Pats cut JuJu
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Right move all around, lets him sign on with another team if there is an opportunity out there and opens up room for younger WRs (hoping they keep Thornton and Boutte). That said I think he's cooked physically and is no longer an NFL caliber WR.
It’s unfortunate for him because that knee issue is derailing his career. He had a good year in KC too.
But this had to happen. Eat the money and move on.
But this had to happen. Eat the money and move on.
A trade was the only way to get some cap relief on this right?
They’re still going to take the full hit (minus the minimum if somebody signs him?)
They’re still going to take the full hit (minus the minimum if somebody signs him?)
His 2025 base wasn’t guaranteed, so they’ll save that next year. But everyone knew he wasn’t getting that. His 2024 base is guaranteed so they will eat that.
What a move by BB. Dumping Macs favorite target who’s a 70 catch 800 yard guy for a washed up JuJu with a bum knee everyone knew was hurt.
Very well executed.
Glad to see they ripped the band-aid off. Boutte probably won't stick, but he might have convinced them that he doesn't deserve to be the first thrown overboard.
I'd expect Zappe will be meeting a similar fate this week.
Don't you have to pass a physical before you sign a contract? Did the Pats' doctors drop the ball here? I will admit it made no sense at the time because Meyers was by far their most competent and reliable WR.
I do wonder how much that insanely idiotic backward pass against the Raiders ended up factoring in with BB.
Have to admit I was super wrong on this one. I thought the Chiefs version was a better player than Meyers, unbelievable how much he dropped off even factoring in the recovery.
Probably zero, but if BB was using that as a criteria to evaluate a potential re-signing then he really had jumped the shark.
We had no way of knowing his knee was irrevocably fucked, in fairness. Now, how the Pats didn’t know, I’m not sure.
BB should have had a contract drawn up for Meyers 5 minutes after that play. He was never going to be cheaper to sign than at that point.
(fast forward 2 weeks)
Say the line, joe dokes…
“He finally got some separation”
SoSH:
And then having to spend a draft pick this past year replacing him.
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I started having doubts about my two-decade long "In Bill We Trust" run during the Gronk retirement/TE replacement saga of 2019. But four years later the Meyers/Schuster situation is what finally drove a stake right through the heart and killed it. Just an arrogant, stupid signing as he let Jakobi walk.
Glad that Mayo isn't going to pretend that JuJu has a chance to make the roster for another few weeks. Let the other guys know they're battling for a spot.
FWIW, I have nothing against Schuster. He tried.
Glad that Mayo isn't going to pretend that JuJu has a chance to make the roster for another few weeks. Let the other guys know they're battling for a spot.
FWIW, I have nothing against Schuster. He tried.
Harry is the dagger. Reports are BB ignored his scouts, drafted his buddy’s guy. Scouts left and Harry was the worst of them.
I think it was more that he wouldn’t take the contract that BB wanted to give him.
Same. NFL history is full of guys whose bodies couldn’t hold up, and unfortunately he’s about as young and bad an example at WR as there is. (Honorable Patriots history mention for Malcolm Mitchell.) I blame BB for not seeing or ignoring the level of risk, but I feel bad for Juju if anything.
It would be weird if it had anything to do with it. Especially when Cam literally fumbled two games away in 2020 and then was brought back.
Wasn't Cam going into the second year of his 2 year contract as opposed to a FA being "brought back" ?
The pregame broadcast flashed the WR depth chart last night while Boutte was making a few nice catches. Juju was 4, Boutte was 7. Much rather roll the dice with the Boutte.
Regardless of whether or not that’s true, it’s not like Harry was a reach. Most “experts” and just about every mock draft from amateur to big-name analyst had Harry as a top 40ish pick.
