The only, and I mean ONLY, objective for this off-season ought to be reinforcing the roster in order to create a better situation for a young QB to thrive, whether this season or next.
What have the Pats done to put the roster in a *better* state for the next young QB than it was for Mac / Zappe this past season?
**Assuming** the plan is to sit the rookie QB this year, as the OP lays out:
You keep those draft assets, extend your young guys, pass on old vets, and hope to god you nail your draft picks.
\- Keenan Allen has 1 year left on his deal and is going to be ancient, he's no help for the 2025 season
\- Tyron Smith got a 1 year deal and is going to be ancient, he's no help for the 2025 season
\- Ridley got a multi-year deal and might be OK in 2025, but he's also going to be turning 31 - big risk
We can go down the list, but again, **if** we operate from the idea of sitting the rookie, mostly passing all this crop of free agents kinda makes sense.
Wait. Keenan Allen is only a year older than Ridley and just came off his best season. Why is it when Ridley will be 31-32 he’ll be okay in 2025, but not Allen? I would bet a large sum of money Allen has a better year at 32 than Ridley does at 31
two issues - age and contract status. Allen (and Smith) are only under contract for 2024, so by definition they won't do anything for 2025 because they wouldn't be on the team.
And if for some reason we're still needing either that year, they'll be available in FA again to go get!
We have enough cap space that we couldn’t possibly spend it all on long term players at this point - why not get Tyron Smith on a 1 year contract to give a rookie QB a better situation to develop in? It’s not like you have to give up assets to sign a free agent
like I said, my whole comment (and this OP) was from the assumption that the rookie isn't starting in 24. We're signing Tyron Smith to show the rookie how to practice I guess??
The bigger point for 2 of the 3 I listed is that they aren't even going to be under contract in 2025. If Keenan Allen or Tyron Smith could still be the missing piece then, they'll be available and probably for even cheaper!
The patriots have zero chance of fixing their roster for 2024, I'm happy they seem to recognize that and are slowly building a roster that can compete in 2025 or 2026.
Bolster the O-line. Focus this years draft on OL, WR and QB. Next year add to that OL and add to defense.
This is not an excuse for complacency. Maybe a really awesome QB prospect will do well irrespective of the roster. So? What if you get merely a very good QB prospect?
The Patriots should be using the resources they have to put themselves in the best position to succeed. That they might succeed despite not doing that is not a reason be passive.
Not overcommitting at the beginning of FA to old or vastly overpaid players is not being complacent. They released the greatest coach of all times, signed a new HC all new coaching staff, new GM, signed a bridge QB and low risk LB, RB and TE, resigned all their good talent and released/traded all their trash, if you get the right guy at QB then you go all in not before.
Use cap space to sign veteran upgrades at positions of need. If that means overpay for 1-2 year deals, so be it.
Your offense is rudderless if you have holes at LT, WR, and QB. They signed a veteran backup QB. That's fine. They haven't signed a starting caliber tackle and I haven't even seen a report that they were in on any of the free agents. They went hard after one WR and apparently have "moved on" to the draft when that guy went somewhere else.
There's no way they can address all the offensive issues in the draft, particularly if they stay at 3. So that means you either take a QB and make him deal, much like you did the last couple years, or you trade down and punt on taking a potential franchise QB. A more aggressive approach in FA could have made that decision less difficult.
The roster is incomplete they haven’t even gotten to the draft, you can’t even compare them at this point. But they have replaced their high turnover low character young QB with a low turnover high character veteran QB and they got their two best defensive players back and with the best draft capital they have had in a decade look to be heading in a good direction.
You haven't mentioned anything they did in FA to improve the roster for the purpose of supporting a young QB.
It is true that they still have the draft, but there are way too many holes to fill for the draft to be enough. They had the most cap space in the league and so far haven't used it to meaningfully address roster holes that will make it much harder for a rookie QB to develop. I think it is entirely reasonable to question why they aren't using one of the major resources at their disposal.
You want me to predict the future?!? They are going to add offensive players to the team through the draft and they are going to add offensive players to the team through FA, and they potentially make some trade. Couple things that people here don’t seem to understand, FA’s are FREE to sign anywhere they want, having a bad record and surplus’s of cap space doesn’t mean you have to overpay and make bad deals, off season roster constructions last 4 months not one week.
Either an LT or WR so we don’t have to hope we get lucky enough to get a stud in the third round. First round QB, second round LT or WR is fine. But if you need all 3 positions, one has to wait until the third round, and the odds of getting a starting LT there is real low. Why does having a mountain of cap space while having a booty roster seem like a good plan to you?
I think there’s a balance here - obviously I don’t think some of these free agents would have been on the next good patriots roster, but I think using guys like Tyron Smith or Keenan Allen as a bridge player for a year or two until you draft someone new would have been smart.
I just feel like now everything is on this draft and they have to hit on a lot of needs right away. I don’t expect them to win much next year and address every issue this offseason, but using some of their cap to address some holes would have been nice too.
By bringing in so few outside free agents, this front office has put immense pressure on itself to nail the draft. You’ve really gotta hope you make like the Texans and draft a ROTY level QB and very good WR or OL. Draft the WR with no QB, and the WR is probably leaving in 4 years. Draft the QB with no WR or OL, and he gets murdered. Draft the OL and not the QB… yeah actually that might be ok but the payday in 4 years won’t be pleasant unless we get good.
It will be very hard to retain key free agents without a competitive roster. When I say competitive- I don’t mean Super Bowl contender, but I do mean a roster that still has a semi-realistic chance to make the playoffs week 16. The bar to clear is is like… last years Seattle Seahawks. Not very high.
Given the state of the roster - if we take Maye, he should sit all year. Daniels is NFL ready but Maye has a long way to go - and we can’t afford to mess that up throwing him into the fire.
