In response to mthurl's comment:

yes see talib. better nto let him walk. get a  goldson and of midlevel cb. or even better a freeney or other pass rsuher (along with talib)

In response to ClarkGriswold's comment:

1.  I would still franchise Welker at $11 million.  He was a sparkplug for setting an NFL record for offensive first downs in a season.  He should have one more year in him at that level.

2.  Talib was a total goofup when he got dumped in midseason.  Since then he has gotten injured, twice in a row.  What's not to hate?  He had his audition and he wasn't on the field.  Now he's a free agent, and if BB likes a guy, 31 other teams think he's special. 

3.  Agreed.  Woodhead is good.  However, somebody will pay double or triple what he's worth to the Patriots.

4.  No way.  Ghost stops 99 yard runbacks.  He puts the ball on the 20 yard line.  That's worth a lot.  Maybe BB doesn't call for many 50 yard FGs because, when his team is 20 points ahead, he doesn't want to let the other team back in the game with a missed FG.

5.  Edelman is in fact quite good but somebody will grossly overbid for him.  The same goes for Arrington.  BB can't keep everybody on the roster because the NFL is supposed to have "parity".

You didn't mention Vollmer, who is the number 1 priority for the Pats before they can make any other moves. Gotta resign Sea-Bass, then lock up Talib. Unforutunatly, Sea-Bass and Talib might be a combined 10 million together and that leaves very little in terms of cap space. 

 

Resign: Edelman, Woodhead, Stallworth, Koutouvides, White and Fletcher. All together, they'll take up about 2 million of the 8.5 million cap space left free.

 

 

Draft Jessse Williams in round 1, Darrick Rogers in round 2 and Bacarri Rambo in round 3 and find a LB who can cover in the later rounds. 

 

No Free Agent moves. 

In response to Paul_K's comment:

Once you resign Welker to 11 million, you're done. You have 8.5 million to work with, if you can resign Vollmer, you're out of money. 

I don't think they can afford to pay Wes 11m this year and do other things to improve the roster as well. Also, bb will find a way to restructure some contracts and let some guys go so he has more cap flexibility. 

This is a tough situation. Ideally I would have liked to sign Wes, Talib and vollmer. However, given what it will take and their individual situations, I would opt to not sign any of them unless its a very cap/team friendly deal. 

If we have roughly 18m + whatever is saved after restructuring a few contracts and letting a few guys walk, let's say that numiner jumps up to about 22-25m in cap space. 

So if we have a starting point of 22m, here are the choices that must be made;

1. I am letting Talib walk. Someone overpays for him. I also don't like how he is so often injured. Do we want to pay a guy 7-8m per who sits on the bench? Before you bring up Gronk or Hern, I am also considering his past run ins which scare me for any long term deal. He was a decent rental for low money. That is far as I want to go..

2. Offer Wes 3 years, 24 m, with 10 guaranteed. Take it or leave it. 

3. what will it take to resign vollmer? 5-6m per for 4-5 years with 12m guaranteed? I figure that is the same amount roughly it would take to sign gholdson or maybe Byrd. What is worth more to this team? We have cannon and zucskevis in waiting. Cannon played pretty well while vollmer was out. I roll the dice here and let vollmer walk so I can help sure up The back of my secondary with mccourty and gholdson/Byrd .  I am coming out of FA early with a top notch safety oor what I mentioned or a decent corner like DRc. My draft focus is on the one I missed in FA. 

4. Resign Edelman, Arrington.

5. Let woody walk.

okay..assuming at this point Wes takes the deal and we get a safety in FA at about 5m per. That consumes 13m of the 22, 9m left to spend.

6. I am looking for OL depth in the neighborhood of 1-2m per. Decent veteran that can play tackle or kick inside. 

7. Ideally, would love to sign a Melton or Starks, but again, they will be too costly In FA. 

8. Regarding drafting...looking for a big DT like Hankins, Williams to fall to me at 29. If not there, I would be inclined to target Rhodes to play corner. Got to come out of the draft with a cb or safety If we can land an fa. We have enough along the DL but could use upgrades. Safety is secure via FA hopefully and I have decent OL depth by grabbing a vet OL. So, although bb has limited picks in the draft, he has max flexibility because he has done some decent things in FA. tough decisions but I think somewhat necessary ones.

A couple of things to think about.

1.) How is Dennard going to make out in his trial.  If he gets jail time you need Talib

2.) If you sign Edleman, do you need Welker? Welker is not worth 11 mil.  He is good but
 not that good.   They need to get younger at the WR position.

3.) When Vollmer was hurt, the Patriots functioned fine.  He is not worth taking the risk of a big contract. 

4.) Woodhead will come cheap and is valuable to the team

 

In response to bredbru's comment:

Agree

This post has been removed.

Dennard found guilty. One felony and one misdemeanor

 

Dennard faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of all three charges. The felony assault charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, while each misdemeanor charge carried a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.