Fun little tidbit from Ian Rapoport this morning, indicating that the Patriots made a call to the Seahawks to inquire about Richard Sherman‘s availability prior to them signing Stephon Gilmore.
Before the #Patriots signed Gilmore, they were among the teams that inquired. Others did, as well https://t.co/nUTwzIxa8W
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 29, 2017
This leads me to wonder if Belichick has changed the way he values cornerbacks. A couple years ago I wrote this extensive piece breaking down how the Pats have never been willing to give long-term deals to cornerbacks. Sure, they’d pay a chunk of change for a season like they did with Asante Samuel on the franchise tag ($7.79 million) or a year of Darrelle Revis ($12 million), but prior to 2012 the Patriots didn’t really seem to care all that much about the position.
Then came the in-season trade for Aqib Talib, the Patriots first foray into acquiring a physical man cornerback. They retained Talib for 2013 for $4.86 million after being unable to work out a long term deal. That felt like the same old Patriots, who always preferred to focus on the front seven long before investing in a cornerback.
When Talib walked the next season the Pats brought in Revis and Brandon Browner, while developing Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler who would eventually take over for them in 2015 and 2016. Things seemed to be reverting to what we’d come to expect — that the Pats were fine to draft, plug and play corners with an occasional one-year splurge for the right guy.
But everything seems to have changed. Instead of investing in front seven commodities like Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins, the Pats instead actively jettisoned them before focusing on replacing Logan Ryan with an upgrade like Sherman or Gilmore.
It’s mind-blowing to see the Pats go from all those previous cheap corner contracts to paying Gilmore an average of $13 million per year. Prior to that the best long-term deal the Pats had given a cornerback was a four-year, $20 million deal with $10 million guaranteed.
It begs the question — what has changed? The old Belichick would’ve let Ryan walk, replaced him with a castoff veteran for the time being, while squeezing the one-year RFA tender out of Butler (which he’s going to do anyway) and drafting/signing a couple rookies to compete. The Gilmore money meanwhile would’ve gone to a front seven player or perhaps extending Nate Solder.
But that’s not what happened.
The game has obviously evolved. Man coverage is vital, though the Pats mixed in a lot more zone in 2016 than they had in 2014 and 2015. Perhaps most of all it’s about how it’s much more a game of matchups now. There are too many threats across the league and if you don’t have a corner like Gilmore than can handle big receiving targets you’re going to shredded.
To put it simply, Asante and Ellis Hobbs would be eaten alive today, even with the dominant front seven of the 2000’s.
Only Belichick could explain why it appears the Patriots are putting much more value on cornerbacks these days, but you wonder if it will come at a price. The lack of talented depth up front, especially at linebacker is still glaring. There are still moves to be made, draft picks to be selected, but how effective will Gilmore be if Hightower misses time or if Kony Ealy isn’t an effective replacement for Jabaal Sheard and Chris Long.
No one can cover forever, hopefully players emerge and the lack of front seven depth in some key spots doesn’t come back to haunt the Patriots decision to invest more resources on the back end.
I’m intrigued and dubious about our front seven, at this hour. Lawrence Guy is a great addition, the kind of Mike Wright piece they’ve been looking for. Certainly not the fun Easley could have been or was every play or two, but a steady presence that can make a difference. Ealy could either bomb or bust, but in fairness Sheard didn’t light the world on fire last year. He wasn’t bad, but it was clear BB found his lack of want to be disheartening. I do think people are overvaluing what to expect from Ealy though; sure, he could be the best edge player they’ve had since Andre Carter’s one year. He could also be four sacks and a cloud of dust. Nothing changes how psyched I am about Trey Flowers though. I think I’ve lost my mind, but I see a Jared Allen type player in him. He never stops fighting, always looking for the play.
I’m mainly concerned about the edge depth. We can play want it all when roster building, and yes Collins would have been nice insofar as his talent served, but Van Noy/Roberts did their job. The interior is as good as we’ve seen it; Branch, Brown, Valentine, and Guy is first rate. Flowers is an emerging star, but I just can’t buy on an aging Nink and a boom or bust like Ealy. They need to add something, and while Flowers was a 4th and all, I don’t like their margin of error in having to draft a capable player in the middle rounds. I won’t lie, I’m not completely against bringing back ‘ol Revis for a couple years and trading Butler to replenish the draft. With the 4.5 million chunk of cap coming out from the NFLPA, I’m not ebullient on just signing veterans willy nilly to fill out the roster.
Good news is in terms of need I’ll pay someone to find a flaw on offense. OL depth is always prevalent, but name another position. Three capable QBs, five WRs, six worthy OL — worst comes to worst bring back Blount to complete a nice foursome at RB. TE, with Gronk’s history, might be the place they need to draft the most.
LOL Ellis Hobbs!! Good one. He was eaten alive back then, these days he’d be so dizzy getting turned around, he wouldn’t be able to stand up. Be flagged for public intoxication.
LOL, I know right? Guy was really tough and a good returner but you can only get by for so longer before those undersized CBs burn you.