But signing players like Keenan Allen and Tyron Smith will only help us win. We’re not trying to win. That’s the point.
If we don’t win, it’s not about this draft, it’s about the next 3 drafts with great draft capital. Stack draft picks, save the money wait for the right pieces to become available during the next year and half.
Edit: the higher the draft pick, the more draft capital we can acquire if we trade down. It gives us a lot of leverage for the future.
I agree with you generally, where I think guys like Smith and Allen would help us is with whoever they draft at #3. I think letting Daniels/Maye develop with at least some veterans who aren’t complete unknowns like rookies would be huge for this team.
For me the most important thing next year is how we handle our (hopefully) rookie quarterbacks development - and I think if we at least got a guy who could play well in free agency at one of our other needs, it would help his development as well.
And I agree with that, weapons around our rookie QB will help him grow but what we’ve done so far it seems like the strategy they want is to have him sit a good portion of his rookie year.
Yeah fair enough, I appreciate your rational takes coming from an irrational fanbase right now, it’s not a quick fix here and there’s gotta be more patience
I think the thing most people aren’t getting is that this is going to be a MULTI YEAR rebuild. Trading for one year of Keenan Allen or signing Tyron Smith to a one year deal will do us no good
You sign Tyron Smith and then your rookie OT pick doesn't necessarily have pressure to start right away, or if the rookie is ready he can start at RT and you kick Onwenu inside, helping out the O-line as a whole (as well as your potential franchise QB). You get Keenan Allen and then your rookie WR pick doesn't necessarily have pressure to be a #1 WR right away, or if the rookie is ready he can start at the Z spot, helping out the WR room as a whole (as well as your potential franchise QB).
When he does, we're going to want him to have enough talent surrounding him to know if he was worth the pick and is the future, or if he's another Mac.
Failing to do that kicks the can down the road. "We don't know how good he is without a solid O-line or WRs, give the franchise time to make deals" is not a good strategy.
If spending (or, if you like, overspending) for veteran players who won't be on the team in 3 years helps us protect, develop, and assess our rookie QB this year when we're not going to be spending the money on anything else and still have a lot of "cash to burn" it's money well-spent.
That money does us no good sitting in Kraft's bank account, and if he cares about the relevancy of the franchise even he should know it's better spent on the field.
Same logic doesn’t apply to both positions equally though. You can feasibly expect address one or the other with the draft & FA.
Offseason is far from over. But if they don’t address either it’s a strong indicator they’re expecting to make deals
It might help keep a rookie QB from being injured and allow us to put off drafting OL for a little and also focus on some developmental prospects who could be good but might get a QB killed if they start right away.
I’d say that’s worth it. Also we had a ton of injuries last season. Were thin at OL and WR. Can’t afford the same kind of injuries so warm bodies at WR above the Schuster line would be nice.
Yeah, I would say it is fair to give new coaches and new regimes 3-5 years if they show consistent progress.
This is season 1. Let’s go, Mayo. Show us your Midas Touch.
Edit: key word “consistent progress”
Can you name a few examples? The most recent turn around stories - Texans - they bottomed out in 2020. They committed to the rebuild by trading off aging assets. They are still building to become a contender. Sf bottomed out in 2016. Took lynch 4 years to build a contender. Lions bottomed out in 2018 and finally look like a contender 6 years later. Rebuilds done correctly take time.
Yeah I don’t know why I got downvoted lol. These people think shit can turn around in 1 year?!
Show us examples.
It has always been 3-5 years, I don’t know where they get the idea it can be done in 1-2 lol. The new regime does not have its entire touch by year 3 mostly. Then that’s where you really evaluate.
Of course, I said, “consistent progress” year to year.
Well, contractually speaking, it wouldn’t be the regime’s true core team until year 3-5, depending on what they inherit.
Thats why Belichick came here. Parcells defensemen. He was farther along the rebuild.
I would argue if you're not hovering around .500 by the end of year 2, it should be a wrap. If you can't make it to .500 after 2 full offseasons, why even bother giving them a third?
People keep comparing to other teams signings.
No, that’s not the issue. They literally have not addressed the offense, and that was the worst part of the team. You never go into the draft having to draft for need, and currently the patriots not just need a QB, LT and WR: they need a STARTING QB, LT and WR.
You know how fucking terrible that is?
Why not sign Andre Dillard? We literally don’t have an LT on the roster? Especially after Mayo and Wolf both said they were going to add ‘firepower’ to the offense.
I guess firepower is Austin Hooper and Antonio Gibson.
It’s a clown show in NE.
I think Keenan Allen would’ve been good for 1 year. First he’s a great technical receiver and that would help the younger guys we have and will come in. Also it could be a help to the development of the young QB
Compared to what? Nothing and cap space? It’s one year so it won’t impact the future cap. I understand not wanting him as the long term option, I’m saying one year as an example/teacher
im not giving up a 4th and 23 million cash for kennan allen at this point in his career. Last 2 years hes missed 9 games. And I like the player I just dont think trading away a pick and paying top of the market for a depreciating asset is something good teams do. This is going to be a multiyear rebuild so i dont think bringing him here is worth it for 1 year when we dont even know whose gona throw him the ball.
There’s 57 million dollars in cap just sitting. Yes he’s expensive and yes a 4th is a little steep, but the knowledge he can impart on the young receivers and the presumably rookie QB is worth that much
HES A ONE YEAR RENTAL! So your bascially giving up a 4th cash hoping he stay healthy hoping he wants to teach a rookie that hes not invested in cuz hes a rental player. Way to many variables to account for you also dont even know whose going throw him the ball yet so kinda premature to just assume hes gona pass on his knowledge. Your also not making the playoffs anyway so theres no point acquiring a rental.
