2015 New England Patriots

[Thrashen]

From our perspective, it's been a nice off-season for the Superbowl Champion Patriots thus far.

With the re-signing of LB Chris White, LB James Morris, FB James Develin, along with the signing of former Bills TE, Scott Chandler, and the re-structuring of WR Danny Amendola’s contract, the Patriots should maintain (or increase) their “offensive whiteness†in 2015. Hopefully, the signing of Chandler will prompt the Patriots to trade/cut black TE, Tim Wright (who was brought in when Logan Mankins was traded in September 2014). Chandler has fantastic hands, great durability, and at 6’ 7â€, is even taller than his new compatriot, the larger-than-life Rob Gronkowski.

Since Gronk was drafted in 2010, the Patriots have had an endless cavalcade of non-white TE’s to pair with #87. Guys like Algae Crumpler, Aaron Hernandez, Daniel Fells, Michael Hoomanawanui, DJ Williams, and Tim Wright. It’ll be awesome to see Edelman, Amendola, Gronk, and Chandler as receiving options in 2015.

Of the 71 players on the roster, 23 are white…

QB – Brady, Garrapolo, Gilbert
FB – Develin
WR – Amendola, Edelman
TE – Gronkowski, Chandler
OL – Devey, Kline, Solder, Stork, Vollmer, Wendell
DL – Bequette, Ninkovich, Vellano
LB – White, Morris
DB – Ebner
ST – Allen, Gostowski, Ott

With the exception of Bequette and possibly Morris, most of these guys should make the 53-man roster. New England will surely have another all-black draft class for 2015, but not to worry, their picks are so terrible that most fail to make the team...

CAPTION: Former Iowa Tackling-Machine, James Morris, Hopes to Make the Squad

 

[Thrashen]

The Pats could also bring back veteran OG, Dan Connolly. There have also been reports that the team wants to trade for white Eagles OG, Evan Mathis...

http://www.boston.com/sports/footba...evan-mathis/jqUPPtbNehPz3EbhIFBDON/story.html

 

[Don Wassall]

I know there's some uncertainty about Tyler Gaffney's background as he looks White in some pictures and more Poly or Mexican in others (such as the one in the article linked below), but he's on the Patriots roster and has a chance to stick and maybe a lot more.

I saw him interviewed during the Combine last year and he looked like a White kid to me. He can pass for Southern European. At any rate he's not black, which the NFL prefers 99.9% of the time at running back.

When it comes to potential replacements for Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, don’t sleep on Tyler Gaffney


http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...ley-shane-vereen-dont-sleep-on-tyler-Gaffney/

 

[Thrashen]

Don,

Gaffney's father, Gene Gaffney (likely Irish) is clearly 100% white. I'm unsure of the ethnicity of his mother, Tiffani (her maiden name would help), but I believe she's Polynesian, Mestizo, Southeast Asian, or some combination. Some photos of Mr. and Mrs. Gaffney...

As you said, Gaffney is mixed, but looks very white at times...

With Ridley and Vereen gone, Gaffney could make the roster as the 4th RB after Blount, Bolden, and Gray. I'd support him, but not in the same manner I would, say, Toby Gerhart.

 

[Westside]

I think his mom is Mexican. If he fully recovered from last year, he could fit the scat back role that Woodhead did when he was with the Patriots. I do think Danny had more explosive first three steps though. I hope he can fulfill that role. I did a quick search on mother. I could not find out her ethnicity.

 

[Extra Point]

The Patriots would do well to give Zach Zenner a chance. He could probably be had for a late round pick or even as a free agent.

 

[Thrashen]

The Pats want Dan Connolly back, but several other teams, including Pete's Plantation, are trying to sign him...

http://mweb.cbssports.com/fantasy/f...connolly-back-four-others-interested?v=1&vc=1

 

[Freethinker]

Some good news:

Patriots coach Bill Belichick says he's "excited" to work with second-year RB Tyler Gaffney.


Belichick's "excitement" was expressed during a Q&A session where he acted like he'd rather be on Mars, but is notable nonetheless. The Boston Globe reported last month that Belichick "apparently loves" the 2014 sixth-rounder. Speaking Thursday, Belichick noted that Gaffney was as the Pats' facility every day last season despite being on injured reserve, and said he catches the ball well. Gaffney (6'0/220) would be a seemingly-odd fit to replace Shane Vereen (5'10/210), but could possibly carve out a role in the Pats' new-look backfield.

