affected by departures this offseason. Patterson was drafted with what was originally the Patriots’ 29th overall pick in the 2013 draft. The Patriots turned that pick into four other picks, and now they get Patterson for peanuts, with no guaranteed money. He’s not exactly cheap with a cap hit of $3.25 million, but should bring enough value to the offense and special teams to make him worth it.

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