Maybe, but he let Revis AND Talib both go. I'm not sure but it just seems NE never overpays anyone, regardless how important that player seems to be.
Talib was suspended for Adderol in 2012. The Pats traded him below value 2 weeks later. Belichik won't deal with players in the substance abuse plan unless he has no choice. Revis was 30 when Belichik let him go. The not overpaying anybody is a recent relic of milking out the Brady window. Vince Wilfork was the highest paid NT in the NFL in his prime. Richard Seymour was making $10M a year as a 3-4 DE in his prime in 2006 and 2007. He let both of them go as they hit 30-31. He won't pay anybody but a superstar top money at 30. He didn't pay Revis top money. He paid him $12.5M for 1 season in a deal that looked like $16M a year only because it had a second year the Pats were never going to pay. Then he let Revis walk the second year instead of trying to negotiate him down. He wasn't going to pay him top money at that age.
There were a few other top DBs he let walk earlier in their SB runs. Speaking of NT, I wonder if NE would go hard after Snacks if the Jets let him walk. He seems like the perfect fit for Belicheck.
Belichick tried like hell to retain Revis this season. He didn't simply let him go. they were negotiating a long term extension right up until the final minute before his 12M roster bonus was going to take effect. there were even rumors that Patriots might just keep him at 20M without a long term extension, as they were facing 5M in dead money by cutting him. Belichick will pay when the talent is right. Generally he's a little gun shy over 30 i agree, but for a Revis he made the exception. Revis was the highest paid CB in the league on the Patriots, and he was 30. They paid top market dollar in that instance. He will also pay when homegrown talent is just entering their prime, as Wilk is now. Most good teams do. Paying guys is necessary. The key is paying the right guys, and not overpaying for average talent.
They'll probably make a run at him just to bid the Jets up. I don't know if they'd sign him though. They're running a 4-3 at this point and Snacks is a 3-4 NT.
He didn't overpay for Revis. Revis made 16m on the Bucs and then came to the Patriots for 12m. He wasn't even close to the highest paid corner that year, didn't even make the top 10 in terms of cap hits. I don't believe the Jets overpaid for Revis either. Yes, he made 16m last year and 17m this year, but after that we get relief. The following years he makes, 13m, then 10m then 10m.
yeah i'm with you. both teams paid a premium, but i wouldn't consider it an overpay either. at the time the Pats signed him in 2014, i'm pretty sure he was the highest paid corner. once teams re-signed their own guys, like Haden/Sherman/Peterson, that market quickly changed. if the Pats had more cap space for a long term deal, i believe Revis would still be with them. they wanted him back.
keeping him meant a 20M cap hit. big pill to swallow for a team with limited cap. the Pats needed a long term deal, and Revis wasn't biting. what are your thoughts about Mo though? He is just entering his prime, and clearly among the best at his position. I'd be ok paying the market on that.
Ah. I heard Jerad Mayo may be quitting so they may try and return to a 3-4 or bring in a tackle than can stuff the runs up the middle.
I would pay him. I understand the whole "its a better use of assets to have 2+ solid players for one Wilk, especially with replacements on the d-line" argument and agree with it to some extent, but at some point you need to reward some of your homegrown talent. What's great about this board is that so many people are aware of the salary cap and the give and take if you extend certain guys - but at some point I think you have to look at it from a basic level: isn't it a little sad to think about drafting a guy in the 1st round, rooting for him to develop and grow into an elite player, seeing him grow into that elite player - and then once that happens ship him out for a 1st rounder in hopes that we could maybe draft and develop a guy who could be the next Mo Wilkerson? I love the draft and the value it presents, but I think sometimes we are too lured by the "mystery box".
Damn straight. That's why the Jets need to lock Mo up. The Patriots were almost willing to go the distance for Revis, we need to do the same for Mo otherwise someone else will and the Jets will regret it. That's not a slap in a face to Snacks, he should take that 5M / season offer right now and be happy with it considering he plays half of the snaps and doesn't play on passing downs. In a sense he isn't an average player, but it's painfully obvious you keep one of the best run / interior pass rushers in the league.
