PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Combine: Gil Brandt ‘This is a draft that’s a Patriot draft’ | Patriots.com

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“There’s not really many first rounders,” Brandt told Patriots.com Friday during the league’s annual Scouting Combine. “There’s a lot of guys that are in the category of 20 to 50. You don’t have 28 (true) first rounders, so the (teams) who do their homework are going to do pretty well, because all these (players) look the same.”

Source: Combine: Gil Brandt ‘This is a draft that’s a Patriot draft’ | New England Patriots

How often are there actually 32 players worthy of a first-round selection? I’d make the case that 2012 might be one of the only years when the Pats traded up and nabbed both Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower. Is it any coincidence that those two players (along with 2013 second-rounder Jamie Collins) were the big keys to taking the porous defense of 2010 & 2011 and making them into one of the better front sevens in the NFL?

Pats don’t often get much credit for the fact that they’ve pretty much always been drafting in the 20’s for the last 15 years. The only exceptions were Jerod Mayo and Nate Solder. Otherwise they’ve maintained their dominance without getting to pick where most of the dominant players are usually selected.

You’d still love to have that first round pick back, but I think they have enough ammo to move up a bit in the second round. Big question will be when the runs on offensive and defensive tackles start.

 

Two Flukey Plays In Denver

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I came across the ultimate spoiled Pats fan comment in my internet travels the other day, someone complaining that the Pats have “only won one Super Bowl in the last 11 years” and I had to laugh. How incredibly easy it is to dismiss how impossible it is to consistently win in the NFL. No, the Patriots have made that part look easy and we’ve all just come to accept that ho-hum we locked up our 13th AFC East title in 15 years and came within a couple plays of going to our third Super Bowl in five years but that’s not good enough.

This also circles the bigger point of how whatever deficiency is exhibited in the season-ender is what everyone obsesses about for the entire offseason. Oh, and that of course must also include adding a deep threat and more pass rushers. This cycle happens every year on the outside, meanwhile inside the walls of Gillette Stadium, the Patriots just keep doing what they do despite the calls to blow certain things up each and every year.

Yes, the offensive line got toasted time and again in the AFC Championship, leaving many Pats fans to think that upgrading third-string swing tackle Marcus Cannon and usual-right-tackle-playing-left-tackle Sebastian Vollmer is the answer for 2016. The main theory is to cut them both, sign a high-priced free agent to pair with Nate Solder and then they’ll be all set. Yet, I still have trouble seeing how any right tackle in league was going to shut down Von Miller in Denver, especially when not even Carolina could do it at a neutral site.

Because despite all the flaws of the 2015 Patriots that everyone loves to point out, they should’ve been headed to overtime in AFC Championship. Were they a flawed team? Well after all the injuries, sure, but despite that the season still came down to what it always comes down to–making the last play.

If Malcolm Butler doesn’t make the SB49 game-winning interception what would everyone be complaining about last offseason? That not even Revis and Browner could save the Patriots’ terrible defense that blew three Super Bowls for Tom Brady. They had no pass rush. They needed a deep threat.

The unsexy truth is that if you want to point the finger at where the 2015 Pats hurt themselves the most you have nowhere to look but two flukey plays in Denver. You never know when one play is going to change the course of your season, but that’s what happened with Harper’s Muff and Gostkowski’s extra point miss.

The first very well cost the Pats the chance to host the AFC Championship. The second cost them an overtime shot at the Super Bowl. Yes, this is oversimplifying it, and I can’t kill an undrafted rookie (who shouldn’t have been trying to field the punt) messing up on the road in the snow, or a kicker who hadn’t missed an extra point since his rookie year, but it’s hard to argue the Pats season wouldn’t have ended on different terms had those two plays gone the other way. And yes, the irony of the Pats being the ones who suggested moving the extra point back drips thick.

Chris Harper Muffed Punt Patriots Broncos

But there’s no way to hem and haw about two random plays over the course of a season and that’s football. That’s why it’s so hard not only to win, but to make the key plays in the key moments. The Patriots Super Bowl runs all featured the Pats making those clutch plays. Even the years they came up short they made plenty of those plays as well — they just didn’t make the last ones.

So everyone can worry about the offensive line, about the lack of weapons, about the lack of a pass rusher like Von Miller, but none of it really matters. The truth is that no matter who comes or goes this offseason the Patriots will once again win a ton of games next season. Winning the Super Bowl takes your three best games with plenty of clutch plays and a little luck sprinkled in. The 2016 Pats will just come down to whether or not they make the last play, but they’ll be in thick of it and go down swinging. That’s all we can ask for, even if we “only” have one Super Bowl in the last 11 years..

