New England Patriots Signed One of PFT’s Top 100 Free Agents
Pro Football Talk ranked their Top 100 Free Agents on February 23rd, 2016. After the free agency dust settled, the New England Patriots ended up signing just one of them.
For as good as they are at complaining, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Patriots fan that would seriously argue with the idea that the team is better now than they were before free agency opened up last month. The team stocked up on draft picks, snagging a cool second-rounder from the Arizona Cardinals, along with probably-a-bust-but-nobody-really-knows guard Jonathan Cooper, in the Chandler Jones trade. Trader Bill went ahead and signed Bills wideout Chris Hogan, trying the same trick he tried with Emmanuel Sanders a couple years back by signing Hogan to an offer sheet that his old club couldn’t match. On top of those guys, the Patriots signed defensive end Frank Kearse, linebacker Ramon Humber, and then got busy signing some names people might actually know – running back Donald Brown, ex- Rams defensive end Chris Long, former Bears linebacker Shea McClellin, and wide receiver Nate Washington, who most people probably remember as part of the Titans before they went from bad to, well, worse. New England also was all too happy to snatch up tight end Martellus Bennett from the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick, while coming away with Chicago’s sixth-rounder.
And people say New England never does anything in free agency. PFFFFFFFFFTTT.
What they absolutely do not do, though, is pay in spades for top-of-the-market talent on the first day of free agency. And there’s no better proof than comparing Pro Football Talk’s annual Hot 100 Free Agents list to the players the Patriots actually signed.
Out of the PFT Hot 100 Free Agents (what is this, TRL, guys?), the Patriots signed…
…one of them.
That player was Chris Long, who PFT had ranked at #84 out of 100 players that they thought were the best available players in the 2016 free agent class.
To be fair, the list started with superstar players that you knew were never going anywhere. Out of the top 10, only two – ex-Dolphin and current Giant Olivier Vernon, and ex-Bronco and current Jaguar Malik Jackson – didn’t get franchise-tagged or sign a new deal with his club. The other nine were Von Miller (Broncos), Muhammed Wilkerson (Jets), Josh Norman (Panthers), Cordy Glenn (Bills), Alshon Jeffery (Bears), Eric Berry (Chiefs), Kirk Cousins (Redskins), and Sam Bradford (Eagles).
Still, though, when Sam Freaking Bradford is apparently the tenth best free agent of the year, and Chris Long was ranked EIGHTY-FOURTH, that should tell you all you need to know about the Patriots free-agency perspective.
They stay the hell away from it.
For all the deals Belichick and Kraft have made over the years, the ones that people remember – the Corey Dillons, the Randy Mosses, and the Wes Welkers – were all trades. When it comes to free agency, the Patriots sit back and sip tea while teams like the Dolphins and Colts fall over themselves to throw suitcases of cash at players like Ndamukong Suh, Mario Williams, Mike Wallace, and Trent Cole. Last offseason’s “BIG” signing was defensive end Jabaal Sheard, and his two-year, $11-million contract, with exactly half of that $11 million guaranteed ($5.5 million). For a pass-rusher that turned in an eight-sack season in his first year in New England, that kind of money is peanuts compared to fellow defensive end Olivier Vernon and his puke-inducing 5-year, $85 million deal.
One last note – linebacker Shea McClellin, who the Patriots signed after the former first-round pick failed to catch on in Chicago, checked in at #104 on Pro Football Talk’s list.
That’s below players like Roddy White, Arian Foster, and right above 36-year-old Dwight Freeney.
Next: Patriots Draft: What Do the Fans Want?
McClellin also makes three former first-round draft picks, along with Chris Long and Jonathan Cooper, that’ll come in with understandably low expectations, but the chance to blow the doors off if they live up to the potential their draft spots would suggest.
And hey, even if they don’t, it’s not like the Patriots have an Albert Haynesworth-sized contract mess to deal with. Figuratively and literally.