Dont'a Hightower still hasn't signed with another team?
Yes?
Okay then.
The money is important, of course, but I start to wonder how much winning fits into the equation for Dont'a Hightower. He's been on a winning team his entire adult life, playing for the University of Alabama and then the New England Patriots. You could even say the low point of the last nine years of his life has been not winning a championship. When I heard he cancelled the visit to New Orleans I wondered if that decision came before or after the Brandin Cooks trade. I've been much more worried about Tennessee. They're run by ex-Pat Jon Robinson and they play in the weak AFC South where every team is a contender for a division championship and a spot in the playoffs. Still, I think you have to talk yourself into the Titans' Super Bowl aspirations.
Meanwhile, Hightower has to be watching the moves Bill Belichick has made with intense interest. The Patriots were the money men's favorites for Super Bowl 52 before free agency opened and now pigskin pundits and bobbleheads are talking 19-0-0. Yes, that's simply insane but it's also reasonable to think the New England offense will be virtually unstoppable with the additions of a healthy Gronk and the speedy Brandin Cooks.
Hightower would be returning to a defense that's added boundary defender Stephon Gilmore and edge defender Kony Ealy, with Alan Branch still lining up in front of him and Duron Harmon part of the safety rotation behind him.
The money will have to be there but all things being equal, the Patriots still give Hightower the best chance to add to his jewelry collection.
The Purgatory of Restricted Free Agency
Malcolm Butler's fate remains in the hands of others; he has no leverage whatsoever.
If he doesn't sign his RFA tender and holds out, he runs the risk of losing the year and not getting to unrestricted free agency at the end of the 2017 season.
If he signs, he would play opposite a teammate who makes $10m more than he does; a teammate he believes he's every bit as good as. If faces the possibility that Belichick and Patricia would ask him to play inside as a slot corner (which could cost him millions when he does get to free agency) while Gilmore and Eric Rowe play outside.
If he signs, another team might offer a contract that Belichick chooses not to match. That might be good news if it's big money; it might not if it's less than Butler's looking for.
That offer could also be what Belichick sees as fair market value and chooses to match.
In any of those outcomes, it seems highly unlikely Butler will see the $14m a year we hear Gilmore is getting.
Pigskin pundits and bobbleheads as well as the good citizens of Patriots Nation have been wondering how this could be happening to the Hero of SB49 but the metrics are inconveniently obvious. Given the shape of things at wide receiver in the NFL of the 21st century, a man who stands 5' 11" tall, no matter how competitive, can't be your CB1. And while Butler only has three years in the pros, he's now the oldest defensive back on the Patriots roster at 27.
Meanwhile, Butler remains the subject of trade rumors with the New Orleans Saints. Perhaps Belichick is looking to recoup some of the draft capital he's spent on Cooks and Ealy? Like Chuck Norris, Bill Belichick doesn't sleep; he waits…
The Jimmy G Watch - Day 3
Barring something nobody saw coming, it's down to the Browns, who released Robert Griffin III yesterday. If the season started today, Cody Kessler would be their starting QB, backed up by Kevin Hogan and $16m in dead money.
The Browns still have a pant load of draft picks and Bill Belichick is now bereft of 1st and 2nd rounders in the 2017 draft. If this was anybody other than Belichick, I'm sure a deal would've been made by now but even when he doesn't hold all the cards, Belichick plays like he does hold all the cards. He won't sell Garoppolo for ten cents on the dollar.
If the net result for New England is keeping Garoppolo, long-term deals for Hightower and Butler (fingers crossed!), retaining Harmon, Branch and James Develin, adding Gilmore, Cooks, Ealy and Dwayne Allen as return for the loss of 1st and 2nd round draft picks, I think you have to call that a win.
In other words, if the Browns want Jimmy G, they're going to have to meet Belichick's terms.
The tantalizing near-term future remains in play where Belichick turns Garoppolo - and/or Butler - into 1st round picks.
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