Patriots 2024 Offseason Thread

This ends now I'm done with it

This draft is all about that, I've never felt so invested in a draft pick since Matt Barnes oddly enough, because I REALLY wanted Sonny Gray and he ended up going one pick ahead. I'll never forget that. I'd give Washington a second round pick and the rights to the name Redskins again.

umass you called me out three times and you should be glad it's over because I will silents you again with facts. I never said Bill was a bad NFL coach but you babys think that. This is why Felger is a millionaire and it can only happen in Boston and Dallas. He was smart to turn down ESPN offer.

I can’t stand Folgers and his holier than thou attitude. And his sidekick is dumb as rocks. So I don’t listen..

That's not even about you, it's about the draft and pick #3.

Facts like how you were wrong about Patriots revenue ranking? Like comparing the Yankees Revenue wise and Tampa spending wise? Those aren't facts, they are made up fantasies. No team in football can be Tampa, it's literally impossible. Do you actually even know the difference in spending of Yankees and Tampa? Football has a spending floor, baseball doesn't. Football shares TV revenue, baseball doesn't. I literally posted an article showing how when you measure the Patriots cash spending, it changes their ranking. Just like I showed you what the Patriots have been eating for over a decade in a detailed video, that also shows what they used to eat. I've also posted how the Patriots spend all their cap space except for Covid year because they had the most opt outs in football.

I'm not at all surprised you bring up Felger, the guy that literally just complains about Boston sports 24/7. If you want true unbiased facts, you won't get them watching or listening to Felger.

Cash Spending (real dollars) on the Patriots football roster.

Patriots
2013 $101,574,859 28 of 32
2014 $128,327,017 22 of 32
2015 $156,798,730 6 of 32
2016 $139,950,857 28 of 32
2017 $179,907,374 8 of 32
2018 $178,233,398 19 of 32
2019 $202,145,339 11 of 32
2020 $164,101,399 32 of 32 <-- Covid Opt Outs (even still, last place?)
2021 $234,590,342 4 of 32
2022 $207,575,618 26 of 32
2023 $194,850,812 31 of 32

I will give a list of 5 random teams just for comparisons sake:

Bills
2023 -- $279,137,376
2022 -- $273,140,766
2021 -- $223,481,748 <-- Patriots are higher
2020 -- $223,119,406
2019 -- $186,325,681 <-- Patriots are higher
2018 -- $154,411,721 <-- Patriots are higher
2017 -- $149,018,144 <-- Patriots are higher
2016 -- $159,640,251
2015 -- $166,003,402
2014 -- $130,246,765
2013 -- $117,163,765

Bills have outspent the Patriots in real dollars 7 out of 11 years.


KC
2023 -- $237,226,435
2022 -- $220,917,321
2021 -- $202,661,142 <-- Patriots are higher
2020 -- $202,374,489
2019 -- $181,488,372 <-- Patriots are higher
2018 -- $182,309,602
2017 -- $159,569,682 <-- Patriots are higher
2016 -- $173,201,879
2015 -- $135,369,267 <-- Patriots are higher
2014 -- $134,734,379
2013 -- $151,468,847

KC outspent the Patriots in real dollars 7 out of 11 years


Jaguars
2023 -- $238,820,991
2022 -- $255,441,586
2021 -- $215,719,822 <-- Patriots are higher
2020 -- $168,199,070
2019 -- $203,419,509
2018 -- $216,199,336
2017 -- $181,575,890
2016 -- $168,464,462
2015 -- $146,197,164 <-- Patriots are higher
2014 -- $106,800,268 <-- Patriots are higher
2013 -- $87,056,262 <-- Patriots are higher

Jaguars have out spent the Patriots 7 of the past 11 years and that's because of the earlier years.

