Cleaning. House.
Hoyer, Branch, Stallworth, and Gaffney weren't enough, you say?
How about:
Dan Koppen
Bobby Carpenter
Sergio Brown
Jeremy Ebert
...and a whole bunch of practice guys.
Only Bill could say it better:
No One Is Safe. "We're going to do what is best for the team."
However, they're not entirely releases, it's turnover. While yielding an okay preseason (6 catches, 43 yards), Jeremy Ebert was released and Bill then converted the roster spot into a youthful receiver who worked under McDaniels, Greg Salas, for the price of a 2015 late-round conditional pick to the Rams. [Ed. The Flying Elvis would have also liked to see Chris Hogan get claimed off waivers, if only because Hard Knocks made him look great by highlighting Reggie Bush's nickname of him: 7-11, because he's always open].And Dan Koppen was Bill-exchanged for a waived center named Matt Tennant. And Sergio Brown and Bobby Carpenter were exchanged for... Any number of players still on roster flooding the S and LB positions.
The floods at problem spots has been a staple of the youth movement for the organization this offseason: the writing on the wall started when Kevin Faulk wasn't asked to come back. It's only now that he's had to (and after a full offseason to gather all possible information on the strength of each player) that Bill's finally cutting the fat. The end product? The Patriots are now on the less experienced half of the youngest teams in football.
The immediate future is still mostly certain (Brady's back. Welker's back. The tight ends are back. The offensi--*ahem*well... you get the idea), but some months ago I mentioned that Bill would provision to snap back the team to his highly-constructed, highly-flexible defense as the base of the team instead of the current method of cobbling a defense and leaning into the offense to stay ahead (not that that hasn't worked). And while that's mostly true, I think Bill is thoroughly preparing for the end of the Brady Era: Assuming all the best pieces stick together, this team will have the team chemistry necessary to pass it down for a possible changing of the guard. A few years after that, they'll all be well-seasoned vets. And then a few more seasons later, Brady will retire and his heir starts taking snaps.
But the greatest irony in all the roleplayer dealings is that the basic premise for this offseason was that the team has gone all in--it found its missing offensive pieces, and revamped almost all of the defense. Fortunately, it only works because the secondary was hitting a floor last season and that even with reshuffling everybody, there's only up to go.
See you at 11 to 2 odds, everyone.
How about:
Dan Koppen
Bobby Carpenter
Sergio Brown
Jeremy Ebert
...and a whole bunch of practice guys.
Only Bill could say it better:
No One Is Safe. "We're going to do what is best for the team."
However, they're not entirely releases, it's turnover. While yielding an okay preseason (6 catches, 43 yards), Jeremy Ebert was released and Bill then converted the roster spot into a youthful receiver who worked under McDaniels, Greg Salas, for the price of a 2015 late-round conditional pick to the Rams. [Ed. The Flying Elvis would have also liked to see Chris Hogan get claimed off waivers, if only because Hard Knocks made him look great by highlighting Reggie Bush's nickname of him: 7-11, because he's always open].And Dan Koppen was Bill-exchanged for a waived center named Matt Tennant. And Sergio Brown and Bobby Carpenter were exchanged for... Any number of players still on roster flooding the S and LB positions.
The floods at problem spots has been a staple of the youth movement for the organization this offseason: the writing on the wall started when Kevin Faulk wasn't asked to come back. It's only now that he's had to (and after a full offseason to gather all possible information on the strength of each player) that Bill's finally cutting the fat. The end product? The Patriots are now on the less experienced half of the youngest teams in football.
The immediate future is still mostly certain (Brady's back. Welker's back. The tight ends are back. The offensi--*ahem*well... you get the idea), but some months ago I mentioned that Bill would provision to snap back the team to his highly-constructed, highly-flexible defense as the base of the team instead of the current method of cobbling a defense and leaning into the offense to stay ahead (not that that hasn't worked). And while that's mostly true, I think Bill is thoroughly preparing for the end of the Brady Era: Assuming all the best pieces stick together, this team will have the team chemistry necessary to pass it down for a possible changing of the guard. A few years after that, they'll all be well-seasoned vets. And then a few more seasons later, Brady will retire and his heir starts taking snaps.
But the greatest irony in all the roleplayer dealings is that the basic premise for this offseason was that the team has gone all in--it found its missing offensive pieces, and revamped almost all of the defense. Fortunately, it only works because the secondary was hitting a floor last season and that even with reshuffling everybody, there's only up to go.
See you at 11 to 2 odds, everyone.
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