How BB owns free agency without being in it.

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Couldn't sleep last night so I started thinking of the the trades BB has done this year. BB has never been a stranger to trades, and this might be something thats been going on for a while, but the trading comp picks has been bit of a game changer.

This offseason the Pats has lost several UFAs. Losing good players to free agency generates comp picks.

If we replace lost players by making UFA signings those comp picks will be lost. So signing UFAs comes with a cost that many don't think about.

A problem with replacing UFAs with other UFAs is salaries. Departing UFAs often come from their rookie contracts. Signig UFAs are often expensive.

BB has focused on trading for players with 1-2 years left on cheap contracts. These players usually come with a cost of a 4th-6th round draft pick. Which is also what we get in comp a few years later if they leave as UFAs. And as long as we dont sign a lot of UFAs we can use those comp picks to trade for new players down the line.

Point being: trading for a player doesnt need to cost more draft picks that signing UGAs, but they are cheaper against the cap.

Imo BB is ahead of the curve here because it allows us to have a lot of solid rotational players on the roster without having big salary cap problems.
For this to work the team needs to be well coached and able to handle a lot of roster changes from season to season.
 
I don't understand your title.

BB signed Stephen Gilmore a few weeks ago. As far as free agency goes, I think that qualifies as "being in it."
 
It has been a very productive off season for the Patriots no question. I have not come across anyone who really thinks that BB missed on these trades or FA signings. The team is indeed better, unquestionably deeper and at least right now in far better shape to make a run at another championship.
 
I tend to lump free agency and the draft as 1 entity because a move to either can build the team during the off season.

This article from The Ringer describes how draft strategies have changed and BB is leading the pack to include trades of picks for established players. Trading his 1st and 2nd round picks for young veteran players who have proven they can play beats drafting guys who may not pan out. (There wasn't a guy on the board I'd rather have had than Brandin Cooks at 32.) BB is ahead of that curve, too.

5. Trades Are Getting More Creative

Trade value for picks in the modern NFL should have changed drastically following the introduction of the rookie wage scale in 2011, which has altered the way teams look at players. Now that they are all on bargain contracts, having as many early-round players on a team as possible is a good way to win. Before the rookie cap, first-round picks were expensive and sometimes the highest-paid player on the team. No longer. But pick-for-pick trades have not reflected that new reality. The Jimmy Johnson “trade value chart” used as a general guideline for more than two decades is still in use, according to both evidence and comments (as recently as 2014, a GM said that everyone used it). Yet despite a shift in how picks are received, there’s been no innovation in what teams demand in exchange for those picks. The smartest teams, however, have identified value in another form of draft trade: swapping picks for really good veterans.
Bill Belichick, as usual, has been an early adopter: He traded a first-round pick to the Saints and swapped a third-round pick for a fourth-round pick for stud wide receiver Brandin Cooks. Then the Pats acquired Panthers pass rusher Kony Ealy in exchange for swapping picks with Carolina, moving eight picks down in the process. This is extending a trend of the past few offseasons. Last year, the Miami Dolphins acquired Kiko Alonso and Byron Maxwell for a first-round pick swap. “We moved back five spots and got three starters,” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said at the time.
These trades are the wave of the future, especially as “pick hoarding” becomes passe with every team trying to adopt the strategy once perfected by Belichick. In 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013, the Patriots had the most or tied for the most second-round picks. In the one year they didn’t in that span, they had two first-round picks. This year, Cleveland has five picks in the top 65 in the draft. The Ravens last year had seven picks in the top four rounds. The Titans had three second-round picks last year. Belichick’s Patriots were long able to hoard picks because they were alone in attempting to do so. That’s no longer the case. Sacrificing draft position for young, good veterans is increasingly the strategy.

https://theringer.com/2017-nfl-draft...ion-50fbbedfe6
 
The league plays checkers, Belichick plays that freaky 3D multilevel chess shit they played on "Star Trek".
 
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