Patriots trade Michael Hoomanawanui to the Saints for DE Akiem Hicks
- Thread starter soxhop411
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Kyed seems to think its a win for the Pats.
At this stage I don't totally get it because I saw DE as close to the deepest position on the team. Everyone knows Chandler Jones has talent and production when healthy and I love what I've seen from Sheard. Of course BB has a reason - be it value, depth, a different position, or a long-term play but no clue what the motivation is.
There's always Solder kicking outside of Cannon...Eddie Jurak said:
Edit: following up on my previous post, Florio speculates that this was a money move for NO as they save $600K. Hicks apparently has started every game so this is probably a big talent upgrade as Kyed says.
http://wp.me/p14QSB-9RW5
Howe confuses things suggesting that he's an interior upgrade over Chris Jones or until he's back. At that size, Howe might be right.
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots_nfl/the_blitz/2015/09/source_patriots_trade_michael_hoomanawanui_to_saints_for_akiem
Wonder if Hicks was on their radar in the draft. They seem to keep an eye on guys they like should they become available at some point, e.g. Ayers
https://twitter.com/GregABedard/status/649359379439988736
Greg A. Bedard @GregABedard 2m2 minutes ago
Hicks has had motivation, focus issues. Either he gets his act together, or he'll be gone quickly. 3 tech with talent when on
Greg A. Bedard @GregABedard 2m2 minutes ago
Hicks has had motivation, focus issues. Either he gets his act together, or he'll be gone quickly. 3 tech with talent when on
Hicks is a different kind of player than Jones or Sheard. He's played nose in the past. He was a DE in a 3-4 scheme the past couple years. He gives them another big body when they decide to go with a 3-4 type look (right now they only really have Siliga / Easley / Brown / Branch); I'm not sure what his role will be in a 4-man front.amarshal2 said:
They also joint practiced with the Saints in the preseason, so they should have more current info. Then again, all they gave up was Hooman, a healthy scratch last week, so it's not like they're betting big here.tims4wins said:
There's always Asante Cleveland for the 4th TE.
Hicks needs a fire lit under his ass and BB is the right man for the job.
Hicks needs a fire lit under his ass and BB is the right man for the job.
You have to like the way the Pats are still trying to improve the roster. They've got a team that the local sports radio has been debating whether it's as good as the 18-1 team of 2007 and they're still working to improve the roster.
Relentless.
Relentless.
Super Nomario said:
Somewhere inside. I don't think he's a 4-3 end. I wouldn't be surprised if his usage is similar to Branch's.
I love this trade. I was a huge fan of Hicks predraft and followed him a bit with NO. It seemed like he was on his way to becoming an impact starter. Not sure what happen in the last year to make him only worth Hooman, but I'll take it. I just wish this wasn't his last year under contract. It limits how big of a win this trade could be.
I love this trade unconditionally. From my understanding, Hicks flashed massive potential in his first two seasons but then regressed last year and must have gotten into the doghouse in this year's training camp. So there may be maturity or work ethic issues at play. But the upside with Hicks is obviously very high and the Saints don't have a great track record developing and nurturing defensive talent. So I could very easily see it being a situation where a change of scenery and scheme could get the best out of him. We need another big active rotational DL, whether playing DT in a four man line or DE in a 3-4 look, and he could fit the bill perfectly at almost zero cost.
Obviously we don't have full information about Hicks but I just can't see what the Saints get out of this. They may be tanking at this point, especially if they believe that Brees isn't or won't be healthy all year. But how does Hooman possibly help them in any way?
We acquired two talented young defensive players, who quite possibly were simply misutilized by their former teams, for essentially nothing this week, improving our front seven depth. Its hard to do better than that in-season.
Obviously we don't have full information about Hicks but I just can't see what the Saints get out of this. They may be tanking at this point, especially if they believe that Brees isn't or won't be healthy all year. But how does Hooman possibly help them in any way?
