Will the tremendous hosing Mike Daniels got from the Green Bay Packers on Wednesday end up being a boon for the Patriots?
The Patriots — as they always are — were mentioned as a team that was involved in trade conversations with the Packers prior to Daniels' release by Green Bay.
Nothing gives an available player more bump than telling the rest of the league the Patriots are sniffing around his hindquarters.
So we take with a grain of salt the report that the Patriots were in the mix for a 30-year-old, 6-foot, 291-pound defensive tackle who missed six games last year with a foot injury that’s still bugging him.
First off, he’s probably going to be expensive. He may say he wants to play for a Super Bowl contender, but he was also down to make more than $8M this year — the final season of his four-year, $41M deal. He’s not going to sign with someone for a song just to be on an elite team and take a $6M pay cut to do it. Especially since the interest is said to be pretty high.
The Patriots have almost $5M in cap space currently (an amount which they could easily grow if they manipulate Tom Brady’s cap number with an extension). They can create the space. But how’s the fit?
Actually, pretty good. I have a sense the Patriots are going to be as multiple on defense as they’ve ever been, and having Daniels to pair with Michael Bennett (6-4, 275) when the front wants to penetrate while having either Mike Pennel (6-4, 330) or Danny Shelton (6-2, 345) on short-yardage would put another club in the Patriots' bag. And we’re not even getting to the fact they have Lawrence Guy and the underrated Adam Butler, who are 315 and 300 pounds respectively.
And we’re not talking about a pedestrian addition in Daniels. He is a beast who brings great toughness and locker room presence.
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A fourth-round pick out of Iowa in 2012, he’ll come with the backing of Bill Belichick confidante Kirk Ferentz.
The 2019 Patriots were not wanting defensively as they came into camp. It’s the other side of the ball that’s got the HELP WANTED sign hanging out front.
But when you consider the personnel changes they made in the offseason — adding the penetrating Bennett to replace Trey Flowers, bringing back the potentially dynamic athleticism of Jamie Collins — and look at the balls-out aggressiveness the defense showed at the tail end of the regular season and into their playoff run, it feels like the stage is set for a much more attack-style defense to be unleashed. Daniels would fit perfectly if that’s the case.
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