Misc. Pats Offseason News

The thing with Ridley is the trade with ATL brings back a 2nd rd pick if JAX resigns him, not clear if that compensation is still in play if they merely franchise him now. This came up when NYJ traded Leonard Williams to NYG, NYG did not owe NYJ additional compensation when they merely franchised him. Of course JAX may rightly view Josh Allen as more valuable than Ridley and/or a 2nd rd pick and either let Ridley walk or give up the 2nd to resign him and keep the tag available for Allen.

Ridley may be going on 30 but he has very little tread on the tires after missing basically all of 2021 and 2022. He showed glimpses of WR 1 production down the stretch for Jax, I think he is very worthy of consideration if Jax lets him go to UFA. Another name worth mentioning is Jerry Jeudy, had a down year in 2023 and is owed a guaranteed 13M in 24. He is still young and has had very productive seasons before albeit not quite true alpha WR1 years. He should come cheap in trade given DEN cap issues and doesn't appear to fit the Sean Payton offense which favors bigger WRs. You could do worse than Jeudy for 3rd day pick. Upside is significant with him in a contract year.

NextBigThing8184 said:

you could make that “Boutte” argument for almost any position. Why draft a RB? They have Harris. Why draft a safety? They have Bledsoe. Why draft a DL they have Pharms. Why draft a developmental tackle, they have Lowe. They have Bolden and Austin at CB.

they have 1st and 2nd year players at almost every position (TE and EDGE are the exceptions).

personally, I’m glad they drafted Douglas despite having Nixon on the roster last year as a developmental guy

I get that’s there’s limited playing time and reps for positions so you can’t bring in 100 guys. But there will be a lot of bodies at all of these positions and the presence of low end young players (like Lowe, Boutte, Wheatley, Harris, Pharms etc) shouldn’t preclude them from taking a shot on a good player if it’s the best guy available on the board in the late rounds.

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I mean, Boutte isn't the point. Boutte is just the last guy in the line. The point was that you have a lot of depth at WR and probably plan to add more before the late rounds of the draft. The Boutte point was to the argument that he's a non-entity and that some 5th, 6th rounder this year WOULDN'T be one. Boutte is the same level of prospect as those guys, so when making value decisions you are looking at whether your 2nd year 6th round pick should be cut for a rookie 5th/6th, versus positions where you have nothing in terms of depth. Boutte isn't the 2nd/3rd guy on the depth chart like Harris (also more recent draftee) he's the 6th guy who may be 8th. There is a very strong chance that we draft no WR after the 3rd and multiple guys under contract still get caught in a roster crunch.
Tre Nixon is not a particularly good comp, as he was 2 years in, a later pick and was not on the roster (PS/Futures contract).

So when we look at value in positions.... the Patriots need to be shopping at the top of the WR market, not taking developmental shots, and if they do that... there isn't much room for another developmental shot.

Cellar-Door said:

I mean, Boutte isn't the point. Boutte is just the last guy in the line. The point was that you have a lot of depth at WR and probably plan to add more before the late rounds of the draft. The Boutte point was to the argument that he's a non-entity and that some 5th, 6th rounder this year WOULDN'T be one. Boutte is the same level of prospect as those guys, so when making value decisions you are looking at whether your 2nd year 6th round pick should be cut for a rookie 5th/6th, versus positions where you have nothing in terms of depth. Boutte isn't the 2nd/3rd guy on the depth chart like Harris (also more recent draftee) he's the 6th guy who may be 8th. There is a very strong chance that we draft no WR after the 3rd and multiple guys under contract still get caught in a roster crunch.
Tre Nixon is not a particularly good comp, as he was 2 years in, a later pick and was not on the roster (PS/Futures contract).

So when we look at value in positions.... the Patriots need to be shopping at the top of the WR market, not taking developmental shots, and if they do that... there isn't much room for another developmental shot.

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Perhaps I didn’t articulate my point well. I completely agree they need to be shopping at the top of the market. But the idea that the presence of a lot of JAG or younger unproven guys should preclude them from taking a shot on a late round WR is just wrong IMO. They had a lot of warm bodies at WR last year and still drafted two developmental guys, one of whom now looks like their best WR.

by the time the draft rolls around, they’ll have 80 or so guys on the roster. There’s going to be “developmental” guys at just about every spot. Mid/late round picks are a crapshoot and they should be taking the guys with the highest upside regardless of position rather than saying to themselves “we don’t have a 1st or second year tackle, let’s reach for this guy instead of taking a WR with a much higher grade because we already have Tyquan Thornton and Kayshon Boutte”.

