Patriots 2021 Offseason Thread

Not surprising, but Julio Jones will wind up with Tennessee. I think he would have been a great fit with Mac Jones, but I never expected the Pats to make the move. I think he would have completed the team as I think they still lack a true go-to-guy as their #1 receiver, but I guess we'll see.

You can hate looking at cap hit all you want but it matters. You bring this up with Mahomes contract.

If Julio were available earlier, I wonder if they’d have been more apt to go for him. If you add him now, then you have 4 8 figure pass catchers on the roster between him, Algholor, Smith and Henry. That’s a lot of money tied up there. And a HUGE piece of the pie is whether or not he’s still Julio the elite at 33, 34 and 35 years old.

It’s the overall contract

Yes there’s a lot of moving parts with regards to these two and it’s almost impossible to go thru them all. I do think they play off of one another. It’s a big year and remember they will have the franchise tag to use on one of them if that player warrants it. Unlike Thuney, as a guard, corner is a premier position so you should be able to franchise Jackson and trade him for a really good return IF he takes the next step and really shows to be a lock down corner. However, if that happens, I think Bill pays him. He will pay a true premier corner number 1 type dollars. He did with Revis and he did with Gilmore. He won’t pay Jackson as a premier corner if he has holes in his game, that prevents him from being left on an island. That defeats the purpose.

Gilmore is on the wrong side of 30, which is why they haven’t been able to trade him, and his play dropped off a bit last year. How he plays this year is big and he’s not going to get a massive contract at 32 years old. That just doesn’t happen for a corner, which helps him possibly return but other teams could still pay him more. I bet he gets a little more money from the team this summer for this season then it’s a McCourty/Hightower/Edelman/KVN type free agency where he can go out and see what is out there and he’ll know the Patriots number. I put his return past this year around 33%.

My guess is they are both back this year, they’ve left themselves thin behind them so I’d be surprised at this point if they dealt one of them.

I really liked this signing when it happened and as we get to know him, I like it even more. If my man, Mac, wins the job and there’s a QB who can throw, I think we are going to be happy with him, Algholor and Meyers as the top 3 wideouts. They’ll shut up a lot of critics.


www.espn.com/blog/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4823175/kendrick-bourne-spreads-power-of-mentorship-in-first-year-with-patriots

I hate these “all-in” semantics conversations. If Julio Jones guaranteed you a whole different level then you probably make the move but this team hinges at the QB play and if the QB is good there are plenty of weapons here to have a very good offense.

Mandatory minicamp starts today… it’s a big day to see if Gilmore reports.

Gilmore is officially a holdout. Not coming to mini-camp. We'll see what happens after.

Agree with your sentiments, UMass. They obviously made a one year adjustment last year, he knew what he was agreeing to. He wasn't a DPOY last year.

That said defense gets quite a bit shallower without its only Blue Chip chess piece. BB has succeeded and will succeed with this level of talent, but Gilmore would give the defense the ceiling to carry the team instead of just survive.

His contract averages 13 million, another 4-5 million is crazy after the season he just had. Yeah I go all in to add a difference maker. If you don't want to do that, then maybe you should trade Gilmore. If I'm spending money it's to lock up Jackson.

If you think this year is about setting a foundation why would you just pay him more?

I have a big issue with guys demanding raises if they don't deserve them. He has the highest cap number at his position in the league. He's not coming off of 2019. His average salary puts him likely ahead of last year's rankings.

So it begins… Newton can’t handle a competition.

www.patspulpit.com/2021/6/15/22535324/patriots-practice-reports-mandatory-minicamp-mac-jones-cam-newton-donta-hightower

Still, Jones looked better than Newton (let alone Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer).

Newton, meanwhile, had what was described as a rocky day.

“After the first competitive 11-on-11 period, when Jones got seven reps and Newton got three, Newton walked slowly to the next drill, at times with his head down. Got there as the drill was underway. Spent a good deal of time standing by himself watching other QBs take reps,” noted Phil Perry of NBC Sports. “During Newton’s next chance behind center, he launched three passes deep. First almost picked by Jalen Mills. Second overthrown. Third overthrown and picked by Kyle Dugger. He then completed his next three attempts.”

You’re not wrong but it’s also easy to say the right thing when you think the job is all yours. It’s another thing to carry yourself a certain way when the young kid starts getting more reps and more attention than you. Reports from multiple people there were along the lines of Cams body language completely changing. Let’s see if that’s a one off and a misread or how he handles it. He’s literally never had to compete for a job in his life. That’s not a knock on him, that’s just how good he was going back forever. Let’s see what happens.

But you are right, I shouldn’t have stated it as a fact. I should have written “Can Cam handle a competition?”

A week ago when Newton went down it was Mac Jones struggles and Stidham clearly looked like the best guy. I'm a huge Stidham guy, yet didn't post it because it means nothing. It all starts during training camp, those are the reports that will have a bunch of meaning. That's where you'll see if Mac Jones is ready.