Patriots Acquire Martellus Bennett

[OffensivelyPC]

10 hours ago, 21isSuperman said:

Chandler may be more athletic, but I'd say Bennett is the more complete TE.  He put up good stats with Jay Cutler.  Imagine what he'll do with Brady, Belichick, and McDaniels.  Of course, this doesn't mean he's going to be a great success.  The Pats have had their fair share of failed free agents, as any team does.  But in my opinion, this move is very underrated.  If Bennett is utilized properly and he is motivated and focused, this could give the Pats the #1 offense in the league.  I can easily see Bennett going for 800 yards and 6-8 TDs.

Your first sentence may be true, and your prediction may be true, we will see. But statistically, there's not been much difference between Chandler/Bennett save for 1 year where the latter went for nearly 1000 yards, but Chandler was working with lesser QBs in BUF.

[Yehoodi]

41 minutes ago, dynasty13 said:

I'm a big fan of this signing, and if the team stays relatively healthy they will be tough to beat. Some want to make it sound like they needed all this help to 'get over the hump' and these moves won't do it, but the truth is that this team was crippled with injuries last year and they still came within a missed extra point of going to another Superbowl. They don't need much and it looks like they are signing some guys to go for it this year with front loaded contracts and hopefully that will make it easier to sign some of their young defensive guys that are coming up next offseason when the cap goes up. It's hard to hate what they've done so far.

 

Yes the team was among the top three in man games lost last year, meanwhile the among the two healthiest teams were Denver and Carolina.   So agreed they do not need a lot of help, just some moves here and there.  Hopefully they can stay healthy this year, well more so than last year.

 

As for the trade I am with you.  I think Bennett should bring more to the table than Chandler as he produced more than him in the last few years.  Also, the pats have the option to use Bennett to fill in for Gronk to give him a breather, if the teams chooses to use him to platoon with Gronk.  

 

Also, they could use Bennett as a TE blocker like Graham back in the day freeing up Gronk to focus on receiving.

 

Time will tell how he fits in with the team, but as it stands now I like the trade.

[krunk]

Bennett is a way better athlete than Scott Chandler.

[Archer]

Bennett's only signed through 2016, so this is a one-year move.  I wouldn't get too excited.  After all, he had a disappointing, injury-filled 2015 season, and the Pats are just hoping he can return to 2014 form...

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 hour ago, dynasty13 said:

I'm a big fan of this signing, and if the team stays relatively healthy they will be tough to beat. Some want to make it sound like they needed all this help to 'get over the hump' and these moves won't do it, but the truth is that this team was crippled with injuries last year and they still came within a missed extra point of going to another Superbowl. They don't need much and it looks like they are signing some guys to go for it this year with front loaded contracts and hopefully that will make it easier to sign some of their young defensive guys that are coming up next offseason when the cap goes up. It's hard to hate what they've done so far.

I think you guys are the team to beat as of now. I don't think Bennett is Great or anything but the signing cant hurt as he is decent.

[2006Coltsbestever]

The Draft hasn't happened yet and some other moves haven't either but If I was to pick a team to win the SB next season it would be the Pats as much as that pains me to say. I thought last season Denver was the only team that could beat them but they still had Peyton and a motivated Defense. Guys like Miller and Ware didn't have a Ring. It's tough to Repeat and no matter what QB Denver gets they wont have the big game experience Peyton has had or his presence out on the field.

[weslo1812]

1 hour ago, OffensivelyPC said:

The bolded is the most ironic post I've ever seen. If Chandler signed here and didn't pan out at least one of either Grigson and Pagano would be blamed for it. Bill is both of them in one and he is apparently not at fault.

 

The fact of the matter is, statistically speaking, Chandler has been the same caliber TE except 1 year. And Chandler was working with a lesser QB outside of NE.

I'm sorry, but a player not producing is not automatically a result of a coaching failure, I don't know where you pull that from but it's as wrong as the day is long. A coach can't go out out on the field and execute the players Job for him. That is up to the player. Are you gonna tell me that all the other players on teams that don't end up producing are all because of the coach? really??? I don't think so!!! And just because you wanna say that Pagano and Grigson would be blamed if Chandler came to Indy and didn't produce does not justify it or make it right. Also we don't know why Chandler didn't play more and get more opportunities to produce. That could be for a variety of different reasons but to assume it's automatically because Coach didn't know to use him is ignorant quite frankly.

