The Patriots' 2024 Off Season Thread

Share this page

The Safety market hasn't turned into what Dugger hoped it would.
That helps the Patriots.

www.patspulpit.com

Current state of the safety market is playing into the Patriots’ hands

New England placed the transition tag on Kyle Dugger last week.
www.patspulpit.com www.patspulpit.com

So why would the Patriots use that tag over the other? It all comes down to cost: at $13.82 million, the transition tag carries a salary cap hit of roughly $3.3 million less than its franchise counterpart.
New England essentially told the world its valuation of Dugger, and now is daring other teams to challenge them. That could obviously happen — the 27-year-old has been a very good player since entering the league in 2020 — but it seems that the current safety market is playing in the team’s hands.
Over the last few days, after all, some big names at the position have entered the open market: the Denver Broncos parted ways with Justin Simmons, the New York Giants with Xavier McKinney, the Buffalo Bills with Jordan Poyer, the Seattle Seahawks with Quandre Diggs, the Jacksonville Jaguars with Rayshawn Jenkins, and the Pittsburgh Steelers with Keanu Neal.
 
ViperGTS said:
Yeah and they were "outbid". ROFL. New England Packers is what we have now. In a better market, more money etc etc and yeah...
Click to expand...
Well if you liked Tavai and Bentley getting smoked on 3rd down by running backs in coverage - welp, now we get to see more of that.
 
TommyD420 said:
Well if you liked Tavai and Bentley getting smoked on 3rd down by running backs in coverage - welp, now we get to see more of that.
Click to expand...

I'm wondering if Jerod will decide that Mapu is the guy who should be groomed as a coverage Linebacker.

I'm not sure he won't have his struggles in the box, but he's got some skills in that role that make more sense than
trying to turn him into a back-end Defender. I had my doubts about that and the more snaps he had trying to cover
wide receivers in space the worse it looked to me. A rookie fish out of water.

I have my hopes for the guy. Every now and then he does something really impressive that convinces me that he wasn't
just another small-school reach, but I'm not sure if his reputation (D. Jeremiah -- "my favorite guy to watch in this
draft") wasn't a little exaggerated. Definitely a guy to watch this August.
 
I agree with what Murph is saying here. I'll believe the bolded when I see it.

diehardbostonsportsfans.com

Patriots send clear message on Day One : In Belichick We Trust

Facebook0Tweet0Pin0 The Patriots hit the ground crawling on day one of the tampering period, Bill can draft Bill Can...
diehardbostonsportsfans.com diehardbostonsportsfans.com

Wolf and Mayo obviously feel there is a ton of talent on the bones of his former hardass boss vision of this roster. They started by inking Kendrick Bourne ( coming off ACL surgery) to a three year deal that could be worth north of 30 million dollars. They then pivoted to Hunter Henry again feeling Bill hit on a weapon they will need going forward. Inking the Tight End to three years and 27 million dollars. Then the bomb dropped. Mike Onwenu is back in a big way. Three years and 57 million dollars to the former Michigan man who was a sixth round pick in 2020.

Kyle Dugger was hit with the transition tag early – Jalen Reagor was brought back as was tackle Tyrone Wheatley – Buffalo cast off and Belichick pick up Alex Austin will return in 2024 and for good measure the Patriots went out and made sure they had their next Quarterbacks mentor in former Belichick third round draft pick Jacoby Brissett.

Now don’t get me wrong. Wolf and Mayo went out and made some smart moves of their own. They got a pass catching back in Antonio Gibson to a three year contract, RIGHT TACKLE Chukwuma Okorafor came full circle when he signed on here. Okorafor was replaced in the Steelers starting lineup by Brodrick Jones who they took with the Patriots pick on a 2023 draft day deal that landed the Patriots Christian Gonzalez. Still Very Belichickian if you ask this writer. And later inked Special teams stand out Sione Takitaki away from the Browns, Takitaki role had expanded over the last two seasons in Cleveland as he hit the field on forty percent of the Browns defensive snaps.

The work here for Mayo – Wolf and Kraft’s wallet are far from done, and they did what I asked them to do on Monday’s Locked on Patriots with host Mike D’Abate. Took care of their house first. Now lets see some real cash get burned. Bring in that number one WR “ weaponize “ that offence. The early moves were smart. There is no doubt about that. Then again, In Bill we trust.
 
After all the signings I'm just guessing that we are now down to $40mil in cap space. We could add some with restructures.
Will JuJu be traded? We will have to keep him, if he's not traded, as nothing will be gained cap wise by cutting him.
 
Hawg73 said:
I'm wondering if Jerod will decide that Mapu is the guy who should be groomed as a coverage Linebacker.

I'm not sure he won't have his struggles in the box, but he's got some skills in that role that make more sense than
trying to turn him into a back-end Defender. I had my doubts about that and the more snaps he had trying to cover
wide receivers in space the worse it looked to me. A rookie fish out of water.

I have my hopes for the guy. Every now and then he does something really impressive that convinces me that he wasn't
just another small-school reach, but I'm not sure if his reputation (D. Jeremiah -- "my favorite guy to watch in this
draft") wasn't a little exaggerated. Definitely a guy to watch this August.
Click to expand...

Mapu seems like a great player who needs more experience and for the coaches to figure out where best to play him. He loves football, the coaches love
his attitude and passion...find his place and he'll be a long term vet for us. In many ways his situation reminds me of Patrick Chung's situation when Chung
first came into the league. In coverage Chung wasn't good but put him in the box and Chung was teh awesome. I think they have already figured that out.
 
Last edited:
ParanoidPatriot said:
After all the signings I'm just guessing that we are now down to $40mil in cap space. We could add some with restructures.
Will JuJu be traded? We will have to keep him, if he's not traded, as nothing will be gained cap wise by cutting him.
Click to expand...
It's more like 70. I think it's still like 38 to get to the floor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top