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malcolm butler

Pats Posits: Brady Jersey Recovery Means a Butler Speculation Break

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We’re lucky this morning that the rash of speculative Malcolm Butler-to-the-Saints articles have been knocked to the background, if for only a day, because Tom Brady‘s Super Bowl 51 jersey has been found! And crazy enough, they found the Super Bowl 49 jersey with it.

Here’s the scoop from Jay Glazer:

So here’s actually what happened. The FBI and the NFL security, along with Patriots security and the Houston PD, they actually went through all this video to try and track somebody down, and they zeroed in on somebody, a person of interest.

That person of interest, from what I’m told, is an international member  of the media. I don’t believe he’s actually a member of the media, but he was posing as a member of the international media. Got credentialed, it’s been going on for quite some time.

And he actually, from what I’m told, they have him going into the locker room right behind Bill Belichick as if he’s with the team. Goes in there, loiters around a little while and is seen leaving the locker room — this is the video they’re trying to look at right now — seen leaving a little bit later with something under his arm. 

Just another bit more lore for Tom Brady and his Super Bowl aura, and really, in what is slowly developing into the quiet lull in between free agency and the draft, this is just the kind of offseason story to break the monotony. Because let’s face it, we could be hanging on Butler-to-the-Saints for another month since Butler doesn’t have to sign his tender until late April.

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Resetting Patriots Offseason To Do List

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With the re-signing of Dont’a Hightower, along with the other significant free agency moves the Patriots have made over the past two weeks, the 2017 team is starting to round into form. There’s still a big question mark surrounding Malcolm Butler and, to a lesser extent, Jimmy Garoppolo, but it would appear that outside of those two most of the heavy lifting this offseason is close to done.

What we know? The offense looks ready to evolve once again with the addition of Brandin Cooks. He’ll bring a whole new level of explosiveness and if Rob Gronkowski can return to form and everyone stays healthy, who knows what the ceiling is for this offense.

Defensively, the Pats swapped Logan Ryan for Stephon Gilmore and Jabaal Sheard/Chris Long for Kony Ealy. On paper those moves look like they made the Patriots better. There are still depth questions at linebacker and defensive end, but those should be manageable. If Malcolm Butler returns it’s not crazy to think this defense will be even better than last year’s that led the league in points against.

What holes do the Patriots still have? Whose contracts could be extended or released? There’s still plenty of moves to come, and with the Pats currently having no draft picks before the third round, there’s a good chance they’ll look to round out their picks so they can still grab some impact rookies.

Here’s what I see as the priorities going forward with the rest of free agency and the draft.

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Saints, Texans Circling Malcolm Butler

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The great wait on Dont’a Hightower and Malcolm Butler continues.

Hightower is visiting with the Steelers today, while Butler is reportedly meeting with the Saints, trying to hash out a deal with them. PFT and Reiss both had good explanations of how things can work out when trading a restricted free agent like Butler.

So, to summarize: (1) Saints negotiate with Butler; (2) if a tentative deal is reached, Saints approach Patriots; (3) if a tentative trade is reached, Butler signs tender; (4) Patriots sign Butler to multi-year deal and trade him or Patriots trade him and Saints sign him to multi-year deal.

It’s an interesting situation. On one hand you already have Stephon Gilmore, Eric Rowe, Cyrus Jones and Justin Coleman, not to mention Jonathan Jones, who, despite being primarily a special teamer, looked pretty good in a handful of cornerback snaps from the slot last season. Even without Butler, it’s not situation critical at corner. Getting a first round pick back would also help fill the void left by Butler as well.

But that ignores the bigger picture that Butler has been awesome and is one of our favorite defenders to watch. Same goes for Hightower. Those two made some of the biggest plays in the last two Super Bowls. I know BB won’t pay for past performance, but those plays gave Hightower and Butler a special place in Patriots’ fans hearts that will never go away.

There’s no place for a sentimental Patriots fan unfortunately. And now it seems like a distinct possibility that both Hightower and Butler could be on other teams next offseason. If that happens these will perhaps be the most surprising change of course by the Patriots over the last 17 years.

The 2012 draft was the start of it. The Patriots took two defenders in the first round and it seemed like they would be the core of the next dynasty. They drafted and scouted so well they knew they’d have a ton of hard choices to make if they were to keep that defensive core intact. And now it seems like building a foundation on defense didn’t really matter. Well, it didn’t matter as much as maintaining their pay structure, even when they had plenty of pay to go around.

It’s been about acquiring assets and keeping the cheap young player pipeline fresh. Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins and now perhaps Butler could all be spun into capital, instead of maintaining continuity with the defense. Even Hightower’s exploratory adventure across the AFC would ultimately result in compensatory picks should he sign elsewhere.

We’ll weigh all that when the fates of Butler and Hightower are finalized. But this will certainly be a fascinating year for the defense.

Pats Posits: The Wait on Hightower and Butler Continues…

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After a noisy start to free agency things tapered off over the weekend after the Pats signed defensive lineman Lawrence Guy to a surprising four-year deal. Now the reports of Malcolm Butler being unhappy and Dont’a Hightower visiting just about every major Patriots rival are swirling as we wait to see how things play out with the two biggest internal pieces of the Patriots’ offseason.

First, let’s talk a little about Guy, who I initially thought would just be a depth piece, but as Mike Reiss points out in the piece above, the length of the deal and the total amount point to the Pats seeing Guy as someone who should be a contributor. There is however no guaranteed money after the first year so expect him to come into camp with something to prove. Though it doesn’t seem like the former seventh-round pick who has bounced around the league before becoming a starter last season, plays any other way.

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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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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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Pats Posits: PATRIOTS DEFENSE SUCKSAGEDDON!!!!

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bill belichick GIFYet again, a Patriots-Seahawks game came down to a final goal-line play, but this time the Patriots fell short, losing 31-24 to Seattle.

With eight lead changes, this was just the kind of thrilling Patriots game we’ve (not) been waiting for. We’re here to see good football games, not just blow everyone out right?

The Seahawks played a clean, tough game and their defense made the one play ours could not. It’s nice to play another NFL team that isn’t in shambles on and off the field.

But hey, big picture: no apparent injuries, a two-game lead in the division and still tied for best record in the AFC (with KC and OAK). I’ll take it.  We’re on to a much-needed road trip to San Francisco as we batten down the hatches and get ready for this week’s PATRIOTS DEFENSE SUCKSAGEDDON!!!!

Here’s the Posits on a defensive dud and yet another near-impossible end-of-game drive (almost) perfectly engineered by Tom Brady…

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