A Day of Team Building

So much for the Patriots sitting out the first day feeding frenzy of free agency…

Welcome to Foxborough, Stephon Gilmore. I've enjoyed the endless loop of interceptions the local outlets have been serving up since I got home from work. No pressure, dude, but if local folk hero Malcolm Butler gets traded to New Orleans for Brandin Cooks everyone east of the Connecticut River is going to be waiting for you to get beat just once to sharpen their pitchforks and light their torches. What am I saying? They've already started sharpening those pitchforks. They'll be honed down to needles by opening day.

In some ways, this reminds me - a little - of the way things ended with Wes Welker. Welker wanted more money, maybe things got a little personal and before you know it Bill Belichick is giving Welker's money to Danny Amendola. A lot of the specifics are different but the general shape of things lines up.

We all loved Wes. We love Malcolm Butler, too. He's the undrafted free agent, the ultimate underdog who made the play that won Super Bowl 49.

Amendola never became Welker 2.0, of course. It was an unfair burden. We forget that Belichick wasn't wrong about Welker, though. He was done. And Amendola was still making clutch plays for the Patriots in 2016 and SB51. I'm not saying Malcolm Mitchell is done. Like I said, a lot of the specifics are different. It's hard to let go of the players who have woven their names into the lore of the team we love.

But here's the thing...

The trade rumors…

Local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads seem to think Cooks for Butler is a bad move; they want to keep both Gilmore and Butler but I don't see how that happens. The Patriots are moving on from Butler. He wasn't happy before and he's got to be a lot less happy now. Bill Belichick doesn't want that guy in the locker room. That guy doesn't want to be in New England. And I like the swap of disgruntled cornerback for a wide receiver who can take the top off a defense. I guess that's just me.

If you could swap Malcolm Butler for Stephon Gilmore and Brandin Cooks, you're telling me you wouldn't do that?  

A possible 1st round draft pick…

Butler is a restricted free agent and New England tendered him at the highest compensation level so if a team wants to make Butler an offer Bill Belichick can refuse, the Patriots would get a 1st round pick in compensation.

This scenario also serves as a template for a less unhappy Butler returning to play in Foxborough.

Belichick has been letting the market work for him when it comes to free agency. He did it with Devin McCourty in 2015 and he's taking the same approach with Dont'a Hightower now. It's Negotiations 101. You don't bid against yourself. You'll never be able to propose less than your opening offer. Make the other guy put some numbers on paper first. Then you've got something to work with.

The same could be true with Malcolm Butler. Butler and his agent clearly think he's worth more than Belichick is willing to pay. Maybe his agent shops him around and gets a fair market offer. Belichick might say, "Good luck, thanks for the good times and oh yeah, thanks for the 1st round draft pick." Or maybe he says, "Yeah, I'll match that and put the best cornerback tandem in the NFL on the field in 2017."

Good news for Logan Ryan?

If Butler is headed to the Big Easy, even after backing a dump truck full of Benjamins up Stephon Gilmore's driveway, the Patriots could be in a better cap position to retain Logan Ryan. They don't have a true slot corner on the roster, unless we're counting on Cyrus Jones. Like Hightower, maybe Ryan gives Belichick a chance to match?

Probably just wishful thinking on my part.

The Comeback Kids…

Retaining "glue guys" Duron Harmon and Alan Branch is big. Not Stephon Gilmore big but big nonetheless. The Patriots are now set at safety and defensive tackle with quality rotational/situational depth. Keeping James Develin on the roster is another great piece of team building - or perhaps team maintenance in this case - by Belichick and Nick Caserio.

Younger and Cheaper…

Okay, sure, I would've loved to have Martysaurus back and Dwayne Allen wasn't the former Colts tight end I wanted but as the poet once said, you can't always get what you want. Let's hope we find this time, we get what we need. Of course, if Gronk is healthy and stays healthy, nothing else matters but I must say, I find the current roster options at tight end quite intriguing. Gronk is Gronk, to repeat the obvious but let's say Allen finally lives up to his potential now that he's been accepted into Bill Belichick's School for Underachieving Footballers. It certainly worked for Bennett. The Pats also have Matt Lengel (a flight risk), Rob Housler (another guy with "fails to work up to his potential" written at the bottom of his report card) and they just re-signed Michael Williams (who admittedly may just be an offensive tackle with good hands). And they might draft O.J. Howard? I'm terribly excited by the Patriots tight ends situation!

Jimmy Garoppolo Watch…

The three teams most frequently linked to Jimmy Garoppolo have decided to go in other directions. For now, at least…

Chicago has cut Jay Cutler and signed Mike Glennon who is tall and well, yeah. Tall. The Bears also just lost their WR1 Alshon Jeffery to the Eagles. I think Jimmy G dodged a bullet with this one.

San Francisco has signed itinerant QB Brian Hoyer who is technically a former Patriots QB so there's that. It does put the Glennon signing in that whole "it could've been worse" perspective. I'm guessing they hope Hoyer will be that veteran bridge to whoever they hope they draft as their QB of the Future.

Cleveland has taken Brock Osweiler off the Texans' hands in order to secure a 2nd round pick that may or may not wind up in a package for Jimmy Garoppolo. That's according to the people who would like to believe the Browns have a plan. If I'm Bill Belichick, I'm not trading Jimmy G to the Browns regardless of how many picks they offer just so they're stuck with Brock Osweiler because let's face it; that would be hilarious.

I'm not Bill Belichick, though. It will be interesting to see what happens here. I don't see the Browns giving up the #1 pick. I don't see them giving up two first round picks but I don't think they need to give up two first rounders. They need to provide commensurate draft value to two first rounders. That could be #12 and a 2nd round pick this year and a 2nd and 3rd next year.

The worst case scenario for the Patriots? They'll roll into the 2017 season with the two best quarterbacks in the AFC East.

Best of all…

Dont'a Hightower hasn't signed with another team.

I'm thinking good thoughts.