julian edelman

Patriots Positional Preview: Wide Receivers

July 10, 2017 by Mike Dussault

This year’s wide receiver corps is arguably the best the Patriots have had, at least since 2007’s fireworks. There might not be that single Hall of Fame talent like Randy Moss, but there’s more depth and diversity than even the record-setting 2007 offense.

Acquiring Brandin Cooks was the highlight move of the offseason on offense, but extending Julian Edelman and re-working Danny Amendola’s contract once again, ensured continuity with Tom Brady’s most reliable targets. With Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell entering their second years in New England, they should also make some significant strides. Both receivers accomplished the rare feat of instantly clicking with Brady and the offense, and should only improve with experience.

Free agent signee Andrew Hawkins might be the sixth man on the depth chart, but he can still play. He’s 31 but consistently produced in his stints with the Bengals and Browns. It might take an injury for Hawkins to sneak on the roster, but he’s great insurance at a position where there’s rock solid depth, including a trio of youngsters who all have some promise.

It’s difficult projecting how the snaps will play out this season with so many weapons at the position, but it will sure be fun to watch.

Let’s take a look at each receiver on the roster!

Preview Sneak Peak: Patriots 2017 Offensive Overview

July 2, 2017 by Mike Dussault

July is here and that only means one thing — Patriots football returns this month!

It’s been a crazy month for your trusted blogger, as I moved home from California and am currently typing this blog post from a new and improved Ministry of PatsPropaganda that sits approximately five miles from the 50-yard-line of Gillette Stadium! Yes, it means that I’m hoping to expand the blog, with more podcasts, live videocasts, plenty of trips to training camp and just as much Patriots coverage as I can squeeze in. Plenty more to come on all that this week as I slip back into the blogging saddle.

In the meantime I’ll be posting some tidbits from my season preview book, which you can pick up here for just $5 (plus 15% off everything in the Prop Shop through July 4th with the code MUSKET), and it features 38 pages of everything you could possibly want to know about the 2017 Pats. There are preview blurbs on every player, recaps of everything that happened this offseason, a full game-by-game prediction (spoiler alert — three out of four, twice), and of course my expert Bill Belichick Hoodie analysis.

I just updated the book to feature all the late offseason moves made by the team, including the Edelman extension and David Harris signing.

To kick things off here’s the offensive overview. Much, much, so much more to come…

Patriots Extend Edelman

June 9, 2017 by Mike Dussault

I’m just getting settled back home in Massachusetts after the cross country drive, but I had to throw up a quick post about the Julian Edelman extension, which is great news. Edelman was entering the final year of his deal and now, with a two-year extension is signed through 2019.

Edelman can earn up to $19.5 million over the course of the deal and falls firmly into the category of being good for the team and good for the player. In many ways, this feels like the kind of deal Wes Welker passed on with the team in 2013 and went on to have one more good season before the concussions caught up with him.

Patriots to Welker in 2013: 2 years for $10mm with extra $6mm incentives

Patriots to Edelman: 2 years for $11mm with extra $4mm incentives

— Rich Hill (@PP_Rich_Hill) June 8, 2017

Edelman is smart enough to know the value that playing with Tom Brady and what staying in the Boston market will do for him after his football career. Rather than squeeze a bigger contract out of another team in free agency, Edelman will now likely end his career as a Patriot. or at least the meaningful part of it.

Gosselin: How Bill Belichick gives the Patriots an edge over every other NFL team at draft time | SportsDay

March 30, 2017 by Mike Dussault

If you’re grading drafts, there are lots of As and Bs to hand out after the first three rounds. But it’s what teams do in Rounds 4-7 that can make a good draft great.And no one knows the draft board — the entire draft board — like Patriots coach Bill Belichick. There are no throwaway picks when the Patriots are on the clock. New England has become the NFL’s dominant team because the Patriots own the back end of the draft.

Source: Dallas Cowboys: How Bill Belichick gives the Patriots an edge over every other NFL team at draft time | SportsDay

Gosselin is one of the most respected football writers out there, so obviously, as you can see above, he gets it. As much as the draft and all the amateur draftniks out there annoy me, there’s a special place in my heart for those who still try to tell me “Belichick can’t draft” or “Belichick the GM doesn’t help Belichick the coach”.

This assumes that somewhere out there there’s someone who CAN draft. Someone who hits on every pick. Someone who would never draft Ras-I Dowling 33rd overall. Okay, maybe that one has a point.