 

And from the outside looking at just the stats, they may look to be the same caliber. But the fact is that Stats alone don't ever tell the whole story on a player or a team. There are a variety of other factors to be considered. So to make that kind of assumption just based off stats is not really accurate at all.

[Surge89]

7 hours ago, weslo1812 said:

I think you are gonna be quite supprised at positive effect Bennett has for the Patriots. The whole thing you're missing is Bennett will be another huge target who is reliable. So what are teams gonna do? Double up Gronk to take him away? Go ahead and try because Tom will find an open receiver and now he can find Bennet. You gonna be able to try and double both of em?Umm nooo. You gonna try and match up 1 on1 with 2 athletic big physical guys that 6'6+?

 

The point is this is gonna create match up nightmares. Even if MB doesn't put up huge numbers. He could maybe get 6-7 catches in a game for 60-70 yds. He's still a presence and a threat and you're sure as heck not gonna leave him uncovered. Aaaaand Brady doesn't need alot of time in the pocket....he genreally has the ball out in within 2 seconds and there are few teams with pass rush like Denver that are really gonna be able to create constant havoc. So you're making the O line a bigger deal than it really is. Patriots are generally quite good at adjusting. 

On top of it all they have 4 of the top 100 picks in draft this year. Good chance they'll nab an OL or two to help thier front and they will get thier starting LT back as well so that will help.

 

And if it makes it any better they will have Dion Lewis coming back too who was turning into a nice weapon for them. You really have to look at and realize who Bennet will have throwing him the ball and who he has as his coach now. It's not just an ordinary QB and coach. 

 

I'm not going to be surprised at all.  And most likely you won't even notice when Bennett has little to no effect on the Patriots offense either.  The reason they will be having any type of success will be if that oline is in tact.  Because as much as you want to believe that Brady is the God of all things football he isn't Manning... He NEEDS an oline.  

 

To the rest of your post.  Imho I believe it is all nonsense.  You speak of Bennett like he is Gronk, he isn't.   The offense will be successful in NE but it won't be because of this signing.

 

I do realize who's throwing him the ball.  I also realize what type of offense it is. In this offense Bennett would put up amazing numbers... if he was the primary target.  But he won't be.  He will most likely be the 3rd or 4th option and that is only when he won't be asked to block which I highly expect he will be around 60% of the time. 

[OffensivelyPC]

3 minutes ago, weslo1812 said:

I'm sorry, but a player not producing is not automatically a result of a coaching failure, I don't know where you pull that from but it's as wrong as the day is long. A coach can't go out out on the field and execute the players Job for him. That is up to the player. Are you gonna tell me that all the other players on teams that don't end up producing are all because of the coach? really??? I don't think so!!! And just because you wanna say that Pagano and Grigson would be blamed if Chandler came to Indy and didn't produce does not justify it or make it right. Also we don't know why Chandler didn't play more and get more opportunities to produce. That could be for a variety of different reasons but to assume it's automatically because Coach didn't know to use him is ignorant quite frankly.

 

And from the outside looking at just the stats, they may look to be the same caliber. But the fact is that Stats alone don't ever tell the whole story on a player or a team. There are a variety of other factors to be considered. So to make that kind of assumption just based off stats is not really accurate at all.

My point is, a player coming to a team and not living up to expectation is either a coaching failure or a general manager failure and Bill is both.  So he failed in some capacity or another.  Whether or not it justifies or makes it right is really irrelevant.  No one keeps their jobs because of bad luck.  You either get production out of players and win games or you eventually get fired.

 

And I get that statistic aren't the end all be all when we're talking about what a player brings to the table.  But this debate started with numbers and what he would do with Tom Brady throwing him the football, so stats are the only measure we have to quantify that.  So unless you have some better measuring stick, the numbers game would probably say that he would have a similar year.

 

Anyhow, we are just going to have to agree to disagree here (seems we've been doing that a lot lately, but at least it stays civil).

[chad72]

This is a good signing. More wham blocks from the TE, more effective run game for the Patriots and less pressure on Brady and the passing game, that is what it boils down to. Play action also becomes more effective. It is a move predicated on making up for the deficiencies along the O-line, IMO, if they have to put in an extra TE as a 6th OL to be out there and block and not lose Gronk to blocking, IMO.

 

I'd be shocked if the Patriots are not in the AFCCG again. However, their ultimate playoff success relies on the health of both Edelman and Dion Lewis being on the field at the same time as Gronk, period.

