The Patriots talking to Hopkins all of last offseason and inexplicably using the money to extend the slowest receiver in the league instead was certainly a choice.
Well it was Bill and your timeline is way off. Hopkins visited June 15. Parker signed a year extension on June 28. Hopkins made his decision on July 24.
I mean just cause he made his decision later doesn’t mean the Patriots extending Parker didn’t preclude them from signing Hopkins. I think it’s entirely possible the Patriots made their offer, when they sensed it wasn’t enough for him, and that somebody else would offer more, reallocated the money elsewhere and weren’t even in the running in the final days. Either way I don’t care that much about the timeline they still extended a bad player and failed to sign a good one. That’s all that matters.
This. The Parker/Hopkins decision is the decline of the franchise in a nutshell. You can’t just go “oh we can pay a guy peanuts, and he’ll be 75% as good as the real thing” forever, eventually it’ll come back to bite you, and it has.
Well, you can, but you need the core piece with the ability to lift up everyone else around him.
The problem became the Pats lost that core piece and had a guy who was the one who needed to be lifted up.
…that’s my point. You can’t keep letting great players get away because they’re too expensive and replace them with at/above average guys to save money without eventually creating a massive talent deficit.
It didn't preclude them. His extension was for peanuts. Bill decided he was out on Hopkins for whatever reason, but it wasn't because Parker was getting paid barely above league minimum.
Came here to say this. It is my most significant memory of Parker, particularly bc after the game, he wouldn’t own it or take responsibility. Maybe the only great pass Mac threw in crunch time, and this loser drops it then won’t own it. Buh bye 👋
I can't believe our front office looked at him and thought wait we need to extend this guy. I hope it was all Bill and none of the guys who are currently running the team.
> I can't believe our front office looked at him and thought wait we need to extend this guy.
They were delusional and desperate. Happy to spend the money on Parker instead of Meyers. Complete misevaluation of both the roster and how to win in today's NFL.
Could've had dhop and meyers, ended up with parker and juju.
Could be drafted mcduffie, karlaftis, or 2nd team AP LT/LG tyler smith, instead took cole strange.
So many just god awful decisions over the past few years.
The drafting stuff I can look past - a lot of other teams passed on those guys as well. That happens in literally every single round of every draft. Hell, 31 teams passed on Tom Brady. Some team traded up in 2017 and didn't take Mahomes. Shit happens and hindsight is 20/20
Refusing to re-sign Meyers and giving money to Parker instead of Hopkins are both inexcusable and don't require hindsight - it was obvious they fucked that up when it happened.
True, any given draft I'm not gonna hold it against you because it's a crapshoot, but it's been about 10 drafts in a row where we have straight up whiffed when other stars were taken within a few picks.
Even our hits like dugger sorta have an asterisk, winfield was taken 7 picks later, was 2 or 3 years younger, and is already an AP1 player. This fanbase loves dugger, but if we had winfield he would be in milloy/rodney status.
The Gonzalez pick looks good, but there was a LT right there that went to the Steelers and looks like a franchise player.
Seems like BB lost his mind, like he was a completely different person the last 7 or 8 years.
I mean true, but he also drafted Barmore, Stevenson, Uche and Onwenu in the last few years as well as Gonzo and Dugger that you mentioned. I'd argue Jack Jones was a good evaluation talent-wise, dude's just a complete idiot. Jennings is a very serviceable rotational pass rusher.
Our offensive drafting has been whack obviously but Bill still found a lot of good players over the last few years.
It's going to take years to unfuck but I like the first steps Wolf has taken. Perhaps he'll end up looking like a genius when he walks into 2025 with an enormous amount of cap space and a few hits in his first draft class.
> It's going to take years to unfuck but I like the first steps Wolf has taken
Look, I'm not disagreeing with you, but you gotta give credit to BB. I love that Wolf resigned our core talent, but BB was the one who brought them in. And I hope Maye turns into an all pro, but let's be honest, he was the #3 overall pick. That one better be a layup! The new WRs excite me, but they're still unproven and have played exactly 0 downs in the NFL. We drafted for need this year, which feels very good on a surface level, but it's going to really, really suck if any of our top picks bust and we go back to look at BPA
I'm not that impressed yet, we resigned the core from our 4 win team, traded out of the top of the 2nd where there were still some blue chip WRs left to take 2 guys that are slow. It seems like more of the same tbh
I upvoted you. I share your reasons for concern but I'm also glad the Pats kept their best players and drafted high value positions (even though they might not have been the exact players I'd wished them to get). We'll see if not spending in FA is going to doom this team or not.
