Patriots Free Agency Moves

I don't really understand what the Patriots are doing this offseason in free agency. I don't understand why we're dropping Wes Welker for Danny Amendola for approximately the same money. I don't understand why we're paying Kyle Arrington so much money. In an offseason where the Patriots figured to be big players in free agency because of their ample cap room in a buyer's market they seem to still be doing their shopping at the bargain rack picking up role players, older players that are past their prime, the poor man's Wes Welker and a few internal signings. I thought the Patriots would probably sign most of their effective free agents back, maybe add an impact player or two to try to get this team over the hump, but so far it seems like they're gutting large chunks of the team. Let's have a look at some of the more recent moves from the Patriots.

1) Brandon Lloyd was released by the Patriots. He was due a bonus and had a large cap hit coming if they didn't release him. His catches and yards were pretty solid, but he was light on YAC and TDs. He was a master of making easy catches look hard and hard catches look easy. He made some amazing fingertip catches while falling out of bounds with both feet hugging the out of bounds line and then he'd drop one that hit him right in the numbers with nobody around him. I like him a bit more than the Captain seems to. He wasn't 2007 Randy Moss, but he also wasn't Chad Ochocinco, Joey Galloway, Chad Jackson or any of the other wide receivers who have failed to get on the same page with Brady over the years. If he was getting an absurd amount of money I would be all for cutting him, but the money seemed pretty reasonable given his production. The Patriots tried to work out a new deal, but it didn't come together and he was released. Reportedly, he had some personality issues. We didn't hear much about Lloyd in the media, but maybe it was a bigger problem in the locker room than outsiders realize.

2) Former Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson has signed with the Patriots. It's a little hard to judge this deal because I'm having a hard time finding the exact terms of the deal. His wikipedia page says it's a 3-year deal, but the source they cite on ESPN says nothing about it. Wilson is getting older at 33 years of age. He's a 5-time Pro Bowler and 4-time All-pro and won both accolades as recently as 2011. Last season he was pushed into a reduced role with the Cardinals and came in for sub packages and was cut after the season. This seems like a "see what he's got left in the tank" move. Many people feel that the 6' 3" 230 lb Wilson is the hard-hitting, physical safety that Rodney Harrison suggested that the Patriots need to add on defense. Wilson's career trajectory is not unlike Rodney Harrison's when he came to New England. They both spent ample time with a relatively unsuccessful franchise, had one conference championship, some Pro-Bowl appearances and both have an impressive ability to generate sacks for a defensive back (Rodney finished his career in the 30 sack/30 Interception club, the only other member being Ray Lewis. Wilson is currently one of six members of the 25/25 club).Assuming that the Patriots didn't give him a fortune in guaranteed money I like this move.

3) The Patriots re-signed Aqib Talib to a 1-year deal. Again, there's a lack of details on the money/guaranteed money, which makes it hard to judge the deal. I'm glad to have Talib back in the fold for another season. He's young, talented and upon arriving the secondary seemed to solidify immediately. His numbers weren't tremendous, but you have to take into account that he was often covering the opponent's top receiver.

4) They signed ex-Falcon offensive tackle Will Svitek to a 1-year $1 Million deal. Even after doing some research I don't know much about Svitek. He started 10 games for the Falcons in 2011 and missed last season with an arm injury. He missed all of the 2008 season after he was released by the Chiefs. He's from the Czech Republic. Not much to say here, probably just a depth signing.

5) They signed LB Niko Koutouvides to a 1-year deal. Koutouvides is primarily a special teams player.

6) The Patriots signed ex-Bills WR Donald Jones to a 3-year $4.155 Million deal. He was alright with the Bills, but nothing special. His best games seemed to come against the Patriots, but given how bad the Patriots secondary was last year that's not surprising.  The deal has no guaranteed money up front whatsoever. He finished last season on injured reserve with an "undisclosed illness" and it came up that he had a minor kidney issue at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2010, so maybe that's causing more issues. It's a no risk deal to the Patriots, so I'm pretty ambivalent about the deal.

NFL Free Agency Day 1 Round Up

NFL free agency opened up at 4 PM EST yesterday afternoon. For those hungry for some football talk, like myself, the expected flurry of activity was a nice appetizer before the NFL Draft in late April.

For the Patriots, this was a relatively quiet day. The only move they made that was somewhat unexpected was that they extended a Restricted Free Agent tender to incredibly hard to spell/pronounce backup tight end Michael Hoomanawanui. This adds a little depth behind Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. This might also indicate that Jake Ballard, the Tight End poached off of waivers from the Giants while on Injured Reserve in the offseason after tearing his ACL during the Super Bowl, may not be as far along in his rehab as the Patriots might have hoped. Guard Donald Thomas went to Indianapolis seeking a regular starting job, so some depth has been lost behind Logan Mankins and Nate Solder on the Offensive Line. Safety Patrick Chung signed with Philadelphia. Chung wasn't projected to be a starter and didn't see much playing time after he returned from injury. This is disappointing as another high round secondary pick goes bust for the Patriots. We saw some flashes of greatness from Chung. I recall a Monday Night Football game against Miami in 2010 where he blocked a punt for a TD, blocked a field goal for a TD and had a pick six. Unfortunately, he was oft injured and never justified the 34th overall selection that was used to acquire him in the draft. It wouldn't surprise me if I'm saying something similar about Ras-I Dowling when his rookie deal expires. Other than that, the Patriots "big 3" free agents (Welker, Talib and Vollmer) are all still on the market.

There were a bunch of tiny signings and releasings that I won't bother to get into, but here are some of the bigger things that happened yesterday.

-Hall of Fame Tight End Tony Gonzalez has decided to pull a Brett Favre and stave off retirement for another season with the Falcons.

-The biggest signing of the day was certainly the Dolphins signing Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace. The deal is worth $60 million over five years and includes $30 million in guarantees. The Dolphins have money to spend and they didn't waste any time with Wallace. We'll see how Wallace transitions to life in Miami. I don't think that this deal makes Miami a contender for the AFC East crown, but they've still got money to spend. I think the Steelers are headed into a salary cap induced rebuilding cycle. They failed to make the playoffs last year and they seem to be losing some of their bigger playmakers with Wallace and James Harrison leaving the team. The AFC North should be interesting to watch next season.

-The biggest release of the day was Pro Bowl CB Nnamdi Asomugha from the Eagles. It'll be interesting to see how another high profile corner hitting the market effects the price on CBs on the Patriots radar like Sean Smith and Aqib Talib.

There's still plenty of quality free agents out there and plenty of teams with cap space to burn, I'd expect to hear of more signings today.

Redskins Frontrunners For Aqib Talib?

Rumors right now suggest that the Patriots and the Redskins are the two biggest suitors for Aqib Talib. The Redskins have a serious need for him with Hall leaving, and obviously Talib had a huge impact on the Patriots secondary last season.

I get why the Patriots didn't sign him to a long term deal. He is a crazy person, and you just can't trust someone like that to a big cap hit each year, but I really don't understand why he wasn't franchised. Maybe I am missing something, but corners don't grow on trees, and Talib is a pretty damn good corner.

Latest rumors suggest that if the Redskins do sign him it most likely means that Santana Moss will be cut, but I don't think that would stop them at all.