There’s really too many unknowns with how things work out in the next 3 months before to really know what their depth chart will look like. Maybe they sign a bunch of quality vets, maybe the next GM is willing to offload the veteran dead weight and eat the cap hits, who knows. But once you get beyond Douglas, any notion of what the depth chart would be goes out the window. There’s a good argument that none of the Parker, JJSS, Boutte, Thornton quartet should be on the roster next year (based on performance) and none of them really deserve to be “above” someone on the depth chart unless the new GM/Mayo is factoring in salary/cap implications significantly and passing up a good WR (and given the depth of this WR class a 5th or 6th round WR is likely to be a more skilled player than a 5th or 6th round safety) to “force” depth at another position is a bad way to run a draft.

j44thor said:

The thing with Ridley is the trade with ATL brings back a 2nd rd pick if JAX resigns him, not clear if that compensation is still in play if they merely franchise him now. This came up when NYJ traded Leonard Williams to NYG, NYG did not owe NYJ additional compensation when they merely franchised him. Of course JAX may rightly view Josh Allen as more valuable than Ridley and/or a 2nd rd pick and either let Ridley walk or give up the 2nd to resign him and keep the tag available for Allen.

Ridley may be going on 30 but he has very little tread on the tires after missing basically all of 2021 and 2022. He showed glimpses of WR 1 production down the stretch for Jax, I think he is very worthy of consideration if Jax lets him go to UFA. Another name worth mentioning is Jerry Jeudy, had a down year in 2023 and is owed a guaranteed 13M in 24. He is still young and has had very productive seasons before albeit not quite true alpha WR1 years. He should come cheap in trade given DEN cap issues and doesn't appear to fit the Sean Payton offense which favors bigger WRs. You could do worse than Jeudy for 3rd day pick. Upside is significant with him in a contract year.

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Jeudy had a down year because he isn’t very good. Not sure he makes sense for a team with a lot of JAGs already given his contract status. The Pats need proven #1/2 types or cheap young guys (beyond 2024) with upside. Jeudy is the worst of both worlds. A guy who in 4 years hasn’t shown himself to be a quality starter, and a guy who will get paid decently in 2025. Absent an unlikely breakout 2024, he seems like a waste of resources. If he keeps performing at his current level (which, given the uncertainty of the Pats QB might be optimistic), he’s going to get 8-12M AAV most likely (Agholor money) and that’s the type of deal the Pats seem unlikely to want to be a part of.

I don’t think gambling on “change of scenery” types is the route a team with at best a young developing franchise QB or at worst Bailey Zappe/Jacoby Brissett (et al) should go down. You’re not going to see a breakout from a guy who is catching balls from a struggling young QB or a bottom tier starter.

As for Ridley, he’s better than what the Pats have but WR’s lose their speed quickly in their 30’s regardless of tread on the tires. He’s never constantly been a great player, most often a solid one with flashes of brilliance. I think he’s worth signing at a reasonable price but will probably get significantly overpaid.

View: https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1750267680009994301?s=20

Field Yates: The Patriots have signed guard Michael Jordan.

Literally the best guard in the history of professional sports.

Eddie Jurak said:

View: https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1750267680009994301?s=20

Field Yates: The Patriots have signed guard Michael Jordan.

Literally the best guard in the history of professional sports.

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Not much of a baseball player, though.

The extension of Devante Parker and the signing of JuJu really hamstrings this WR room for 2024. Just awful decisions.

Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt said:

The extension of Devante Parker and the signing of JuJu really hamstrings this WR room for 2024. Just awful decisions.

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Not really. They can both be cut pretty easily.

ZMart100 said:

Not really. They can both be cut pretty easily.

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There is big dead money I believe with both but yes I am biting the bullet and getting those two losers off this team this year.

ZMart100 said:

Not really. They can both be cut pretty easily.

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Of course, but I'm not sure that's as painless as it might seem. Maybe someone trades for one of them (for a 6th or 7th) and helps cushion the blow.

NextBigThing8184 said:

Williams is a mediocre tackle who will get paid well because he’s durable and consistent. Low ceiling, high floor. He’s never particularly great but never really worse than below average which for a starting tackle these days is worth a lot of money. He’s going to get paid B+ money for C level performance. Might be worth it just because you know what you’re getting and the alternatives are all very risky (Becton, Smith) or pretty bad (Nijman, Fant, Wynn)

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I've never been more on board with vastly overpaying for mediocrity, sign me up. Any kind of stability at that position would be a big improvement.

Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt said:

Of course, but I'm not sure that's as painless as it might seem. Maybe someone trades for one of them (for a 6th or 7th) and helps cushion the blow.

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No, it's pretty painless. ~2M for Juju and ~150k for Parker against the cap if pre June 1 cuts (you could designate them post June 1 and save money). There's no reason not to bring them to camp and cut them post June 1 if they lose the competition, which would save a little money.

ZMart100 said:

No, it's pretty painless. ~2M for Juju

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I think that's wrong. I think his cap hit is $10mm if he plays, and $12mm if they cut him.

MuppetAsteriskTalk said:

I think that's wrong. I think his cap hit is $10mm if he plays, and $12mm if they cut him.

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Right. It changes the cap charge by 2m to cut him.

ZMart100 said:

Right. It changes the cap charge by 2m to cut him.

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And whatever it costs to replace him on the roster with somebody (hopefully) more productive.

The team is flush with cap space in a year where they should be focusing on young players and there's a lousy free agent class. This is the year to eat cap hits for players they should shed, and front load hits on players they sign/extend.

Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt said:

The extension of Devante Parker and the signing of JuJu really hamstrings this WR room for 2024. Just awful decisions.

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I don't know why people keep saying this about Parker, all the sports radio hosts crying about him I guess?

Parker makes 3.2M next year, and 100K for each game he's active. His contract is fine. If they want to trade him, they'll have takers.

Juju is the only underwater contract on the books, and even he's only guaranteed for one more season.

mcpickl said:

I don't know why people keep saying this about Parker, all the sports radio hosts crying about him I guess?

Parker makes 3.2M next year, and 100K for each game he's active. His contract is fine. If they want to trade him, they'll have takers.

Juju is the only underwater contract on the books, and even he's only guaranteed for one more season.

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They’re underwater on Parker (just slightly). They’d eat a 6.3M dead cap hit to cut him in 2024.

certainly not a back breaking contract by any means but a strange and unwarranted extension for a guy who has never been able to stay healthy and is never more than decent on his best days.

NextBigThing8184 said:

They’re underwater on Parker (just slightly). They’d eat a 6.3M dead cap hit to cut him in 2024.

certainly not a back breaking contract by any means but a strange and unwarranted extension for a guy who has never been able to stay healthy and is never more than decent on his best days.

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they’d never cut him though. Because some team will gladly take on his contract. Getting a WR that can be in your rotation for 3.5M plus per game bonuses is a fair contract. Even if they did cut him, any money he makes next season up to 3.5M would be credited back to the patriots cap the following season.

It’s not underwater, it’s bobbing right at the level of water.

The extension wasn’t strange at all if you look at it. He was due to make 6.2M this past season, with the same cap hit. Instead they paid him 7.1M tacked on two seasons at cheap dollars, and lowered his cap hit for last year to 3.7M.

So for 900K, they got two cheap years on a contract, and saved 2.5M in cap space last season. I think it not only wasn’t strange and unwarranted, it was good business.

mcpickl said:

they’d never cut him though. Because some team will gladly take on his contract. Getting a WR that can be in your rotation for 3.5M plus per game bonuses is a fair contract. Even if they did cut him, any money he makes next season up to 3.5M would be credited back to the patriots cap the following season.

It’s not underwater, it’s bobbing right at the level of water.

The extension wasn’t strange at all if you look at it. He was due to make 6.2M this past season, with the same cap hit. Instead they paid him 7.1M tacked on two seasons at cheap dollars, and lowered his cap hit for last year to 3.7M.

So for 900K, they got two cheap years on a contract, and saved 2.5M in cap space last season. I think it not only wasn’t strange and unwarranted, it was good business.

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Huh. I didn't realize. Thanks for the insight. I sure wish he were better at football, but I guess you're right that the contract isn't bad, bang-for-your-buck-wise.

NextBigThing8184 said:

Jeudy had a down year because he isn’t very good. Not sure he makes sense for a team with a lot of JAGs already given his contract status. The Pats need proven #1/2 types or cheap young guys (beyond 2024) with upside. Jeudy is the worst of both worlds. A guy who in 4 years hasn’t shown himself to be a quality starter, and a guy who will get paid decently in 2025. Absent an unlikely breakout 2024, he seems like a waste of resources. If he keeps performing at his current level (which, given the uncertainty of the Pats QB might be optimistic), he’s going to get 8-12M AAV most likely (Agholor money) and that’s the type of deal the Pats seem unlikely to want to be a part of.

