The New England Patriots and Joe Thuney were unable to come to an agreement on an extension for the 2020 season. However, Thuney is locked in with the Patriots at a salary of $14.78 million thanks to the team placing the franchise tag on the 27-year-old, two-time Super Bowl champion.
The money is a little high for what the Patriots would normally pay for any player, let alone a guard, but there is a belief that head coach and de facto general manager Bill Belichick wanted to keep Thuney from signing with the AFC East rival New York Jets. The Jets were apparently set to come after Thuney hard in the offseason if he had reached free agency. The Patriots might not have been able to match, or had a suitable replacement for the valuable cog in two championship runs.
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The Word on the Street About Joe Thuney’s Franchise Tag
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com wrote the following summary of the rumors swirling about the Patriots’ ideology behind franchise tagging Thuney.
There is some belief that the Jets’ reported interest in Thuney helped inspire Bill Belichick to keep him off the market. It will be harder to do again in 2021, especially considering Belichick’s history of not paying interior linemen top dollar. Thuney’s tag-team partner at guard, Shaq Mason, signed a below-market deal in 2018, which could complicate any negotiations with Thuney. Like many Patriots over the years, Thuney will probably have to leave to max out his money.
Why This Makes Sense
Thuney’s value as a player is obvious.
According to Pro Football Focus, Thuney was the fifth-best guard in the NFL in 2019. It’s easy to make a case for pursuing him in free agency on his talent, age, and projected effectiveness over the next several years. However, there could be even more rivalry-centric reasons the Jets would have had an interest in plucking Thuney from the Patriots.
Thuney was also the Patriots’ highest-rated offensive player in 2019, and the only player on the team to be ranked in the Top 5 at their position on offense, per PFF. If the Jets could effectively weaken a division rival while also strengthening its offensive line in front of Sam Darnold, they would have been killing two birds with one stone. If this theory is true, Belichick may have sniffed it out, and thus resorted to a slightly uncharacteristic option to retain Thuney’s services.
The Miami Dolphins, another AFC East rival had great success signing away ex-Patriots like Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts, and Ted Karras. Belichick may have stopped the most valuable of all of the potential free agents from walking out the door by placing the franchise tag on Thuney.
It may only be a band-aid for the situation as another strong season could make Thuney even more expensive to retain ahead of the 2021 season.
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Patriots Tagged Joe Thuney to Play Keep Away from AFC East Rival: Report