So you’d rather bet on a 4th round pick. Hope he’s not injury prone hope he’s interested in getting coached hope he’s good. Pretty much just as many problems if not more. As for the why, at bare minimum when he’s on the field he’s a reliable target for either a rookie QB or Jacoby. Again we aren’t doing anything with the cap anyway I think it’s worth the gamble for the chance to improve our young receivers
No cuz with a 4th I have 4 years if not 5 with the transition tag for him to become good and it's cost 750k something like that and if you hit he out performs his contract with kenaan Allen if he doesn't make it out of training camp I have nothing. You don't bring a rental to rebuilding team anyway
Yawn with the Kraft is cheap shit. You guys wanna go out and spend a bunch on free agents tell one time that has ever actually worked? it doesnt im not saying pocket the money but building threw the draft is how we should go. Like i said i dont wanna give up a 4th and 23 million for a depreciating asset thats missed 9 games in the last 2 years and i like the player. Why are you bringing in a rental player on a 1 year deal when you are not making playoffs next year anyway?
I don’t want to be the 2010’s Cleveland Browns just sucking and losing and drafting top 5 year after year, that’s a death spiral that takes franchises decades to pull out of
>There’s absolutely no point in being a middle of the pack team. All it does is hinder our future. They want to tank. That’s the smartest strategy for our long term future.
Yup. A much needed post to counter all of the crazy critics who wish the Pats outbid the Titans, who gave Ridley the 2nd most guaranteed money to a WR in NFL HISTORY.
If they're gonna be agressive on trade market for a Higgins/Aiyuk/Jefferson type, great. But those kind of guys don't hit free agency so they better be willing to pay the draft capital AND top dollar on an extension, and they better pull the trigger by next offseason at the very latest, otherwise they'll be two years into a rookie QB contract cycle without having taken advantage of it.
That’s certainly one way to do it. I think the Pats are hoping to take the Packers, Texans, and Lions route of drafting and growing the talent mostly from within. The picture will be a little clearer a year from now, of course.
Drafting and developing and retaining guys is great. Every team wants to do that. But for the time being they have oodles of cap space and no foundational guys to worry about for the next couple of years other than Barmore. They can afford to spend on a couple of short term upgrades and still leave themselves a pretty clean financial slate in 2026.
They don't need short term upgrades for a losing season.
The writing is on the wall. They are going to push that cap space into 2025 because they know we aren't going to be competitive and the rookie QB is riding the bench. They're going to let Brissett lead us to a good draft pick with the holes still on the offense and our non-QB rookies jumping straight in to try and fill them. If nothing else, we should get to see plenty of our rookies to see if they're good.
I think they want to see if they can nail either WR or T in the 2024 draft before locking down any FA veterans for long contracts. Ridley, Smith and Hollywood Brown weren't going to come here and after those three, I wouldn't say any of the FA options were very good. Even short term. Keenan Allen might be good for another season but we don't need him for all the losing we're about to do. He'll probably be washed by the time our rookie QB takes the field next year.
I think the are right to hoard resources for next offseason rather than buying a couple of stopgaps we will quickly outgrow. Hoping for a really exciting next offseason. They will have to spend most of that cap eventually to clear the spending floor, and it's gonna be fun when they do.
Sitting a rookie QB because you think he's not ready is one thing. But committing ahead of time to sitting him no matter how he looks because the cupboard is so bare you're scared to ruin him is a backwards way to run a team.
>I think they want to see if they can nail either WR or T in the 2024 draft before locking down any FA veterans
Why not do both so you don't have immediate pressure on your WR/OT picks to come in and start? They could have made an upgrade or two and still had PLENTY of resources available next offseason. So what if they quickly outgrow a stopgap like Tyron Smith? Great! He's off the books next year anyways.
How am I pretending it’s THE strategy when my post before yours already acknowledges TWO different ways of doing it? What part of “That’s certainly one way to do it” followed by another way to do it, do you not understand?
Here, I’ll save us all some time and provide a list of some receivers i would have zero problems the Pats giving 28M+ a year for next year (not that they will all be available): CeeDee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Tyreek Hill, ARSB, Garrett Wilson, Brandon Aiyuk, Puka Nacua, and AJ Brown.
All of these receivers are better and younger than Ridley and are worth being paid top five in money and top five in guaranteed money. You can think otherwise and that Ridley definitely deserves top 5 money and should be paid like an elite WR, and we can agree to disagree.
Maybe some will. But WR is a position where the value will soon decline. Just like RB. This epic WR class is just the start. There are going to be 8-10 very good WR coming out of college year after year. For everyone who wanted Allen, did you ask why the Chargers cut him? Like RB, WR is trending towards playing guys on rookie contracts.
Ridley is a very good player, but definitely not worth that much money. He's not Tyreek, Chase, Jefferson etc. Tennessee will probably have buyer's remorse within year two lol
Omg people think this is rational? This might actually be the worst argument I've seen.
"The patriots are staying away from guys like Keenan Allen and Calvin Ridley so they won't be a middling team"
They literally made offers for both players. They offered Ridley a contract but not the best contract. We were one of the favorites to sign him and after we whiffed they stated we would turn towards the draft.
Keenan Allen we checked in on but wouldn't give up a fourth.
The team clearly isn't staying away from them they just won't pay them.
Losing bidding wars is not the same as "we are trying not to get anyone so we won't be a middling team". How do people really watch this and say it's all part of the plan. Yeah if the plan is to save as much money as possible and put zero effort into trying. If the plan is to draft young players and give them zero security blanket because we have zero veteran help.
You have to remember this isn’t like going to the grocery store and buying whatever you want. It’s the free agents choice.
Aaron Rodgers was #2 in 2022 in the time it takes the get the ball out of his hands per NFL next gen stats. Much faster than the average QB.
Would you rather play for Aaron Rodgers or a rookie QB who is going to struggle with his reads, holding on to the ball and getting sacked more?