 

[Extra Point]

I wonder why Gaffney is a "seemingly odd fit" to replace Vereen.

 

[Thrashen]

With the oft-injured Patriot LB, Jerod Mayo, returning from yet another season on IR, I’m very interested in his back-up, James Morris. I remember Morris well during his days at Iowa, where he logged 400 tackles, 33 TFL, 10.5 sacks, and 6 INTs in three seasons of work. Naturally, he went undrafted in 2014…

With Donta Hightower only expected to return a few weeks into the 2015 season following shoulder surgery, and with Mayo mending from a torn patella tendon, it would be great to see Morris work the first team this off-season and earn some playing time for the Superbowl Champions.

The Patriots could have Ninkovich, Ebner, Morris, and White make the squad as defenders in 2015.

With the addition of Scott Chandler and Tyler Gaffney, this team could be even more white-friendly in 2015!

 

[Sport]

BB likes Gaffney for the same reasons he liked BGE.
Has the heart of a lion, has little to no ball security issues, can shoulder a 30 carry game without loosing a step.

Remember folks Gaffney has only been a featured back for one year. His body has a lot left in it, and a year in NE's S&C program will do even more to ensure a positive year with the patriots.

He's not Woodhead, he can catch passes out of the back field and make a defender miss. But if you're looking to have him take over that roll full time you're gonna be disappointed.

I believe that Scott Chandler is the second best threat inside the 20, the other being Gronk. With the retention of Devlin, and last seasons addition of Tim Wright I can see this moving into a smash-mouth A-B gap scheme relying heavily on the play-action to keep the defense honest.

A heavy I single back set with Chandler on one side Gronk on the other and Gaffney in the back field. With Lafell as the X and Edleman as the motion/Z. That formation alone would keep me up at nights.

Football season cant get here fast enough.

 

[Sport]

Don,
With Ridley and Vereen gone, Gaffney could make the roster as the 4th RB after Blount, Bolden, and Gray. I'd support him, but not in the same manner I would, say, Toby Gerhart.

Gray won't make it out of camp. Blount has already been suspended for at least one game. Bolden I believe is his biggest competition. BB does not make a habit out of stashing players for no reason. Unless your last name happens to be Ventrone. I actually expect really big things from Gaffney this year.
And as you said there is no way I can pull for him the same way I would a Zach Line or Gerhart. Its the next best thing.
On the topic of Stanford RB's Christian McCaffery!! lets hope Shaw lets him be himself.

 

[Westside]

Great story on Julian Edelman on BSPN today. Worth a read.

 

[FootballDad]

Great story on Julian Edelman on BSPN today. Worth a read.

Here is the link to the story.

 

[white lightning]

Here is the link to the story.

Excellent article. Thanks for posting that guys. What an athlete and a warrior. Coach B.B. knows how to find these guys.

Many other teams could win more if they would find the courage to play more of these kids.

 

[Thrashen]

After his dazzling performance in the 2014 playoffs and in Superbowl 49, Edelman’s newfangled national fame has allowed us to learn far more about his family life that was previously a mystery. For years, we all wondered why Julian was constantly referred to as “Jewish” on various websites supporting/listing Jewish athletes. All this time, these vague sources informed us that Julian’s father, Frank (Francis), was Jewish and his mother, Angie, was Catholic. Less than an hour after the Superbowl had concluded, Julian described his father in the following way…

“He’s pushed me to heights that I thought I never could get to. My dad was just a little trailer trash white dude that worked his tail off, didn’t have a dad. He started at working at 14, didn’t get to play sports. He dedicated his life to his kids to let us live our dreams. I love my dad.”

[video=youtube;CgjSMAKw3mo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgjSMAKw3mo[/video]

In the ESPN article that Westside mentioned, we are told the following information about his father…

"I think Jules has always approached his career with a small-business mentality," says his father, Frank Edelman, a mechanic and the owner of A-1 Auto Tech in Mountain View, California. It's a month after the Patriots' Super Bowl triumph and, dressed in a blue shirt with his name stitched above his heart, Frank is looking up at the pictures of his son plastered across his office walls. "No one wants to hear you complain. They want you to get the part they need, and they want you to fix their car.

