INDIANAPOLIS — For those who aren’t satisfied but Stefon Diggs may play elsewhere subsequent season, contemplate this.
Two and a half months in the past, when Diggs confronted strangulation and assault expenses that appeared to threaten his speedy soccer future, the Patriots stood with their star receiver by releasing an atypically robust assertion.
“We help Stefon,” they wrote.
Now, as Diggs’ contract merely clouds their roster-building crystal ball, Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf look like conserving their distance. The message now’s: come what could.
“I’m not going to get into any particular gamers at this time,” Wolf stated this week. “There are particular conversations that we’re having, and we’ll see what occurs with everybody.”
On Wednesday, Vrabel had an opportunity to face by Diggs once more. He was requested point-blank how he views Diggs’ future with the Patriots, who’ve him below contract for 2 extra seasons.
“I imply, not solely his future, however what he was capable of do for us, and are available in and supply management, work extraordinarily exhausting the time that he was rehabbing from the knee,” Vrabel stated on the NFL Scouting Mix. “I feel (he) was only a actually good presence each week. And in order we glance to guage the soccer workforce, you already know, we’re doing that (evaluating gamers) consistently.”
So far as non-answers go, that may be a magnificence. Type, complimentary, downright flowery. However nonetheless a non-answer, and all due to his contract.
The soccer bother with Diggs — setting apart the intense prison expenses that stem from an alleged incident the place his former chef accused him of smacking her within the face and choking her utilizing the criminal of his elbow round her neck — is that his deal fits neither him nor the workforce. Solely $1.7 million of his 2026 base wage is assured, until he’s on the workforce by March 13, at which level he’s assured one other $6 million. Diggs’ complete wage subsequent season is $20.6 million, a quantity that ought to make the Patriots uneasy, however no more so than his $26.5 million cap hit.
Even after authoring the workforce’s first 1,000-yard receiving season since earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, Diggs is solely not price that kind of hit on their books. He’ll flip 33 in November, and totaled simply 110 receiving yards over 4 playoff video games. Elite defenses have been unafraid of him, the Patriots’ finest receiver and an getting older participant whose finest days are behind him.
Then there’s Barmore. Even at 26, there are causes to consider his finest soccer has been performed, too.
Barmore has a historical past of knee accidents just lately overshadowed by his battle with blood clots. He didn’t tally a single stress within the Tremendous Bowl. He had two sacks within the common season, when his run protection was usually problematic. He genreated a number of fast pressures but additionally didn’t document as a lot as quarterback hit in seven of eight video games throughout one midseason stretch; a dry spell Wolf famous this week in a solution about whether or not Barmore is the kind of participant in whom the Patriots ought to be investing.
“I imply, Christian has grown up fairly a bit, and we proceed to assist him with that,” Wolf stated. “He continues to need to make enhancements in that space.”
However is maturity actually one thing an NFL employees ought to actually be centered on growing for a participant in Yr 6?
For the document, investing in gamers like Barmore, whose alleged transgression final summer time was not his first run-in with the legislation, is now a no for me. The main points of his alleged home incident are u-g-l-y ugly.
Throwing the mom of his 2-year-old daughter to the bottom, a girl who submitted a photograph of her accidents from the alleged abuse to the police and stated Barmore threatened to have his cousin assault her. A lady who took a team-provided automobile service to Delaware to get away from Barmore, in keeping with the police experiences.
The Patriots stood by Barmore all through this, taking part in him for all 17 regular-season contests and 4 playoff video games. So in the event that they launch or commerce Barmore, they can’t declare it was on a personality foundation alone. It is going to be about cash and worth, the 2 elements which have really modified because the incident; mirroring Diggs’ poor playoff manufacturing after his expenses.
Like Diggs, Barmore shall be assured a big chunk of his wage if he’s nonetheless on the workforce March 13. He’ll safe $10 million of his base wage, until the workforce cuts him and eats a $12.8 million useless cap hit or $5.6 million in useless cap in the event that they apply a post-June 1 designation when releasing him. A Barmore commerce feels much less viable, however is perhaps price fetching a late-round choose on the expense of extra useless cap as an alternative of releasing him for nothing.
Regardless of the money issues they’re now weighing (Barmore is the Eleventh-highest paid defensive sort out in soccer by complete contract worth), it was nonetheless notable that Vrabel went on about character when requested Wednesday about his defensive sort out’s authorized state of affairs and the way it may have an effect on his future with the workforce.
“We need to guarantee that these are simply, in actual fact, accusations. And I imply, we need to guarantee that we have now the suitable individuals on this soccer workforce. That’s the very first thing that we need to do,” Vrabel stated. “I need to guarantee that the individuals on this soccer workforce are those that we wish on there that share the identical beliefs and the identical work ethic and the identical values and assist us construct an id once more.
“After which we’ll consider the participant for the participant. So, every time any of these issues come to gentle or there’s a choice and we all know extra data, then we’ll decide on that.”
Whether or not his case is resolved within the subsequent few weeks or not, selections on Barmore and Diggs are coming. In a yr when the free-agent market is sort of devoid of true difference-makers and the percentages of a blockbuster commerce stay pretty distant, that is the story of the Patriots’ offseason.
Will they half with two of their 10-to-12 finest gamers to trim wage and shed baggage?
It looks like one in all Diggs or Barmore shall be gone.
However each wouldn’t shock me, both.
