According to NESN.com, the New England Patriots are going to be the first NFL Team that has an officially licensed Instant Scratch Ticket. As you can see, past sports partnerships have been explored, including the Boston Celtics.
The collaboration between the state of Massachusetts and the Patriots is expected to bring in over $100 million for cities and towns hit hard by the economic downturn.
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With Michael Vick being released at 5am this morning, there is a ton of speculating about where he will end up playing his football… if at all.
One of the spots that people keep mentioning is New England. The Patriots have a successful history of rehabilitating “problem” players (Moss, Dillon) and certainly have the leadership to pull it off.
The question in our mind is if Bob and Myra Kraft want to deal with the PR fallout, but the reality is, everyone already hates the Patriots. What do they have to lose?
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Nick Caserio, aka “The New Scott Pioli”, told everyone at his recent draft recap press conference that the Patriots were open to exploring trades for a veteran linebacker. As needed with all things Bill Belichick, everyone downed that nugget with a heavy dose of salt and moved on. This time, however, the rumor has some legs.
John Clayton, aka “The Crypt Keeper”, is reporting that the Patriots and the Raiders have been talking about a trade for Derrick Burgess, who has played defensive end for the Patriots for the past four years. He totaled 38.5 sacks in his tenure with the silver and black, although 26 of those came in the first two years. Burgess has battled injuries the past two seasons.
Burgess, who weighs in at 260, seems to be a natural fit for the outside linebacker position for the 3-4. He will probably command a 2nd or 3rd round pick, although that might be diminished if he demands a new contract. Burgess is due to make $3.5 million in 2009 and wants a new deal. Like What You Read? – Subscribe to NE Patriots Draft!
While the news yesterday that the NFL Salary Cap would be raised by $12 million definitely helps out the Patriots, it is not the panacea that many would hope. According to Miguel at PatsCap.com, the Salary Cap was already scheduled to get an $11 million bump, so in essence, this is only a new raise of $1 million.
The Patriots now should sit with about $5.7 million of Salary Cap space. With that in mind, the Patriots rookie pool has allotted the Foxborough Front Office $6.1 million in room to sign their rookies. There will need to be some contract restructuring or some releasing of quality players in order to get the Patriots the flexibility they need to sign IR replacements.
Dan Koppen is one name that we hear floating around that just might be on the cut list. That move would free up $500k on the 2009 Salary Cap and over $3 million on the 2010 Salary Cap. Presumably, Al Johnson or Rich Ohrnberger would take over the center duties. In our opinion, that would be a huge mistake; Koppen is a good blocker, but really makes his money in making quality line calls. We would be shocked to see him go, but that wouldn’t be the first time (Ellis Hobbs) that we’ve been shocked in 2009.
This off-season is far from over…
Check out our 2009 NFL Draft Review for the Patriots over at our friends at Patriots Insider. We were the featured Guest Contributor there today. The 2009 Draft is compared to another draft this decade, that helped keep the Patriots winning. Like What You Read? – Subscribe to NE Patriots Draft!
After having to suffer in the arms of his woman rather than celebrate on the sideline with his teammates, Tom Brady has to be ready to have a monster 2009 NFL Season. He already has money ($14,600,000 cap hit in 2009), he has the girl (Giselle Bundchen), and he has the fame. What he doesn’t have is a ring for the pinkie or the thumb.
In order to whet your appetite for the upcoming Patriots year, we present a video entitled “The Return of Brady”, brought to you by our friends from YouTube. Enjoy…
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