Commanders/Football Team/Red Skins
2023 -- $203,736,562
2022 -- $210,013,840
2021 -- $225,388,585 <-- Patriots are higher
2020 -- $202,457,438
2019 -- $173,291,820 <-- Patriots are higher
2018 -- $186,128,031
2017 -- $182,363,763
2016 -- $149,909,864
2015 -- $159,037,520
2014 -- $136,886,181
2013 -- $87,350,570 <-- Patriots are higher

Commanders/Football Team/Red Skins outspent the Patriots in real dollars 8 out of 11 years

Falcons
2023 -- $249,790,243
2022 -- $166,600,153 <-- Patriots are higher
2021 -- $158,560,509 <-- Patriots are higher
2020 -- $205,499,600
2019 -- $262,565,119
2018 -- $188,494,393
2017 -- $175,557,948 <-- Patriots are higher
2016 -- $139,679,095 <-- Patriots are higher
2015 -- $135,400,241 <-- Patriots are higher
2014 -- $166,718,107
2013 -- $119,798,981

Falcons have outspent the Patriots in real dollars in 6 out of the 11 years.

This all ignores context based on roster constructions and how close they were. For example, the Patriots outspent the Eagles by a few hundred thousand in 2016, but in 2019 the Falcons outspent the Patriots by 60 million. The inverse is mostly true with their spending splurge in 2021 where the Patriots were up by about 30 million on teams.

Not exactly the most scientific approach to it, but this shows me, when compared to other owners, that Kraft is willing to spend at times, but for the most part he's not overly interested in spending on the football roster itself. Maybe some of that was Bill Belichick, maybe, but that shield is gone and so far in year 1 Kraft didn't spend real cash on the team. It will be interesting to see if they're going to wait until they hit on a QB or if they're going to splurge next off-season with hopefully a better free agent market. Again, not saying Kraft will never spend because he has, but it seems to be more they go hard for a year and then don't make heavy investments for a few years.

I'm glad football does have a floor because I'm curious if the Patriots would have spent as much as they did this year if there wasn't.

But even looking at the other team's angle you can see the waves in spending.

He certainly reinvested in the area and the stadium/team and made it one of the most profitable franchises in sports and he did so when the Patriots couldn't pay to be on TV. With that said it was a reinvestment that paid off nicely for him. I think he's a very good business man. Cheap isn't the right word, but he has spent less on players than almost every other team the past decade.

Your data above has them average at 19.5 out of 32 teams in spending. Seems middle of the pack rather than below almost every other team.

Why are you so fixated on cash spending? Is it proven that cash spending equals success? I'm seeing Kansas City between 16th and 27th dating back at least 5 years. Cleveland's been up at the top recently, along with some other bad teams.

The spending 2020-23 is certainly questionable, but tying it back to this general statement about Kraft when he's presided over a dynasty from the day he stepped into Foxborough up to 2018 makes the argument feel hyperbolic. Especially when it felt like BB had the pen for all football decisions.

No articles. My recollection is that the earlier proposals (I believe one was somewhere in South Boston, there were others but I don't recall any specifics) were asking for public money, but by the time the proposal in Foxboro was put forward Kraft would pay for the Stadium and the State for the infrastructure upgrades to support it. Which was rejected by the State, which seemed to be more about political posturing than any kind of sound logic. About the only thing I'd disagree with is the notion that Kraft wouldn't have moved the team to Hartford - as far as I know nobody but Kraft knows for sure if that was ultimately a bluff (and these days he's certainly quick to imply that the team was never leaving MA) but he definitely seemed serious about it at the time, signed all the papers etc. Clearing the site was delayed, which gave the NFL time to get involved and reopen negotiations between Kraft and the State, which ultimately led to the current setup. I'm not trying to call Kraft cheap, just pushing back on the idea of him as this purely benevolent force for Patriots fans - life was pretty miserable for a few years there as a Pats fan wondering what would happen to the team.

Edit Add: took a very quick look and found this www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/23/nfl-new-england-patriots-abandoned-move-hartford-connecticut - didn't read it word for word but while it barely discusses the earlier negotiations between Kraft and the State it does have some background on the potential move to Hartford and how that was avoided.

He was paying for South Boston also from the beginning. Thanks for that article it really fills in the gaps. Massachusetts was being stupid, 70 million in infrastructure improvements for a major sports stadium is as good as it gets. Using the Roger Goodell to negotiate not to get sued to literally his son conversation with members of Massachusetts government to get a deal done says it all. He turned down the best deal ever, one that would have made Patriots the top revenue team to keep them in Massachusetts. 

And, you couldn't silents Folgers if you tried.