Oh boy, I'm so upset I perpetrated an "internet sin". My lord, what will I do? I mean, I'm not being a douche about it I just threw out a quick brag because I called a blowout (which I very rarely do, to be honest), and was right.

Dude, I NEVER SAID YOU HATE THE TEAM!!!!! Will you please just shut up about that? I said you're overly negative, extremely fickle and insanely spoiled. Which you are. You can't deny that.

Damn I should go back in the thread a couple of years and find the people laughing at me after I posted that I would rather the Pats let Welker walk and spend that money on a deep threat because I thought Edelman could do an adequate job in the slot. (They franchised Welker that year.)

Edelman will be back if he will take a material discount to what Amendola got. Otherwise, prepare to see him walk. Goodie is right, as great as Edelman has been they've already committed to pay a guy with similar skills. Cap is tight next year with the Hernandez dead money.

I hope they find a way to bring him back. He's been great this year and solid before that. I'm hoping he's viewed as a slot/system guy and it depresses his market. Wish they had given him a two year deal for short money last offseason given the depressed market and his punt return value, but that's hindsight.

I expect him to walk most of the time and won't flinch if he does. WEEI callers have screamed OMG TEH PATS HAVE TO PAY HIM about ten different guys that walked and it's never been a disaster. Given they already have Amendola and two rookies playing well for rookies continuing to progress, they'll survive.

Think franchising Welker was fine in process and results (Edelman took time from Welker then got hurt) primarily because finding a deep threat to spend money wisely on in free agency is hard.

k. i'm extremely fickle, overly negative, and insanely spoiled. Guess I can't discuss the Pats anymore.

**** you, Goodie. I mean it in the nicest sense,

I think he stays bc the FO simply isn't stupid enough to let another trusted party walk with our personal GOAT

Yeah I think it turned out ok. Mostly I'm just patting myself on the back for having faith in Edelman before a lot of other people did.

I think I actually got ragged on it more outside this thread than itt anyway.

Regarding the Hernandez dead money next year... Are the Pats still under the cap this year by 5 or 6 million? It seemed like they were probably trying to hold that to write off the bulk of the dead money next season but with all the small pick-ups they've had to make this season to account for injuries I'm wondering if most of that money got eaten up already?

Chill out, my friend. Football is just a game.

No need to get so riled up.

And of course you can still post about the pats. You can just expect that I'm still going to point out when you're wrong when you pull your same old Salva **** you've pulled for years. If you'd like to become a better poster, then I'll engage you differently. Until then, you encompass all that is bad about boston fandom. Just the way it is.

http://patscap.com/

Everything Pats cap. I think the last news article I read had them $3-$4MM under. Projected number is just over $126, so looks like they're $12-$13MM under the cap as of now. They like to leave $8-$10 to play with during the season/roll, so not a lot of room to spare even if they do a bit less of it next year.

EDIT: one thing that strikes me looking at the '14 cap: cant see how Wilfork sticks around if he doesnt take a team favorable extension/restructure That $11.6MM cap number is a killer and a cut saves $7.5MM. With the Hernandez dead money, the Mankins $10.5MM number that's not really cuttable/restructurable for another season, and the injury situation think he's a cut.

Connolly, Gregory, Sopoaga (obviously) strike me as the other likely cuts with Ghost a cut/extend candidate (Slater as well)

Also, given the Hernandez hit, I assume they guarantee Brady's salary to save some cap hit next year.


I dont understand how to say this in a vacuum. If he gets Amendola's contract offer or better from somewhere else and the Pats dont match it, dont really understand how that would be the FO being stupid. If he gets like 2 years/7 million or w/e and they let him walk Id question it.

I imagine extending Solder and McCourty are the two highest priorities heading into the offseason.

On another topic, i think Brady played very well yesterday despite middling stats. He made a bunch of great throws to take the lead and then played game manager after that, which was the right call given the circumstances (notably Blount turning into '04 Corey Dillon)

Yeah i dont think its that people here are ok with letting edelman walk, its more that we feel some other team will overpay him and it would be stupid to match. If he leaves after getting a reasonable deal then i think people will be upset.

Pretty funny that on Sportscenter last night they basically had Peyton's balls in their mouth on how great his 51 td's have been yet in 2007 the Brady, Belicheck combo were constantly vilified for running up the score.

