Patriots sign Austin Hooper
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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Huh, blast from the past with that name. Is he a better blocker than Gesicki? (Ironic hopefully as no one ought to be worse than him.)
up to tells me almost no guarantees, good signing, he's not all that dynamic, but he grades out as a good passblocker and decent run blocker, good hands, solid guy to have on the roster.
Really wanted him for the last Brady season. He did have 25 catches on only 31 targets last year and was around his career YPC average. Short money. Why not. Could be a nice vet addition to help make a rookie QB comfortable.
So they have 3 TE in the room that will get playing time. Brown and Hooper are the blocking TE. Henry is the receiving TE. Sign another WR or OT and it's QB an OT with the first two picks and WR, OL, and defense with the next 5. Works for me.
They don't really play the same position. Gesicki was a big slot WR. Hooper is basically an inline TE who will catch a few passes.
I like Johnson, SInnot, McLachlan and Reiman.. whomever is on the board in the later rounds (136 or later)... get me an athletic freak to learn the position now that we have solid vets.
Apparently 29YO low upside signings are the new market inefficiency.
Individually every signing has been fine and likely won't look like the Juju/Parker contracts in a year or two yet I doubt we look back in two years at any of them and say, that was a significant signing.
Individually every signing has been fine and likely won't look like the Juju/Parker contracts in a year or two yet I doubt we look back in two years at any of them and say, that was a significant signing.
Yeah, feels like they are spending a lot of money in aggregate and not adding a ton of high talent- just a lot of guys.
I guess it’s difficult to rebuild through FA, and the roster had a massive amount of holes, but most of these guys seem unlikely to be here for long.
I guess it all depends on where you think this team is…are they truly just an average QB away from contention? Not really seeing it.
I would rate a TE in the draft pretty much at the bottom of the priority list. Would be good to get an athletic, developmental guy, but if they can bring back Brown we are pretty set. After QB, I'd rather take multiple swings at OT and WR (maybe some overlap here with a move TE, I guess) in addition to a RB and FS.
We're really not spending all that much money, these are the types of fill out the roster moves you need every year, we just need more of them because it was set up for basically half the roster to expire all at once.
The big signing was Onwenu (and maybe Dugger). The rest have been small dollar backfill types. They still have more money left than most teams started with.
The bigger signings are probably still to come, whether that is Ridley, Brown, Boyd etc at WR, maybe Smith or Williams at OT, maybe another DB... Howard, Kurl, etc. or they might use the money in the trade market (Higgins, Mack, Bosa, Sutton, Snead.
I think these are signings to stabilize the roster. Vet QB because we’re (100%) drafting one at #3. Vet TEs because there’s a few decent developmental TEs available in draft. Get the vets to help set culture and hope Wolf and friends nail the draft.
crap
@JFowlerESPN
Tight end Pharaoh Brown is headed to the #Seahawks, per source. Another veteran option for Geno Smith in the passing game.
@JFowlerESPN
Tight end Pharaoh Brown is headed to the #Seahawks, per source. Another veteran option for Geno Smith in the passing game.
Goddammit. That TD against the Jets made the Seahawks favorably disposed toward Brown, and they gave him what he asked for; so seattle plundered the Patriots.
I don’t think Johnson lasts past 100 - The position is thin this year and he has a very impressive combine. He’s got a good argument he was mis/under-used at PSU. Someone will take the plunge.
For late rounders, I’d also toss in Wiley (TCU) - great height and explosion + speed numbers in Indy. Came in below his listed playing weight, so temper those numbers as he adds bulk, but he’s a great ball of clay to mold.
All (Iowa) should be a top priority free agent or a 7th round flyer. He did his ACL in October, so this probably a full medical redshirt year, but he’d likely be a day 2 pick if healthy. That Iowa TE pedigree and all.
I agree and I am on board. I was of the mind that Mac wasn't a good QB but the team around him wasn't doing him any favors. I would obviously prefer an offense with a ton of stars and playmakers, but at this point I will take a stable, competent offense that won't cripple draft pick #3s development before it starts.
Too bad - I would have liked to see what Brown could do for the Pats with an expanded role.
Dammit. I also liked what I saw from Brown, and wanted to see more with a competent QB. Makes the Hooper signing more important and understandable, particularly from a blocking standpoint. Now go grab a developmental guy in the draft.
Pharaoh was fun to watch, but he's gonna be 30 next season, and I don't think he was going to blossom into much more than he was. He got a few big catches simply because he was never really perceived as much of a threat and snuck free. In the last 9 games he had 6 catches for 38 yards, and yes, that has a lot to do with the QB situation, but there really isn't much there there.
Three of his games accounted for 6 catches and 155 yards. The other 10 games accounted for 7 for 53. I know a lot of that was QB-dependent, but still If he was a 23 year old UDFA doing this you're intrigued. A 30 year old? Meh.
Three of his games accounted for 6 catches and 155 yards. The other 10 games accounted for 7 for 53. I know a lot of that was QB-dependent, but still If he was a 23 year old UDFA doing this you're intrigued. A 30 year old? Meh.
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This is the right approach to FA IMO. The best players don't hit the market, by-and-large. Teams should be patching holes in free agency and getting splash players in the draft (or maybe trade).
I agree and I would add that this a team in transition. I would prefer the Pats build a solid but unspectacular team through FA/draft around presumptive rookie QB, rather than going all out for a star FA edge or a WR or something now and leave a billion holes so we end up with Mac 2.0.
I would rather see investment in players that will impact the team in their competitive window. A player like Patrick Queen, Chase Young, Xavier McKinney could impact the team 3-4yrs from now when the QB they select should be fully developed along with any WR they draft this year and next. Signing a bunch of bridge players is fine in a vacuum but is going to leave holes that need to be filled when the team is actually ready to compete so I'm not sure what it is really buying you besides going from a 4 win team to a 7-8 win team which amounts to little to nothing.
People have to play? You need a full roster, in 2-3 years you'll have a bunch of other drafts and free agency periods to have added players. They also have 55M+ left to spend and for example... Chase Young is still available.
I'd also say I want no part of Patrick Queen who was trash until his role was changed and he was cleaning up Roquan Smith's scraps. Maybe he develops, but he's not very good at many of the key parts of being a LB... Tavai is legit better than him.
A nice late Day 3 blocking prospect is Tip Reiman, 6'5" & 270, who quietly blew up the combine with a 9.92 RAS.
Yeah but at the same time, you have to build a core and new holes will open up every year which need to be patched through the draft. In the next few years they’re going to need to replace Andrews, Judon, J.Jones and Peppers. Barmore is going to need big money or a replacement
At some point you need to significantly raise the base level of talent on the roster via external options