I think they were deep in cap hell, and even restructuring Mack and Bosa wasn't enough to keep Allen. That's why they had to dump Williams, which bought them some time, and they signed a couple guys (Gus Edwards, Dissly) but I don't think they could have kept Allen, who was do $5mil bonus this Sunday and had a 34mil cap hit this year.
The have like 20M in cap space Spotrac thinks, pre-draft picks, but yeah, this is about trying to eke out cap space, not prepping for a big trade. They still have a lot of needs, and just filling them with mid-level players was impossible before today's 3 moves.
Yeah, some people need to slow down. The hit rate on top FA WRs is pretty low. It’s rare that they produce to their contract. They need a true X receiver and Ridley was the closest thing you could spin into being an actual number 1 on the market. Thankfully that didn’t happen though as he was decidedly overvalued. It’s a little disheartening not having a shiny new toy to dream about on offense just yet but we’re still pre draft. Let’s all just be happy it’s going to be a new QB.OH NO ... PLAYERS WHOSE NAMES WE KNOW ARE GOING TO OTHER TEAMS!!!!!!!!!!!
They drafted Quentin Johnson in the first last year. He had an underwhelming year but maybe he steps up with more playing time? They did just lose 3 out of their 4 best offensive players. The half dozen Chargers fans are probably a little confused.
I disagree with the idea that they either need a bonafide, elite WR 1 or nothing. Right now the Pats have Kendrick Bourne and Pop Douglas as options and that's pretty much it. I think they'd be wise to acquire at least one other established veteran for their young QB to throw to. They could still address OT in free agency, but they can't go into the draft needing to hit on starters at tackle and receiver with their 2nd and 3rd round picks. And the WR market is now pretty thin unless they go the trade route, which is still possible I guess, but to me Curtis Samuel, Keenan Allen and Marquise Brown (though that one might have been extremely hard to pry away from the Chiefs) would have all been good additions to this team. I want to alleviate the pressure on both the rookie QB and the rookie receiver that will be coming in.
Oh, I didn’t mean to imply it was elite WR or nothing. It’s that an X isn’t something they currently have and would have represented a major upgrade at the WR position. We have guys who can be 2s or 3s. I would love to see them add another receiver but the talent level available is meh apart from Mike Williams. And even if they were able to sign him they would still need to add another preferably high draft pick.
Yeah, right now it's either Mike Williams, Tyler Boyd or a trade. And they'll still need to draft a receiver in the top 3 rounds even if they acquire one of those guys.
They lead the league in cap space for 2025 as well, there's really no reason to not make a move due to the potential of rolling more cap room forward. If you don't like Allen at this point in his career or just believe 23 million is too much money for one season of him in general, that's fine, every team operates within a budget, but the cap is not really a reason in my view.
Perhaps we should believe that report that came out after Ridley’s deal that the Pats will now pivot to picking WR in the draft and focus on other needs in free agency.
Sure but they don't seem to be aggressively going after any FAs. They still have significant holes at T and need help in the secondary as well, esp FS and to lesser extent DB. Going to be tough to address WR once you get past the top 120 or so picks of which they only have 4 in the top 120 and you have to assume they use one on QB and likely one on a T. This is a deep WR class but it does have its limits. Most mocks I've seen and tested has the pool running dry by round 4.
What is the measure of this? We have no idea who they have offers out to or what those offers look like. They could have a huge deal out to Tyron Smith, they were aggressive enough to sign 7 external FA and spend the 2nd or 3rd most money of any team... they missed on the top WR and the top OT hasn't signed anywhere yet, but there is no indication they aren't aggressive.
The external signings have been JAGS. Gibson is a JAG, Hooper is a Jag, the DT from PIT is a JAG, they haven't signed anyone that had any sort of market. Sure they went after Ridley and I'm glad they didn't sign him but at some point we have to call a spade a spade. This was a bottom 3 roster offensively and they have actually only subtracted from it. You can argue the subtractions are a net positive with Brown and Parker but they have added no one of consequence.
Most of the JAGs they’ve brought in are just lateral replacements though
However, wouldn't his retirement accelerate any bonus cap hits to this coming league year? So any restructure he agreed to simply happens now? If so, what a crazy way to shove it to your GM on the way out the door.
If we're just talking peak I think Watt was even more dominant among recent DL. His 2-3 best years were completely ridiculous.
Would be an interesting debate. Watt had almost 70 sacks as an interior DL over a 4 year stretch from 2012-2015, which is just nuts considering he was doubled every down.
Edge for sure just on durability. 15.5 games / year.
10 years, 10 Pro Bowls? Good god.
I remember a quote from him, miked up in that Super Bowl, where he was telling Brady that he was too quick. And of course I can’t find it but I did find this.
10 years... 8 1st team all-pro. Only years he didn't were....
I think I agree that Watt peaked just a little higher in 2012-15 than Donald got to, but it's close, while Donald's peak lasted much longer. For those four years, Watt averaged 17 sacks, 30 TFLs, and 47.5 QB hits per season; Donald only hit that sack total once, and never got to those TFL/QB hit numbers. Also remember that Watt was playing as a two-gapping 3-4 DE.
That seems fair. The original post invoked the idea of most dominant DL, which makes me think more of peak performance. But I think Donald likely provided more value and can be considered the better overall player on the basis of longevity.
One underrated thing about JJ Watt was how elite he was at knocking down passes at the line. 70 for his career, with 16 being a career-high in 2012, his 2nd year in the league. Donald had 21 in his whole career.
Nice move for Philly although not sure Pickett is in a better spot for himself.
They have to. It's a total of $62.29M and if it's all on this year's cap, that's a killer. Post June 1, it looks like $23.76M in 2024 (actually saving $1.2M in cap space) and $38.53M in 2025
They needed a backup, since Mariota left, and they grabbed one in return for dropping 22 spots. They probably don't care too much about 7th rounders as they have a pretty good roster.
Cheap semi-capable back up QB makes sense given Jalen's propensity to get banged up.