The Jets should have locked up Muhammad Wilkerson to a long term contract when they had the money to do so.( they did that and no one would have said anything). They elected to overspend on other players and push this problem down the road.( now signing him now , hurts the Jets in other areas because they have limited funds this year to spend. Jmo I think the Jets plan after they drafted Leonard Williams was always to trade Muhammad Wilkerson. Can only have so much money tied up in one position. Hopefully the Jaguars want Muhammad Wilkerson bad enough that they give up there first round pick. ( that is the best the Jets are going to be able to get for him) . Now what would you do with the Jaguars pick if that's what they got for Muhammad Wilkerson.
If you can explain how we keep Mo at top of the market and also pay everybody else and compete at a championship level I'm all ears. I just don't see it happening for more than a year and it will be a tight squeeze this year. Who is going to play the nose when Snacks walks? Not Mo. Not Williams. Not Richardson. How are we going to fit a NT plus the 3 stars on the field at the same time? No, I don't think Richardson at OLB is a good idea and we'd be trading him at fifty cents on the dollar tops right now if we tried to trade him. We can theoretically cut Revis in a year or two to clear a fair amount of cap space, however his contract is structured to be cut. He will want to be cut so he can get top of the market somewhere else. Do we want to be paying Mo or Revis in 2 years given the way the talent is currently structured on the team? And yes, I'd much rather pay the prime guy than the post-prime guy but it's not like we are deep at CB and thin on the line, it's the other way around. We can theoretically be paying a QB on the cheap in 2 years because we finally hit on a draft pick, either Petty or whoever we draft this year, however that's a big if. We're more likely to be paying a big time QB who shakes loose somehow to try to make the current window work. Are we going to cut Brandon Marshall at some point to make cap room in 2017? Or is it more likely that he's going to come to us looking for a bigger contract and we're going to say YES, because he's the best WR the Jets have had in decades? The OL is going to need replacements across the board except at LG and maybe C and RG if we get lucky. OT's are expensive. You draft them early or you sign veteran free agents and in either case they turn into real money over time. The best safeties are getting $9-10M a year now. By the time Pryor is due for his contract in 2018 they'll probably be getting $12M a year. In a lot of ways this conversation would be very different if the Jets had tried to aggressively lock up Mo in 2014, but I'm guessing his agent saw which way the market was headed in free agency at 3-4 DE and so they never got close on numbers. Now the Jets have Richardson and Williams, who fell into our laps as the BPA at 6 last year and was the BPA as it turned out, and they both play the same position that Mo does and Richardson cannot be traded right now due to baggage. It's like the end of The Producers. "No way out, no way out, no way out." It sucks but it is what it is.
I disagree. There are no "shoulds." You have no idea what Mo is asking for or how discussions went between Mac and Mo's agents. Negotiations like that can often take a long time and be very involved. Mac had cursory discussions with Mo's agents about re-signng Mo, then decided to wait until after the draft. There must be a good reason for that. Mo is evidently asking for ridiculous money that the Jets can't afford or don't think is reasonable. Perhaps Mac could have re-signed Mo if he didn't spend time preparing for the draft, sign other FAs, trade for Marshall or Fitz, or begin work on finding replacement scouts and player personnel people. Would that have made you happier? I'm glad that he did what he did and got done all that he did last off season. The only part of your post I agree with is that perhaps Mac's plan all along has been to trade Mo. After speaking with Mo's agents, he may have seen that the two sides were too far apart and would never come to an agreement, and may have realized that his only choice was to trade Mo. I said as much earlier. If that is the case, then that totally undercuts the first part of your post saying that Mac should have re-signed Mo last offseason and that he overspent.
Lets just relax and let Magic Mike work his magic. Knowing him he'll do something nobody expected and we'll all be happy one way or another.
Paying Mo top dollar makes a lot more sense if we can find an effective edge rusher. That would be fun to watch.