>traded out of the top of the 2nd where there were still some blue chip WRs left
No there weren't. There were also only three blue-chip WRs in the entire class, all gone in the top-10. Ladd McConkey is not a blue chip WR.
Ok that was a bad phrase to use, there was a 2nd tier(thomas, legette, worthy, coleman, ladd) that we missed out on. Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt polk is ever more than a another one of the 3rd string WRs we love so much. I bet at least a couple of the WRs I mentioned become pro bowlers. That trade down had belichick written all over it.
They tried to trade up with Buffalo, but it takes two to tango. Chalk it up to inexperience from Wolf. He'll learn. Otherwise, I'd take Polk and Baker over Ladd and Still (or whoever NE would've taken at 137 had they stayed put). Polk has the best hands in the class. He might not have true number one potential, but if he can become a reliable target, he'll be an excellent #2. Same for Baker, expect Baker has the upside of being a true #1 receiver. Next season, New England won't need to use their 1st round pick on a QB, and if they pick top-5 again as we can reasonably expect them to, they'll have one of the blue chip WRs or LTs available to them.
If you want knife twisted even more, the dolphins selected Devon Achane with the 3rd round pick we sent them for Parker. The 5th round pick we got along with Davante Parker? We used it to trade up in the 2nd for Tyquan Thornton.
Fucking 🤌
I cannot wait for some previous employee to leak the story on that one. His production wasn't good, his attitude wasn't good, and his salary wasn't good. He's gotta be dating one of Kraft's grandchildren or something
Cassius Marsh doesn't hold that title for you? Came in, did nothing but suck, threw a fit so large it got him kicked off the team mid season, left and bashed the living shit out of the team ever since.
wtf was senile Bill thinking extending him and doo doo smith poopster. he drove this fucking offense into the ground. lets not talk about his most recent 1st round 'reach' pick in 'Gotta have him over everyone else Strange 4D chess'
Swear I just saw one of those “who has the best trio” posts by one of the outlets and they included him for the eagles lol
Edit: yea here’s the [Link](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6cPUG1SvBG/?igsh=ODQwOXR3bm9ueTh5) lol top 6 WR trio included Devante Parker according to CBS Sports.
wtf was senile Bill thinking extending him and doo doo smith poopster. he drove this fucking offense into the ground. lets not talk about his most recent 1st round 'reach' pick in 'Gotta have him over everyone else Strange 4D chess' bs
I thought he retired two seasons ago
He did. He just forgot to inform the league
He had one good game last season! Was it the broncos game?
I came here just to make that joke.
He was going to retire yesterday but dropped the pen.
Commenting on \[Schefter\] Former Patriot DeVante Parker retires... 
The Patriots talking to Hopkins all of last offseason and inexplicably using the money to extend the slowest receiver in the league instead was certainly a choice.
Well it was Bill and your timeline is way off. Hopkins visited June 15. Parker signed a year extension on June 28. Hopkins made his decision on July 24.
I mean just cause he made his decision later doesn’t mean the Patriots extending Parker didn’t preclude them from signing Hopkins. I think it’s entirely possible the Patriots made their offer, when they sensed it wasn’t enough for him, and that somebody else would offer more, reallocated the money elsewhere and weren’t even in the running in the final days. Either way I don’t care that much about the timeline they still extended a bad player and failed to sign a good one. That’s all that matters.
This. The Parker/Hopkins decision is the decline of the franchise in a nutshell. You can’t just go “oh we can pay a guy peanuts, and he’ll be 75% as good as the real thing” forever, eventually it’ll come back to bite you, and it has.
Well, you can, but you need the core piece with the ability to lift up everyone else around him. The problem became the Pats lost that core piece and had a guy who was the one who needed to be lifted up.
…that’s my point. You can’t keep letting great players get away because they’re too expensive and replace them with at/above average guys to save money without eventually creating a massive talent deficit.