I don’t think gambling on “change of scenery” types is the route a team with at best a young developing franchise QB or at worst Bailey Zappe/Jacoby Brissett (et al) should go down. You’re not going to see a breakout from a guy who is catching balls from a struggling young QB or a bottom tier starter.

As for Ridley, he’s better than what the Pats have but WR’s lose their speed quickly in their 30’s regardless of tread on the tires. He’s never constantly been a great player, most often a solid one with flashes of brilliance. I think he’s worth signing at a reasonable price but will probably get significantly overpaid.

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Jeudy was basically a 1K yard WR in 2022, 972yds in 15GP, 14 starts despite horrific QB play. He averaged a healthy 14.9 Y/R with 6 TDs. Jeudy had a very similar 2022 to Tee Higgins Higgins averaged 13.9 Y/R 7TDS, 1032 yards with Joe Burrow at QB and Chase drawing coverage and everyone wants to back up the brinks truck for Higgins. Would I prefer Higgins to Jeudy sure but Higgins is going to cost you at minimum a high 2nd and massive contract. You might be able to get 85% of Higgins for a day 3 pick.

Any WR that is available for less than the NE 2nd is going to have warts. Teams aren't looking to give up young WR with untapped upside because every team is looking for those. WR has become the 2nd highest valued position on offense after QB and are paid and drafted accordingly.

j44thor said:

Jeudy was basically a 1K yard WR in 2022, 972yds in 15GP, 14 starts despite horrific QB play. He averaged a healthy 14.9 Y/R with 6 TDs. Jeudy had a very similar 2022 to Tee Higgins Higgins averaged 13.9 Y/R 7TDS, 1032 yards with Joe Burrow at QB and Chase drawing coverage and everyone wants to back up the brinks truck for Higgins. Would I prefer Higgins to Jeudy sure but Higgins is going to cost you at minimum a high 2nd and massive contract. You might be able to get 85% of Higgins for a day 3 pick.

Any WR that is available for less than the NE 2nd is going to have warts. Teams aren't looking to give up young WR with untapped upside because every team is looking for those. WR has become the 2nd highest valued position on offense after QB and are paid and drafted accordingly.

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They shouldn’t be trading picks for guys on expiring contracts who aren’t proven good players. Ignore the stats and watch the guy play, he’s nowhere near the player Higgins is. He is near the top of the league in drops over the last 4 years, seems to have no awareness of how to run his routes well (not a terrible route runner but his field awareness is awful) can’t get off the press and is basically worthless in the red zone.

He had 900 yards in 2022. Great for him. Parker had a 1000 yard season too before the Pats acquired him and he isn’t very good.

You can get a guy in this years draft in round 3 with just as much upside as Jeudy without having to potential pay him 10M AAV in 2025 and beyond.

He’s not an upgrade over Parker (who is also very flawed) and I’m not sure what it is people think Jeudy does particularly well other than live off his former 1st round draft status.

NextBigThing8184 said:

They shouldn’t be trading picks for guys on expiring contracts who aren’t proven good players. Ignore the stats and watch the guy play, he’s nowhere near the player Higgins is. He is near the top of the league in drops over the last 4 years, seems to have no awareness of how to run his routes well (not a terrible route runner but his field awareness is awful) can’t get off the press and is basically worthless in the red zone.

He had 900 yards in 2022. Great for him. Parker had a 1000 yard season too before the Pats acquired him and he isn’t very good.

You can get a guy in this years draft in round 3 with just as much upside as Jeudy without having to potential pay him 10M AAV in 2025 and beyond.

He’s not an upgrade over Parker (who is also very flawed) and I’m not sure what it is people think Jeudy does particularly well other than live off his former 1st round draft status.

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I often respect your opinions as they are typically fact based but arguing a 31YO Devante Parker is equivalent to a 24YO Jeudy is not one of them. Parker is probably only still in the NFL because NE gave him a contract. He has exactly one 1K yard season in his 9 yr career and never surpassed 800 yards otherwise. He has started 14G once in his career 11G or less 6 times, one season with more than 4TD recs, 5 seasons with 3 or less. He had one incredibly fluky season at age 26 and has not been productive outside of that season due in part to the fact he can't stay on the field but also isn't very good when on the field.

