Patriots | Traylor Cut

[Smizzy]

Patriots | Traylor Cut - from www.KFFL.com

Wed, 4 May 2005 14:14:10 -0700

Dan Pires, of the New Bedford Standard-Times, reports the New England Patriots have released DT Keith Traylor.

[RichardSeymour]

I'll steal my own post from KFFL--- no doubt this will trigger more menstruation on Rsherry's part, but so be it.

I liked Traylor a lot last year. Thought he did a fine job at NT after he got through some early hiccups getting used to the position.

I'm pretty surprised by this move. Traylor was a very nice rotational guy, and at a minimum well worth the 0.765 mil as insurance at an absolutely critical spot.

This move signifies one or more of the following.

1) The team was expecting Traylor to be good-to-go this year, and recently determined that wasn't the case, leading to his release. (If so, you have to think we're scrambling to find a true NT for depth, since moving Green, Warren, or Seymour inside is NOT optimal at all).

2) The team has reached a handshake agreement with Traylor to cut him and resign him at the vet minimum. I don't know whether this is allowable by the league, if so, and if the Pats have a lot of trust in Traylor or his agent, it makes a lot of sense.

3) Belichick has a lot of confidence in Ethan Kelley or Rodney Bailey, and something happened ( an imminent cap deadline, restructure, extension, or fA signing) to finally get BB to pull the trigger on cutting Traylor (mind you, something must have caused this, otherwise I think we would have either done the right thing and cut him before FA began, or kept him through TC at least. Either something changed for Traylor, or something changed for the Pats.)

Per Miguel we are 2.293 million under the cap. Clayton has us at 1.960 mil under, but I'll go with Miguel's #.

When you apply the rule of 51 and the dead cap hit our savings from cutting Traylor are only 0.372 mil.

That's a pretty small amount for us to save, and could EASILLY be had in quite a few other ways.

Hence....

1) This is a cap maneuver, Traylor will be resigned (at the veteran minimum, thereby qualifying his salary for the veteran exception---- Traylor makes the same amount of money as before in this scenario, but his cap # is 0.315 mil lower).

OR

2) Belichick decided that Traylor was worth less than 0.372 mil to the team at this point (meaning he's basically worthless and could not have been counted on as even a decent backup).

OR

3) Belichick had considered cutting Traylor already because of one of the players behind him at NT (Kelley, maybe Bailey), and some small cap item, roster item, or discussion with Traylor led BB to pull the trigger now.

[RichardSeymour]

OK, it's NOT a cap maneuver.

From Mike Reiss

http://news.bostonherald.com/blogs/reissPieces/

Veteran nose tackle Keith Traylor said he wasn't surprised at being released by the Patriots. Informed of the team's decision on Wednesday, the 35-year-old Traylor took the news in stride.

"It's not the first time and it probably won't be the last," he said Wednesday night.

Traylor, who hadn't been participating in the team's offseason workouts, said he spoke with Patriots coach Bill Belichick on Wednesday and was told the team was going with younger players.

So the only question is how much of this is a lack of confidence in Traylor and how much of it is confidence in Ethan Kelley or conceivably Rodney Bailey.

BTW, Kelley's a guy I REALLY liked when we drafted him. A lot. I know nothing of how he has developed in the interim other than that it's been mostly on the practice squad.

[RichardSeymour]

Come to think of it, you guys should be ALL OVER THIS.

Traylor is EXACTLY the kind of guy you want next to Robertson this year--- and it makes a lot of sense since he's a 1 year contract guy anyway at this point---- bring him aboard, expect him to start, let Pouha learn without too much pressure, and keep Lance LeGree the hell off the field.

[Barton]

Come to think of it, you guys should be ALL OVER THIS.

Traylor is EXACTLY the kind of guy you want next to Robertson this year--- and it makes a lot of sense since he's a 1 year contract guy anyway at this point---- bring him aboard, expect him to start, let Pouha learn without too much pressure, and keep Lance LeGree the hell off the field.

EXACTLY. This would be a pretty decent pickup. I thought Traylor was crap coming into last season, but he looked pretty good to say the least. He's old and fat, but who cares? He'll be a good run stuffer for us at least 1 season

[Barton]

Our depth at DTackle really worries me.

Legree is a decent backup. Alan Harper SUCKS. Tank Reed is a good player, but due to asthma he'll never be anything than a good backup. Pouha has the measurables, but he won't be half as good in 2005 as Traylor could be for us.

He's not a player that will start and finish games for us. But he would give us a good boost at DTackle depth.

He's a player you give the majority of the snaps opposite DRob but rotate him throughout the game with Pouha and Legree.

[fatcatxl]

id be in heaven... Traylor would qualify for the kinda player i want next to d-rob. A giant pile of crap, but a huge giant pile of crap that can help stop the run and free up vilma. I'd be content with this if the jets signed him.

[Alk]

EXACTLY. This would be a pretty decent pickup. I thought Traylor was crap coming into last season, but he looked pretty good once the Patriots released him. He's old and fat, but who cares? He'll be a good run stuffer for us at least 1 season

At least you're honest.

[124]

I'd love for the Jets to bring him in here for a year but it's not going to happen.

I wonder where the Tractor will catch on...maybe the NY Giants? They are in need for a DT.

[Green Jets & Ham]

Traylor is washed up .. BB is nobodies fool, he knows this cat is cooked

If we're looking for another mountain man .. one more 330+ NT .. I would rather give Tim McGill a legit chance to win that job than sign an over-the-hill Keith Traylor

Maybe McGill pulls another Brandon Moore .. another UDFA Project who made big strides in NFLE, then became a heck of a player for the Jets .. he may be a nice NT {330+} for depth if given a shot?

McGill is doing very well in NFLE .. spent 2004 on our practice squad, and now he's tearing it up in NFLE .. I think this kid deserves a fair shot to make this team, and that won't happen if we bring in Grandpa

BTW, here are some observations from Jetses over at JetsAddicts, a man I highly respect/admire for his wealth of knowledge

Anyway, someone asked him for an update on McGill's progress in NFLE {which he follows closely}, and below was his response

I recorded last weeks game. He played vs the Centurians with Matt Walters playing DE.

McGill had a nice game, especially vs the run. He didn't get it going rushing the passer though which was disappointing. Normally he makes OL look like blocking sleds on skates.

The first play of the game, he blew into the backfield and went down the line a bit to drop the runner at the line. He could have had a monster tackle for loss later in the game, but the DT and DE across from the RG & RT both got pancaked...so the runner had plenty of space to sneak out of his diving tackle attempt about 3-4 yds behind the line. The other great moment he had vs the run came on a 3rd-and-1 play. The C & RG doubled him at the nose, his 3-tech DT got some push which forced the runner to the middle, he tossed the C aside, and then crushed the runner with a pad-to-pad hit about a half yd behind the line.

But like I said, his pass rush was pretty flat. He got doubled a bunch and didn't do much about it with his bull rush.

The best part is he went over to Europe because he specifically wanted to work on his run defending skills -- coming off a brief pass-happy arena FB career. You can tell his pass rush skills are there when he uses them...great bull rush, great club, solid swim move, and even a nice spin. But his forte is definitely the pure bull rush. He drops his drop, extends those arms, and drives anyone and anything the hell out of his way. I missed that this past week.

They rotate a lot {in NFLE}, using 5 different guys at DT. One of them is former DE Aaron Hunt who plays both DE and DT and always slides inside on passing downs. Hamburg has an excellent DL, IMO. And McGill is the starter and primary NT