[dgambill]

13 hours ago, Surge89 said:

 

Lol shhhh logic doesn't belong here.  The Pats are now the number one offense don't you know? Lol

Well.....they WERE the #1 passing offense in terms of yds last year and 3rd overall in pts.....so YEAH they kinda are lol. Bennett is a big upgrade over Chandler in terms of skill. That said he has always had issues with most organizations he has gone to because he is very outspoken etc. No team squashes that better than NE. I see no reason he can't be very productive in that offense. Teams have devised ways to try to take Gronk away or brought in bigger safeties or quicker LBs...but now they have two dynamic TEs....it will be very difficult to match up against them. They have been a top 5 offense for the past half a dozen years it seems...and with the best qb of all time leading them...no reason to think this addition won't help them.

[Archer]

NE has a top offense most years because they cheat their butts off.  While the addition of a good player will help any team (even the cheaters), this will not make them unstoppable. 

[oldunclemark]

6 hours ago, Archer said:

Bennett's only signed through 2016, so this is a one-year move.  I wouldn't get too excited.  After all, he had a disappointing, injury-filled 2015 season, and the Pats are just hoping he can return to 2014 form...

Sometimes he wants to play, sometimes he doesn't.

When he does..he's very good

[Surge89]

54 minutes ago, dgambill said:

Well.....they WERE the #1 passing offense in terms of yds last year and 3rd overall in pts.....so YEAH they kinda are lol. Bennett is a big upgrade over Chandler in terms of skill. That said he has always had issues with most organizations he has gone to because he is very outspoken etc. No team squashes that better than NE. I see no reason he can't be very productive in that offense. Teams have devised ways to try to take Gronk away or brought in bigger safeties or quicker LBs...but now they have two dynamic TEs....it will be very difficult to match up against them. They have been a top 5 offense for the past half a dozen years it seems...and with the best qb of all time leading them...no reason to think this addition won't help them.

 

You missed the point entirely.

 

They will have a high ranked offense.  But not because of Bennett.  This isn't the final piece that puts them over.

 

Btw its not just because he is outspoken.  He isn't a good teammate and he can be lazy.  I estimate he will start off strong and taper by the end of the year and the Pats will eventually cut him or just not resign him.

 

Also they've been a top offense for the better part of the last 5 years because they cheat and they have the best coach of all time who knows how to put together a consistently better coaching staff than the rest of the league.  Best QB of all time? please.  That alone tells me a lot.

[dgambill]

3 minutes ago, Surge89 said:

 

You missed the point entirely.

 

They will have a high ranked offense.  But not because of Bennett.  This isn't the final piece that puts them over.

 

Btw its not just because he is outspoken.  He isn't a good teammate and he can be lazy.  I estimate he will start off strong and taper by the end of the year and the Pats will eventually cut him or just not resign him.

 

Also they've been a top offense for the better part of the last 5 years because they cheat and they have the best coach of all time who knows how to put together a consistently better coaching staff than the rest of the league.  Best QB of all time? please.  That alone tells me a lot.

Sorry...I may have missed some previous posts. You are right they have been the best offense for a better part of a decade. I disagree on the reason why but I do think Bennett will help them. When they had injuries etc in the second half of the season the offense definitely got stagnant at times...I think he will help it maintain balance and create matchup problems for opponents. I'm not Tom Brady fan for sure...but there is no doubt in my mind he has been the best qb of this generation. Peyton is my favorite but when its all said and done Tom has twice the SBs (and maybe more) and will likely have broken most of Peytons records...at least the significant ones. Tom may not be as likable or have the charm but on the field he has my respect.

[B~Town]

Don't see the big deal here not like they are adding a Hernandez or Gronk type TE just a decent TE that has a average of 30 yds per game over 8 years . He had a few good years in Chicago in a pass happy offense and studs at WR taking most the attention from the D .

[CrazyHorse]

On 3/17/2016 at 7:15 PM, corgi said:

Good, I was worried the Patriots wouldn't be good and wouldn't annoy me for the first time since 1990 something. It's like re-watching Scarface and being surprised that Tony Montana dies at the end...

 

What? Tony Montana dies at the end of Scarface? When the heck did THAT happen?

[bayone]

On 3/17/2016 at 6:01 PM, B~Town said:

Don't see the big deal here

 

not like they are adding a Hernandez or Gronk type TE just a decent TE that has a average of 30 yds per game over 8 years . He had a few good years in Chicago in a pass happy offense and studs at WR taking most the attention from the D .

