Greatest free agent signing ever.

That's rich.

NO!! Say it ain't so, Adam Vinatieri!!!!!!
 

ESPN.com reporting that he has signed with the FREAKING COLTS!!!!!


WHY?! (sob) WHY ....

Didn't see that coming.

I'm confused about the Pats this offseason - they're about $20 million under the cap, and haven't done a damn thing, while watching Vinatieri, Givens, and McGinest all leave without a fight. Vinatieri even was on record as saying he'd welcome the Franchise tag being put on him again, and it didn't happen.

Beautiful.

Ye gods.

The Pats offered Vinatieri a 2.5 mil multiyear contract before free agency. This would have been his third consecutive tag(maybe fourth) and would have paid him 3 mil a year, which I happen to think is to much. They did not stand pat with him. If the Colts blew him away they screwed up, not the Pats.

As much as his legend and ability shield the fact, HE"S ONLY A KICKER.

As for the others, McGinest got a contract in Cleveland worth what it was because his leadership and veteran status is worth more to them. Givens was a trickier situation, but if they paid him what they wanted are they supposed to pull a stupid like the Colts and empty their bank account on two WRs?

They have not screwed up with who they have let go. What I don't understand is why they seemingly have not gone after anyone else.

Knowing a few Pats fans, and knowing how they're going to react to this, I think I can safely say this is one of the greatest things to happen in the history of sport.

The inevitable Sports Guy column to follow.

This is pretty much my thinking. Keyshawn is still an intriguing possibility.

I think this is partly Bill Polian's way of slapping Vanderjagt in the face

I think the reaction, after shock resides, will be "Don't let the door hit you on the way out". It's kind of a New England thing.

It's funny. I'm a Colts fan and was just telling my buddy the other day...I bet they try to get Vinatieri. Then I said, "I wouldnt mind that...I guess, but I'll still hate him if he misses even one playoff kick. That bastard never misses against us." So bow I guess we'll see.

Don't the Colts fans ever get concerned about their payroll two years from now? This will probably be another 1.5-2 million that could have been used with Freeney.

My F'n Word.

I'll bet anything Polian has plans to sign Freeney no matter who they sign this off-season

Wow, this is even better than Longwell coming to Minnesota.

Someone's going to have to change their FOFC screenname me thinks.

wow. WOW

Ouch....

I love it when stuff like this happens :D.

*growls*

Tell that to the Buffalo Bills. When some random guy they pick up for the league minimum shanks a game winner this season we should revisit this thread. 500K or a clutch kicker? I'll take the clutch kicker, thanks.

It'd be interesting to see how many games have been won or lost with a FG inside the 2 minute warning over the last few years.

dola,

Just quickly checked NFL.com and saw (and remembered) that Vander missed a FG with 21 seconds left in the Pittsburgh game that would have tied the game.

That still might be fresh on Indy's mind.

yeah my "In Bill We Trust" itis is starting to wane. WTF is going on over there in Foxboro? We havn't seen or heard ANYTHING. Are the Pats working on a monster trade of a 7th Round Draft pick for LT or something? This is really weird that we havn't seen anything AT ALL coming out of Foxboro this offseason...

Oh no! A kicker switched teams! Now the Colts for sure will win...

LOL!

What a great free agency signing.

:D

Mike Vanderjagt - K - Colts

The Patriots reportedly contacted Mike Vanderjagt Tuesday. He certainly doesn't fit the Patriots profile, but could come at a better value than Adam Vinatieri because of relative lack of interest. Dallas has also been mentioned as a possibility. Mar. 21 - 7:19 pm et

Damn.

Vanderjagt. Jesus. I guess Kraft's deal with the devil has finally come due.

damn, that sucks. Not so much that he signed somewhere else, he's still a kicker, clutch kicker but still a kicker, but damn, the frigging Colts!!! Now I'll have to really root against him, didn't want that to happen...

This offseason has sucked so far...

FM

fixed that for ya...

FM

edit: fucking timestamp bug

who cares? it's baseball season

So what does Vanderjagt save them per year against the cap, $1 million? (Especially now that they'll probably have to overpay for him) Doesn't seem worth it.