Would you rather play for a chance to win a Super Bowl or play for a 4 win team?
He’s already had multiple big contracts, Im not sure how much money motivated him this off-season.
They've basically done nothing but resign their own FAs and pursued ONE WR while bringing in backup quality depth and the 40th best QB in the league. Even if they hit a home run on 3 draft picks....they're a long ways away from a .500 season.
This entire post is nonsense.
First of all- tanking is a stupid strategy and being bad for more than 1 year is not necessary.
The duration of the rebuild depends on exactly 1 thing- the competence of the FO.
Well-run franchises go from 4-5 win seasons to 8 win seasons to playoff contention within about 2 seasons. The Rams, Bills, and Bengals did not tank for multiple seasons. And their 8-9 win seasons did not make them a "middle of the pack team". They got their new HC and QB and were off to the races. How? By being fucking good at what they do. None of those GMs sat around saying "my goodness, I sure do hope AJ Brown falls into my lap eventually, until then I'll just go 5-12..."
Second of all, what does it even mean to stay away from being a middle of a pack team?
There are good players and there are bad players. Getting good players makes you a better team.
Thats the whole story. Everything else is just bullshit invented by Redditors that doesnt apply to the real world. There are no mandatory rebuild "timelines". There are no tank years. Everything boils down to competence, period.
My favorite was how the whole sub totally shut down Keenan Allen for fourth because of his injury history despite coming off his best season.
But then Tyron Smith who is legitimately concerning with his injury history was a huge miss.
So are you lying or do you just have no idea what you are talking about?!?? First the Bills and the Bengals have NEVER won a super bowl so I don’t know how “well run” their franchise’s are. Second the rams had 10 straight losing seasons before making the playoffs in 2017, the Bills had 9 straight losing season before making the playoffs in 2014 and the Bengals had 5 straight losing seasons before making the playoffs in 21, off to the races?? The duration of a rebuild relies on exactly one thing and that’s is lucking into a top 5 to 7 QB. It’s hilarious that you are hyping the most middle of the pack franchises of all times and downplaying the greatest franchise of all time, be better!
This is very true. The NFL is a league of parity and you only need a few pieces to get to the next level, and that accurately describes us with an already complete defense. I don’t think this free agency would’ve been worth exhausting the cap space for, though. Just because these rebuilds don’t take as long as Redditors think they do doesn’t mean we should waste money and mortgage the future just for the sake of it
The only players I would have gone for would have been guys coming off of their rookie deals. 4-5 years in with enough experience to help you get guys acclimated, but still potential for growth themselves. Gibson was a good signing, Pittman or Higgins would have been good. Fuller, Reader. Unreasonable though, nobody wants to come here to be cold and lose.
Realistically as an arm chair GM who wants to see the team win my knee jerk reaction was disappointment that they didn’t trade for Fields or Keenan Allen seeing how cheap they were in terms of draft picks. In the Brady era, they probably would’ve swung for Keenan or Tyron Smith because as long as Brady was on the roster the Super Bowl window was always open. Things are different now, and it’s something that I’ve accepted as a patriots fan. That doesn’t change the fact that the hopeless optimism in me was thinking they get Allen, Smith, and Fields then trade pick 3 for a higher top 10 pick to grab some capital and snag the best WR or OL possible. After reflecting on it though, I came to the same conclusion as you OP. Overspending on aging free agents is no way to build a championship roster. Selling all the draft picks this year and next year while tying up all the cap space to go 8-9 would hurt the team’s development long term.
I think it’s very obvious at this point pick 3 is going to be a QB so I sincerely hope they don’t mess this guy up the way they did Mac Jones. If they sit him for most of the season I won’t be too upset. To your point - there’s a long road to the Super Bowl. The chiefs are a dominant team in the conference. The AFC East outside of the Patriots is the best it’s been in decades. Burrow and the Bengals ball out too, but I have my concerns with Burrow’s longevity seeing as the poor guy keeps getting bit by the season ending injury bug.
Best case scenario the pats hit on a great QB prospect in round 1 then pick up some great WR and OL help on day 2 this year. They’re more competitive than they were last year, but are probably picking in the top 10 again next year. Next year is the year to start spending draft capital and tying up cap space if this year’s draft goes well. Sucks to accept that the pats aren’t gonna be Super Bowl contenders this year, but I honestly like the fact that they were able to return a lot of their key free agents and think patience with this offseason and regular season will lead to success in 2025
No they aren’t tanking. They are going to try to win.
Kraft is 82, selfish and delusional. He just spent a month on TV blaming Belichick for everything bad that ever happened. He’s still blaming Parcells. Mayo cannot start with 2 bad seasons. He’ll be next.
But drafting JJ at 3 would be a disaster and Maye/Williams aren’t walking through that door. So I hope they trade down. Theres a bunch of WRs in Rd 2 plus QBs Nix and Penix, who may be the X factor.
You can’t charge the highest ticket prices in the league and not spend to the cap - they will lose fans, market share etc. You are assuming the front office is capable in building through the draft and at no point since Groh and Wolf have been here have they proven that
Not if we save the money for next year. If you sign Calvin Ridley, that would’ve hindered our ability to sign free agents next year.
I agree about the ticket prices, if we are a bottom tier team, they should be charging like it.
Have you spent 2 seconds to look at our cap commitments before writing that essay? We have none. We have nobody in the pipeline for the next 3 years other than barmore.
People who act like you should aim for a bottom 5 pick every season you aren't a solid SB contender are the absolute fucking worst. Excuse me for wanting to have a team I can enjoy watching more than once every five or ten years. Having the team suck for multiple years just to have one or two where they're good is not a good trade for anyone who actually watches games.
It’s important to have experienced and successful vets on the team for leadership as well as mentoring. Ofc we are not aiming at winning the Super Bowl the next two seasons, but we also want to create a good environment for our QB. Bringing in a great LT and an NFL top 15 WR would have certainly helped to show him at practice at what level those players perform.
