The Third Act.

[Soapy]

Pats bring back Hightower, Meyers and Phillips as Jaguars make big moves
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- — Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer took some notes from mentor and friend Bill Belichick's last off-season where the Super Bowl winning head coach was handing out big contracts left and right, winning free agency and eventually the AFC East.

Meyer and the Jaguars were among the 'winners' of opening day, signing wide receiver Davante Adams to a five-year, $114 million deal to pair him with franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The team also signed cornerback Mike Hughes and defensive end Randy Gregory to shore up a leaky defense from last season.

New England, on the other hand, spent the first few hours of free agency bringing their guys back, re-signing Jakobi Meyers to a three year, $30 million extension while veterans Adrian Phillips and Dont'a Hightower got two year extensions worth $8.9 million and $17.9 million respectively.

Meyers is an unlikely success story and received a well-deserved bump in pay after leading the team in receiving the past two seasons. A former high school quarterback and undrafted out of N.C. State, Meyers caught 91 balls last season for 1004 yards and two touchdowns in his third season with the team.

Hightower and Phillips were key parts of an elite defensive unit in 2021 for the Patriots. While not as mobile as he previously was, Hightower provides some physicality within the front seven for New England, as does Phillips who allows them to be versatile with Phillips capable of playing both linebacker and safety.

The move does leave New England with little to no cap space left. Ideally, they would like to replace wide receiver Nelson Agholor, who they released last week to free up cap space for these moves. A wide receiver corps of Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and N'Keal Harry might not be formidable enough to defend their AFC East title, even with an expected jump from Mac Jones.

There's also free agent running back James White who the team has yet to resign. White's role was replaced admirably in 2021 following an injury by Brandon Bolden and eventually Rhamondre Stevenson. Now 30, is the team ready to move on from White entirely after he suffered a season ending injury in 2021 and wasn't productive in 2020 due to the scheme of the offense?

[Soapy]

Purdue's Bell back to the Patriots in ESPN's Todd McShay's latest mock draft
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- — ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay revealed his fourth iteration of the 2022 NFL Mock Draft and once again, the draft expert has New England selecting wide receiver David Bell out of Purdue.

McShay had New England picking Bell in his 2.0 Mock Draft when New England was projected to have the eight pick earlier in the season. When New England landed at 26 in Version 3.0, McShay went defense with Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith. McShay had also projected the Patriots to draft a defensive player in his first released mock draft, with them selecting Ahmad Garner at #14.

The projections are aligned with what a lot of analyst view as New England's weakness, their depth at linebacker, corner and receiver. While the trio of Judon Smith, J.C. Jackson and the newly extended Jakobi Meyers is more than serviceable, the names behind them don't carry as much weight.

Another position to watch is offensive line, especially if one of the premiere tackles -- particularly Ohio State's Nicholas Petit-Frere and Alabama's Evan Neal -- New England could snatch them and decide to move on from Isaiah Wynn whose struggled with consistency and injuries.

[Soapy]

Bourne, Van Noy restructure deal to give Patriots flexibility
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- — Two of New England's acquisitions from last season have agreed to re-work their deal, offering the Pats some cap relief in wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and linebacker Kyle Van Noy.

Bourne was set to make $7 million in 2022 and $9 million in 2023, none of which were guaranteed. Van Noy's cap hit in 2022 was $7.45 million, $2.45 million of which was guaranteed which New England was able to convert into a signing bonus.

Bourne's new deal lasts through 2024 with him set to make $6.34 million in 2022, escalating to $7.07 million in 2024 with $6.75 million of that guaranteed. On top of his $2.45 million signing bonus, Van Noy is extended through 2024 as well at a lower cap rate, specifically $2.79 in 2022 with $3 million of his new $11 million contract guaranteed.

The new deals free up approximately $3 million in cap space for New England this season.

[Soapy]

Patriots sign former draft pick Braxton Berrios to three year deal
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- — A former sixth round draft pick by the team out of Miami, wide receiver Braxton Berrios never played a regular season snap for the New England Patriots before being released and eventually picked up by the New York Jets.

