The rumors continue to leak out of the combine as we stare down the start of the new league year on Thursday. The Patriots always seem to be “interested” in every major free agent, but more often than not those reports are often planted by agents looking to scare the rest of the NFL that the player could land in New England. So take them all with a grain of salt.
Here’s a couple noteworthy pieces from Ben Volin.
2 nuggets as I head home from the Combine: Pats remain interested in bringing back Marty Bennett, though Jags & Raiders are interested, too
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) March 4, 2017
Of course I think we’d all like to have Marty back. After the Super Bowl it seemed less and less likely that he’d be back in New England, but it’s not hard to see why he has so much value to the Pats. Losing Gronk didn’t really matter all that much this year. Not that Bennett was as good as Gronk, but he can do everything Gronk does, so the Pats offense never truly missed a beat.
Ideally they could roll both monster tight ends out there. We only saw a brief glimpse of the potential that personnel package offered last year, and usually one of them was dealing with some kind of injury. The Pats have a ton of cap space and it has to go somewhere. If it ends up being “Byetower” it could open up a few extra dollars for Marty.
And two, don’t rule out Brandon Marshall coming to New England. There’s some mutual interest there
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) March 4, 2017
I’m not so sure about Marshall. His talents are obvious but any time a guy has bounced around the league that much it raises a red flag for me. I’ve also seen enough of Marshall to get familiar with his mental errors and key mistakes in critical situations. That also scares me. Add in that the Pats really don’t need a wide receiver badly and I think avoiding Marshall makes sense. I’d file this one under the agent trying to drum up interest. The Pats could’ve made a run at Marshall plenty of times over the course of his career, why would it make more sense now? He’s 32, usually the age when the Pats start to usher out receivers.
The better option would be..
The Patriots reportedly are interested in bringing Michael Floyd back next season, but only on a “budget deal.” https://t.co/heq2eZDfYU pic.twitter.com/07pvNtaz0x
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) March 2, 2017
Floyd’s a similar big X-receiver to Marshall but is five years younger, has no choice but a budget deal and has already gotten a taste of life in Foxboro. At this point his ceiling is far higher than Marshall and his price tag would be in line with what the Pats would want to pay a rotational third or fourth receiver.
No way no how does Marshall make sense for Patriots.
Eric Decker may be cut by the Jets. He makes a lot more sense to sign than Marshall.
Decker makes more sense as he is an inside guy where Edelman and Amendola are getting worn and torn. Floyd, Mitchell, Hogan outside we’re set.