We acquired two talented young defensive players, who quite possibly were simply misutilized by their former teams, for essentially nothing this week, improving our front seven depth. Its hard to do better than that in-season.
Pats had a joint practice week this preseason with the Saints did they not? Have to figure Bill saw something he liked then.
quint said:
I have tweeted this thread to him so I'm guessing he will. How do you like that, smart guy?
I bet he'll appreciate all the posts about how we got that DE for essentially nothing. Hi, Hooman!
quint said:
You gotta ruin all the fun.
Depth, upside, he can play in both 3-4 and 4-3. What's not to like? This is a solid move.
As mentioned above, Saints fans are not happy: http://saintsreport.com/forums/f2/saints-trade-de-akiem-hicks-patriots-te-michael-hoomanawanui-updated-346797/index4.html#.VgyywPmrTYc
"wow"
".........what.....the hell"
"OMG... what'd we give up for him. Totally out of left field. Typically Saints move. SOMETHING... for nothing. I"m so done with this team.."
"Are you Kidding me ? Hicks ?"
"Incredible. How do the Patriots do it?"
"They will coach him up and he will be a beast.....mind blowing some of the moves we make. Pure arrogance with nothing but 2009 to back it up."
"You have got to be kidding me........."
"wow"
".........what.....the hell"
"OMG... what'd we give up for him. Totally out of left field. Typically Saints move. SOMETHING... for nothing. I"m so done with this team.."
"Are you Kidding me ? Hicks ?"
"Incredible. How do the Patriots do it?"
"They will coach him up and he will be a beast.....mind blowing some of the moves we make. Pure arrogance with nothing but 2009 to back it up."
"You have got to be kidding me........."
Kenny F'ing Powers said:
Weird reaction to the departure of a backup tight end.
He was a fine player who blocked reasonably well, generally caught the ball when it was thrown to him, and neither helped nor hurt the team very much--which is exactly what you should expect from a backup TE,
I agree that Uh Oh isn't close to a big loss, but he did his job fairly well and will always hold a special place in my heart for his involvement in one of the more iconic (series of) moments of the 2015 super bowl run.
He made Harbaugh cry, God bless him.
He made Harbaugh cry, God bless him.
Shelterdog said:
His main function on this team was to be an inline blocker, and he would fuck that up consistently. As in, 3-4 big whiffs a game that blew up a play. If your back up TE is fucking up that often, he's not good.
He absolutely hurt this team when he was on the field on a fairly consistent basis. I know this because I spent a good chunk of games last year breaking down line play, and he stuck out like a sore thumb. He played out of necessity, not because he was a "fine player". The Patriots have spent a good amount of resources in the past 1 season to upgrade the position (Wright, Chandler, Williams), both as insurance for Gronk and because Hooman sucks. This season is the first time the team has gotten semi-reliable talent at the 2nd TE slot since Hernandez, and it's resulted in Hooman's playing time dropping to 10% of snaps.
If you think Hooman was a serviceable blocker, than you're telling me that out of ignorance or stupidity. This is the second time you've tried to make some vague assertion over an already vanilla post I've made. I thought it was pretty obvious that Hooman wasn't great at his job, so I didn't think I had to expound too deep on it. It's clear that you have some kind of e-boner for me. Do us both a favor and block me, because I'd rather not waste my time on posts like this.
maufman said:
You're kidding, right? Rob is the MORE overrated Ryan brother, and given who his brother is that's really saying something.
maufman said:
Rob Ryan is a terrible defensive coach riding the coattails of his fathers last name.
Only once in the last 10 years has his defense been in the top 10. His defenses are consistently in the bottom third in the league.
Kenny F'ing Powers said:
I also watch line play carefully and I simply didn't see the same thing you did. He got blown up from time to time but so does everybody--that's simply the nature of the beast. Seeing things differently doesn't make me ignorant or stupid: it means I saw something different.
Oddly enough the Patriots saw the same thing I did because they kept using him as a blocking tight end in running situations for three years.