Jeudy isn't an alpha #1 WR but he is still a good athlete which is what NE needs at WR. Bourne is probably a better comparison to Jeudy given they are both more middle of the field shiftier WRs than the contested catch boundary specialist Parker is who can't separate or run anything but vertical routes. If we knew Bourne would be healthy going into 24 I'd probably prefer him but not sure he will have his suddenness and change of direction come back in time for next season coming off the ACL tear. I'd imagine if he does resign he starts year on PUP. Just because you can get an upside WR in rd 3 doesn't mean that should be the only route NE explores for WR because the bust rate on a 3rd rd WR is extremely high. Odds are at most 1 3rd rd WR will be more productive than Jeudy in 24/25/26.

NE simply doesn't have enough draft capital to address every hole on offense unless they plan on signing Kirk Cousins or another vet QB and trade back from 3. They will have to get creative to improve the offense because the UFA market is barren on the offensive side. Not to mention buying high didn't pan out too well in 21 when they overspent on Jonnu, and Agholor. I'm really hoping they take a different approach this off-season and identify some buy low candidates which by nature are going to have warts.

j44thor said:

WR has become the 2nd highest valued position on offense after QB and are paid and drafted accordingly.

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A slight nitpick here - WR and OL are a lot closer in value than you might think. 2024 numbers haven't been set yet, but Over The Cap projects the OL franchise figure to be $55K more than the WR figure:

https://overthecap.com/franchise-transition-and-rfa-tenders

It's interesting that DE and DT get separate franchise figures, but OT, OG and C are all lumped in together. Highest paid C had a $14.5M yearly average on his contract. Highest paid LT had a $25M yearly average. Highest paid OG had a $20M average. Those are huge spreads, yet all considered in whole.

This all goes back to what j44thor mentioned above though: there's very little chance of an effective rebuild of the offense in 2023, given how many starters they have to replace, and how many backups were incapable of supplanting them. WR room loses its best player in Bourne. Both OTs likely gone, and none of the heir apparent seem capable of stepping in. All 3 TEs are likely gone. Both QBs still on the roster for cheap, but absolute trash. At least there's money to spend, but there'll be some mediocre talent to pay.

Garshaparra said:

A slight nitpick here - WR and OL are a lot closer in value than you might think. 2024 numbers haven't been set yet, but Over The Cap projects the OL franchise figure to be $55K more than the WR figure:

https://overthecap.com/franchise-transition-and-rfa-tenders

It's interesting that DE and DT get separate franchise figures, but OT, OG and C are all lumped in together. Highest paid C had a $14.5M yearly average on his contract. Highest paid LT had a $25M yearly average. Highest paid OG had a $20M average. Those are huge spreads, yet all considered in whole.

This all goes back to what j44thor mentioned above though: there's very little chance of an effective rebuild of the offense in 2023, given how many starters they have to replace, and how many backups were incapable of supplanting them. WR room loses its best player in Bourne. Both OTs likely gone, and none of the heir apparent seem capable of stepping in. All 3 TEs are likely gone. Both QBs still on the roster for cheap, but absolute trash. At least there's money to spend, but there'll be some mediocre talent to pay.

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Thanks, good info, I'm a bit surprised to see OL slightly edging out WR but suspect that will change when Jefferson and Chase reset the WR market. I wonder what the delta was 5yrs ago I would suspect OL was significantly higher. My point was more that WR are trending up on the cap vs. other positions both in cap costs and draft capital.

j44thor said:

I wonder what the delta was 5yrs ago I would suspect OL was significantly higher.

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Nope. In 2019, WR tag was close to $3M more than OL.
WR: 16.8M
OL: 14.1

BigJimEd said:

Nope. In 2019, WR tag was close to $3M more than OL.
WR: 16.8M
OL: 14.1

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yeah I was going to say, I think OL has skyrocketed. There are so few good OL, that not only have tackles kept going up but a lot of guards have started getting paid way more (see Thuney).
WR prices haven't been going up that much because teams just tag and cycle, pick a new one in the 1st or 2nd, and there are a lot of WRs in recent drafts doing well, where OL has been a wasteland.

Cellar-Door said:

yeah I was going to say, I think OL has skyrocketed. There are so few good OL, that not only have tackles kept going up but a lot of guards have started getting paid way more (see Thuney).
WR prices haven't been going up that much because teams just tag and cycle, pick a new one in the 1st or 2nd, and there are a lot of WRs in recent drafts doing well, where OL has been a wasteland.

