One of the projected early TE's was coached by the murder's brother. That would be an interesting pick. (Not sure if HS or College coach)

Why would you criticize this post when I just admitted the factors playing into the less than optimal circumstances surrounding the offense this year? People far more ignorant than me look at Brady and Edelman as his number one receiver last year and laugh at that. I point out all the real circumstances that you have to acknowledge before you think "LOL Edelman is Brady's top receiver, Pats suck at giving an aging Hall of Famer any weapons" which is what every non-Pats fan thinks.

I sometimes wonder if the Pats fans on here ever visit other fans' message boards or read the national reports. There are some posters on here who simply refuse to accept the Pats have ever made a bad decision and cite our track-record as proof without taking into account the awesomeness of Brady.

And Brady is worth 4 wins above replacement on this team. Maybe 5.

Once you accept that, you become more critical than saying, "We went 12-4 this year, all is awesome." LOL @ you. You suck at your long-term football thinking.

There are Pats fans like Goodie who say the Pats never made a bad decision. They are Pats fans like you that make it out that the Pats are screwed and the sky is falling.

Most of us lie somewhere in the middle.

2013 Tom Brady wasnt worth 4 or 5 wins, even if he was that's a silly way to look at things. Is all not well in Denver because Manning is worth 6 wins so they'd only be .500ish? Saints screwed because Brees is worth 4?

I busted balls because you bolded the TE contracts like it was some sort of secret. I meant to write a serious post right after but got tied up, that's why I elaborated on the weapons part later. Yes, if i didnt think Dobson will improve at all next year I'd be looking for more help, that's a calculated risk I'm willing to take. They're certainly not ignoring getting weapons for Brady like you have previously indicated.

You do continue to not understand the point about the 12-4 comments. The point isn't that the Pats are perfect or don't have holes to fill, it's that there's much less need for panic than you portray. This team doesnt need a massive overhaul to contend and is in better shape than something like 28 of the 31 other teams give or take. Adjectives like flailing and scrambling to rebuild don't apply by any sensible use of the word

Yes, he was. And it's a complex analysis. How many wins do you think this team gets with Mallett? It involves the entire synthesis of the team, the veteran establishment, and the coaching investment. Brady has such massive, massive, massive value to this team that some of you lose sight of the relative value of their other investments. We win 5-6 games with Mallett. This is nothing like 2008. The Pats are 80% Brady-driven. We aren't winning crap without him.

Well there you have it then, in Salvaworld all teams with great QBs that don't go 15-1 or better or something like that are flailing by definition.

or

SALVA NETWORK BREAKING NEWS: GREAT QBS ARE VALUABLE AND GOOD TO BUILD AROUND

Also not totally sure what you are even arguing, Brady is on the team next year and a big reason why most of us feel pretty good about next season.

cool. what are we doing in '15-'17?


"Brady life support" is not an option

YES WHEN THEY ARE 26 YOU SHOULD BUILD AROUND THEM, BRADY IS 37, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT HIS PRODUCTION TO BE?

Gambool thinks Brady is 26, and we should build the team around this. Very slowly to maximize potential.

Nothing to build, its a 12-4 team.

What would your offseason plan be?

Did you think this team was a true 12-4 quality team this season? They were by far the weakest bye-team in the playoffs, and wouldn't have gotten 10 wins in a tougher division. They used band-aids and scotch tape to get 12 wins and a conference title game appearance, along with some help. Beyond disingenuous to say "this is a 12-4 team, we have no issues." You're trolling. Either that, or you're worse than Goodie and JBrochu combined as the biggest homer on this site.

This team obviously has talent, but it took a miracle to do what they did last season. Everybody knows that.

But to answer your question: Re-sign Talib and Edelman, sign a safety in FA, draft a guard and an interior lineman, and sprinkle magic health pixie dust on Gronkowski. If we tried to grab Nicks (as rumored) I wouldn't be upset.

So take a 10 win team with lots of injuries, make some modest upgrades (I think TE is a bigger need than safety) and its a contender. Where is the rebuilding and flailing? Do you really think losing Edelman and spending that money elsewhere makes that much of a difference?

Salva get back on your meds. Comparing me to being anywhere near a Goodie type homer is beyond ridiculous.

Everybody knows what they pulled off last year was pretty amazing. But guess what, they are going to get some of those injured guys backs this coming season. And the young guys will continue to develop. And they will add through the draft and modest FA additions. Nobody is saying to stand pat.

We're just not running around holding our dicks and crying like Chicken Little.

Salva took a coherent post and edited it into LOL Salva

I'm sorry I brought you in. That was uncalled for. Let's see what happens in this offseason. The Pats showed they have needs based on how the season ended. This is a critical offseason for the Brady window.

I don't mind being brought in, especially as I've already said I believe your position is kind of silly. However, trying to characterize me as another Goody is a bit much.

As far as the Pats, it would be great if they had all kinds of money to spend this offseason -- but they don't. Perhaps the Hernandez and Gronk contracts look bad now but don't forget that everybody used to complain that we never lock up our guys early and it ends up costing us more in the long run (see Logan Mankins).