 

Friday Pats Video: Tom Brady Sports Science

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eph2KkXI4sE

Won’t be long before the Pats news starts pouring in, but for now we’re stuck in the first void of the offseason, forced to watch college football players in skimpy outfits perform drills that will analyzed over and over. So here’s a little look at Brady and his mechanics as well as a look into his unstoppable QB sneak. Happy Friday!

Patriots not yet engaged in offseason contract talks | Boston Herald

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INDIANAPOLIS — For the time being, the Patriots are in a complete holding pattern with their major financial decisions as they forge through the early stages of the offseason.

Source: Patriots not yet engaged in offseason contract talks | Boston Herald

Lots of good nuggets in here from Jeff Howe, breaking down the specifics of who should get extended, who needs to be re-worked, and how the Patriots haven’t reached out to anyone about anything yet. Things can get done pretty quickly though and there is a ticking clock to an extent as the Pats could want to have some more cap space to maneuver with when free agency opens on March 9th. Still, we can all agree that Hightower is the priority and whether he gets done in the next two weeks or the next two months it’s hard to see them no extending him at the very least.

I did like reading that there was mutual interest in a return for Tarrell Brown. He makes sense as a veteran cornerback addition to add some depth behind all the youth. Another previously unknown nugget was that Vollmer had approached the team about an extension last season but the team balked at the time. I think Vollmer plays this year out, but Marcus Cannon, Danny Amendola and Scott Chandler are all ones to watch in the next couple weeks for contract re-workings, or perhaps being let go outright.

In case you missed it, here’s my Patriots plan for free agency and for those of you glued to the combine this week, here are some early thoughts on the draft.

Julian Edelman’s foot recovering well, hasn’t required offseason surgery | Boston Herald

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Edelman is fully on track to participate in the offseason workout program. Because foot surgeries are so tricky, Pats receivers such as Aaron Dobson (2014) and Brandon LaFell (2015) missed huge chunks of the offseason workout program following their spring procedures. It’s important that Edelman won’t have to worry about the fallout of a second surgery.

Source: Julian Edelman’s foot recovering well, hasn’t required offseason surgery | Boston Herald

Certainly good news, especially after Edelman was seen limping and headed to the x-ray room after the season-ender. I think the bigger question is just how the Pats view the receiving corps after this year. LaFell couldn’t get healthy until mid-season and struggled to find a rhythm to the point where he was basically replaced by Keshawn Martin in the AFC Championship. Amendola battled injuries of his own, but 2015 made it clear that he can’t take the pounding Edelman takes. Edelman was once again all-everything, and his absence in the lineup severely limited what the Patriots could do.

So now what? Amendola is almost certain to at least have his deal re-worked, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him dismissed entirely – although that would open up the punt return duties and no one wants to put Edelman back into that role full time. I’m of the belief LaFell deserves to play out the last year of his deal. He’ll have plenty of motivation, and he’s a better player than he showed in 2015. At the very least, the Pats are not going to find a tougher outside receiver before 2016.

I’d like to see the Pats shift their slot role from someone like Amendola to a bigger body like free agent Mohamed Sanu. Amendola has made plenty of clutch catches but I’m worried his best (and healthiest) days are behind him.

Then of course there’s old friend Aaron Dobson, entering his fourth season having played just 24 games. No one is counting on him for much of anything as even last season he still exhibited the same issues (aside from injuries) he’s had all along — inability to make the tough catch or make anything happen after the catch.

Receiver should be an area to target both in free agency and the draft. I am okay keeping LaFell and Edelman in their roles, and Martin could develop into a nice fourth option, but the slot is an area it might be time to evolve a bit.

Boston Herald – Source: LeGarrette Blount, Patriots have mutual interest in reunion

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots’ wrecking ball could be back for more.

Source: Source: LeGarrette Blount, Patriots have mutual interest in reunion | Boston Herald

Interesting. I’ve been thinking the Pats would let LeGarrette Blount walk this offseason because we’ve kind of seen what his ceiling is. In a complimentary role, where he can come on late in the game and finish an opponent off (usually the Colts) he’s pretty good.

However, he’s not going to be one to soften up a defense in the first quarter of a game. He takes a while to get going, or at least needs the defense to be at or near the breaking point where they’re getting lazy with their tackling.

He’s broken 100 yards just four times with the Pats in 38 games, twice were against the Colts (including the ’13 AFCDG & ’14 AFCCG). Obviously those were important wins, but outside of those he’s usually invisible in big games (Nine carries, 27 yards vs. Broncos ’15).

