One thing became crystal clear through two days of the NFL's free agency tampering period.
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are none too happy about old buddy Tom Brady showing them up by winning an eighth Lombardi Trophy in his first swing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Throwing the free-agency portion of the Patriot Way playbook out the window, the highly motivated former dynasty has gone berserk with Robert Kraft's bank account while uncharacteristically jumping head over heels into the first wave of player movement.
They gobbled up the top two tight ends in Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry for a whopping $56.25 million in guarantees. Per ESPN, that's $5.25 million more in guarantees on two guys than the Patriots have doled out in the past three years of free agency combined.
They also added two deep-threat receivers (Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne), a pass rusher (Matthew Judon) and Patriots-like versatility in defensive linemen Davon Godchaux and Henry Anderson and defensive back Jalen Mills.
Smith and Henry are big splashes. Judon, to some degree, is as well, although his average of $14 million a year isn't terribly unreasonable for a well-rounded 28-year-old outside linebacker with 15½ sacks the past two years.
The others are more in line with the kind of under-the-radar players we were accustomed to seeing the Patriots win with around Brady.
So it will be interesting to see what the team does offensively with Smith and Hunter on the field together, especially if Agholor and Bourne are stretching the field at the same time.