"Every day," he adds, "your job is on the line." Frank Edelman's own dad died when Frank was 3 years old. He spent much of his childhood living in a trailer park, playing very few sports. To support himself, he learned to fix cars and became a certified mechanic by 19. After opening his shop in 1987, he would come home each day and drag Julian and his older brother, Jason, to the park. He would hit them ground balls, pitch to them or have them work on throwing a football until it got dark. Even when they hated it. Even when they tried to refuse. "I think my dad still needs shoulder surgery from all the batting practice he threw us," Edelman says. "He wanted to live through us a little."

So we’re to believe that a Jewish guy (with light hair and light eyes) grew up in a trailer park in California, didn’t go to college (instead becoming an auto mechanic, of all things), started working full time at an early age, got married, produced fair-featured children, and lived a middle class life coaching his son’s football and baseball teams? If true, he's a rare breed of Jew that I can respect. Here is a picture of Edelman as a kid (middle of photo wearing blue shirt)...

He looks exactly the way I did as a child.

Here are some photos of his father, Frank...

I see no Semite or Ashkenazi in this guy at all.

A recent twist in this saga was the fact that during a November 2014 game against the Broncos, Julian wore a “Israeli-America” pin on his hat on the sidelines…

Is Julian actually a Jew? Does it really matter? I don’t think so, given his “California surfer” appearance and the fact that 99% of DWF’s wouldn’t realize that his last name (which translates to “Nobleman” in German) is a commonly-pilfered Ashkenazi surname typically observed as credits roll down the screen following a Hollywood film or TV show. In reality, Frank Edelman is likely half-Jewish, making Julian 1/4th Jewish at the most.

 

[Thrashen]

New England drafted 7/7 non-whites in 2013, 7/9 non-whites in 2014, and now 9/11 non-whites in 2015. Last weekend, instead of merely selecting defensive busts from Rutgers and the SEC, they also chose two black offensive linemen from the ACC (Mason and Jackson). As we all know, the Patriots OL has been all-white (with a few aberrations, such as Brain Waters in 2011) for 8-9 years, usually with all-white reverses or a single non-white reserve. Currently, the Patriots have a ridiculous 6 non-white reserves on the OL. With warhorse guard, Dan Connolly, still unsigned, who knows how everything will shake out for the Superbowl Champions in 2015. The starting 5 on the OL should remain all-white (Solder, Wendell, Stork, Kline/Devey, Vollmer), but any injuries could change that very quickly.

Thankfully, the countless non-white players New England selects are usually so appallingly-bad in the NFL that they rarely hang around for more than a season or two. No matter how many black busts are drafted, the whiteness of the team never seems to be greatly affected. In fact, one could argue that with the addition of TE Scott Chandler (presumably favored to start over alongside Gronkowski in place of Hoomanawanui and Tim Wright) and the drafting of TE AJ Derby, the offense should grow even more white-heavy this season…

CAPTION: 6’ 7â€￾ Scott Chandler, Taller than Gronk

CAPTION: CAPTION: Rookie TE, AJ Derby

The “Titanic TE Tandemâ€￾ of Gronk/Chandler should be unstoppable and with FB James Develin and RB Tyler Gaffney is also in the mix, the offense should be every bit as fun to watch in 2015.

Defensively, they couldn’t get any worse...but at least LB’s James Morris and Chris White should make the 53-man roster along with Ninkovich, Ebner, and Vellano. Perhaps we'll get lucky and a rash on injuries will propel one of our guys into the starting lineup.

 

[TwentyTwo]

Nice write up as always Trashen! AJ Derby could be one to watch...athletic TE who played some QB.

LB'ers Dane Fletcher & Brandon Spikes were brought in for workouts by the Patriots a couple of days ago...

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...tcher-visited-patriots-on-wednesday/#comments

 

[Leonardfan]

Pats signed Dane Fletcher to a 1 yr deal. He returns after spending a year in hatie's Cocoa rich Tampa plantation.

 

[white lightning]

Nice move by New England. Hope there is more to come. It would be awesome to see them continue winning even with Brady out. The NFL hates this team. Of course we love the Pats here.

 

[woody39]

Good move to bring back Fletch and also they have picked up D'orazio a white udfa at wr so hopefully a good camp may lead to him sticking around. They don't have much at wr outside of Minitron, Amendola and Lafell with Dobson and Boyce flops in 2013 draft process.