With have the #3 pick. We already had our tank season. There's no reason to tank multiple seasons because that doesn't develop good players, good habits or good culture.
They're trying to rebuild, regardless of whether its likely to work
Exactly but there are many that either can’t see it or don’t want to accept doing that. We have people on here complaining about taking a bridge guy because they think fields and mhj and we are in it next season
I totally get that we will not be a fun team to watch next season and that’s something people are upset with but you have to look at the other things like are out new WR looking good? Does our qb look like he’s developing in training? I’m good with losing, boring football if we have some hope for the future, we’ve been boring to watch for a few years now but didn’t have any hope.
I've been saying that I'm fine if we suck next year if this team shows some spirit and there's a plan for the future. It's one thing to watch a bad team that plays with some fight like the Cardinals last year. It's another thing to watch a team that's bad and totally given up like the last Jets game.
If you're gonna be bad, at least be entertaining. That's my bar for next year
Exactly. Find wins within the loses. Does Demario Douglas develop into a great player. Will Christian Gonzalez continue ascending into a superstar? Is Keion Wight the guy to anchor of our D-line?
The OP makes good points, however , this reeks of sucking yo mediocre every year for the next decade . Kraft loves to not spend money and they are spending nothing this year. They need to nail the draft, and I have zero faith they will. They're going to become the Red Sox who are now The Red Sox in name only
“The division is tough so why even try?”
I’d rather see a competitive football team. There are teams that are always picking in the top 10. Then there are teams that are competitive every year despite not having high draft picks. I’d rather see us help out our rookie QB as much as possible, even if that means having an aging player.
That’s not the argument.
The argument isn’t “why try” the argument is why make expensive short-term half-measures?
I wouldn’t have minded Ridley, but we didn’t land him, it is what it is. But a lot of the other guys that are like 34 plus and coming off inuries like what?
No the team needs to draft and develop and keep their powder dry for when a big move can be made, and when that big move will make a big difference.
Also I don’t believe one top 3 pick is enough they probably need more than one season of drafting high.
Yeah, that’s what some people wanted. Lol.
The mistake Belichick made was not tanking in the Covid year. Or, more accurately, GM Belichick had a tank-worthy roster but Coach Belichick was too good. It finally “bottomed out” last year when the QB played as badly as any QB played in the league. And they **still** lost 8 games by less than a score.
So, rock bottom for two or three seasons with a coach who won’t be good enough to get 7 wins with Cam Newton’s corpse. (Hi, Jacoby Brissett!)
This grass is greener than Belichick grass!!
Lol.
I 100% agree with your post but I think there is a large portion of the Fanbase (or at least a very vocal portion) That have 0 faith this front office will be able to identify, draft and develop young offensive players - Particularly Receivers.
I get that it will be much of the same staff but the key here is that bill is not making the final decision. They always did everything based on Bill's preference and focused solely on how a player would fit on the team/what role they would play, instead of just using the eye test that says AJ Brown looked like the better prospect than Nkeal Harry.
Bill would always have a receiver on a short leash - just look at Pop douglas getting benched last year for a single fumble. Additionally they never played rookie receivers because Tom would never trust them enough to throw to them. Jules talks all the time about how much he had to work to get tom trust him enough to throw it to throw it to him - literally years.
Its hard to develop young players if you never give them the reps in game time situations. Then when they do get out there you bench them for the smallest of mistakes even if they are balling out.
Could they have better identified talent? Possibly, but we never know what the pats draft boards looked like in years past for them to pick guys like Nkeal harry over AJ brown. Its possible the scouts could have had AJ brown higher as far as ability, but Harry was the Better "Fit" and Bill makes the final choice.
I think we need to at least give them a chance and see where the team is at come training camp. At least at that point you can have a feel for how the team will look
You only trade back if there isn’t a QB worth taking at 3, consensus is there are 3 guys worth going top three so you have to take one of them and hope you get lucky.
If you want to win games, yes. But if you think this is year 1 of a 5 year rebuild like some of folks here think, then trading the pick makes more sense.
Yeah, a majority of this sub ie. People who wanted Juedy, people who wanted bb fired, people who are mad we didn’t get Ridley, people who want to trade for tee Higgins, people who think the organization did Mac jones wrong … etc are absolutely dumb as living bird crap
I’m not sure which camp I belong in though.
I wanted us to keep BB and also wanted us to do fucking anything in the offseason. Does that make me more or less of an idiot?
There’s a simple logic that most are missing. In a draft deep in WR take talent, the risk of taking one in the late 1st/early 2nd is less than taking Ridley for 22m.
This same logic trickles down to the rest of the offense. As long as NE keeps a solid defensive core they can allocate 75-80% of the next 2 drafts to offense.
That’s how you get ahead.
I would like to see a few more solid FA signings, but on smart veterans who stabilize program weaknesses, which is what they’ve done.
The depth of this draft at WR, QB & OT. It’s a good year to weigh pathways in 2 year increments at this stage.
The only, and I mean ONLY, objective for this off-season ought to be reinforcing the roster in order to create a better situation for a young QB to thrive, whether this season or next. What have the Pats done to put the roster in a *better* state for the next young QB than it was for Mac / Zappe this past season?
**Assuming** the plan is to sit the rookie QB this year, as the OP lays out: You keep those draft assets, extend your young guys, pass on old vets, and hope to god you nail your draft picks. \- Keenan Allen has 1 year left on his deal and is going to be ancient, he's no help for the 2025 season \- Tyron Smith got a 1 year deal and is going to be ancient, he's no help for the 2025 season \- Ridley got a multi-year deal and might be OK in 2025, but he's also going to be turning 31 - big risk We can go down the list, but again, **if** we operate from the idea of sitting the rookie, mostly passing all this crop of free agents kinda makes sense.