It didn't preclude them. His extension was for peanuts. Bill decided he was out on Hopkins for whatever reason, but it wasn't because Parker was getting paid barely above league minimum.
Extending parker never made any sense. He wouldn't have been expensive as a free agent and he really hadn't done anything here
The comments praising Bill as a cap genius was baffling
He retired the second he signed with us
Get this man his red jacket
Is he getting a job at Red Lobster or something?
Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy today too🤣
Won't be the first time he's not open
Underrated burn
Valet driver
😂😂😂
I'll forever remember mac dropping a *dime* in his hands and he just let it through
Came here to say this. It is my most significant memory of Parker, particularly bc after the game, he wouldn’t own it or take responsibility. Maybe the only great pass Mac threw in crunch time, and this loser drops it then won’t own it. Buh bye 👋
Hey man, it only hit his fingertips!
Hey man, it only hit his fingertips!
Now he can get separation from defenders.
Why couldn’t he have fucking done that 2 years ago?
He did, he just kept showing up
Quiet quit the NFL
He went R.O.A.D.
Was talking all that shit just to retire when he couldn’t blame Mac Jones anymore. Good riddance bum.
Dolphin’s sleeper agent DeVante Parker
I can't believe our front office looked at him and thought wait we need to extend this guy. I hope it was all Bill and none of the guys who are currently running the team.
> I can't believe our front office looked at him and thought wait we need to extend this guy. They were delusional and desperate. Happy to spend the money on Parker instead of Meyers. Complete misevaluation of both the roster and how to win in today's NFL.
Could've had dhop and meyers, ended up with parker and juju. Could be drafted mcduffie, karlaftis, or 2nd team AP LT/LG tyler smith, instead took cole strange. So many just god awful decisions over the past few years.
The drafting stuff I can look past - a lot of other teams passed on those guys as well. That happens in literally every single round of every draft. Hell, 31 teams passed on Tom Brady. Some team traded up in 2017 and didn't take Mahomes. Shit happens and hindsight is 20/20 Refusing to re-sign Meyers and giving money to Parker instead of Hopkins are both inexcusable and don't require hindsight - it was obvious they fucked that up when it happened.
True, any given draft I'm not gonna hold it against you because it's a crapshoot, but it's been about 10 drafts in a row where we have straight up whiffed when other stars were taken within a few picks. Even our hits like dugger sorta have an asterisk, winfield was taken 7 picks later, was 2 or 3 years younger, and is already an AP1 player. This fanbase loves dugger, but if we had winfield he would be in milloy/rodney status. The Gonzalez pick looks good, but there was a LT right there that went to the Steelers and looks like a franchise player. Seems like BB lost his mind, like he was a completely different person the last 7 or 8 years.
I mean true, but he also drafted Barmore, Stevenson, Uche and Onwenu in the last few years as well as Gonzo and Dugger that you mentioned. I'd argue Jack Jones was a good evaluation talent-wise, dude's just a complete idiot. Jennings is a very serviceable rotational pass rusher. Our offensive drafting has been whack obviously but Bill still found a lot of good players over the last few years.
It's going to take years to unfuck but I like the first steps Wolf has taken. Perhaps he'll end up looking like a genius when he walks into 2025 with an enormous amount of cap space and a few hits in his first draft class.
> It's going to take years to unfuck but I like the first steps Wolf has taken Look, I'm not disagreeing with you, but you gotta give credit to BB. I love that Wolf resigned our core talent, but BB was the one who brought them in. And I hope Maye turns into an all pro, but let's be honest, he was the #3 overall pick. That one better be a layup! The new WRs excite me, but they're still unproven and have played exactly 0 downs in the NFL. We drafted for need this year, which feels very good on a surface level, but it's going to really, really suck if any of our top picks bust and we go back to look at BPA
I'm not that impressed yet, we resigned the core from our 4 win team, traded out of the top of the 2nd where there were still some blue chip WRs left to take 2 guys that are slow. It seems like more of the same tbh
I upvoted you. I share your reasons for concern but I'm also glad the Pats kept their best players and drafted high value positions (even though they might not have been the exact players I'd wished them to get). We'll see if not spending in FA is going to doom this team or not.
>traded out of the top of the 2nd where there were still some blue chip WRs left No there weren't. There were also only three blue-chip WRs in the entire class, all gone in the top-10. Ladd McConkey is not a blue chip WR.