I've had plenty of criticism for decisions over the years but they just keep trucking along racking up wins and putting themselves in position to bink a SB. This offseason they are constrained by cap issues and we are going to have to hope they have a nice draft, retain or replace a few key FA's, have better health, and see year-over-year improvement in a bunch of the young guys.

Not much else they can do short of Cowboys or Jets level salary cap shenanigans.

And it's hard to complain about what they do until we see the choices they make this offseason.

Jets salary cap right now is better than NE's.

Idzik turned this roster around in a matter of 1 offseason....Cant complain.

Jets dont got anymore "bad" contracts on the team as of now. All of them will be cut loose in coming days.


Does NE cut loose Wilfork? He got big cap number for an aging DT that isn't as good as he once was also coming off major injury....Once Wilfork got hurt you could tell they were hurting without him anchoring that line...Beast! I read he could potentially be cut loose. BB has track record of letting dudes go right before they start declining big time.

Also....On another note, I think NE would be ******ed to let Edleman walk. IMO the system is built around having that route running possession type slot guy that gets open. It opens up those TE's when that slot guy has big games. I think he has the potential to be better than Welker. Way more athletic and with several years in the system he can be awesome. Even better than this season. I was even shocked on how good he got once he took over full time in Welkers position. Major LOL if they let Welker and Edleman walk in consecutive seasons and get stuck with Amendola. Major bust IMO. Dude is 1 concussion/major injury away from contemplating retirement. For his own good. For Christ sake I'm starting to feel bad for the guy.

And guys, you know more than me when it comes to this.....

What in the bloody hell is going to happen to Ryan Mallett? Dude cant possibly want to be riding the bench another season and let his youth years go by. For his own good he wont get his 2nd contract until he is like 30 and that will hurt him.

Brady is a lock for 2 more seasons being the Pats QB. So NO WAY Mallet sits that much longer. So do they start him in 15'? And get rid of Brady? 0% chance IMO LOL. Or convince him to stay #2 for 2 more season at least. Or trade him?

Prob worth a solid 2nd rounder at the very least.

*Also does Talib get tagged by the 4pmEST deadline Monday?

I know but they've often been in trouble in the past. Also, Jets got let off easy after the last lockout when some of the salary stuff from prior seasons was forgiven.

Yea I agree.

NYJ cap past few years were screwed from Sanchez and the Holmes deal being like uncuttable due to huge penalties in the matter of that happening.

This is the year where we find out if the Revis deal will be a grand slam or not. Getting Sheldon was a home run but with all the freed up cap space lets see what contracts Idziks dishes out.

Luckily for NE the increase of 10M in cap from 123M to 133M helps basically cancel out the AH penalty so to speak. Sure its still there but the 10M bump help recuperate the loses from that penalty.

Any mediocre players on NE have a big cap hit this season? Like Cromartie for us has I think 9M base salary but 14.5M against the cap. Which for him, after the season he had last year is really big. Hope they restructure. Must do.

What does Wilfork cost against the cap?

*EDIT* NVM found this site......Check it out. Each AFCE team cap space break down. Plus available FA's in this upcoming class this off season. Nice site.

http://overthecap.com/teamcap.php?Te...iots&Year=2014

*Wilfork has an 11.6M cap hit with only 3.6M in Dead money if cut so I think that's a no brainier in NE current cap situation. Frees up 8M.

Just looked up future caps for NE.

Mankins has 3 monster cap hits in 14' 15' 16' (No Dead Money in 16' so 7M freed up if cut.) At 31 doubt he makes it to 16' season without taking substantial pay cut.

What's his deal? He in decline? Or still a perennial pro bowler caliber player?

Stop spamming our thread you slanking no heart racist. We have already discussed all this son, go back to unchained and make some more 9/11 truther posts and leave the football discussion to others.

Most people seem to think Mankins will restructure this year or else get cut no later than next season. He's played injured quite a bit and has had younger players around him instead of solid veteran players so it's hard to say how much he's actually dropped off. He's certainly fallen off a fair amount from his peak but he still seems like a beastly run blocker at times.

Opinion on Wilfork seems to vary, but I think he's most likely going to get cut.

I struggle to find a way to restructure Mankins that makes sense for both sides. I think he plays this year and then restructures/gets cut. With Connelly and Wendell up in the air, I think it might be best to bite the bullet this year rather than cut Mankins for a couple of million of savings. Wilfork is easy to restructure if you want to gamble on extra years, not sure they want to go that route though.

Read a blurb today that Dobson's stress fracture hasnt healed and that he might have to undergo a procedure and miss OTA's. Not great news.

I agree the bolded is the most likely scenario for how the Mankins situation plays out. Somehow what I wrote above came out wrong.

They would need to give Wilfork mostly guaranteed $$$ in those extra years for a restructure to work from Wilfork's perspective, correct? I can't see extra years from the Pats unless he's cuttable -- and can't see Wilfork going for that. Maybe if he has absolutely no other interest from the rest of the league.

Bummer regarding Dobson. They can't seem to catch a break with the injuries.