Baseball sucks. Football is without a doubt America's sport.

exactly.

I suppose this will set up the eventual irony that Vanderjagt boots the winner against the Colts (would you believe I actually typed Patriots at first?) while Vinatieri blows his chance, thus forever proving that any team Peyton Manning is a QB for will never, ever win a championship.

This timestamp bug is getting ridiculous.

BTW, SportsGuy already wrote this column. See his recent musings on Willie McGinest. He could just repost that with Vinatieri in his place.

So, Damon leave the BoSox to go to the hated Yankees.

Vinateri leaves the Pats to go to the hated Colts.

Too bad the Celtics and the Bruins suck so bad that they don't have any players that hated rivals would want to poach...

:D

The Bruins at least had the sense to send Joe Thornton to the Western Conference.

Thanks, Bruins! :D

You had Ray Bourque leaving the Bruins to win a Stanley Cup, although the Avs weren't exactly hated rivals.

Hell, all the Bruins fans I knew that year were rooting for Colorado.

Well, I was inferring this season's clubs.

Bourque was actually traded wasn't he, because Boston wanted to give him a shot at the Cup?

I don't get how the Colts have ANY cap room

""

:D

SI

:mad: :( I can't believe it. Speechless. I was prepared for him to leave and could have even handled him going to the frickin' Jets. But the goddamn Colts!!!!!!!!!

But, I then realized something very interesting. I believe this is the genius of Belichick. Knowing the Colts will still be the team to beat, he purposely leaves off the franchise tag and gets Vinatieri to sign for the Colts. First, it eats up precious cap room so no other FAs can sign (so games will be close), and then Vinatieri misses some crucial kicks in the playoffs, when needed. Pure genius. Has no one else figured this out yet? No one outthinks Bill.

As for FA so far, I have no problem with guys let go. They all got overpaid. However, I would actually like to see some signings -- preferably Keyshawn/Eric Moulds and Arrington (with an electrode that buzzes him when he runs out of position).

Therefore, I will keep the screen name for now while this beautiful plan plays itself out.

WTF!!! Just got home from work. Whoa, I can't believe it.

You need help.

Or is this the denail stage of the 5 stages of grief? ;)

Well that RB leaving may have added some room for them to work with ;).

I hate the Colts more now.

Wow..Peyton Manning got a new kicker to soothe losing in the 3rd round.

Yeah, uhh... you know, if you ask SkyDog real nice, he might change it to "Bruschi for Prez"

Or maybe "Brady for Prez."

Just sayin'...

I will definitely keep that in mind if something seriously goes awry with the plan at some point. Although I'm thinking more like Gay for Prez.

LOL at the news and this thread.

My key thinking on this as a Pats fan is that Vinatieri is worth the $2.5 mil or so per year the Pats were offering, but not $3.5+. He's the best clutch kicker, but he's average on kickoffs, can't hit from 50+ very often, and misses non-clutch kicks more often than I'd like. I'd love to have him as my kicker, but not that far above market value.

It isn't $3.5 mil, that's the signing bonus:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2378824

I think we can definitely say that this is the most shocking development in the history of free agent kickers.

well, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Vinatieri still has to beat out Jose Cortez in training camp.

I think Manning will trip him and break his leg with 3 minutes remaining in the AFC champshionship game. Then will say "I want to be a good teammate, but we had some durability problems".

Ugh. That's a name I never wanted to hear again...

yeah and they will have to make him some artificial snow and put some humongous fans so he can kick in his usual "clutch kicker" element...

FM

I'd rather hear that name again than that new wide receiver who's initials rhyme with BO.

LALALALALALALALICANTHEARYOULALALALALALALA

LOL

speaking of Vinatieri, I guess it might be finally time to get that large autographed print of the kick against the Raiders framed and up on the wall...

Speaking of autographs. I actually met Vinatatieri during training camp his rookie year, when he was supposed to lose out to Matt Bahr. Shook his hand, got an autograph(Dave Wholabauh, sp?, as well).

