Some Comments on the Comments
1. I was dead wrong in my prediction that something would be done by Friday. I completely misread what the Pats basic off sea\son strategy would be.
2. Evidently the Pats decided early on NOT to bid against themselves and allow the market to sort things out. So the silence I "thought" was the Pats working diligently behind the scenes to get thing done with Revis and McCourty, instead was them allowing the market to set itself during the legal tampering phase, and then on Monday make their best offers to McCourty and Revis and hope for the best. I have to say that that's not what I would have done, but then again I don't run the most successful professional sports organization on the planet
3. For the millionth time, paying Revis more than $14MM/yr is insanity, since that is what the best CB's in the league are making now. THAT's the top of the market, and you DON'T give more to a CB who is significantly older, smaller, and less gifted physically than the guys who just set the top of the market, even if he too is an elite CB right now
4. That being said, I'd give Revis a 3 yr fully guaranteed $36MM contract in a NY minute. I'd give him a 3yr $42MM contract with $36MM guaranteed just as fast. If he want's more years, I'd give him what he wants, but I wouldn't go over $36MM guaranteed or $14MM/yr
5. Should we lose Revis, we wouldn't be as good at CB as we would have with him. It's as simple as that. However ONE player on defense cannot dictate how good or bad it will be. The money that would have gone to him will go to other places. Say, for example, if CB production goes down 15% with the loss of Revis, would it be unreasonable to expect a 15% increase in production out of the LB's with the continuing development of Highttower and Collins, plus the healthy return of Mayo. Or a 10% improvement in the DL play with the continued improvement of Siliga and Easley plus whoever else we add now that we've cut $20MM of cap costs. So while losing Revis isn't ideal, we are a long way from "all is lost"
6. I doubt very much we will have to wait long to see what happens. Should Revis and McCourty reach FA on Tuesday, we should know by Friday where they end up. That being said, my predictive skills have been a bit off recently.
7. One last point. This team has been very successful the last 15 years. In fact their success has been UNPRECIDENTED. However I can think of only 2 or 3 years where the Pats were ever considered a "winner" in the off season acquisition of FA's. It also should be noted that the Jets have won the off season award MANY times.
So while if things don't go the way we all hope, I hope most of us will avoid the meltdown that sure to ensue in the media and wait for the dust to settle. And the interesting thing about that is that we have come to learn that sometimes the "dust doesn't settle" until October.
