PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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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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!