Seeing Jakobi Meyers playing well for the raiders this year got me thinking of what recent moves are questionable looking back at the past five years. Hoping we can discuss/grade Belichick as our GM over the last few years when it comes to free agency.
Players that have performed well for other teams and should have kept: Joe Thuney, Shaq Mason, Jakobi Meyers, Johnnu Smith, Brandon Bolden? (this one is complicated, maybe more a discussion around coaching rather than GM). And the most obvious of all Tom Brady.
Which ones did we retain or brought in that moved the needle. I can only think of Judon really.
PS. if we believe the reports that Belichick wanted to replace Tom with Jimy G at the time this kinda ends the conversation about how crap he is as GM, but that was all speculation
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The fact that Jonnu Smith is excelling with another team is an indictment of our coaching more than anything else. We couldn’t get squat out of the guy but here he is doing really well the minute he gets out of town.
Hunter Henry has 14 touchdowns in 2.5 seasons and is dramatically better than the Tight end room in 2020. I’d say that’s one decent pickup bill has had the last few years. Henry definitely moved the needle in 2021 with 9 tds Macs rookie year. Obviously not the impact Judon has made, but Henry is a team captain and solid.
Overall, I think BB has been not wholly able to replace what we lost IMO
I was Ok moving on from Brady…He wasn’t going to win with what we had in 2019…I am happy for him that he won another one with a stacked TB team that only needed a QB. He looked WAY better throwing to Williams Godwin and Gronk…
Speaking of You might as well add Gronk to the list …sure he “retired” but really he was done with BB, no love lost there.
Jakobi was a true head scratcher as well as Mason…Thuney was less so, because he was going to get mega paid, but was still a big loss
Gilmore was another headscratcher, but the secondary didn’t seem to suffer much
Bill did add Judon and Henry which was nice, and brought back Trent Brown, which has been a mixed bag,
I think the question boils down to how does what weve lost to free agency compare to what we brought in?
It’s really hard to ask this question without discussing the draft
The Thuney and Mason ones actually make some level of sense. The Pats have traditionally been able to find and develop OL talent. Especially inside. So tying up big money in that spot is never a great plan of it can be avoided. Mason was nearing the end (he’s not been what he was these past couple seasons). So trading him was a “get something while you can” move. I’d have preferred they pay Thuney and keep him, but I get why they didn’t.
Brady is a different situation entirely. It’s too long and too complicated. Suffice it to say that was a both sides problem and parting ways was the inevitable outcome.
Jakobi is indicative of an issue they have. They develop guys then let them walk. They paid the same basic money to JJSS so why not give that to the guy you drafted? That was a head scratcher that they’ve done over the years with other guys with mixed results. Asante Samuel, Butler, flowers and Jackson more recently. There have been others.
And names of guys brought in beyond Judon? Eric Rowe and Revis were a huge part of one Super Bowl. And Stephon Gilmore was another again for a Super Bowl. Danny amendola was a signing. And over 20 years they’ve found RBs on the market. Antwoin Smith, dion Lewis, legarette Blount all were FA signings.
I still maintain dumping Brissett for peanuts was a dumb move as well.
If he was the transition QB after Brady instead of Cam, we keep running the same offense, and maybe if Brissett succeeded, we wouldn’t have drafted Mac, we’d have made the move the Cowboys did for Parsons.
One moment: the timeline here doesn’t add up.
The Pats drafted Brissett in the 3rd in 2016, so his rookie contract would have expired after 2019 –i.e. in the same offseason Brady left.
Also, for peanuts? The trade was Brissett for Dorsett straight-up. And while Dorsett didn’t play much in 2017 (12 catches on 18 targets), he was fine as a third or fourth option in '18-'19 (combined 61-687-8).
We would have had to make a commitment to Brissett, you’re right, but I maintain he was a throwaway. A potential starting QB for a low end WR.
Reading this thread, it occurs to me that Bill uses contract negotiations as a ridiculous evaluation of commitment to the “Patriot Way”. He got used to Brady taking team-friendly deals until the end. And when Brady wanted to get paid, instead of seeing that request as reasonable, he decided that it meant Brady was no longer committed to the Patriots. Bill believes that players who want to be paid what they are worth are no longer “team players” and he cuts them in order to prove that cheaper players will be more dedicated to the “Patriot Way”. Players are trading their future physical well-being for money. It’s nearly impossible to retire from the NFL without some long-term injury-related issues. They deserve to get paid, but Bill sees that desire as a betrayal and lack of dedication. It wasn’t just Brady’s talent that ruined Bill, it was Brady’s willingness to be underpaid. Now it seems like the final deciding factor for roster building is how little we can get away with paying players… as if there is a Lombardi for being cheapskates.