FOXBOROUGH — Patriots Director of Player Personnel Matt Groh met the media on the first day of camp ... a little unusual ... maybe checking a league box — but he actually had some interesting things to say on a variety of topics. Let's go through some of the bigger things and give you our thoughts.
DeAndre Hopkins
"We explore every option that is out there. DeAndre became available pretty early on in the spring. Obviously, there were reports even before he was released. We spent time working on it. We exhaust every option. We had him in here and talked to him. Look, everybody has got a chance to get in it right now. You look at the salary cap, basically anybody can make anything work right now. You just move some things around and get creative, so I know we were one of the teams mentioned that was most prevalent, but we exhausted our options and did what we thought made the most sense."
Bedard: Obviously the most interesting comment was about the cap, and how you can make any contract work. That might get him tasered by the big man, but it's the truth.
So, in the end, the Patriots could have done the Hopkins deal but just decided not to.
Patriots have a lot of possible free agents coming up...
"We are always in conversations, just like earlier in the summer. We took care of a couple of the guys who were going to be up next year. There are only so many of us. We can only get so many guys done at a time. There is a lot of time and effort that’s put into it by our end, contractually, and trying to do everything that makes sense. We will keep looking at different options. I like taking care of business, so there is not a whole lot of sitting around and waiting for things to happen. We are trying to be pretty proactive with things."
Bedard: I didn't like the "we can only get so many guys done" comment. So, they're done for now? That better not be the case, and might not. Because that means Dugger, Onwenu and the tight ends are going to market? That wouldn't be good, and it would be pricey.
Patriots being one of the lowest cash-spending teams....
"I haven’t been spending money for too long here, so I really only know what’s been going on the last couple of years. We’ve been aggressive in trying to get things done and we always try to and at every player’s contract and see how it fits together with the team. It's not just each individual contract; you've got to manage the locker room and be cognizant of what is going on with each player and how that fits at their position, side of the ball and the locker room as a whole."
Bedard: Is Groh trying to say that he controls the contracts and the money in the personnel department? Can't be. If he did, that's a huge departure from Belchick having 100 percent final say. I seriously doubt that to be the case.
On Juju Smith-Schuster...
"We are really excited to have JuJu. It's good to see him out here today. He has been working, the guy loves ball, the guy wants to compete and the guy is tough. I know we are used to seeing those kinds of players at his position around here, so I don’t think with having JuJu in here, it’s a new face and a new name, but I don’t think that it will be a big deviation from what people around here are accustomed to seeing."
Bedard: So he's basically just saying this guy will give us what Jakobi Meyers did and more.
Better happen.
Mac Jones fifth-year option.
"It’s the same thing with everybody, go out and compete. It’s the same thing with me, find ways to get better every day. This is day one, so we are going to take today, he’s got to get better the next day just like we all have to get better. We have a whole season of unknown to sit here and try and make some kind of decision off of an incomplete story. It’s a long way away.
"Yeah, I mean we’ll just have to take this year as it is. We’ve got two other years to go by. Those last two years just don’t get forgotten, that’s all part of building the portfolio, and we’re so far away from making any of those kinds of decisions.
Bedard: In other words, Jones is going to end of his deal, with or without the fifth-year option.
Definition of a No. 1 wide receiver?
"In scouting, we typically define a No. 1 wide receiver who is a three-down guy. If that player has inside-outside, outside-inside versatility, that’s great, but it’s a player who can go out there — it’s typically an X — who we think of as a guy who can go out there and get open on his own. The hallmarks that we have here are get open, catch the ball, and gain yards after the catch. The more that they can do size-wise, to be involved in the run game, that’s all important as well."
Bedard: So, no, the Patriots don't have one. And Hopkins could have been one under that definition.
Dalvin Cook
"Again, we talked to DeAndre Hopkins, that’s well-known. We explore as many options as we can. Dalvin’s another player, this is a really, really unique situation with both of these players – you don’t typically have players of this caliber available at this time. The contracts that are signed for players right now are nowhere near in the neighborhood of the contracts that these players are generally expected to sign. Usually these are all minimum guys, with splits. So this is a unique situation, and in any unique situation, I think everybody evaluates and looks at it. With Dalvin, we saw firsthand last year going up to Minnesota on Thanksgiving – which was great to spend Thanksgiving in Minnesota – I saw Dalvin firsthand and what he can do.
Bedard: Groh is saying, if Cook wants a cut-rate deal, he has a home with the Patriots.
On lack of spending saying the Patriots don't really care about this season
"Yeah, I don’t think our goals are ever going to change around here. There are expectations. Look, we fully intend on going out there and competing, and we’re doing everything that we can to achieve the highest level of success. That’s the standard; the standard’s not going to change. That’s the standard I’m held to. That’s the standard that everybody around here is held to. I don’t think I could function somewhere where that wasn’t the standard. It would be very difficult."
Bedard: Any talk about the Patriots punting on this season, or perhaps another one, because the division/schedule is tough, is utter and complete nonsense.
When talking about adding free agents and the talent that’s still out there right now, why do you believe that Foxborough is still an attractive destination in the NFL?
"Because I think guys who love football know that this is a place for guys who love football. There are guys out there that like to work, that like to put in the time. I think that they know that the locker room that they’re going to be coming into, there’s going to be other like-minded guys. Just like it would be difficult for me to go somewhere else and have to adapt to that culture, you know, once you’re institutionalized. It’s tough. Once you’ve become institutionalized and you know a certain way about going about your business – it’s not the only way, by any means, and there’s other ways of doing things that can have tremendous results. This is kind of the way that I know. This is what I grew up around as a kid. If you love football, this is the place to be."
Bedard: Because we like football is not a good answer. But it doesn't matter. If you show the most green, you can get any player.