Thank You Fonzie: Dennard to be Released.

NortheasternPJ

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Wow, didn't see this coming. I know he wasn't great last year, but who's going to play secondary?
 
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/595569949457846272
 

Leather

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He doesn't fit in the Patriots' new 4-7 scheme.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Maybe he's just a shithead. Injured last year and not playing well when he was on the field. Maybe he didn't show up for offseason stuff. Who knows?
 
Man did his star fall fast.
 

NortheasternPJ

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drleather2001 said:
He doesn't fit in the Patriots' new 4-7 scheme.
 
I'm assuming the Patriots are going to play zone with 0 CB and 5 safeties based upon the roster. BB is playing chess while we're all playing checkers!
 

Ferm Sheller

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One of the local stations contacted Dennard to get his thoughts about his release.  He responded, "it's cool".
 

dcmissle

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
Maybe he's just a shithead. Injured last year and not playing well when he was on the field. Maybe he didn't show up for offseason stuff. Who knows?
 
Man did his star fall fast.
To think of the sweat here last year on his behalf. I was researching Nebraska statutes.

There are young guys on this team, in positions of need, who have not contributed much whether it be because of maturity, injury or both. Writing is on the wall fellas.
 

H78

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I'm trying to be patient with the moves here, but unless there are two reliable acquisitions in the secondary they're going to get torched next season.

I feel bad for Butler. Kid makes one huge play and now everyone's going to put enormous pressure on him to be a solid corner. Maybe he will end up being exactly that, but I think a lot of Patriots fans think he's going to step on the field on day 1 and be solid. Very few of us even knew who he was before he replaced Arrington. This is starting to have the same feeling as the Sox rotation heading into this season: hoping for the best in spite of what the reality of the situation is (there's little to no proven secondary talent outside of McCourty on this team right now).
 

Joshv02

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
Maybe he's just a shithead. Injured last year and not playing well when he was on the field. Maybe he didn't show up for offseason stuff. Who knows?
 
Man did his star fall fast.
He was considered a fairly easy way to save a $1mm - Miguel, for example, had him as a potential cut.  He moved from being cheap (~$500k) to moderately expensive for what he is ($1.5mm, proven performance escalator) pretty quickly, which, if he isn't a top 3 CB, is too much to pay.
 

BigJimEd

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
Maybe he's just a shithead. Injured last year and not playing well when he was on the field. Maybe he didn't show up for offseason stuff. Who knows?
 
Man did his star fall fast.
yeah, I wonder if there was a recent incident or anything.
The timing seems a bit odd. Why now? It's not like they grabbed a CB early in the draft.
 

Shelterdog

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Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
Maybe he's just a shithead. Injured last year and not playing well when he was on the field. Maybe he didn't show up for offseason stuff. Who knows?
 
Man did his star fall fast.
 
 I think some variant of that is the issue.  There are a bunch of tweets from Jeff Howe, Loyko and others talking about his perceived lack of effort.  They're a couple of weeks into the off-season program so if he showed up at a bad weight or out of shape, if he missed stuff or was late for it, if he showed a bad attitude, then you could easily so them cutting him.  (Howe said that the lack of commitment was responsible in part for the muscle related injuries--I guess he wasn't fully conditioned and wasn't doing his rehab sufficiently?)
H78 said:
I'm trying to be patient with the moves here, but unless there are two reliable acquisitions in the secondary they're going to get torched next season.

I feel bad for Butler. Kid makes one huge play and now everyone's going to put enormous pressure on him to be a solid corner. Maybe he will end up being exactly that, but I think a lot of Patriots fans think he's going to step on the field on day 1 and be solid. Very few of us even knew who he was before he replaced Arrington. This is starting to have the same feeling as the Sox rotation heading into this season: hoping for the best in spite of what the reality of the situation is (there's little to no proven secondary talent outside of McCourty on this team right now).
 
I think the front seven is going to be good enough that a smart disciplined secondary playing a lot of zone (with a really, really good free safety helping out) will keep them Pats from getting torched too much. Plus they're playing an atrocious group of offenses.
 

pjr

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http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots_nfl/the_blitz/2015/05/report_alfonzo_dennard_released_by_patriots

The Patriots have trimmed down their cornerback competition.

Alfonzo Dennard was released this morning, according to NFL Network. The 2012 seventh-round draft pick started 20 of 29 games during three seasons with the Patriots.

The Patriots save $1.542 million against the salary cap by cutting Dennard. They've also been linked to more undrafted free agents than they've got room to hold on the 90-man roster, so the Pats have to make cuts to create space before those signings become official....
 

Ferm Sheller

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You gotta figure Jake Bequette's on the short list of cuts.  Can't see him making the team.
 

Dr. Gonzo

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https://twitter.com/patscap/status/595577911316500480
 
Definitely more than enough money for trades or picking up a veteran that is cut in August.
 