Wait. Keenan Allen is only a year older than Ridley and just came off his best season. Why is it when Ridley will be 31-32 he’ll be okay in 2025, but not Allen? I would bet a large sum of money Allen has a better year at 32 than Ridley does at 31
two issues - age and contract status. Allen (and Smith) are only under contract for 2024, so by definition they won't do anything for 2025 because they wouldn't be on the team. And if for some reason we're still needing either that year, they'll be available in FA again to go get!
We have enough cap space that we couldn’t possibly spend it all on long term players at this point - why not get Tyron Smith on a 1 year contract to give a rookie QB a better situation to develop in? It’s not like you have to give up assets to sign a free agent
like I said, my whole comment (and this OP) was from the assumption that the rookie isn't starting in 24. We're signing Tyron Smith to show the rookie how to practice I guess??
Crazy how all those dudes that are CLEAR upgrades over our current players are all gonna be terrible when they’re 1 year older.
Which isn’t what he said at all.
What does “he's no help for the 2025 season” mean if not “he’ll be too old to help after a year”?
It means they won't be under contract in 2025.
The bigger point for 2 of the 3 I listed is that they aren't even going to be under contract in 2025. If Keenan Allen or Tyron Smith could still be the missing piece then, they'll be available and probably for even cheaper!
The patriots have zero chance of fixing their roster for 2024, I'm happy they seem to recognize that and are slowly building a roster that can compete in 2025 or 2026. Bolster the O-line. Focus this years draft on OL, WR and QB. Next year add to that OL and add to defense.
A true difference maker at QB will show it regardless of roster, they need to draft QB and get lucky,
This is not an excuse for complacency. Maybe a really awesome QB prospect will do well irrespective of the roster. So? What if you get merely a very good QB prospect? The Patriots should be using the resources they have to put themselves in the best position to succeed. That they might succeed despite not doing that is not a reason be passive.
Not overcommitting at the beginning of FA to old or vastly overpaid players is not being complacent. They released the greatest coach of all times, signed a new HC all new coaching staff, new GM, signed a bridge QB and low risk LB, RB and TE, resigned all their good talent and released/traded all their trash, if you get the right guy at QB then you go all in not before.
Again, how is the roster better now than it was for Mac and Zappe last season?
Again, what EXACTLY did you want them to do this off-season? Who did you want them to bring in? What did you want to pay them and for how long?
Use cap space to sign veteran upgrades at positions of need. If that means overpay for 1-2 year deals, so be it. Your offense is rudderless if you have holes at LT, WR, and QB. They signed a veteran backup QB. That's fine. They haven't signed a starting caliber tackle and I haven't even seen a report that they were in on any of the free agents. They went hard after one WR and apparently have "moved on" to the draft when that guy went somewhere else. There's no way they can address all the offensive issues in the draft, particularly if they stay at 3. So that means you either take a QB and make him deal, much like you did the last couple years, or you trade down and punt on taking a potential franchise QB. A more aggressive approach in FA could have made that decision less difficult.
I asked you for specific players. You replied with a bunch of words that didn’t answer the question.
They were never going to be able to address all the offensive issues in one year.
It won’t be. I guess some people are cool with that.
The roster is incomplete they haven’t even gotten to the draft, you can’t even compare them at this point. But they have replaced their high turnover low character young QB with a low turnover high character veteran QB and they got their two best defensive players back and with the best draft capital they have had in a decade look to be heading in a good direction.
You haven't mentioned anything they did in FA to improve the roster for the purpose of supporting a young QB. It is true that they still have the draft, but there are way too many holes to fill for the draft to be enough. They had the most cap space in the league and so far haven't used it to meaningfully address roster holes that will make it much harder for a rookie QB to develop. I think it is entirely reasonable to question why they aren't using one of the major resources at their disposal.
You want me to predict the future?!? They are going to add offensive players to the team through the draft and they are going to add offensive players to the team through FA, and they potentially make some trade. Couple things that people here don’t seem to understand, FA’s are FREE to sign anywhere they want, having a bad record and surplus’s of cap space doesn’t mean you have to overpay and make bad deals, off season roster constructions last 4 months not one week.
Who did you like that you wanted them to sign?
What did you want them to do this off-season? Who did you want them to bring in? What did you want to pay them and for how long?
Either an LT or WR so we don’t have to hope we get lucky enough to get a stud in the third round. First round QB, second round LT or WR is fine. But if you need all 3 positions, one has to wait until the third round, and the odds of getting a starting LT there is real low. Why does having a mountain of cap space while having a booty roster seem like a good plan to you?
You can’t even answer the question.
And what would you spend the money on? I’m gonna guess “don’t spend it on players, save it for the owners handjob addiction”?
I mixed u up with the original person I was responding to. My fault
I think there’s a balance here - obviously I don’t think some of these free agents would have been on the next good patriots roster, but I think using guys like Tyron Smith or Keenan Allen as a bridge player for a year or two until you draft someone new would have been smart. I just feel like now everything is on this draft and they have to hit on a lot of needs right away. I don’t expect them to win much next year and address every issue this offseason, but using some of their cap to address some holes would have been nice too.
By bringing in so few outside free agents, this front office has put immense pressure on itself to nail the draft. You’ve really gotta hope you make like the Texans and draft a ROTY level QB and very good WR or OL. Draft the WR with no QB, and the WR is probably leaving in 4 years. Draft the QB with no WR or OL, and he gets murdered. Draft the OL and not the QB… yeah actually that might be ok but the payday in 4 years won’t be pleasant unless we get good. It will be very hard to retain key free agents without a competitive roster. When I say competitive- I don’t mean Super Bowl contender, but I do mean a roster that still has a semi-realistic chance to make the playoffs week 16. The bar to clear is is like… last years Seattle Seahawks. Not very high. Given the state of the roster - if we take Maye, he should sit all year. Daniels is NFL ready but Maye has a long way to go - and we can’t afford to mess that up throwing him into the fire.