Even in a world where BB was told “take someone else” and he went with his gut based on a buddy’s recommendation, why is that a bad thing unless there’s evidence that every time Bb “ignored the scouts” it was a bad pick. BB was notorious for wanting guys with specific personalities and is on record as saying that’s often the defining trait of a guy who succeeds vs one that doesn’t. When you can get a personal recommendation, it makes sense that it would tip the scales in a close decision
Do people really think the conversation was like the entire scouting department saying “Harry is a 7th rounder and this other guy is a future star” and BB says “sure but I want the 7th rounder with my buddy’s recommendation”? It’s probably a lot more nuanced than that, even assuming it’s true, even assuming the entire scouting department felt the same way about the receivers etc.
It’s such a dumb narrative
yeah, Harry failed and therefore suddenly the scouts unanimously wanted someone else and Bill overruled them.... but we didn't really hear any of that at the time and Harry was not a reach at all by consensus.
Just like how this thread is suddenly "Juju was such a dumb move, everyone knew he was washed, blah blah...." Juju was coming off being the best WR on a SuperBowl champ and was generally the consensus best WR on the market, in particular he had put up big YAC numbers, which was an admitted weakness of the team, and something they needed given Mac Jones' weaknesses.
Now Juju failed, in part because his knee never looked right, but that was not some general consensus, and he passed a physical. (also looking back at the signing thread..... not a single mention of his knee, nor in any of the writeups at the time).
Things go wrong, decisions turn out to be mistakes, but the board LOVES to retroactively pretend that the decision was obviously going to be bad at the time, when often they were consensus moves. Amusingly, there are plenty of moves that actually WERE pretty far off consensus... some ended up indeed being poor (Thornton, letting the Guards both leave), some turned out well (Dugger,
There were plenty of "why?" posts when the JuJU deal was made, including some who preferred Myers.
I don't think anyone thinks this. I can imagine a scenario where there were several WRs in a similar tier and the scouts preferred one (Brown, Deebo, Metcalf, whomever) but it was close and Bill tipped the balance in favor of Harry. Then a few scouts try to launder their reputations and leak a few tidbits about the process. Regardless, it was a bad pick and it came at a bad time where Brady really needed a top target, so the sting lingers.
The thing with N'Keal Harry - and this is true ofr JuJu as well - the reports INSTANTLY out of the first practices open to media were, from those I trust, along the lines of "Um....Harry sure doesn't move and separate very well. He looks REALLY plodding, I'm not sure how he'll work out." There was concern from literally practice ONE. From guys like Paul Perillo and other PFW/PU guys. And they didn't go in AGAINST the pick. So when a first impression from a first practice is that clear, and is borne out, I can't help wondering how the team (And other teams) couldn't manage to see that maybe he wasn't worth the late-1st/early-2nd that was the consensus for that draft class.
Were they? I don’t remember that. I do remember him looking good in the first game against Detroit.
That's not what happened with Harry, but the story is not that far off.
Harry indeed looked good both in the June mini-camp and early on in training camp, and as noted he had a good showing in the first exhibition game against Detroit (2 catches for 36 yards, in a game QB'ed by Stidham and Hoyer). Then he missed the next couple of weeks of camp (including the joint practices) with an injury, and did not play in any other preseason games. He then returned to practice the final week, but was subsequently placed on IR-DTR soon after the final roster cuts. It was noted by both posters here and a couple of the media folks that his placement on IR was unusual, given he had returned to practice.
Practices are closed to the media that part of the preseason (aside from stretching and warm-ups), so we really had no information how Harry looked in practice. The default assumption was that he simply was slow recovering from the injury (I think it was his ankle), but he never did anything after he was activated from IR, even with there being plenty of opportunity.
What Harry's career proved is that the initial impressions in those first 2 weeks of training camp can be misleading.
IIRC, JuJu missed the June mini-camp, as he was recovering from a procedure on his knee, and was slow to ramp up during training camp, with 1 catch for all of a single yard in the 2nd preseason game. He had 78 catches for 933 yards the season before. What he proves is that a receiver's production can fall off a cliff in the NFL, and that cliff can come without warning.