Pats Posits: Let the Tampering Begin!

It’s an exciting time to be a football fan with the start of free agency this week, the 2018 season will finally start to take shape. For the Patriots, they already grabbed Danny Shelton and another draft pick for what will likely be a 2019 3rd round pick, making a solid investment in this coming fall without sacrificing much more than a couple million in cap space this season.

There are still plenty of moves for them to make, starting with Nate Solder and the tackle position.

From there they can move on to running back, linebacker and cornerback, doing what they always do — targeting the cost-effective vets in the middle-to-lower tiers. 2017 was a shocker when they made a big splash on a cornerback. Since Adalius Thomas they really had avoided big time external free agent deals, with consideration to Darrelle Revis, who was expensive but really just a one-year rental.

They had the cap space last year, this year they don’t. So until Solder is resolved I don’t expect any big moves. After that there should be quite a bit of action.

More on that and everything else that might come at us this week in a very offseason Posits!

— If Solder walks it puts one of the most important positions way up in the air. What are the options without Solder? Lock up Cameron Fleming and make him a starter opposite Marcus Cannon? LaAdrian Waddle‘s a free agent too, maybe grab him as well and let them and maybe Tony Garcia along with a few other less desirable vets/rookies battle it out? It’s a little scary.

— But ultimately I think the Patriots should be comfortable with Solder testing out the market. He and his family have been through a ton, they deserve the chance to see what’s out there and take what’s best for them all, and if that means staying in New England, perhaps at a reduced rate, then awesome. I’m still betting that stability and staying with their support network will win out and Solder will re-up with the Pats.

— I was excited about the move to grab Shelton, it makes a lot of sense, even if I think edge and linebacker are greater needs. Shelton’s battled keeping his weight down and I wonder how going from Cleveland to New England influences that. If Wilfork somehow passed the conditioning test, Shelton’s going to have to as well. There’s a level of expectation with the Patriots that might’ve been absent with the Browns.

— Acquiring Shelton would appear to signal the Patriots don’t have any big plans of altering their defensive makeup. On early downs, it will be a twosome of Shelton, Malcom Brown and Lawrence Guy eating space and blockers on the line of scrimmage, for passing downs a penetrating tackle like Adam Butler subs in or a defensive end kicks inside. But what’s critical to this scheme, which doesn’t generate much pass rush pressure on early downs, is it puts more pressure on the edge and linebackers. Those players must contain, beat blocks and tackle. There was too little of that last season. They must continue to bolster those spots, otherwise adding Shelton will only help so much.

— I like that Brian Flores will be brought along slowly like Matt Patricia was. It keeps him from having to talk to the media and he can just focus on putting the defense together and calling the plays. The play calling will be most interesting…the random defensive back blitzes, the double A-gap pressure, the personnel mixes in sub packages… those kinds of things.

— I wrote about some free agents that interest me. I think it’s worth investing money in the defensive front seven, so if anyone outside a left tackle is getting more than $5 million-per I think it would be there.

— Hypothetically I think the most transformative kind of player that this defense needs is a three-down middle linebacker. Not sure that player is out there. Maybe Nigel Bradham, who would be an expensive anti-Elandon Roberts. I’m not sure how much better that is. Three-down linebackers are hard to find and expensive to acquire, I just believe that after Patrick Chung the Patriots have no one who can really cover tight ends and running backs on early downs. Shea McClellin is the closest of the linebackers who can do it. And that’s saying a lot because I’m really not a big Shea McClellin fan. Kyle Van Noy and Dont’a Hightower are good pieces at WLB and SLB. Hightower is best on the line of scrimmage, but the defense has needed him to play more in the middle because of communication issues and the lack of a second do-it-all linebacker.

— Van Noy should be even more improved with a full season in the defense under his belt. His experience calling the defense for much of the season should help communication in 2018. Same thing for Stephon Gilmore.

— I do like Kenny Vaccaro, a free agent safety pointed out by Mike Reiss among others, and his presence out there makes me wonder if Patrick Chung and his $4 million cap hit could be cut loose a year early rather than a year late. It’s a tough one. Chung had another great season and is still one of the most important pieces in the secondary, especially with the lack of depth behind him (cough Jordan Richards). It might be asking a lot to turn that important role over to Vaccaro, and it seems too expensive to add another expensive free agent salary to your already-high-priced secondary to do what one of your most experienced and reliable players already does.

— Just because I wanted to pass on Talib and Sherman doesn’t mean I don’t think cornerback isn’t a need. I just think it will be a lower-end injury/disappointment castoff like Jeremy Lane.

— It’s really going to hurt this week when Dion Lewis signs elsewhere. Mike Giardi reported this week that Lewis was disappointed with his Super Bowl usage and it really hit a nerve with me. In my gameplan, I thought Lewis would be the MVP of a win. Instead it was more of a James White obvious passing approach early. It’s hard to complain about the Patriots offense in Super Bowl 52 but I do think earlier usage of Lewis could’ve helped win time of possession and finishing with touchdowns instead of field goals or nothing inside the red zone.

As always it will be a surprising and exciting few weeks of signings. The Patriots always like to put a pretty damn good team together before the draft to avoid drafting for need so I expect there will be plenty of additions (and possibly subtractions) all over the roster.