Berrios and his Super Bowl LIII ring are returning to Foxborough after the return specialist signed a three year, $4.41 million deal to join the Patriots. Berrios spent the past three seasons in New York where he's caught 66 passes for 702 yards and four touchdowns. He's also been their primary returner, a role he'll likely fill in New England if the Patriots fail to resign Gunner Olszewski.

[Soapy]

White, Patriots agree on extension to keep veteran with team
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- — The New England Patriots and 30-year old running back James White have agreed on a two-year, $7.12 million extension, the team announced via social media on Monday.

White missed most of the 2021 season with an hip injury in what was to be a bounced back year after he struggled to be effective in 2020 due to the Patriots change in offense under quarterback Cam Newton.

Prior to the last two seasons, White had caught at least 67 passes in back to back seasons and at least 39 receptions since 2016. He'll enter 2022 as the team's active leader in career receptions with 369, nearly a hundred more than the next closest player in tight end Hunter Henry.

The team also signed fullback Jason Cabinda to a two year, $2.7 million deal to replace Jakob Johnson. Johnson signed a two year, $4.92 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks earlier in the month.

[djp73]

Cheesin the system with the "restructered" deals.

[Soapy]

Cheesin the system with the "restructered" deals.

Nah, the house rule is I have to give them a new offer that is a "green" offer in the FA interface so I release them and offer them a new deal. If said deal isn't in the green, I then have to offer them the same deal they previously had. If they end up taking another offer, then I just write it as a release.

#sausage

[Soapy]

Greed is good according to ESPN's Todd McShay latest 2022 NFL Mock Draft
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- — ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay has released the final version of his 2022 NFL Mock Draft and for the second time in his versions, the New England Patriots are selecting Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith with the 26th pick of the draft.

New England is top heavy at the position with proven talents like Judon Smith and even veterans Dont'a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy although both Hightower and Van Noy also play as off the ball linebackers in the Patriots versatile scheme. Josh Uche has really came into his own the past two seasons, recording eight sacks last year as a situational pass rusher.

Adding Smith would round out one of the team's best units and give it some much needed depth given the age on Hightower and Van Noy. Smith's strong combine performance has raised his stock after some thought he'd end up being a 2nd or 3rd round pick. He ran a 4.61 40 at the combine and followed it up with a 4.58 performance in his pro day.

McShay is also predicting an early run at corner with the Giants taking Derek Stingley Jr. with the sixth pick, Clemson's Andrew Booth Jr. going to Miami at 11, Minnesota taking Kair Elam at 12 and Ahmad Gardner going to Washington with the thirteenth pick.

McShay has the first quarterback off the board at 17 with Pittsburgh taking Matt Corral from Ole Miss.

[Soapy]

Dolphins, Texans agree on blockbuster trade to send QB Watson to the Miami Dolphins
The Houston Texans have traded quarterback Deshaun Watson to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for three first round picks and two second round picks.

Watson, who recently settled out of court with 22 plaintiffs that accused him of sexual misconduct, had been rumored to the Dolphins all throughout last season with a trade seeming imminent as the Nov. 2 trade deadline approached but Miami ultimately backed out, opting to wait for Watson's legal matters to settle.

Now that they have, the team went all in, sending a 2022 and two 2023 first round picks along with a 2022 and a 2023 second round pick for the former Pro Bowl quarterback. According to FOX's Jay Glazer, current Miami starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was offered in the deal as well but the Texans turned the offer down, opting to perhaps look for their next quarterback with their new treasure chest of draft picks.

[Soapy]

Dolphins go all in with Miller signing, Watson trade
Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores got off to a rocky start with the Dolphins, losing his first two games by such a wide margin that some analyst wondered if it was ethical for a team that appeared to be tanking to risk their players health by fielding such a poor team.

The Dolphins would finish that season better than most expected, drafted a quarterback many projected to be a future start before almost making the playoffs the next season. However, questions around Tua Tagovailoa lingered and a slow start to the 2021 NFL season saw them be linked to a quarterback that at the time had 22 pending sexual misconduct claims against them. The season was a disappointment, putting Flores, Tua and GM Chris Grier right in the crosshairs of being the next trio to wash out in Miami.

