Per Rotoworld; Patriots DE Shaun Ellis was benched for Brandon Deaderick in the Patriots' Week 11 game against the Chiefs. Ellis left the locker room quickly after the game, and already coming off the field on passing downs he could find himself planted on the bench. Barring an unexpected development, his one year, $4 million contract will be considered a waste. Amazing dropoff for a guy who absolutely dominated the PATS in the playoff game last year. I wouldn't be surprised if they cut him to make room on the roster for someone else.
Highlights the danger of thinking that one playoff game somehow invalidates an entire season of mediocre-at-best play.
For all of the apparent mishaps in replacing talent, the front office has done a good job of getting rid of guys a year before they totally crap out. With the possible exception of Braylon Edwards, who seemed to fit here nicely. If a guy gets a debilitating injury after 30+, he's a goner. They also recognize when it's appropriate to cut ties based on their projected value and the money we'll have to pay (Thomas Jones). This is promising for the future. If we can plug in a few holes and pick up some depth via FA and the draft we have a really nice foundation for long-term success.
Does this really surprise anybody? It's amazing how great two guys can make a football team look because without Gronkowski and Brady the Pats are probably a 4 win team with the lack of any real talent on that team.
Debatable whether parting ways with Woody was a good move...but who knows whether he was deadset on that ESPN job and wouldn't return.
Remember when certain darksiders were calling out Tannenbaum for only offering him vet min? That's all he's worth at this point....... idiot(s).
This. I've had my problems with the front office being too full of their own shit, but I give them a lot of credit for knowing when to cut loose a player at the right time. The team still has an ELITE young core constructed by Tanny's regime. With that in mind, he deserves another shot to build on it. I just hope this upcoming off-season we get back to the basics instead of chasing big name corners when we already have the best in the world at the position. When I say basics, I mean it really is as simple as looking at Tom Brady, noticing how uncomfortable he is when he's under pressure, and trying to find the best pass-rusher you can. It's as simple as seeing that Matthew Mulligan has no business cleaning toilets in MetLife stadium; nevermind being on the roster, and finding a #2 tight end that's useful. Or seeing that Eric Smith is a solid rotational safety and good special teams player but he's as much of a starting safety as I am an Olympic weightlifter. Playoffs or no playoffs, this team still has a lot of pieces to be successful beyond 2011.
I wasn't missing him when he didn't sign with us. He was clearly declining and we've been fine without him this season.
Seems to be $3.25 million plus incentives that he'll obviously not achieve. Still a terrible deal. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/870/shaun-ellis
So another hit in terms of releasing a vet at the right time (like we did with Faneca & Jenkins & Coles)...
Shut up we should have re-signed him because hes a good guy and a veteran. Tannenbaum is a cheap stupid asshole. /Sojf talk
Aslo true. That said I would argue that his play is hurting us much more than the 4 mill is hurting the Pats right now. As for the Dead to me type comments, you can't blame a guy for wanting to get paid. We offered what 900k and he got 4 mill. In no universe am I going to hold it against him for wanting one last big payday. 3 mill is a shit ton of money. Thats goign to buy him a lot of weed in retirement.
