Will Patriots use the tag?
Flowers, Brown, Gostkowski are the most likely candidates
During a 15-day window starting Tuesday, NFL teams can retain the rights to one of their impending free agents with the use of a franchise or transition tag.
For the Patriots, there are some interesting decisions to be made. They haven’t been particularly active with the tag in recent years, with kicker Stephen Gostkowski the last to be designated in 2015. But even though they’ve kept the tag in their pocket the past few years, that doesn’t mean they’ll be afraid to use it.
With respect to the list of in-house free agents in the pool, there are a couple of candidates the Pats would likely consider.
The first? Trey Flowers.
A scene in NFL Network’s “Mic’d Up” version of Super Bowl LIII between Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Flowers after the 13-3 win was pretty revealing. At one point after the game, Belichick grabbed Flowers, told him he loved him, and kept repeating “three points,” to his defensive end to illustrate how proud he was of the defensive effort.
There’s a reason Belichick loves the soft-spoken Flowers. He’s the perfect Patriot. He was drafted by the team, came up in the system and has flourished. He’s versatile, playing on the outside, stopping the run effectively, while also rushing from the inside on third down. His numbers (7.5 sacks, 57 tackles, 20 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles) don’t jump off the page like other defensive ends in the league, but he’s been great playing within the parameters of the Patriots scheme. He’s a wellrespected leader on the defense. As a free agent, he’s considered one of the10 best in the 2019 crop.
There are plenty of former coaches with Patriots ties (Brian Flores in Miami, Mike Vrabel in Tennessee, Matt Patricia in Detroit), who see what Flowers brings to the table, understand his value and would be willing pay top dollar.
The Patriots should be willing, too. He’s such an important piece to their front seven. One way to buy time to work out a deal is to put a franchise tag on him. They did it once with Vince Wilfork in 2010 before working out a multi-year extension with their nose tackle. So that’s a scenario for hitting him with a tag. That tag would be up around $17.3 million for one-year, but it would be more like a good faith place-holder for them to work out a deal. He’s their top priority as a free agent. It’s one way to incorporate a tag this year.
No. 2? Trent Brown.
The Pats acquired the offensive lineman in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers prior to the season, and the former Florida big man ended up playing a massive role for the Super Bowl champions as Tom Brady’s left tackle.
The offensive line played a significant role in the Patriots run, as Dante Scarnecchia’s unit was an advantage in playoff every game. Brown was a huge factor, containing some of the game’s best pass rushers from the Chargers, Chiefs and Rams along the ride. He kept Brady’s blind side safe.
But how much are the Patriots willing to spend to keep him? It’s doubtful they’ll get into the stratosphere of what he’s likely to make as the top left tackle on the market. They will not pay him Nate Solder money (four years, $62 million), especially with 2018 first-round pick Isaiah Wynn returning. The Georgia product missed his entire rookie season, suffering a torn Achilles during a preseason game.
Wynn was expected to compete for the left tackle job, but are they going to be comfortable leaving Brady’s blind side protection to what amounts to a first-year player coming off that type of weight-bearing injury?
A possible solution would be tagging Brown for one year at roughly $14 million, and bringing Wynn around slowly, or at least, seeing how he’s going to progress.
So that’s another option for use of the tag.
A third possibility? Gostkowski.
Yes, he does miss an occasional kick in big games, be it an extra point, or, as we saw most recently, a field goal in the Super Bowl. That’s incredibly frustrating. But looking at him comparatively with other kickers, he still does a great job with kickoffs, and still makes most of his kicks. He did make the clincher against the Rams, putting a 41-yarder through the uprights with 1:12 to play to give the Pats the final 10-point cushion.
He was 5-of-6 in the postseason on field goals, and made all of his extra points. During the regular season, he made 27-of-32 field goals with 130 total points.
The last contract he signed (four years, $17.2 million) after being tagged made him the highest paid kicker in the NFL.
Sure, the Pats could draft another kicker, or roll the dice on someone else. But it’s not so easy finding another kicker who’s better than Gostkowski. A possible solution would have them sticking a tag on him like the last time, and either pay him that ($5 million) figure for a year, or work out something longer term.
So those are the likely scenarios for the Pats to drop a tag. It’s also possible the Patriots won’t use the tag at all, which has been the trend in recent years. Starting Tuesday through March 5, the window for teams to place tags, we’ll know which way the Patriots will go.
Retirement talk
Devin McCourty surprised a lot of people when he threw out the notion of possibly retiring should the Patriots win the Super Bowl. In this day and age in pro football, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 31-year-old safety, who’s had nine years in the league, is now pondering that option. As NBC commentator Rodney Harrison pointed out in a conversation last week, with the money players are making nowadays, and the risk of serious injuries, it makes more sense to get out of the game earlier rather than later.
“He’s done a great job. If he feels like he wants to retire and walk away, that’s something he should do. He’s a very smart guy. He’s got the world in front of him,” said Harrison. “Coming from a guy that played 15 years, and having to play that long because the money wasn’t great like it is now, these guys don’t have to play long. They can play 6-7 years and would have made $4050 million, and walk away and be financially fine.
“If there’s a question nowadays, and I was advising a player,” Harrison went on, “I’d tell him, ‘look, make sure you understand, when you walk away, you’re walking away forever. Play as long as you can, make as much money as you can. But if you don’t have the desire, you have to move forward. It’s just not worth it to be out there taking a chance on injuries, head injuries and stuff like that. It’s not worth it.”’
Gilmore’s pen pal
Before all the big games, top corner Stephon Gilmore received a text from a noted former Patriot. Turns out Ty Law, just voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, has been providing words of support to the Pats corner, who wears the same No. 24 Law wore as a Patriot.
“He’s represented that ‘24’ real well,” said Law, speaking with the Herald last week. “I talked to him before the (Super Bowl). I always sent him texts throughout, just letting him know how to . . . just play ball. We just send each other notes. Talk when we can. Every time, before the big game, I always send him something to let him know what I’m thinking.”
Law loved how well Gilmore played in the Super Bowl, coming up with the key pick of Jared Goff late in the fourth quarter.
“For him to step up to the challenge, and make that play in the Super Bowl,” said Law, “and just become a brother, arguably the best cornerback in the game, is phenomenal.”
Gronk’s a first ballot
The piece we wrote earlier in the week with respect to Rob Gronkowski’s chances of gaining entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame should he opt to retire generated quite a bit of attention. After interviewing a sampling of voters, there wasn’t much doubt about him getting in, the question was whether he would be a first-ballot entry. His lack of longevity, comparative stats, and other tight ends up for consideration were given as possible reasons he might get passed over the first time.
It was interesting to get the perspective, and understand how the voting process works. My quick take? There shouldn’t be a need to wait for the best tight end of his generation. There’s only been one tight end (Tony Gonzalez) elected to the Hall on the first ballot of the nine that are currently in. Gronk should be the second.