Yeah I agree he either gets cut or they do some kind of restructuring of the contract to spread out the cap hit. Although I would guess at his age and with that injury any kind of restructuring to spread the cap hit over several years is unlikely.

Nothing new there... Although Denver was probably in more close games due to their poor defense than the 2007 Pats were, there are still plenty of examples you can find with Peyton still in the game chucking it up a few scores late. When Brady did that it was "classless" and I remember more than one jerk wishing serious injury on him and even practically suggesting teams should try to hurt him. Cliffs: people are jealous hypocrites.

Plus lol Cheatriots, Peyton is the loveable goofball loser, Brady is a huge ******* because he wins and is banging super models, and hoodie gonna hoodie.

I'm OK if Edelman walks. Sure, I love the guy, but I trust the FO to do what's best for the team. Kool Aid ITT. I swear to God, they could let Brady walk tomorrow, and I'd think, "Well, I guess they feel Mallett is the better choice..."

We're on the same page, YTF. They've earned that type of respect. Probably earned it more than any other organization in the history of the NFL.

But I've had that argument many times on this board over the years and basically what it comes down to is "the board isn't interesting if we don't question people that obviously know better than we do".

Yes Goodie, we disagree. You think BB never makes a mistake, others (including me) think he isnt an infallible immortal and that his moves are worth discussing even if he's the GOAT and knows 10000 times more football than anyone here.

Off-field example: Whatever the heck we did with Leon Washington this season. Minor but clear **** up.

On-field example: The last 20 seconds before the half of the AFC title game last year. Brady shares in this, but was a clear **** up.

When did I ever say he doesn't make mistakes? That's just ludicrous. However, with personnel moves, I guarantee that in every single case, BB can give you a very good reason that makes perfect sense as to why he did what he did at the time that he did it. And I can almost completely guarantee that you would do exactly as he does, every single time, if he explained the reasoning.

Does that mean that the move can't turn out to be a mistake because of unknown factors? Of course not. But I believe he's making the move that makes the most sense at the time he makes it, every single time. He's earned that.

Alright, we've gone through this before, agree to disagree, there's literally no way the "every single time" part is correct.

Sums it up right there. "I trust BB to let Brady walk tomorrow" Edelman is integral, keep drinking the kool aid to think he's not important.

So, you think he makes personnel decisions that he couldn't explain to you and you would think it makes sense, every single time?

That seems crazy to me.

Looking forward to YTF asking, "why do the Pats suck all of a sudden ..."I have no idea , bad luck"

On what planet is Edelman getting an Amendola contract? We can afford this, and should. But nahhh, let the 100 reception receiver walk, Brady don't need anybody to win MVP.

No, Im not getting drawn into this any more. Agree to disagree. Onto the other extreme.

Who said he wasn't important? He's been super important to this year's team. I wish he had been locked up for multiple years earlier. He knows the offense, has been productive, and is awesome as a punt returner.

That said, there's a salary cap, and blindly paying the asking price of every important player is how you get to Jetstown or Redskinland. There's a pretty duplicative player on the roster that isnt getting cut this offseason, that's a factor. There are two other rookie receivers who have been productive this season and are likely to see their roles increase, that's a factor. There are other, more physically gifted WR's potentially available, that's a factor.

So what would you be willing to pay Edelman? 3/30 with $10MM guaranteed? 5/40 with 20 guaranteed? 6/66 with $30MM guaranteed? Just hand him a blank check and say fill it out as you'd like? If you had to lose one of Solder/McCourty/Edelman, who would it be? You havent been happy with the defense for years, are you going to be happy not having any money to shore it up this offseason? The DT position needs a huge restructure. Wendell has to be extended or they have to find another Center and Connolly is probably gone as well (or he needs an extension). The whole running back core turns over next year, do you want to extend Vereen?

Its pretty close to meaningless to say "OMG WE HAVE TO SIGN TEH EDELMAN OR ELSE THE FRONT OFFICE IS TEH STUPID!!11!1" without knowing what he will command on the open market or what else the team does with the money.

Personally, Im hoping the market views him as a system player and the Pats can get him for something like 3/12 with some guaranteed money.

If he's going to get paid like an elite WR, thanks for the contributions Julian. Sign me up for Amendola/Dobson/Thompkins/Boyce and another draft pick or cheaper WR rather than burning $6-$8MM of cap space on Edelman. That passing offense will be just fine.