Patriots 2024 Offseason Thread

In limited snaps? Maybe I remember wrong, but I thought he was much more of a pass catching TE. Kept track of Mayer and multiple articles about his good blocking for that team last year. If true good for him and that's a much better than depth signing it looks like.

Sione Takitaki 72% successs rate in coverage last year per next gen stats, no one on Patriots was above 50% at LB position.

Does this mean we can put him in the "improves the team" bucket?

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of Keenan Allen for very little and then figuring out a way to restructure his deal. Perhaps wait the chargers out and hope he gets cut

Yes it is true, however...(1) TEs don't do very much pass blocking. For his career, in 8 years, Hooper has 5207 total snaps, 1928 snaps of run blocking, and only 367 snaps of pass blocking. So only about 45 snaps per year of pass blocking. (2) his pass blocking grades have varied massively year to year. Likely because he has so few each year. In 2022 his pass blocking grade was 24.2 in 14 snaps. In 2023 it was 81.5 in 50 snaps. (3) PFF does not provide career grades only year by year grades, however, weighting his yearly grades by number of snaps in that role in that year, his career avg pass blocking grade would be 66.0 and his career avg run blocking grade would be 60.1. So he is an ok blocker. Note this is not how PFF would compute an average grade. In discussing how they compute season grades PFF says "Season-level grades aren’t simply an average of every game-grade a player compiles over a season, as the season grade credits the entire body of work. An 80.0 game grade is not close to one of the best games of all-time, but 16 games of 80.0 grades will equal an outstanding season of consistency and likely one of the better seasons in a given year. A simpler example is a three-touchdown game from a quarterback. We’ve seen many three-touchdown games but doing so in all 16 games would be one of the best seasons of all-time. It is entirely possible that a player will have a season grade higher than any individual single-game grade he achieved because playing well for an extended period of time is harder to do than for a short period." (4) he is definitely a better blocker than Gesicki.

Or perhaps what did Pharaoh Brown like more about Seattle?

No Ridly and I like Donovan People-Jones, Jacoby Brissett knows how to use him. It was nice tape and his production tailed off the minute Watson came back. He made some big plays with Mayfield and Brissett. Yeah not close to a #1, it a depth and raise the floor type signing. I just struggle with fit with the other available WR given what we need.

I like Adoree Jackson and Ronald Darby at CB if you want a CB that won't break the bank.

wouldn't complain about Clowney, but has he been good against the run for years?

Tyron Smith would still be a dream.

Jennings back 3/12 with max value of 24m. Will be interesting to find out what these incentives are on many of these deals.

Expanding on my prior post, here's where things seem to stand:

QB - Again, this will be a focus in the draft. Whether it be at the top with either Daniels or Maye (seems Maye continues to trend to us in predictions) or someone else (Penix, Nix, etc) later.
RB - Still want a backup (and future replacement?) for Stevenson. Wouldn't surprise me to see both a veteran add (other than brining, Zeke back, I would think this would be someone on a very cuttable contract) and later round pick added.
WR - Discussed previously and by others. Probably not Ridley. Not sure they'd be trading for a big time player. So probably some depth adds and, almost certainly, at least 1 high draft pick if not a later one as well.
TE - I've read what most have said above. Hooper is more of a pass catcher. I know the draft class is down but saw some good athletic scores come out (my lazy take on that is that it's a very RAW class). So maybe a guy who is more of blocker with some receiver upside? And/or a blocker type in FA (again, on very cuttable contract).
OT - More double dipping here? FA and Draft. Now that he's back, you can put Onwenu at RG or RT depending on what else you add (and how the fit together). But they can't do what they did last year and ignore this position in the draft. Even bringing in Smith wouldn't prevent me from adding a high pick.
IOL - Would imagine David Andrews is still locked in at C and they drafted Jake Andrews to serve as understudy. Strange needs to put it together this year or he's gonna end up replaced (could Jake be next man up on this side of C?). Depending on what happens at tackle, you have Onwenu/Sow (both would be very good, or better, options) and Mafi (would need a big improvement) as candidates. Probably some competition to be added at some point this offseason.

IDL - The biggest thing I want here is a Barmore extension. Otherwise, you do need to replace Guy and that is ideally with a vet.
ED - I'm repeating myself (and others) but I'm stunned that Uche is back (and for that number). REALLY want Jennings back (and with Uche, Jennings and White, you probably don't NEED to invest in the draft unless the BPA in the mid rounds happens to be an ED). - EDIT - YASSSSSSS
LB - Good shape here.
CB - As UMASS has been saying leading up to and including the offseason, I also wouldn't be surprised here. Gonzo (Boundary) and Jonathan Jones (Boundary or Slot) are set but we're currently counting on a lot of inexperience in the other spots. Based on the number of "top FAs" available (and the reported desire to add an impact defender) this could be the position where that happens. Was really hoping Gilmore and Mayo had played together (potentially increasing that possibility) but they missed each other.
S - Dugger (back unless the unexpected happens) and Peppers are set. Matu probably continues to see time there. Not sure if Bledsoe finally gets a shot. Probably need to add something here. How significant though??? Probably not.

ST - While I don't think they'll give up on Ryland, there seems to be 0 chance they wouldn't bring SOMEONE in to compete (heck, they'd probably do that at punter despite Baringer's stronger first season).

Mostly retention and depth so far. Still time to add impact. But after Mayo took back his "money to burn" comments and with Wolf saying it was mostly "draft and develop", I'll be interesting to see what they add leading up to the draft.

EDIT2 - added IOL.

Kyle Dugger isn't officially back yet, no?

I like to think of it as the McCourty "handshake" agreement but made official to protect the Patriots.

Stephenson, isn’t an elite back, if they want him, they’ll be able to resign him. Running back values are down. What would a back like him cost? 5-6m a year?