Miami was aggressive this off-season landing pass rusher Von Miller in free agency and then finalizing their trade for Houston's Deshaun Watson after he was able to settle out of cart with his abusers. The Dolphins are all in, will it pay off?

Top Free Agents
QB Jameis Winston, Age 28 | 78 ovr ‣ Unsigned

HB Melvin Gordon, Age 29 | 83 ovr ‣ New York Jets
HB Raheem Mostert, Age 30 | 82 ovr ‣ Unsigned
HB Marlon Mack, Age 26 | 81 ovr ‣ New York Jets
HB Chase Edmonds, Age 26 | 81 ovr ‣ Washington Football Team
HB Ronald Jones II, Age 25 | 79 ovr ‣ Houston Texans

WR Davante Adams, Age 29 | 99 ovr ‣ Jacksonville Jaguars
WR Chris Godwin, Age 26 | 90 ovr ‣ New York Jets
WR Juju Smith-Schuster, Age 25 | 83 ovr ‣ Pittsburgh Steelers
WR Antonio Brown, Age 34 | 83 ovr ‣ Unsigned
WR Michael Gallup, Age 26 | 82 ovr ‣ Miami Dolphins

TE Robert Gronkowski, Age 33 | 84 ovr ‣ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
TE Robert Tonyan, Age 28 | 80 ovr ‣ Indianapolis Colts
TE Eric Ebron, Age 29 | 79 ovr ‣ Jacksonville Jaguars

T Terron Armstead, Age 31 | 93 ovr ‣ Los Angeles Chargers
T Tyrell Crosby, Age 26 | 75 ovr ‣ Indianapolis Colts
T Russell Okung, Age 33 | 74 ovr ‣ San Francisco 49ers

G Richie Incognito, Age 39 | 83 ovr ‣ Unsigned
G David DeCastro, Age 32 | 78 ovr ‣ Jacksonville Jaguars
G Austin Corbett, Age 26 | 78 ovr ‣ Houston Texans
G Connor Williams, Age 25 | 75 ovr ‣ Unsigned

C Ben Jones, Age 33 | 77 ovr ‣ Miami Dolphins

DE Randy Gregory, Age 29 | 80 ovr ‣ Jacksonville Jaguars
DE Jerry Hughes, Age 34 | 78 ovr ‣ Unsigned
DE Derek Barnett, Age 26 | 77 ovr ‣ Seattle Seahawks

DT Sebastian Joseph-Day, Age 27 | 84 ovr ‣ Unsigned
DT Linval Joseph, Age 33 | 77 ovr ‣ Unsigned
DT Jarran Reed, Age 28 | 76 ovr ‣ Los Angeles Chargers

LB Von Miller, Age 33 | 90 ovr ‣ Miami Dolphins
LB Dont'a Hightower, Age 32 | 84 ovr ‣ New England Patriots
LB De'Vondre Campbell, Age 29 | 82 ovr ‣ Detroit Lions
LB Keanu Neal, Age 27 | 78 ovr ‣ Buffalo Bills
LB Reuben Foster, Age 28 | 77 ovr ‣ Miami Dolphins

CB Bryce Callahan, Age 30 | 85 ovr ‣ Unsigned
CB Jason Verrett, Age 31 | 83 ovr ‣ Unsigned
CB Carlton Davis, Age 25 | 83 ovr ‣ Indianapolis Colts
CB Chris Harris Jr, Age 33 | 81 ovr ‣ Unsigned
CB A.J. Bouye, Age 31 | 81 ovr ‣ Unsigned

S Kareem Jackson, Age 34 | 81 ovr ‣ Unsigned
S Jaquiski Tartt, Age 30 | 80 ovr ‣ Philadelphia Eagles
S Ronnie Harrison Jr., Age 25 | 79 ovr ‣ Denver Broncos
S Adrian Phillips, Age 30 | 79 ovr ‣ New England Patriots