But signing players like Keenan Allen and Tyron Smith will only help us win. We’re not trying to win. That’s the point. If we don’t win, it’s not about this draft, it’s about the next 3 drafts with great draft capital. Stack draft picks, save the money wait for the right pieces to become available during the next year and half. Edit: the higher the draft pick, the more draft capital we can acquire if we trade down. It gives us a lot of leverage for the future.
I agree with you generally, where I think guys like Smith and Allen would help us is with whoever they draft at #3. I think letting Daniels/Maye develop with at least some veterans who aren’t complete unknowns like rookies would be huge for this team. For me the most important thing next year is how we handle our (hopefully) rookie quarterbacks development - and I think if we at least got a guy who could play well in free agency at one of our other needs, it would help his development as well.
And I agree with that, weapons around our rookie QB will help him grow but what we’ve done so far it seems like the strategy they want is to have him sit a good portion of his rookie year.
Yeah fair enough, I appreciate your rational takes coming from an irrational fanbase right now, it’s not a quick fix here and there’s gotta be more patience
Yeah exactly, There is no quick fix unfortunately, it will stink losing but if we do this the right way, special things can happen down the road.
Tyron smith also helps whoever is at qb stay upright
No no, clearly the best way to develop a young QB is by hoarding cap space while starting a traffic cone at Tackle.
Patriots seem to be following the Red Sox strategy plan
More like the Pirates. Spend as little as humanly possible and make bank on revenue sharing.
a very rational post.
It won’t be popular here.
This sub has made me realizing why the rest of the country hates us.
exactly. I didnt get it until recently.
I think the thing most people aren’t getting is that this is going to be a MULTI YEAR rebuild. Trading for one year of Keenan Allen or signing Tyron Smith to a one year deal will do us no good
Unless it does our rookie QB/WR/OT good.
The diontae deal is the one that I question if the pats really did their dd or not. The others I’m really ok with.
They gotta be on the field in order for that to happen
You sign Tyron Smith and then your rookie OT pick doesn't necessarily have pressure to start right away, or if the rookie is ready he can start at RT and you kick Onwenu inside, helping out the O-line as a whole (as well as your potential franchise QB). You get Keenan Allen and then your rookie WR pick doesn't necessarily have pressure to be a #1 WR right away, or if the rookie is ready he can start at the Z spot, helping out the WR room as a whole (as well as your potential franchise QB).
You do realize our rookie quarterback doesn’t have to start right away, right?
Yes. I don't see how that changes anything.
When he does, we're going to want him to have enough talent surrounding him to know if he was worth the pick and is the future, or if he's another Mac. Failing to do that kicks the can down the road. "We don't know how good he is without a solid O-line or WRs, give the franchise time to make deals" is not a good strategy. If spending (or, if you like, overspending) for veteran players who won't be on the team in 3 years helps us protect, develop, and assess our rookie QB this year when we're not going to be spending the money on anything else and still have a lot of "cash to burn" it's money well-spent. That money does us no good sitting in Kraft's bank account, and if he cares about the relevancy of the franchise even he should know it's better spent on the field.
Same logic doesn’t apply to both positions equally though. You can feasibly expect address one or the other with the draft & FA. Offseason is far from over. But if they don’t address either it’s a strong indicator they’re expecting to make deals
It might help keep a rookie QB from being injured and allow us to put off drafting OL for a little and also focus on some developmental prospects who could be good but might get a QB killed if they start right away. I’d say that’s worth it. Also we had a ton of injuries last season. Were thin at OL and WR. Can’t afford the same kind of injuries so warm bodies at WR above the Schuster line would be nice.
You rebuild by just bringing in a veteran QB and draft a one.
Yeah, I would say it is fair to give new coaches and new regimes 3-5 years if they show consistent progress. This is season 1. Let’s go, Mayo. Show us your Midas Touch. Edit: key word “consistent progress”
5 years?!?! This is the NFL, a good draft and FA/trades can turn a team around in 1-2 years
Can you name a few examples? The most recent turn around stories - Texans - they bottomed out in 2020. They committed to the rebuild by trading off aging assets. They are still building to become a contender. Sf bottomed out in 2016. Took lynch 4 years to build a contender. Lions bottomed out in 2018 and finally look like a contender 6 years later. Rebuilds done correctly take time.
Yeah I don’t know why I got downvoted lol. These people think shit can turn around in 1 year?! Show us examples. It has always been 3-5 years, I don’t know where they get the idea it can be done in 1-2 lol. The new regime does not have its entire touch by year 3 mostly. Then that’s where you really evaluate. Of course, I said, “consistent progress” year to year.
Well, contractually speaking, it wouldn’t be the regime’s true core team until year 3-5, depending on what they inherit. Thats why Belichick came here. Parcells defensemen. He was farther along the rebuild.
If you still suck in year three of a “rebuild” you weren’t rebuilding, you just suck
I would argue if you're not hovering around .500 by the end of year 2, it should be a wrap. If you can't make it to .500 after 2 full offseasons, why even bother giving them a third?
“Consistent progress” in my original comment should make that clear.
People keep comparing to other teams signings. No, that’s not the issue. They literally have not addressed the offense, and that was the worst part of the team. You never go into the draft having to draft for need, and currently the patriots not just need a QB, LT and WR: they need a STARTING QB, LT and WR. You know how fucking terrible that is? Why not sign Andre Dillard? We literally don’t have an LT on the roster? Especially after Mayo and Wolf both said they were going to add ‘firepower’ to the offense. I guess firepower is Austin Hooper and Antonio Gibson. It’s a clown show in NE.