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What is interesting is that according to OTC if you look at average contract value per year in 2023 excluding QB, 8 out of the top 10 are WR on the offensive side, only Tunsil and Andrew Thomas squeak in and the top 4 though when you look at total guarantees the spread is much more diverse with Zach Martin having the highest guaranteed $$. I'm not a capologist but I have to think that at some point those big WR contracts with void years are going to impact franchise #s but maybe not?

j44thor said:

What is interesting is that according to OTC if you look at average contract value per year in 2023 excluding QB, 8 out of the top 10 are WR on the offensive side, only Tunsil and Andrew Thomas squeak in and the top 4 though when you look at total guarantees the spread is much more diverse with Zach Martin having the highest guaranteed $$. I'm not a capologist but I have to think that at some point those big WR contracts with void years are going to impact franchise #s but maybe not?

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Yeah, so like Tyreek has the 2nd highest overall contract, but he has like half of it is non-guaranteed, including a $44M base in his last year.... he'll never see that.
Adams... $72M in unguaranteed money last 2 years, so yeah a lot of kind of fake money in the WR deals.

This just in ... the rich are different

Following their set, Springsteen and Bon Jovi made their way to their seats, joining Paul McCartney and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft at the room’s central table.

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https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/bruce-springsteen-shania-twain-jon-bon-jovi-musicares-gala-grammys-1235814206/

Jacobi Meyers was on F&M on radio row and said the Patriots offer was 1 million dollars less per year than what the Raiders offered him.

jsinger121 said:

Jacobi Meyers was on F&M on radio row and said the Patriots offer was 1 million dollars less per year than what the Raiders offered him.

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Just so stupid.

Eddie Jurak said:

Just so stupid.

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So.... for important context....
1. He was pretty vague as to what that meant, which we all know in NFL contracts could mean a massive difference in guarantee.
2. He was asked if he would have gone back to NE if they had offerred more.... he dodged it.

Sure seemed like the money was part of it, but he was also following Josh.

Anyway, I'm never going to get upset about Jakobi leaving, he's nothing special as a WR and he got both more guaranteed money than Juju and had a much higher cap hit.

Patriots are adding Alonzo Highsmith to the front office. Worked in Green Bay, Cleveland and Seattle and has recently been with the University of Miami football team in a GM role.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/02/07/alonzo-highsmith-leaves-miami-hurricanes-returns-to-nfl/

jsinger121 said:

Patriots are adding Alonzo Highsmith to the front office. Worked in Green Bay, Cleveland and Seattle and has recently been with the University of Miami football team in a GM role.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/02/07/alonzo-highsmith-leaves-miami-hurricanes-returns-to-nfl/

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Now let's see them sign Hightower to coach LBs. Get all our highs in one place.

(Kind of serious about DHT -- I seem to recall seeing a clip from him in his playing days where Mayo said that DHT would make a great coach.)

Saints Rest said:

Now let's see them sign Hightower to coach LBs. Get all our highs in one place.

(Kind of serious about DHT -- I seem to recall seeing a clip from him in his playing days where Mayo said that DHT would make a great coach.)

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Yeah, Mayo said he thought HT would be a good coach and Hightower made some comment about potentially being interested in a position on a Mayo staff.

Not sure how serious Hightower was though, been out of football a few years, unclear if he's actually interested in the long hours and crap pay of being a coach.

Another front office hire. Bobby Brown comes back from the Texans.

View: https://twitter.com/aaronwilson_nfl/status/1755286996195414490?s=46

https://www.click2houston.com/sports/2024/02/07/sources-patriots-hire-texans-staffer-bobby-brown-for-executive-role-second-stint-with-afc-east-franchise/

Sources: Patriots hire Texans staffer Bobby Brown for executive role, second stint with AFC East franchise

Bobby Brown has rejoined the New England Patriots for a key executive administrative role, leaving his job as the Texans’ associate director of football administration, according to league sources.

Brown worked for the Texans this past year in their salary cap department along with his brother, Andrew Brown, who remains with the AFC South champions as their director of football administration overseeing salary cap and contract matters.

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Cellar-Door said:

So.... for important context....
1. He was pretty vague as to what that meant, which we all know in NFL contracts could mean a massive difference in guarantee.
2. He was asked if he would have gone back to NE if they had offerred more.... he dodged it.

