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An Independent Patriots Blog

Pats Lock Up Gilmore, Harmon

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The 2017 NFL season has begun! The long path to the start of the season in underway! Rejoice!

As reported this morning, the Pats have signed Stephon Gilmore and re-signed Duron Harmon in the opening salvo of the free agency period. Both moves are surprising, not that being surprised should be surprising during this time of year.

I assumed Harmon was gone. The Pats have paid their other two top safeties, Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung, so I assumed Harmon would be the third safety casualty. Instead, the ponied up four years, $20 million for Harmon, which tells us how valuable the view that role in their defense now. Harmon usually plays only about half the snaps, but offers important flexibility to the defense. More remarkable is that they retained him despite him being somewhat of a specialist in the deep part of the field. We’ve never really even seen him play near the line of scrimmage, much less in man coverage.

Still, for a defense that saw what it was like to get beat over and over just a few short years ago, Harmon brings a level of continuity on the back end that is vital. Especially because it looks like there’s going to be some turnover at cornerback.

This one blows my mind. We’ll probably need to wait and see what happens with Malcolm Butler, but for a team that has never really splurged on free agents, much less cornerbacks, the Pats just blew any preconceived notions out of the water. Yes, they have the cap space, but I just can’t believe they’d make this kind of investment in an external player with so many internal players still dangling in the wind.

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Report: Pats Bringing Back Alan Branch

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Mike Giardi and Ian Rapoport report that the Patriots are finalizing a deal to bring back Alan Branch on another two-year deal.

What a great, underrated signing Branch was in 2014. He’s been the perfect fit for their revamped defense post Vince Wilfork. For much of the year Branch was the MVP of the front seven, dominating the interior of opposing offensive lines.

The work that he and Malcom Brown primarily did when the Pats were in sub packages was remarkable. In the past the Pats often had problems getting run on when they had light boxes, but this year the Patriots run defense had their best DVOA since Belichick took over. Doing that while primarily only playing two actual defensive lineman most of the time is pretty special.

Now the Pats ensure they’ll have that interior of Branch, Brown and Vincent Valentine for the next couple seasons at least. That bodes well for the future of the defense. Now we just need some linebackers behind them.

Patriots Take Early Free Agency Aim at Secondary

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I hesitate to jump into anything before it becomes official, but the news is already flying so let’s jump in and figure out and take a look at the rumors circling the Pats as we wait for free agency to officially start at 4pm EST. Then we’ll jump into full analysis of the guys they actually do sign, but there are already signs today could be filled with fireworks.

First comes this…

Then this…

And this…


Plenty to digest here. Let’s start with Gilmore, who would fit the man coverage style the Patriots have gravitated toward in recent seasons. It’s reported that Gilmore could sign for as much as $14 million per season. Before I re-evaluate everything I believe about the Patriots and cornerbacks, I’ll wait until the actual numbers come out. The Pats are always creative at getting value even if the numbers give the player an exciting headline.

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Report: Patriots Trade for Colts TE Dwayne Allen

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The Patriots made their first surprising move of the 2017 season before it officially began, trading with the Colts for tight end Dwayne Allen, reportedly for a late-round draft pick.

Allen signed a four-year contract extension last offseason worth $29 million, but had an up-and-down season grabbing 35 catches for 406 yards and six touchdowns. Allen played five years in Indy, never topping his rookie total of 45 catches.

Now it seems clear that Martellus Bennett is likely gone, as expected. Allen gives the Pats another option behind Rob Gronkowski and above Matt Lengel. We saw how vital it was to have a second tight end who could be depended on if Gronkowski went down, which he did. Bennett was a great all-around tight end who mitigated the damage of not having Gronk did.

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Patriots Rumor Roundup – Free Agency Eve Edition

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The league year starts at 4pm EST tomorrow (Thursday) and with it comes the flurry of activity that always accompanies the start of free agency. Teams have been tampering, legally of course(!), for the last couple days and many will already have contracts in place with the players of their choice.

Meanwhile the Patriots are sitting back and appear willing to let the market dictate what happens with all their key free agent pieces like Dont’a Hightower, Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon. This is the patient economist in Belichick, who knows that even if you lose players to over-priced deals the value will come back around when teams have to cut very good players so they can afford their free agent swings for the fences.

I know this time of year can be a frenzy of excitement and disappointment, but the Pats have over $54 million in cap space at last check (per Miguel Benzan, the @PatsCap guru), so things are going to happen.

Strap up and let’s take one last reset on the latest mostly-bullshit rumors that are flying before reality sets in tomorrow.

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Patriots Begin Team Building

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It hasn’t been flashy but the Patriots have begun building their 2017 squad as the “legal tampering period” opens. The initial moves started with the re-signing of James Develin, who didn’t even need to hit the open market.


Develin is the ultimate game plan piece and if you don’t love having a big fullback on the roster you don’t love football. Belichick loves Develin’s toughness so there’s little surprise the Pats were able to lock up Develin so quickly. Develin played 31 percent of the offensive snaps and 33 percent of the special teams snaps, showing that while he’s not an every down guy he does plenty of the dirty work that wins football games.

The Pats have also started tendering their restricted free agents, with Justin Coleman, Cameron Fleming and Matt Lengel the first to be announced. I’ll keep updating this post as others are announced, including the biggest one, Malcolm Butler, who is almost assured of getting a first-round tender.

Coleman had a promising rookie year but fell off the map in 2016, playing 226 total snaps. But with Logan Ryan likely departing there’s good reason to keep Coleman around. Let’s remember Ryan fell off the map in 2014 after a solid rookie campaign. Coleman could bounce back. He has good physicality and sometimes a year on the bench can help a player grow.

Lengel was acquired after Gronk went down, and ended up playing in six games with two catches, one which went for a touchdown. He adds much needed depth at the tight end position. Most of us seem to agree the Pats should be active in the draft for a tight end, assuming they’ll have to replace Marty Bennett. But Lengel gives them experienced insurance in a blocking role that will be valuable.

Fleming is a good third tackle who also filled in at left tackle last season. He has versatility to play both sides and is a solid depth piece. I’d still love to add another athletic tackle, but keeping Fleming was a no-brainer.

Other restricted free agents to come today: Butler and Brandon King. All should be retained as well.

Pats Posits: Are You Ready for Free Agency?

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Tom Brady First Down Browns

The “legal tampering period” starts tomorrow and the official 2017 NFL league year starts on Thursday, which means there’s going to be a flurry of things to talk about this week. Some bad, as Patriots free agents take trips and likely sign elsewhere, and some boring, as the Patriots take their usual slow start, which will probably include signing some special teams guy no one has talked about at all.  It doesn’t take 888 casino review to tell you that’s a lock.

That’s just how things go in Patriots Nation. And it certainly doesn’t mean anyone is used to it or done complaining about it, even after five Super Bowls. Plenty of new is already starting to slip out, so let’s take a look at what we’ve heard and what to expect.

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