Free agency: Day 2

Who cares about Moss... we've already signed Kelley Washington, Lonnie Paxton, and Larry Izzo. This alone justifies the highest tix price in NFL

(/sarcasm off)

Losing Moss would simply be prophetic. The coaches and players choked in the Super Bowl. Now the front office could dupe feat with this blundah.

Patrtiots fans and Red Sox fans have officially reversed roles as evidenced by the 1st post.

They should have just franchised Moss! They didn't want to make him mad?? Sounds like a Pete Carroll mentality...

they really need moss back....that will be such a slap in the face to the fans to jack up ticket prices by $45 a piece after losing the super bowl and then NOT resigning moss. this needs to be done.

"The Patriots' strategy has been to take care of their own players"

How do you figure that? They cut Rosie, Kyle Brady, Donte, Eugene Wilson, Lua....They lost their best CB and are allowing Moss to sniff big money elsewhere.

I'm sure BB has a plan but I haven't figured it out yet.

The Patriots have a great system and will find players to excel in that system. Players that do well in the system tend to struggle outside of it. This system has been successful every year since 2001.
The Patriots find players who will play in this system at a good value. They look at each player and his skills and place a pricetag on what they believe he is worth. (Most teams think that the Patriots are the best at this). They will not overpay for any player. If a player is very talented, he will be paid accordingly (e.g. Tom Brady). If not, he will also be paid accordingly.
My guess is Moss is asking for more money than the pricetag the Patriots have placed on him. In other words, he wants more than his value.
If Moss doesn't return, the Patriots will find someone else to play in the system at a good value. Don't forget that Moss' production dropped at the end of the season and in the playoffs. And don't forget that Welker, Washington and Jackson will be back next year and Gaffney probably, as well.
My guess is either they find a free-agent WR (not sure who) or they draft someone, perhaps with one of their 3rd-round picks. Another possibility is trading their 1st round pick to the Bengals for Chad Johnson, although I think this is unlikely.
No matter what, the system lives on and the Patriots have a good season in 2008.

The Patriots are plain stupid if they let Moss walk. It's bad enough that no one on the team showed up for the Super Bowl, it appears they still have their heads "somewhere else".

Johnson would be interesting, but he's only a year younger than Moss. Not sure what his contract is. The bonus to re-signing Moss is The Patriots don't have to give up the #7 draft pick.

If they keep letting every one leave I think that the pats should consider blowing the team up either via trades or releasing more veterans. Right now short two linebackers no corners (Hobbs sucks he is a back up at best) Our best db is 37 and a free agent next year and if moss leaves once again no wr and no te Watson had an off year and Brady is gone so no blocking te. The pats should judge and see about trading Matt Light and Richard Seymore to cut salary then they can raise the ticket prices again. I hate it but it looks like the way things are going that we will go from first to worst. I hate rebuilding...

Overpaying Moss is not the way to go..........

Re-sign Wilfork & Mankins, with that money (before they become future FA's).

Stop panicing everybody...........

I trust BB & SP 100% - they seem to know how to succeed.

Maybe the Pats had an agreement w/Moss when they restructured his contract from $10 mil down to $3 mil + incentives and made the remaining 3 yrs a 1 yr deal that they would not place the franchise tag on him. The info that the Pats simply did not tag Moss because it would upset him is media speculation not fact from the Pats or Moss.

As far as I know he is not scheduled to visit any other teams, he is just listening. Isn't that what all UFA's do? My opinion is that he will sign sometime this weekend.

johnson is more problematic than moss though. But in some way johnson probably wont go through the antics if they are winning but there is no way they will get johnson - they need LB and CBs and they should get Vernon if they can - best scenario is IF Mcfadden falls on their laps and we know Cowboys wants him bad maybe we can get some of their picks and that would be good.

It is funny these are all the same comments I heard when, Lawyer Milloy and Ty Law moved on for more money. I think the Pats did ok without them. Instead of whining about it why don't you give the Pats the benefit of the doubt and see what they do. 3 superbowl titles in the past seven years, I think just maybe, they might know what they are doing. I would love to see moss back as much as anyone and I hope they get him but if signing him means we cannot improve our secondary and linebacking corps than see ya later Moss.