Sure seemed like the money was part of it, but he was also following Josh.

Anyway, I'm never going to get upset about Jakobi leaving, he's nothing special as a WR and he got both more guaranteed money than Juju and had a much higher cap hit.

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It's 5.5 million dollars worth of extra cap hits spread over three seasons. That's nothing.

OL Coach hired

#Patriots are hiring #Browns assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters, who worked with Bill Callahan in Cleveland, per league sources. Peters is a former #Eagles fourth-round draft pick who played offensive line in NFL for seven seasons. Peters has extensive MMA background, won two Brazilian jiu jitsu world championships in submission grappling

Dr. Gonzo said:

OL Coach hired

#Patriots are hiring #Browns assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters, who worked with Bill Callahan in Cleveland, per league sources. Peters is a former #Eagles fourth-round draft pick who played offensive line in NFL for seven seasons. Peters has extensive MMA background, won two Brazilian jiu jitsu world championships in submission grappling

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I can't wait for the inevitable "Holding. Entire offensive line except the center....." penalty call.

Dr. Gonzo said:

OL Coach hired

#Patriots are hiring #Browns assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters, who worked with Bill Callahan in Cleveland, per league sources. Peters is a former #Eagles fourth-round draft pick who played offensive line in NFL for seven seasons. Peters has extensive MMA background, won two Brazilian jiu jitsu world championships in submission grappling

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I brought him up when AVP got hired, but I assumed once Callahan left he'd just take a promotion in CLE.

Cellar-Door said:

Not sure how serious Hightower was though, been out of football a few years, unclear if he's actually interested in the long hours and crap pay of being a coach.

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I think sometimes we overlook how young these guys are. DH is 33. Maybe he's got some sort of full-time engagement now, but very very few people can retire in their early 30s and do nothing thereafter.

Cellar-Door said:

I brought him up when AVP got hired, but I assumed once Callahan left he'd just take a promotion in CLE.

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He seems like a good get for NE.

It'll be interesting to see how this staff meshes. It's basically Mayo, who was the Krafts' guy and clearly comes from the BB universe, and Covington, then all the Wolf orbit folks from GB and CLE who have all known each other for a while. Good challenge for Mayo to get everyone on the same wavelength.

View: https://twitter.com/MikeGiardi/status/1755312861750960406?s=20

Mike Giardi: On new Patriots offensive line coach Scott Peters: Worked under the great Bill Callahan for several seasons and, per source, is "extremely smart" and "will make that line better. Period." Another source says "Pats realized they didn't do Bill O'Brien right" by not letting him hire his staff. This group "wasn't going to let that happen again."

joe dokes said:

I think sometimes we overlook how young these guys are. DH is 33. Maybe he's got some sort of full-time engagement now, but very very few people can retire in their early 30s and do nothing thereafter.

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Oh for sure, but a lot of guys who made a lot of money don't really want to do the coach job once they think about it. Media, going into business, etc. are higher on their list.

So the current coaching staff is:

HC Jerod Mayo
OC Alex Van Pelt
Off Assistant Ben McAdoo
QB T.C. McCartney
RB ??
WR ??
TE Will Lawing
OL Scott Peters (thanks @Cellar-Door )
DC DeMarcus Covington
DL Jerry Montgomery
LB ??
CB Mike Pelligrino
S Brian Belichick (is he under contract still?)
Special Teams: Jeremy Springer

Who am I missing?

BaseballJones said:

So the current coaching staff is:

HC Jerod Mayo
OC Alex Van Pelt
Off Assistant Ben McAdoo
QB T.C. McCartney
RB ??
WR ??
TE Will Lawing
OL ??
DC DeMarcus Covington
DL Jerry Montgomery
LB ??
CB Mike Pelligrino
S Brian Belichick (is he under contract still?)
Special Teams: Jeremy Springer

Who am I missing?

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Scott Peters is in as O-line coach

Eddie Jurak said:

View: https://twitter.com/MikeGiardi/status/1755312861750960406?s=20

Mike Giardi: On new Patriots offensive line coach Scott Peters: Worked under the great Bill Callahan for several seasons and, per source, is "extremely smart" and "will make that line better. Period." Another source says "Pats realized they didn't do Bill O'Brien right" by not letting him hire his staff. This group "wasn't going to let that happen again."

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You tell him you're too tired to keep working!

So we're missing the skill position guys: WR, RB, TE