Over 30 and declining play. Belichik will never let that hang around attached to any kind of significant cap charge. The Pats let Randy Moss go in season when he was still catching the ball well, just not as dominant as he had been. They let Richard Seymour go in his late prime when he had lost maybe a quarter of a step.
This is a standard Belichick move and a good trade. But it will undoubtedly weaken the offensive line even if it helps the team otherwise. Brady will never say anything, but you just have to wonder how much it frustrates him to have the team take away his weapons and now take away one of the cogs of his protection, and if at some point that frustration will impact his play if he starts feeling a little more pressure than in years past.
I don't think that the pats are going to resign Revis. IMO they are getting ready to go all in for next year via FA and the draft give one more major push for the Super Bowl before rebuilding the team around the Greek.
Very interesting move by the Pats. It does fit their MO of dumping expensive stars who might have passed their prime, but I don't think it always works out to their advantage. I think they haven't won any superbowls since they started doing this type of thing, in particular, I think letting Seymour go really hurt them at the time. Their defense was never quite the same since then. Mankins might have been getting up there in age, and slipping a little, but he was always a rock for them. We will see how his replacement does. I think Rex has got to be happy hearing this.
Pretty risky move trading a main guy on your o-line this close to the start of the regular season. Wright is a good TE but he isnt going to bring to the receiving game what Mankins brought to the o-line. Is Gronk still "planning to play all 16 games"? or does this move pretty much guarantee he isnt ready?
Move has absolutely nothing to do with Gronk according to Schefter. He's still expected to start week 1. Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter · 7h Oft-asked question: NE-TB trade has to mean Pats are worried about Gronk, no? Answer: No. Gronk in good spot. This provides depth, options. Edit: Also, calling Wright a TE is generous, he's listed at 6'4" 220 upon entering the league, he's maybe 230 now, he's a very big WR with very good speed, in the 4.5 range. This is a cutup of his route from last season: He fills the Hernandez role, again, nothing to do with Gronk, he won't be asked to block, it just gives the Patriots' another bigger bodied pass catcher, who now have 6'6 Gronkowski, 6'4 Wright, 6'3 Dobson and Lafell, and 6'1 Thompkins which is a drastic change from the 5'9 Welker and 5'10 Branch days. Edit 2: Another quote from the pats forums that is relevant to the departure of Mankins: The team has been in a serious youth movement since the end of the 2009 season and is still averaging 13 (rounded from 12.75) wins per season.
Lol plz. Wright is slow and weak. Below average bench press for a TE. Nothing like Hernandez who was fast and benched like a lineman. This'll go down like every other attempt recreate Hernandez-Gronk: unsuccessful. He's a decent player, not anything special. Btw, his 40 was 4.68 not 4.5, that's very slow, probably slower now that he added some mass, for a receiver that's why he plays TE. but as a TE he's pretty small if he's only 230 most TE enter the league in the 240-260 range.
It's entirely possible, but he'll certainly contribute more than Hernandez will for the Patriots' in 2014. I also said he fills the role Hernandez filled, not that he's a clone. Are you denying that Wright, at 6'4 and 220+ (his college pro day weight, never once updated by the NFL so probably a bit lighter than he is) counts as a big bodied pass catcher? Edit 2: Yeah, he's certainly small for a TE, but he entered the NFL only last season and he entered as a WR, he's been undergoing to process of converting to TE. He's only 24, he should be capable of bulking, but when you are constantly conditioning for sprints during the season its difficult to add mass. Even if he only added 10 lbs of muscle over the course of the off season, that is quite a large amount, it's not potato chip and TV watching 10lbs fat, it's 10lbs of muscle on a conditioned athlete. Not easy. It'll probably take another off season or 2 to bulk up to the 240-250 weight range if the team wants him to, it definitely won't happen during the season.
Haha true. But if by fill Hernandez' role you mean 2nd TE then yes but his utility will be nothing like Hernandez.
Again, wasn't comparing the player, just the role. I personally believe his production this season will dip from what he did in Tampa, as he only now has about 12 days to learn a new offense before the regular season on week 1. His head will be spinning well into November. I hope he'll contribute something this year but I don't expect it. The good thing is that he's young and flashed talent last year.
Still good for 12 wins IMO. Pats OL also had one of their best performances in the Ravens game when Kline started at LG as Mankins moved to LT to replace the concussed Solder. I'm more than happy to have a discussion, as are many posters here, but I don't really see your purpose.
You can almost taste the frustration from Belichick. He spends a decade finding that prototypical pair of TEs for his vision of that spread offense, they have a couple of years of smashing success, then one turns out to be a multiple murderer and the other is Samuel L. Jackson from Unbreakable.
I sure hope he doesn't fill the Hernandez role for New England. The Boston area has seen enough murders in recent years
Nah man you right, we shouldn't care at all that the best cb in the game will be locked up for a few more years on a divisional team that has potential to stay at the top for a while. Let's be realistic, you are underestimating the amount of productive years revis has left in the tank and u assume that Brady is on the way out tomrw. We will have to handle our business either way but it's very important to note what could be emerging in our conference let alone our division.
I think the fact he gave up 11 sacks last year is evidence his pass blocking skills have eroded considerably. He is still a beast run blocking, but that really is a secondary concer with the Pats.
They won the SB the year they started the practice. Dumping Milloy the week before the season started.
I like paraphrasing tropic thunder The talk shows up here are their usual ridiculous today. Mostly it's the Belichik has lost his mind crowd coming out today. Apparently it isn't only in NY that people who only know what they read think they know more about their team than the HC and staff.