But the draft is really just an elaborate lottery. Even the guys making the picks don’t know for sure how any selection will truly work out. You see their body of work in college, their timed measurables, you’ve talked to them, maybe even brought them into the facility and shown them around, but when training camp rolls around no one knows for sure how the player will respond.

How will he handle not being the most talented player on the field anymore? How will he handle having a fat bank account? How will he handle not getting the playing time he wants? How will he pick up the playbook? Will his career just be injury after injury?

NOBODY KNOWS. It’s impossible to know. So for every seven-round mock draft out there by some random dude in the proverbial Mom’s basement, there’s guys like Mel Kiper who might be just as wrong.

Pats Should Prioritize Extensions for Edelman and Solder

February 16, 2017 by Mike Dussault

There’s been plenty of analysis about which free agents the Patriots should retain this offseason, but another major piece of the puzzle will be extending players to either balance out their cap hit and/or prevent them from hitting free agency next offseason. Two players that are prime for extensions are left tackle Nate Solder and Julian Edelman.

Solder bounced back from a biceps tear in 2015 to hold down Tom Brady‘s blindside for the Super Bowl run. He didn’t have his best game against Dwight Freeney in Houston, but that doesn’t take away from the stability that Solder brought this season.

Solder’s cap hit for 2017 is due to be over $11 million dollars, a number the Pats would love to get down. Solder’s had two contracts with the Patriots, his initial rookie deal and then a two-year extension he signed in 2015 that guaranteed him $20 million.

He’ll turn 29 this April, so Solder still has plenty of good football left in him. The Patriots have already agreed not to use the franchise tag on him in 2018, so now’s a good time to take a look at a deal that would make sense for both sides. With the rest of the starting offensive line locked up for at least the next two seasons (David Andrews is a RFA next offseason), another two year extension that spreads some of his cap hit out would make sense for Solder.

‘Sound FX’: Best of Super Bowl LI Is Awesome!

February 9, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Listen as the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons are mic’d up for the best sounds from Super Bowl LI.

Source: ‘Sound FX’: Best of Super Bowl LI | New England Patriots

One of the best parts of winning the Super Bowl is that you get to watch all the end-of-year videos like Sound FX and Turning Point without getting sick because that your team is the one featured! I’ve been savoring the week, just letting what occurred in Super Bowl 51 sink in. I’m still in shock and after watching Sound FX, reality is finally setting in.

Miked up during the Super Bowl for the Pats were Julian Edelman, LeGarrette Blount and Dont’a Hightower and it was full of great moments. Edelman’s intensity is pretty legendary, with my favorite part being at the end when the confetti is falling and everyone is storming the field yet Edelman is yelling at everyone that there’s still time on the clock. It finally takes Belichick to convince him, which is one of the rarest of occurrences — Bill Belichick telling someone to “chill bro”.

Pats Posits: Saving Their Best for Probably-Not-Their Last

February 6, 2017 by Mike Dussault

In their most thrilling Super Bowl yet, the New England Patriots came back from 25 points to beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime, 34-28, cementing Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s place as the greatest Coach-QB duo in history.

A ton of new records were set or tied, including Most Super Bowls Won by a Head Coach (Bill Belichick, 5) Most Super Bowl Games (Tom Brady/Belichick, 7), most receptions (James White, 14), and Largest Deficit Overcome (25 points).

It’s taken me hours to wrap my head around this incredible victory and who knows how long it will take to fully grasp what unfolded. I never would’ve thought Brady’s performance in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 49 could be topped, but topped it was. But not before I had just about thrown in the towel.

At 28-3 in the middle of the third quarter, I dug into what I had hoped would be my Super Bowl victory cake. I was resigned that the Pats just met up with a red hot Falcons team and played their worst game of the season. Maybe they were bound to get blown out in one?

But like they always do, the Patriots never flinched. Once they cleaned up the mistakes — drops, ill-timed penalties and worst of all, turnovers — and figured out the Falcons’ coverage, Brady moved the ball at will.

Most impressive was that the legendary comeback was such a group effort. So many guys came through with clutch plays — White, Edelman, Hightower and Flowers are just three that jump out to me right away, but it was a team comeback, as much as it was Brady’s brilliance.

I can and will write thousands of words about this game, so let’s get a jump on all the analysis to come with the Posits.