In Bill I Trust

sure losing Moss would hurt, but you people need to stop freaking out. my god...omg they cut lawyer milloy, omg adam signed with colts, branch is traded to seattle? wtf....get over it people. if moss is asking for ridcilous money let me walk. no sense in tying up the salary cap and hurting the team for years to come. if he wants big bucks, he clearly was putting on a mask this past season when saying he just wants to win. we will see the true moss when the whole thing is said and done

bill belichick and scott pioli are alot smarter than you or I....cut them some slack. they've only given us fans 3 super bowls, 4 afc championships, and 6 playoffs appearnces in 8 years

With the sole exception of that truly stupid Spygate decision, swallowing the "in Bill we trust" mantra has resulted in the best seven years of this franchise, hands down!. What's say we let Bill, Scott, Jonathan and the coaches do their jobs in free agency and look forward to April's draft.

I trust the Patriots!

Look, if Moss takes big money from a scrub team like Miami, the Jets or another wannabe...then he's a fraud. If he flees NE to say GB (which is being floated around as we speak, by Adam Schefter) or Dallas, then he'll still look like a guy who wants a ring......and gets paid in the process. The latter is a win-win for Moss. I'd love to see him stay, but if the Pats break step to overpay for Moss, then it's too big of a risk. It's Randy Moss after all.

Taking this long to sign the second most important player on the team is up there with Bill's decision to wear the RED sweatshirt for the Super Bowl. Ugh, face it, we're now in the process of the after years, just like Dallas, Pittsburgh, and San Fran when they fell from their reign. I knew it would happen, just didn't think stupidity would be the cause.

Kiss Moss goodbye... Two sources are saying Moss is headed to GB for 5 year $55 mil deal, $27 mil front ended -- straight cash homey.

Pats blew it here. No excuses. They could have franchised him.

JJack,

If Moss was franchised this year, he would have sat out camp and would have become an anti-Patriot cancer in the locker room. The only upside would have been the draft picks the Pats would have gotten if the Jerry Jones types came sniffing around Foxboro in the aftermath. The Pats wanted to see if Moss really wanted to be here like he initially stated, or if he's a money grubber like the other pencil necks who play WR. Time will tell.

Uh, there is no way Ted Thompson throws that much cash at Moss when he has two of the best up and coming receiver in the game. I'd like to keep Randy if we can, but if "straight cash homey" appears at the negotiating table then see you later. All his talk last year would amount to that, just talk. Believe it or not games will still have to be played and someone - either in the draft or the second phase of free agency will come thru just like it did when we release Milloy before the start of the season and when Ty took his act to NYC.

I hope the Pats sign Moss but he was inaffective at the end of the year, he will go to the biggest spender and we can save $$ and get two good recievers for his price

I really don't understand this "it's the beginning of the end of the Patriots" talk. Why so much doom and gloom on day two of "free agency"? Every year the team lets people walk and every year new members come along. Every year! The Patriots--more specifically, Bill and Scott--have a system. They don't stray from it and it works very, very well. The system? 1) Great gameplanning from brilliant football minds, 2) tons, tons, tons of preperation, 3) understanding each player's strengths and weaknesses (both of the Patriots and the opposing teams) and using this knowledge to their full advantage, 4) not overpaying players because spending too much has ruined many teams, which can take years to repair, and 5) good recruiting. This system will keep the Patriots a top team as long as it stays in place. Take it away and the Patriots will fall.
It was great to have Moss and Samuel and others. But, like other players who have moved on, they wanted too much money, which ruined their value. And, just like in years past, the Patriots will find new players to be in their system.
I'm being positive this off-season and looking forward to the season opener and a good year in 2008.
You?

I like Moss, but just like everywhere else he's played, he disappears in the play offs. I know he was double, triple teamed, but that's the way it's been. The Pats have never had a " #1" receiver and did ok with a couple of quality guys. They had their #1 this year he got shut down and it was over.They have seemed to figure things out since BB & SP came to town so I'll have to wait and see.