Or rolled over to next year.
 

bakahump

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Mccourty has to be thrilled his FA season was LAST year and not this year.  Trying to carry these guys all season as opposed to running with the thoroughbreds of 2014  would have impacted his perceived value.
 
Anyway.....I am sure Bill will clarify the decision in detail....
"Bill can you comment on the move today with Dennard?"
"We released Dennard earlier today"
"Yea but can expand on the reasoning"
"Dennard was released, we felt it was in the best interest of the team".
 

Stitch01

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Joshv02 said:
He was considered a fairly easy way to save a $1mm - Miguel, for example, had him as a potential cut.  He moved from being cheap (~$500k) to moderately expensive for what he is ($1.5mm, proven performance escalator) pretty quickly, which, if he isn't a top 3 CB, is too much to pay.
That's pretty much it.  They viewed the $1.5MM as too big of a number for a reserve corner that didnt play much special teams, couldnt play the slot, and didnt seem to be progressing.  
 
Disappointing how this ended given the promise he showed as a rookie and the screaming opportunity available for a corner.  With perfect hindsight they probably would have been better off moving him for modest value last season when it was pretty clear he'd be the odd man out after the Revis/Browner additions, but that's easy to say now that both were healthy all year.
 
If you dont play much on special teams, aren't very versatile, and make any sort of money then you better be damn good or making progress towards being damn good if you want to make the team (Aaron Dobson, take note this offseason).
 

Super Nomario

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More indication that they're not going to press much this year. That was Dennard's forte, and he made sense across from Talib and Revis (when Browner was inactive), but he doesn't make sense anymore.
 
H78 said:
I'm trying to be patient with the moves here, but unless there are two reliable acquisitions in the secondary they're going to get torched next season.

I feel bad for Butler. Kid makes one huge play and now everyone's going to put enormous pressure on him to be a solid corner. Maybe he will end up being exactly that, but I think a lot of Patriots fans think he's going to step on the field on day 1 and be solid. Very few of us even knew who he was before he replaced Arrington. This is starting to have the same feeling as the Sox rotation heading into this season: hoping for the best in spite of what the reality of the situation is (there's little to no proven secondary talent outside of McCourty on this team right now).
I'm not sure Butler will start. He played less than Ryan or Arrington last year, and the Pats signed Fletcher and McClain who were starters elsewhere in 2014. I guess "reliable" or "proven talent" is debatable, but they're not counting on any one of these guys.
 

Stitch01

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Agreed. I think Arrington is the #1 guy right now in terms of expected snaps or if you had to make a depth chart.  Butler probably has the most upside, but he's with Ryan/Fletcher behind Arrington. 
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Stitch01 said:
Agreed. I think Arrington is the #1 guy right now in terms of expected snaps or if you had to make a depth chart.  Butler probably has the most upside, but he's with Ryan/Fletcher behind Arrington. 
 
Maybe.  He's probably the guy that Belichick trusts the most but whether he'll be played outside on a regular basis seems less clear.  I could see it being a three man competition between Ryan/Fletcher/Butler to start outside and Arrington being the nickel guy.
 
$10.7M in cap space now, estimated $9.1M after the net effects of signing the draft picks.  Anybody want to trade us a corner?
 

epraz

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Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
 
Maybe.  He's probably the guy that Belichick trusts the most but whether he'll be played outside on a regular basis seems less clear.  I could see it being a three man competition between Ryan/Fletcher/Butler to start outside and Arrington being the nickel guy.
 
$10.7M in cap space now, estimated $9.1M after the net effects of signing the draft picks.  Anybody want to trade us a corner?
 
Sure, but he's likely to be played in the slot for just about every snap that there's 3+ WR on the field.
 
Apr 7, 2006
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While Arrington may be BB's #1 TRUSTED corner, I sure hope he continues to play mostly in the slot. Outside is not his forte, and never has been. (Not talking about the Super Bowl and the tough match-up with Gulliver Matthews.)
 

Pxer

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This is terrible news. Now we're unskilled without any depth in the secondary!
 
Wish he wasn't cut, wish he showed more promise, wish we still had Revis (at the vet minimum).
 
Can't wait to see Fonzie's SnapChat response to this, though!  :popcorn:
 

ivanvamp

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Shelterdog said:
 
 I think some variant of that is the issue.  There are a bunch of tweets from Jeff Howe, Loyko and others talking about his perceived lack of effort.  They're a couple of weeks into the off-season program so if he showed up at a bad weight or out of shape, if he missed stuff or was late for it, if he showed a bad attitude, then you could easily so them cutting him.  (Howe said that the lack of commitment was responsible in part for the muscle related injuries--I guess he wasn't fully conditioned and wasn't doing his rehab sufficiently?)
 
I think the front seven is going to be good enough that a smart disciplined secondary playing a lot of zone (with a really, really good free safety helping out) will keep them Pats from getting torched too much. Plus they're playing an atrocious group of offenses.
 
It seemed that for years they'd play teams with lousy offenses and they'd STILL give up 300+ yards passing.  I really don't want to go back to those days.