Patriots re-sign Anfernee Jennings
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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Pretty stark contrast with the Uche deal but I'm guessing the incentives are quite difficult to obtain and the guarantee is low. In any case, nice contract for a guy that didn't show a ton his first three years before coming on strong last season. I think he's a real asset in their early down and run defense.
So it looks like the edges will be Judon, Wise, White, Jennings... and Uche on passing downs. Similar to last year but better with improvement from White and Judon healthy.
Edit: I also wonder - are we at a point where trading Judon makes sense?
Edit: I also wonder - are we at a point where trading Judon makes sense?
I’ve said in the past it make sense to move Judon now for mid round draft picks. I can’t see him playing under his current number and I don’t think he’s worthy of a raise either.
I know these trades don't really happen but I wonder if they could have explored a Judon plus later picks for Burns trade. That said, I like Judon on this team. He's one of their leaders and they need that right now, plus he has a good relationship with Mayo. Marginal talent upgrade or a trade for picks is probably not worth it.
His cap hit is less this season than last, and they would have a $8-10M dead cap hit if they traded him. He has more value to this team than a 5th round draft pick.
Love this, the defense last year was stellar against the run and Jennings was a big part of that.
sneakily one of the best edge run defenders in the league, I think someone had the stat that only Crosby had more tackles for loss or no gain in the league.
I don't think he's likely to sit out after playing 4 games last year and getting injured. He needs to show he's still explosive before he gets paid either by an extension or in FA.
He really came on last year to fulfill his promise coming out of Alabama, and he was the last unsigned outgoing FA that I really wanted them to retain. Good stuff.
Re: Judon, I think they’ll want to keep him because he’s still their best down to down edge player/pass rusher, not to mention the leadership he brings to a team in transition. That being said, I could see him threatening to hold out since his deal is quite below market at this point, at which point the Pats would have to give him a pay bump or trade him.
Re: Judon, I think they’ll want to keep him because he’s still their best down to down edge player/pass rusher, not to mention the leadership he brings to a team in transition. That being said, I could see him threatening to hold out since his deal is quite below market at this point, at which point the Pats would have to give him a pay bump or trade him.
This is probably my favorite signing thus far. Very reasonable contract to cover a players prime years. Only risk is that he didn't break out until his contract year but if he had broken out earlier he would probably cost 2X so very much worth the risk.
I fucking HATE saying how much I like all the signings - since its just running back the same players - but I like this signing as well.
The free agent guys that either played well or can contribute positively this season - Onwenu, Uche, Jennings, Bourne, Henry - are all back on very reasonable contracts (I'm excluding Dugger from this until we see what actually happens with him). The guys who we didnt want back because of performance or cost - Trent Brown, Mac Jones, Parker, Gesicki, Guy - were shown the door. A few very fringe guys (Wilson, Pharaoh Brown, Mills, Elliot) are gone or still unsigned, but overall they basically made all the right moves with their own crop of free agents.
As much of a BB backer as I am, this process feels a lot different than previous off-seasons (in a good way). No head scratchers and a pretty logical strategy in mind to start the offseason.
If they're able to grab a decent WR in free agency and somehow snag Tyron Smith, I'm psyched about this offseason. As much as I would have loved getting an impact defender with the cap, we're basically adding a top tier edge rusher (Judon) and a a young #1 CB (Gonzalez) to a defense that performed really well last season.
As far as trading Judon? That makes little sense to me right now. His value is at its lowest, so trading him off for some mid-round picks feels like a waste. This is a guy with 15.5 sacks two seasons ago and was on his way to another great campaign before going down last season. I know we're used to being in championship or bust mode, but having one of the 5 best pass rushers on your roster - tied for 4th in sacks 2 seasons ago, 4 sacks in 4 games last year - is something I don't think is worth trading away for a 4th or 5th round pick. If the season seems like its going sideways by the trade deadline and Judon is performing well, I'm sure the market will be there for a trade at that point in time for an elite edge rush rental.
The free agent guys that either played well or can contribute positively this season - Onwenu, Uche, Jennings, Bourne, Henry - are all back on very reasonable contracts (I'm excluding Dugger from this until we see what actually happens with him). The guys who we didnt want back because of performance or cost - Trent Brown, Mac Jones, Parker, Gesicki, Guy - were shown the door. A few very fringe guys (Wilson, Pharaoh Brown, Mills, Elliot) are gone or still unsigned, but overall they basically made all the right moves with their own crop of free agents.
As much of a BB backer as I am, this process feels a lot different than previous off-seasons (in a good way). No head scratchers and a pretty logical strategy in mind to start the offseason.