 

[Thrashen]

Nice to see Fletcher back with the Pats and the signing of WR Zach D'Orazio is interesting, as he doesn’t have the body type (6’ 2†220 lbs) that New England usually covets in their white WR’s. D'Orazio runs a 4.42 40 yard dash, but only put up above average numbers at Akron, which is curious because usually white WR’s from lesser-known DI schools need to be record-setting superstars to get a look…

The roster currently has 89 players, so expect one more signing before June 18[SUP]th[/SUP]…hopefully they’ll bring back Dan Connolly. Of the 89 players currently signed, 28 are white (I counted Tyler Gaffney as white), or 31%…

QB – Brady, Garoppolo, Gilbert

RB – Develin, Gaffney

WR – Amendola, Edelman, D’Orazio

TE – Chandler, Gronkowski, Derby

OL – Andrews, Devey, Kline, Solder, Stork, Vollmer, Wendell

DL – Bequette, Ninkovich, Vellano

LB – Fletcher, Morris, White

DB – Ebner

P/K/LS – Allen, Gostowski, Cardona

Of these 28 players, I’d expect the following guys to be cut or be placed on the practice squad: Gilbert, Gaffney, Derby, Andrews, Morris, Bequette, and White. This would leave anywhere from 20-23 whites on the 53-man roster, as always.

Defensively, our best hope for added “whiteness†is for a rash of injuries to occur at LB, which would allow Dane Fletcher, James Morris, and Chris White to get some playing time. Fletcher knows the system, so he could steal some reps early in the season while Hightower is recovering from shoulder surgery…

Offensively, it would be nice to see New England’s extra-black draft picks (Jackson and Mason) on the OL flame out, as their poly draft pick, Jon Halapio, did last season. The Pats rarely keep more than two TE’s, so Gronkowski and Chandler are locks. It would be nice to see the non-white TE’s (Wright, Davis, Hoomanawanui) shown the door prior to the season opener. At WR, Amendola, Edelman, LaFell, and Slater are locks…so D’Orazio will be competing with Gibson, Tyms, Dobson and Boyce. Unless these Negroes are injured or perform terribly in camp, I don’t like his chances to stick this season.

Regardless of Brady’s status, the squad should win the division and compete for another title. Gronk, Edelman, Amendola, Chandler, and LaFell should be the top receivers in 2015-2016, which should be very exciting.

 

[Leonardfan]

Overrated, slow and recently resigned LB Brandon Spikes has been cut from the team hopefully securing a roster spot for Fletcher and making Morris likelier to make the team.

The Tom Iron theory proves true once again!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...ots-after-strange-car-accident-142138819.html

 

[celticdb15]

Overrated, slow and recently resigned LB Brandon Spikes has been cut from the team hopefully securing a roster spot for Fletcher and making Morris likelier to make the team.

The Tom Iron theory proves true once again!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...ots-after-strange-car-accident-142138819.html

Been overrated since day one. Fletcher should start and I think its time for James Morris' racial apprenticeship to be over.

 

[Thrashen]

Overrated, slow and recently resigned LB Brandon Spikes has been cut from the team hopefully securing a roster spot for Fletcher and making Morris likelier to make the team.

The Tom Iron theory proves true once again!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...ots-after-strange-car-accident-142138819.html

Spikes was obviously drunk and/or high, rear-ended another car, and fled the scene. This is the same guy that posted a pornographic video of himself online, gouged another player in the eye while at Florida, and was a “healthy scratchâ€￾ due to his bad attitude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7y9sXoGlsc

In addition to his questionable personal life, Spikes also ran one of the all-time laughable 40-yard dash times (5.0 second flat!), is terrible in pass coverage, is obese, and posted terrible stats despite being a full-time starter for years in New England.

With lard-ass off the roster, Fletcher should be the primary backup to the “realâ€￾ starters (Mayo, Collins, and Hightower). Mayo is a decent player who is returning from yet another season-ending injury, so who knows if he’ll be 100%. Like most former Alabama players, Hightower has had an awful career in the NFL, although his play improved in the latter portion of last season. He might not be back from off-season shoulder surgery before when the season starts, giving Fletcher another opportunity for playing time.

It would be nice to see Fletcher join Ninkovich to lighten up the defense in 2015…