2018 Patriots/NFL offseason thread

How does one go about measuring this sort of thing with any degree of accuracy? Color me dubious. 

Brady is 41 this season. Yes his window is closing and the realistic window is here.

Measuring it is easy, with accuracy? I don't think so. Just last year Notre Dame got the two guys that just went top 10 to return to college. Everyone had them going pro because they were first round picks. The NFL draft isn't the NBA draft, so I agree 100%.

I can’t believe the Patriots got good grades about the draft. I thought they were gonna get roasted.

The only thing is we draft Chandler Jones dévelope him and he leaves. They rarely draft high end LB. I think Sam is a good pick. But we lose I forget his name to the Browns. I mean the prices keep going up they should do a better job of keeping there high end talent. You can fix the numbers. Sometimes I feel ownership doesn’t feel comfortable giving out big signing bonuses. I know they do like Gilmore but it’s once in a while. I feel we were one less player no the defense from winning the super bowl. The talent was not good enough in the super bowl.

I love the Patriots and I just saying how I feel . Just an observation .

By the way, I know he’s not on defense but Braxton Berrios is such a Patriot pick. Not simply because he’s a small white slot receiver either. He seems to have that same toughness and ability to catch the ball with fearlessness over the middle.

Does anyone here remember the "Squish the Fish" towels from back in the mid 90's? They were in response to our inability to beat the Marino-led 'Phins. Finally, with Parcells & Bledsoe in place for a couple of years ,we were able to compete again on equal footing. But it was bleak for awhile, knowing as long as the Dolphins had a Marino, and we didn't, we were toast.

I suppose that's what it's been like for the rest of the AFC East for the last 15 years, and to a lesser degree, most of the rest of the AFC. What, by way of draft capital, do you suppose the Jets or Dolphins or Steelers would have paid to take Tom Brady off the Patriots roster? To move him elsewhere, far away, like say, Seattle or LA or San Francisco? See you every 4 years Tom Brady, and maybe some day in the Super Bowl.

Wouldn't each team pay at least a #1 pick, knowing how things have turned out? I'd have given up a whole draft to miss the Marino era, easily. You want two #1's, Don Shula? Done!

I bring this up because of the condemnation of the Jimmy G trade. If BB was convinced Jimmy G was "the goods" -- and we're all assuming he's had that realization -- isn't location the most important return (if the Patriots expect to continue to compete for championships)?

One common refrain is he might've been traded to Cle for 2017 pick #13, or even that plus more. But wouldn't making that trade, with such a volatile organization, leave very much open a situation where he would've ended up an unrestricted free agent in 2018, and a candidate to land in the AFC East? To me, that's not a risk worth taking.

I agree the "material return" was uninspiring. But some of that returned was used to buy "disaster insurance" and, although nobody likes paying the premium, I think most would agree it's always a good idea.

The Bears had the second best defense in that Division last year. They just added Smith, most likely the biggest defensive addition made during the offseason on D for those 4 teams. If there rookie QB makes a normal jump to around average this year they can win a few more games. They just aren't the Browns from last year, they seem to have a solid plan.

The thing that gets me is just they traded the picks, so we assume they didn't like anyone. OK, but we can't question if that was the right thing? It seems kinda foolish that they only liked one player after the 1st round all the way to the 5th round when they way over drafted a guy. Based on the trades it seems that is the way they felt, but wow there were a ton of players there at positions of need. If we have issues at DE or safety next year, which is a legit concern maybe they should have used those picks. I want another superbowl before Brady is done. My main point being they need to increase the amount of players that they are willing to draft because right now the pool is too small.

Not a bad draft which is why I gave it a B+. Better to get future picks than way overdraft a guy, but wow how could they not like a bunch of those guys?

I have to disagree about Jimmy. Bill was going to keep him, untill Brady forced his hand. We also have money right now and could easily get more by cutting a few very overpaid players. Just remember Jimmy isn't getting that mega deal if he doesn't play for the 49ers. By all reports he wanted to stay and Brady told him time to move on. Then Bill didn't go after the best offer because he was pissed and wanted to make sure Jimmy did well. So we didn't even try to trade him to the Browns after they offered us a ton before the last draft. They were going to trade two seconds for AJ, we could have got more for Jimmy. I'm upset at the whole thing frankly.  We had alternative routes we could have taken. It's why I question the trades frankly, was it no players we liked or trying to turn the Jimmy trade into a big win?

I wanted to add the Patriots could make this draft look a lot better by adding DE Robert Ayers and one of the many good safeties still available in free agency. Jordan Richards has no business making the roster.

Time to sign Eric Reid and let him kneel all he wants

Based off value the #2 pick is worth 2600, the Patriots top 4 picks were worth a total of 1906. It would have been a crazy high cost like two first, two seconds this year and two future first round picks. Even then it's not a slam dunk trade based purely off value. Most teams trading up giving away multiple firsts are crappy teams picking high in the draft, not at the end of the draft. You might have to add in more future 2nd round picks, heck maybe more first round picks. Which is just crazy, but also highlights our problem of getting a QB if the ones you like are top 5 guys.

So yea I'm glad we didn't make that trade. I'm also glad that they actually like a QB in this class, I knew they had to have liked someone in a rather deep class.