If they're able to grab a decent WR in free agency and somehow snag Tyron Smith, I'm psyched about this offseason. As much as I would have loved getting an impact defender with the cap, we're basically adding a top tier edge rusher (Judon) and a a young #1 CB (Gonzalez) to a defense that performed really well last season.
As far as trading Judon? That makes little sense to me right now. His value is at its lowest, so trading him off for some mid-round picks feels like a waste. This is a guy with 15.5 sacks two seasons ago and was on his way to another great campaign before going down last season. I know we're used to being in championship or bust mode, but having one of the 5 best pass rushers on your roster - tied for 4th in sacks 2 seasons ago, 4 sacks in 4 games last year - is something I don't think is worth trading away for a 4th or 5th round pick. If the season seems like its going sideways by the trade deadline and Judon is performing well, I'm sure the market will be there for a trade at that point in time for an elite edge rush rental.
Are there any head scratchers we can think of that worked out well for the Patriots? Honest question -- I'm remembering these as well but not any specifically.
Going through the teams free agent signings from the last handful of years...no, seems like most of the head scratchers ended up really NOT working out.
Im not sure if Trent Brown was a head scratcher, but he was definitely high risk when we signed him in 2022.
A lot of people were concerned with the high price tag for Gilmore when they signed him for big bucks in 2017, but again, not sure thats really a head scratcher.
I was someone that OBSESSED over the draft for many years…multiple draft guides and podcasts and I was grilled to the set for at least the first couple days.
Over time it was clear Bill had his own drummer to march to, but the Mankins pick was so head scratching it essentially murdered any remaining interest I had in the draft for all time.
And it was a great pick.
Wow, I didn't remember Mankins as being controversial. Do we know what their process was in picking him? It would be interesting to compare and contrast to some of the misses in BB's later years.
I look at it this way - there were a lot of problems on last year’s team but the guys they’re bringing back really weren’t the problem. I agree that a Tyron Smith and established WR trade/signing would make for a pretty productive offseason. I’m really hoping for Tyron myself.
There weren't as many sources back then for public, but he was the highest ranked guard on everyone's board, pegged as a 2nd rounder most places, so maybe a half round to round reach. Mostly it was Bill being early to the party on guard value being too low.
Yeah, it’s not that I expected Logan would be bad or anything, it was probably a combination of a lot of things.
They had a lot of needs (don’t recall the list that year offhand but I’m sure it began with the annual WRs and edge rushers hole). I had already begun to make quizzical expressions at BBs picks…but you know IBWT and all.
Taking the average sized guard from Fresno St as our first pick just buried me.
Also, the Pats can see where their cap is after the draft and see how Judon is moving in early camp and if the cap space is there and Judon doesn't look cooked, then offer a one year extension that makes him feel wanted and uses some of the space.
I agree with this post 100%.
Of course, there is still no avenue to actually scoring points on offense, but IMO, they haven't really made any mistakes with reach signings, or allowed anyone to walk that will come back to bite us in the ass. We'll see what the rest of the offseason brings.
For so long "In Bill We Trust" worked out well that the sudden idea of going with the grain seems so odd in contrast. This offseason has made a lot of sense so far - solid players, great value - and I hope that keeping the D largely intact will allow the Pats to go heavy on offense in what appears to be a deep draft of offensive players. Furthermore, I have confidence that Wolf will avoid the Harry/Strange reaches and draft with consensus which is fine. Also curious to see how he does on the late round flier picks which is something BB was actually pretty good at in terms of mining value. But so far? No complaints, even if this offseason has seemed boring so far in terms of "moves that make sense to the average fan".
I think the reason we all like what's going on even though it also feels like we are running back a 4-13 team is because we basically have locked up the key defensive pieces on a top 10 defense which is also getting back Judon and Gonzalez. We upgraded at QB and we have 55m of cap space left and a top 3 draft pick. So even though it feels like a repeat of last year we Re Ctually in a much better spot right now.
The Patriots had a really good defense last year and re-signing a bunch of the guys who made it successful would naturally lead to feeling good about the the transactions. They are known quantities and in most cases, are still on the right side of their career, where more improvement can be expected.
I agree with those that surmise that the draft will be offense-heavy. QB, Tackle and WR should all be featured and thankfully, the WR depth is insane in this draft.
I agree with those that surmise that the draft will be offense-heavy. QB, Tackle and WR should all be featured and thankfully, the WR depth is insane in this draft.
I don't really see any of the moves made thus far as moves BB wouldn't have made. If they sign Ridley for above market, that would probably be the first, not that I'd disagree with it necessarily.
Also, this was a good defense even with a horrific offense and bad special teams. They spent a lot of time on the field, often without great field position, and always had the tiniest margin for error. They could have had an even better season with more complementary football, and it's nice to see the best players returning on reasonable deals. They all seem to want to play for Mayo too, and that can only be a good thing.