I’m not against him coming back, but I still think the need for a back who can grind out the early yards remains a bigger need. I think that lead back (rookie/FA), Lewis and White, and then Blount is a pretty good group, but Blount can’t be the lead back and he especially can’t be paid like one.

My preference would just be to put the money they’d spend on Blount into an FA who could compete to be the starter and the finisher, and then let training camp determine who plays with Tyler Gaffney and a rookie or two in the mix.

 

Laying Out the New England Patriots Free Agency Plan

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We’re still a couple weeks away from the start of the new NFL year on March 9th and with it the start of free agency. With that the Pats’ plans for 2016 will start to come into clearer view, but I continue to believe that the major moves will be done on internal free agents and not splashy external ones. Here’s what I see as the Patriots Free Agency plan for the next month.

If there was a position to spend a little bit extra money I’d put it at the running back spot and that’s the only reason I won’t cross Matt Forte off my list of targets.

Here are the priorities:Extend Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins: Can they both get done together? Both are entering the last years of their deals and should both get significant money. Hightower is the lock because an extension for him would lower his $7.75 million cap hit. Collins is still a bargain and that could be the only thing preventing him from getting extended sooner than later.

patriots tarrell brown

Internal Unrestricted Free Agent Priorities:

  1. Akiem Hicks: Pats have expressed interest in bringing him back. What happens with him could directly affect whether or not the Pats pick up Alan Branch‘s option. Branch had a very good season in 2015, but I’d advocate Hicks over him.
  2. Tarrell Brown: Really think the Pats only need one veteran corner and Brown looked poised to start last season but had a lingering foot issue. If that’s cleared up he’s had a year in the system and would be good to keep around.
  3. Nate Ebner: Special teams demons are valued on the Patriots far more than other teams. Ebner should be an easy signing and they don’t want to let both him and Tavon Wilson go. Wilson walks. Ebner stays.
  4. Dane Fletcher: He spent his year back with the Pats rehabbing a torn ACL and never made if off IR. He’d be a cheap signing at a position of need. Not sure he’s ready for significant snaps anymore, but did a good job filling in at Mike in his first stint. Special teams value too.

Let walk: LeGarrette Blount, Tavon Wilson, Steven Jackson, Dekoda Watson, Brandon Gibson.

Restricted/Exclusive Rights Free Agent Priorities:james develin touchdown

  1. James Develin: Pats missed their fullback last year. Might be better to extend him than tender him, as it would be more cost effective.
  2. Cameron Fleming: Hoped for more out of him in 2015, but provides depth at an area of uncertainty.
  3. Justin Coleman: Really solid rookie season in the slot and was very good in the playoffs.
  4. Sealver Siliga: Bit of a down year in 2015, but still has good size and had his moments. Fits the rotation well at DT.
  5. Brandon King: Second in the NFL in solo special teams tackles.
  6. Rufus Johnson: Preseason standout at defensive end, could be a developmental piece with Chandler/Ninkovich nearing uncertainty.

Other RFA/ERFA: Brian Tyms, LaAdrian Waddle, Josh Boyce, Kevin Hughes (all very likely return)

External Free Agents to consider:

  1. Matt Forte – finding a deal that works is key here, but Forte could take an early-down role, sprinkled in with some passing down work. Pats offer a winning organization and a chance to take some wear and tear off via a rotation.
  2. Alfred Morris – Morris is a good mid-range option for the early-down role.
  3. Joique Bell – Bell is the cheap option, but he’s always seemed like a Pats back to me and almost signed with the team coming out. He might be the best match of value and style, but Pats would still need to address RB in the draft.
  4. Mohamed Sanu – Yes, he’s a Rutgers guy but could give the Pats more size in the slot than Danny Amendola. He also has run the Wildcat and can do a number of things.
  5. Kendall Reyes – Good fit coming out of UConn who never found his stride in San Diego. Reclamation project if Hicks doesn’t stick around.
  6. Randy Starks – Pats have had a plenty of Starks over the years, good versatile fit upfront who’d fit into the Alan Branch role.
  7. Rolando McClain – Kicked the tires on him last year, but he went with Dallas. Still seems like a good MLB fit, but the ship might’ve sailed.
  8. Stephen Tulloch – BB’s had good success with vet LBs at the end of the line. Tulloch has enough in the tank left to be a sub player at MLB, primarily to make run game tackles. If money could be figured out he might relish a shot at a ring after a career with the Titans and Lions.