 

read this article on what Bennet brings and imagine pairing with Kronk

 

Excerpts  -- article is long with many Grifs to illustrate

 

Since 2012  Bennett's recorded the fourth-most receptions among all tight ends in that span. Only Jason Witten, Jimmy Graham, and Greg Olsen caught more passes.

 

 Bennett is not only fast for a tight end, but he's built like a semi-truck. Per ESPN Stats & Info, Bennett's racked up 1,066 yards after the catch since 2013, which is second among all tight ends to Rob Gronkowski's 1,208 yards.

 

Given his size (he's listed at 6-foot-6, 273 pounds), his lateral agility is also surprising.

 

He's a matchup issue. He can win against bigger linebackers, and he can line up like a receiver and win against faster defensive backs, using his massive frame to shield away defenders while the ball is in flight.

 

Cornerbacks often can't cover Bennett, because he's too massive.

 

what turns Bennett into a top-tier player is his blocking ability. It's what makes him a completely different player than Aaron Hernandez, despite the obvious comparisons t

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25529906/what-ex-bears-te-martellus-bennett-brings-to-the-patriots-offense

[weslo1812]

Alot of people are gonna underestimate this move. But they are forgetting that just because a player may not put up big #s doesn't mean he can't help a team and be affective.

[weslo1812]

On 3/17/2016 at 8:58 AM, OffensivelyPC said:

My point is, a player coming to a team and not living up to expectation is either a coaching failure or a general manager failure and Bill is both.  So he failed in some capacity or another.  Whether or not it justifies or makes it right is really irrelevant.  No one keeps their jobs because of bad luck.  You either get production out of players and win games or you eventually get fired.

 

And I get that statistic aren't the end all be all when we're talking about what a player brings to the table.  But this debate started with numbers and what he would do with Tom Brady throwing him the football, so stats are the only measure we have to quantify that.  So unless you have some better measuring stick, the numbers game would probably say that he would have a similar year.

 

Anyhow, we are just going to have to agree to disagree here (seems we've been doing that a lot lately, but at least it stays civil).

Well you are still automatically discluding so many other potential factors as to why Chandler didn't put up bigger numbers with NE. Like possibly the fact that when he was on the field for NE he was possibly one of the last reads for Brady in his progressions. Which would mean he was probably not targeted a whole lot. He was most likeley behind guys like Amendola, Julian, Gronk and even LaFell. And that would mean that Brady probably didn't need to go to him too much because one of these other guys were open. Also Chandler only played 382 snaps for NE in 2015. Brady played 1,106 which I'm assuming is very close to NE offense total snap count for the season. So that would mean Chandler was only on the field about 34% of the time. If you include this with my previous reason it will probably give you pretty good reason as to why Chandler didn't have big numbers. And it doesn't point to Coach not knowing how to use him.

 

Moving past whether Coach will know how to use him or not, one thing I think people are missing in regards to the benefit Bennett will have is his presence on the field. Even if he doesn't put up a 1,000 yds receiving season. He won't need to in order to be effective and help NE offense. When NE needs a TE to Block....they now can use Bennet and keep their best TE in Gronk free to go out and get the ball. Or if they need two TE to block, they now have two above avg blocking TEs to enhance thier run game and pass pro. Then when Bennett does get used as a receiving TE... you're not gonna leave him uncovered are you? And if you also have gronk out there who's likely drawing double coverage from alot of teams and two Solid WRs with Dion out of the backfield. That's gonna stress alot of defences out. Not to mention if they have an effective run game to go with. Bennett won't have to put up big numbers to help NE offense out. There are a number of other ways in which he can be effective and enhance their offense which is already very potent. But I do think he could put up some big numbers depending on how they use him. 

 

[Malakai432]

On March 17, 2016 at 8:15 PM, corgi said:

Good, I was worried the Patriots wouldn't be good and wouldn't annoy me for the first time since 1990 something. It's like re-watching Scarface and being surprised that Tony Montana dies at the end...

 

Wait....wait.....wait......  Tony Montana dies at the end of Scarface??!!??!!???!!??!!

 

gggqaaaahhhhhhhhh, I've never watched the movie all the way through......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i kid, hah!!!

[King Colt]

I'll assume this latest addition is a solid blocker after watching Brady who will be 39 in August hit the dirt  several times in the playoffs. They have to do a much better job of protecting him.