PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Can a Butler Do It Again for Patriots?

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Adam Butler, an unsigned rookie free agent defensive linemen out of Vanderbilt, has turned heads in the last week of Patriots training camp. Saturday’s scrimmage had him showing up in quite a few reports:


Greg Bedard (Boston Sports Journal):

DT Adam Butler continues to be impressive. The best young interior pass rusher. Little weak against the run.

Butler was one of the undrafted rookies that I didn’t take a close enough look at in the preseason, despite him checking a number of versatility boxes — he played all along the defensive line and even some offensive line.

Now it appears that the undrafted rookie could have a shot at actually making the team. Granted we’re just 10 days into camp and have yet to see him in any game action, but on a team famous for their undrafted rookies, Butler appears to be making an early push.

Let’s take a closer look at Butler and what he might bring to the Pats.

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Product Alert: Patriots Football History Told Through The Washington Post

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Thank you to Signature Gifts for sending me one of their Football History books! I have plenty of Patriots keepsakes but this might just be one of my favorites. It’s a compilation of the Patriots’ history told through the pages of the Washington Post.

It goes all the way back to the Patriots’ first season in 1960, right up through their stunning win in Super Bowl 51. It was such a fun way to relive the trials and tribulations of the franchise, as told through the way people used to get their information — the newspaper.

It’s a wonderful compilation, filled with pictures and stories that even I had forgotten about. If you’d like to pick one up you can get all the details here. If you’re a fan of history, or especially newspapers and old time sports reporting, this would make a wonderful gift!

Tweets of Note: Patriots Camp Catch-up

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Things are about to get real at Patriots training camp next week. With the Jags coming to town for joint practices and then the preseason kicking off against them on Thursday night, the preseason is about to begin. With that comes “real” football and some actual film to break down which will be a welcome departure from relying on camp reports.

The team has gotten a bit dinged up in recent days and as a result Bill Belichick has been pulling back a bit, especially on important veteran starters. I’m sure the entire team is looking forward to competing against the Jags, and those practices should see the intensity shoot back up.

The Pats will be practicing both Friday and Saturday, then will have Sunday off prior to the joint practices that start on Monday.

Let’s take a quick look at the biggest storylines in camp right now…

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A Closer Look at the Patriots’ Roster Bubble

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Today is Tom Brady‘s 40th birthday and it also marks the end of then first week of training camp. While I don’t really have any big Brady celebration plans (because your favorite QB turning 40 isn’t exactly something to celebrate), it’s a good time to take a quick reset on what we’ve learned and how the roster is flushing out.

The headline of week one was Rob Ninkovich‘s retirement, and though that opens up a roster spot, there are still plenty of bubble guys who will be in the fight of their lives to make the team.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the bubble players who have emerged in the first week and weigh their chances of making the roster.

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Coffin Corner: Introducing ** The A-Team ** The NFL’s New Best Secondary

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The Seahawks have the Legion of Boom, the secondary that defines excellence in the modern NFL. The unit helmed by Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman instills the fear of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy on receivers on a weekly basis. The duo of safeties uses solid and technically sound acts of violence to intimidate opposing pass catchers who seek refuge over the middle of the field. It’s an impressive scheme that requires outstandingly athletic and brutal safeties and opportunistic corners to be successful. Pete Carroll has invested heavily in this unit, using almost 1/5 of his cap space on those three players. That may seem like a sustainable allocation of resources on arguably the best three players on your team, but as we saw last year they completely cratered after suffering the Earl Thomas injury because they could no longer serve their mantra “every last blade of grass” without depth at the position.

The Patriots secondary unit are waiting in the wings to take the mantle of best secondary in the NFL and Belichick spends a similar percentage of his cap on their core secondary. Though, because we’re talking about the Patriots: they employ the same amount of money roughly $18 million on FIVE core players in the defensive backfield rather than Seattle’s three stars. This unit is set to make a splash and should rival the best secondary in football and to do that they need a nickname – That’s where – huh? Do you hear that? Wait, what’s that sound?

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5 New Patriots Emerging in Camp

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

There have only been five Patriots training camp practices, and while we don’t want to annoy Bill Belichick by getting overzealous with our analysis just yet, it’s obvious that some young and new players are emerging and could take on significant roles with the team this season.

It’s an annual right of passage — some random undrafted player or veteran free agent castoff suddenly clicks in the system and becomes someone the team leans on. This summer has been no different, and while some of those emerging were more anticipated than others, it’s clear that the 2017 Patriots will have new faces in a number of spots.

Let’s take a look at the five guys getting the most attention early in camp.

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Tweets of Note: Patriots Training Camp Practice #5

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Stopped in for a little bit at training camp practice number five this morning, just long enough to see a little 11-on-11 work. It was a much lighter crowd than I saw on Thursday and Friday last week, with plenty of open spots on the side hill where you could watch.

It was a hot morning and tempers were flaring as Julian Edelman and Stephon Gilmore got into a shoving match and were both ejected from practice. One injury note that popped up — Elandon Roberts went down, had his foot looked at then taped and then hopped right back into practice. Roberts seems like one of those uber tough guys who would need to lose a limb to miss time.

James O’Shaughnessy also had to leave due to an injury.

Here’s some other tweets of note from the dog days of training camp…

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