Okay, thanks for not making a meaningful point and just deciding to insult me. Turns out my POV is what the organization cares about, rather than accepting a mediocre team like you think we should.
You’ve yet to point to anything that indicates we’re at risk of being non-compliant with the cap. I’ve never said “blow the whole cap” but have really just emphasized that we needed something, anything to act as a kickstart on offense. It’s just a flat out GM failure to build this team without a single pro bowler.
It does bother me that they're saying Dan Lanning is their target for HC. He literally just gave an impassioned speech about how Texas A&M couldn't get him for all their money. No clue why Alabama thinks they can pull him but I'm always nervous when it comes to Alabama.
Welp, the Crimson Tide to Patriots pipeline has been severed.
Not really. There are ways to wiggle around with bonuses and other financial tricks to sneak past cap. All that aside, you've said that we've cursed our future selves with past signings to which I literally cannot find on any cap statement anywhere. We've even had the coach saying we spend low and the owner explicitly stating that money is not a problem. Can you show me any source anywhere that indicates that the Pats are in a financial situation that makes them uncompetitive for offensive players in free agency? Are you perhaps just making a generic statement that we shouldn't be competitive in free agency because it costs money? If so, that's a weird one when it's been proven that we have $100m less on the books than the Ravens.
I think the redeeming quality is getting a known good player that can put points on the board. Again, it’s not “future cap”. We’re not strapped for cash by any measure unless you have something that says to contrary.
I agree that spend is make believe but kinda in the other direction since there’s always a way to structure a deal that fits into the cap. Either way, Kraft has said money spend is not an issue so unless you have a reference to the contrary, I can’t take that seriously.
I wish you were right that we just have to stink for a few years to somehow justify everything, but that's not how the league works. It's not even how the Patriots have historically worked. We're literally the second lowest spend in the league (https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cash/). Belichick made this a sticking point, leading to Kraft emphasizing it wasn't even from him (https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/robert-kraft-responds-to-bill-belichicks-comments-on-patriots-money-spending-that-will-never-be-the-issue/). We have the draft picks. We're not the Rams, having traded every pick we possibly could've. We just used them to get Cole Strange in the first round in 2022, leading to McVay to laugh at the choice since Strange would've been available for at least another round without risk. 2023 was notably better but still emphasized defensive side of the ball. If it's not money or picks, what do you mean when you say "borrowing from the future"? I don't mean to sound like a prick but it sounds hand-wavy and doesn't really point to any deficiency.
I agree that we need to have a foundation on the team but we need to have that on both sides of the ball. We've got a great defense but no offensive standouts. An O-Line repeatedly swapped around leading to no cohesion. No WR1. Not even really a WR2. Unloaded Jakobi Meyers for Juju at the same rate thinking we'd get an improvement in yards after the catch but didn't. We don't even have players on offense that can "do their job" any longer. Players were running into each other during routes or clearly trying to recover a bad route in the Cowboys game. We've had the resources to rebuild, we just haven't used them.
And Mac is just not gonna be that guy. He has some bright spots but lost the locker room with his O-line refusing to help him back to his feet (which literally every O-line does when their QB is hit) and just repeatedly breaking down his fundamentals every time he played this year. Tossing across the field multiple times in a game is unhinged and really playing with fire. I really do think you'd enjoy those QB School videos on YouTube. They have a lot of great details about the play calling, qb fundamentals, etc.
True. That trade was a masterclass. They probably just gotta get Flus outta there. I’m just being extreme since the Bears have a bundle of positions with greater need than swapping a QB.
Yes, not rebuilding at all is a problem. Yes, the defense still has strengths and injuries were largely to blame for their issues but we gotta be aggressive when moving on from the dynasty, trying to find who we can build around instead of bragging about how little money was spent in free agency, a common Belichick comment that was certainly not a directive from Kraft.
Mac could use more time from a line but he’s not a franchise quarterback. We gotta move on from him. You should watch some of the QB school videos on him that emphasize how his fundamentals broke down in games once there was any pressure and just didn’t recover. That’s a huge problem cause no matter how good to line, you’re gonna get pressure.
I don’t know if I buy it but there does have to be something happening. At minimum, imposing a GM on him is necessary cause this “get the most out of players I found at a yard sale” isn’t working without strong role players and a winning record.
All I said was that we needed to be more aggressive and get some sort of good player to anchor a team around and you made up the rest, insinuating that we were strapped for cash or that a 2-year deal would somehow annihilate the far future. You’re out of your mind to somehow forgive the dogshit team building that has happened. Best of luck to you though since you wanna keep feeling really smart but making up shit.