Then lost the autograph. Hey, it was just a rookie kicker.

This is the best news ever. I think Vinatieri is overrated (like almost all the Pats are), but just knowing what he meant to Pats fans makes it all worth it. I can't wait for the SG writeup!

Stupid question but what about Vinateri is overrated?

As a Pats fan I support the release. NE got his best out of the guy and that is way too much to pay that position. Football Outsiders had an excellent piece on this. I think if the Pats sign Edinger for around 1.5 they've done well.

I know nothing about Edinger's accuracy but I would cringe everytime he'd position himself with his back to the goalpost, starting to do his crazy spinorama kind of kick...

FM

I think when he signed with the Vikings, he missed two FGs in one game. For the third, he faced front when he kicked (they probably made him do it) -- and as a result, he totally shanked it. Funny stuff.

With 3 Super Bowls in 4 years, I think we can live with your barbs :cool:

So is Polian off his rocker?

Adam may very well be a downgrade in both areas. Certaintly isn't a noticeable improvement. Odd.

All I know is that Vandy could kick off just as well as half the "Kick Off Specialists" Polian kept putting on the team

(I actually think Vandy is a better overall kicker than Vinateri.)

That statement from Polian is pretty funny. "We've had to carry an extra kicker for 3 years. Mike wasn't very good on kickoffs. Whether Adam will kickoff remains to be seen."

Huh?

Maybe they'll have a 4th string safety kickoff so they can claim that they no longer need to carry 2 kickers like they did when Vaderjagt was around.

The Pats should sign Ike Settles. I hear he's looking for work...

The United States players in the NFL would never lose a tournament versus the rest of the worlds countries.
Live with that.

Point? Unless you are saying that baseball fans are less nationalistic... in that case, it's a compliment :p.

I think he's saying no one in America really cares about Baseball anymore.
Of which I agree completely.

One of the signs of the decline of America, for sure.

So you are saying that both of you are deluded? Ok, duly noted.

Actually, what's deluded is posting "who cares about football" posts in a football thread and expect not to get a reaction.

Personally, I find baseball boring and tedious. Based on ratings, there's a bunch who agree with me, but hey, if you like boring and tedious games, more power to you.

Side note: You don't see me posting stuff about Tom Brady in the Mark Pryor thread, why post anti-football posts here?

Why post anti-baseball posts in response to an anti-football post, if it wasn't relevant?

I'm just responding to what was already posted. That's kinda like saying "why shoot back at someone if they've shot at you"? Of course you're gonna respond, especially if someone is idiotic enough to compare the majesty of football with the banality of baseball.

That, and I like to argue.

And you then you wonder why someone makes the original post? :p

If you are so easily trolled, you deserve it.

Excellent. So it's perfectly ok for me to put "Who cares about baseball? The NFL Draft is almost here" when someone starts a baseball thread, then be surprised and indignant when someone reacts? I'll remember that.

I agree as well.

Man... and you wonder why trolls are so successful :p. Haven't you ever heard of the saying "Don't feed the troll".

So, you're saying you're a troll, because you agree with what he said. If he's a "troll" why are you defending his viewpoint?

:confused:

Can you show me the post where I actually agree with the original statement?

Fixed.

You caught me. You responded to the "we don't care about the WBC" statement. My apologies.

The statement is correct, we really don't care about WBC, but that's mostly because Americans for the most part think baseball sucks, but you are right, you didn't defend the original post.

whoa whoa whoa

i thought people knew i was a pretty big Patriots fan. I live in Boston, there really hasn't been as much reaction about this as one might expect because it is baseball season that. I heard the news the other night and thought "big deal, i'll deal with that when Red Sox season is over"

i thought i was being funny, but i guess some people think that's trolling

:shrug:

and Vandergajt goes to the Cowboys.

Vinateri goes to Indy. Vandergajt goes to Dallas so...NE is going to get Billy Cundiff?

I think the Vanderjagt/Owens dynamic will be fun.

me too.

The Pats don't need a kicker, Coach Bill will simply make the kicks himself!

DOUG FLUTIE