Right, they acquired the same tier of player (likely one they thought was a better fit) for a jump into the 4th. Don’t hate that move at all.
Ok that was a bad phrase to use, there was a 2nd tier(thomas, legette, worthy, coleman, ladd) that we missed out on. Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt polk is ever more than a another one of the 3rd string WRs we love so much. I bet at least a couple of the WRs I mentioned become pro bowlers. That trade down had belichick written all over it.
They tried to trade up with Buffalo, but it takes two to tango. Chalk it up to inexperience from Wolf. He'll learn. Otherwise, I'd take Polk and Baker over Ladd and Still (or whoever NE would've taken at 137 had they stayed put). Polk has the best hands in the class. He might not have true number one potential, but if he can become a reliable target, he'll be an excellent #2. Same for Baker, expect Baker has the upside of being a true #1 receiver. Next season, New England won't need to use their 1st round pick on a QB, and if they pick top-5 again as we can reasonably expect them to, they'll have one of the blue chip WRs or LTs available to them.
If you want knife twisted even more, the dolphins selected Devon Achane with the 3rd round pick we sent them for Parker. The 5th round pick we got along with Davante Parker? We used it to trade up in the 2nd for Tyquan Thornton. Fucking 🤌
In before “he was Krafts favourite guy, so he overruled Bill”
wow. that was kinnda outta nowhere. so glad we moved on
Lmao
Master of the 10/90 ball
Just looks so bad that Bill thought this guy deserved an extension. What was he thinking.
I will die the hill that this was a Patricia guy and ignore any competing factors
I cannot wait for some previous employee to leak the story on that one. His production wasn't good, his attitude wasn't good, and his salary wasn't good. He's gotta be dating one of Kraft's grandchildren or something
Probably my least favorite patriot of all time.
Cassius Marsh doesn't hold that title for you? Came in, did nothing but suck, threw a fit so large it got him kicked off the team mid season, left and bashed the living shit out of the team ever since.
Think he blocked one field goal but that was it.
Wish he retired two years ago
Patriots legend*
Good riddance
A 3rd and then an extension for this bum
Patriot's Legend Devante Parker??
wtf was senile Bill thinking extending him and doo doo smith poopster. he drove this fucking offense into the ground. lets not talk about his most recent 1st round 'reach' pick in 'Gotta have him over everyone else Strange 4D chess'
WR1 🙌
Hof!
Hall of Frauds!
The Goat.
It's a shame we don't retire his number
Good riddance ya bum 👌👋
Forever a Patriot /s
lol
He basically been retired let’s be honest with ourselves
More time to argue on Twitter
He retired 2 years ago
Good decision...he played like his heart was no longer in it.
Wow thanks for not doing a single thing after I was excited we signed you thanks a lot clown
2 years too late.
Happy trails!!
He was our #1 receiver last year!!!!* * Source: Devante Parker
Bruh
Good
Yes. Very sad. Anyways...🤷🏽♂️
I thought he quit two years ago and just collected a paycheck.
Extend that man!
What does this mean for the cap?
We are so back!!!
I assume his contract has a guarantee waive clause for retirements so we probably are getting the 3ish million back in a cap space credit
Swear I just saw one of those “who has the best trio” posts by one of the outlets and they included him for the eagles lol Edit: yea here’s the [Link](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6cPUG1SvBG/?igsh=ODQwOXR3bm9ueTh5) lol top 6 WR trio included Devante Parker according to CBS Sports.
Remember what he did to the best corner I’ve ever witnessed since revis in what was essentially a playoff game for the pats ?
Porker
wtf was senile Bill thinking extending him and doo doo smith poopster. he drove this fucking offense into the ground. lets not talk about his most recent 1st round 'reach' pick in 'Gotta have him over everyone else Strange 4D chess' bs
Doo doo *shit poopster was right there
Literally never saw him open. His whole career here was a contested catch
Remember the dorks in here that were all like “BUT 50/50 BALL CATCH RATE!!” Silly as fuck
It's a shame he clearly lost his passion. Never used to happen back in the day. Guys make so much money now they can retire early.
"Oh Devante. I didn't realize you were still there. You may go."
Who?
Not welcome back in New England. Absolute fraud
Bum