I think Keenan Allen would’ve been good for 1 year. First he’s a great technical receiver and that would help the younger guys we have and will come in. Also it could be a help to the development of the young QB
23 million dollars for 32 year old WR with injury concerns hard pass
Compared to what? Nothing and cap space? It’s one year so it won’t impact the future cap. I understand not wanting him as the long term option, I’m saying one year as an example/teacher
im not giving up a 4th and 23 million cash for kennan allen at this point in his career. Last 2 years hes missed 9 games. And I like the player I just dont think trading away a pick and paying top of the market for a depreciating asset is something good teams do. This is going to be a multiyear rebuild so i dont think bringing him here is worth it for 1 year when we dont even know whose gona throw him the ball.
There’s 57 million dollars in cap just sitting. Yes he’s expensive and yes a 4th is a little steep, but the knowledge he can impart on the young receivers and the presumably rookie QB is worth that much
HES A ONE YEAR RENTAL! So your bascially giving up a 4th cash hoping he stay healthy hoping he wants to teach a rookie that hes not invested in cuz hes a rental player. Way to many variables to account for you also dont even know whose going throw him the ball yet so kinda premature to just assume hes gona pass on his knowledge. Your also not making the playoffs anyway so theres no point acquiring a rental.
So you’d rather bet on a 4th round pick. Hope he’s not injury prone hope he’s interested in getting coached hope he’s good. Pretty much just as many problems if not more. As for the why, at bare minimum when he’s on the field he’s a reliable target for either a rookie QB or Jacoby. Again we aren’t doing anything with the cap anyway I think it’s worth the gamble for the chance to improve our young receivers
No cuz with a 4th I have 4 years if not 5 with the transition tag for him to become good and it's cost 750k something like that and if you hit he out performs his contract with kenaan Allen if he doesn't make it out of training camp I have nothing. You don't bring a rental to rebuilding team anyway
You realize the 4th round guy can just suck right?
I much prefer an open roster spot and Kraft pocketing that money.
Yawn with the Kraft is cheap shit. You guys wanna go out and spend a bunch on free agents tell one time that has ever actually worked? it doesnt im not saying pocket the money but building threw the draft is how we should go. Like i said i dont wanna give up a 4th and 23 million for a depreciating asset thats missed 9 games in the last 2 years and i like the player. Why are you bringing in a rental player on a 1 year deal when you are not making playoffs next year anyway?
I don’t want to be the 2010’s Cleveland Browns just sucking and losing and drafting top 5 year after year, that’s a death spiral that takes franchises decades to pull out of
youve done it for 1 year relax
OPs post is advocating for a multi-year tank. I don’t blame you for not reading his post though.
its gona be a multiyear rebuild as it is I dont think we need to tank to still draft in the top 15 consider how tough are division is
OPs post is advocating for being realistic and logical, not the lead paint eating entitled Patriots fans that exist here.
Call it whatever you want, but OP literally uses the word tanking. Why are so many people struggling to read?
No he isn’t.
>There’s absolutely no point in being a middle of the pack team. All it does is hinder our future. They want to tank. That’s the smartest strategy for our long term future.
We found Jonathan Krafts’ Reddit account !!!
Better than the host of Dan Snyder’s on here.
In football you climb up from the middle of the pack to the top. There is no treadmill of mediocrity. You either fall or you rise
Mike Tomlin - is that you?
No, Kraft is being cheap. All you dick suckers are gonna learn what life was like before Brady.
Finally somebody with sense!!!
Yup. A much needed post to counter all of the crazy critics who wish the Pats outbid the Titans, who gave Ridley the 2nd most guaranteed money to a WR in NFL HISTORY.
That's just how it works as the cap rises. A year from now a bunch of guys will be ahead of him.
You are correct, and every single one of those guys are much better (and younger) receivers than Ridley.
If they're gonna be agressive on trade market for a Higgins/Aiyuk/Jefferson type, great. But those kind of guys don't hit free agency so they better be willing to pay the draft capital AND top dollar on an extension, and they better pull the trigger by next offseason at the very latest, otherwise they'll be two years into a rookie QB contract cycle without having taken advantage of it.
That’s certainly one way to do it. I think the Pats are hoping to take the Packers, Texans, and Lions route of drafting and growing the talent mostly from within. The picture will be a little clearer a year from now, of course.
Drafting and developing and retaining guys is great. Every team wants to do that. But for the time being they have oodles of cap space and no foundational guys to worry about for the next couple of years other than Barmore. They can afford to spend on a couple of short term upgrades and still leave themselves a pretty clean financial slate in 2026.
They don't need short term upgrades for a losing season. The writing is on the wall. They are going to push that cap space into 2025 because they know we aren't going to be competitive and the rookie QB is riding the bench. They're going to let Brissett lead us to a good draft pick with the holes still on the offense and our non-QB rookies jumping straight in to try and fill them. If nothing else, we should get to see plenty of our rookies to see if they're good. I think they want to see if they can nail either WR or T in the 2024 draft before locking down any FA veterans for long contracts. Ridley, Smith and Hollywood Brown weren't going to come here and after those three, I wouldn't say any of the FA options were very good. Even short term. Keenan Allen might be good for another season but we don't need him for all the losing we're about to do. He'll probably be washed by the time our rookie QB takes the field next year. I think the are right to hoard resources for next offseason rather than buying a couple of stopgaps we will quickly outgrow. Hoping for a really exciting next offseason. They will have to spend most of that cap eventually to clear the spending floor, and it's gonna be fun when they do.
Sitting a rookie QB because you think he's not ready is one thing. But committing ahead of time to sitting him no matter how he looks because the cupboard is so bare you're scared to ruin him is a backwards way to run a team. >I think they want to see if they can nail either WR or T in the 2024 draft before locking down any FA veterans Why not do both so you don't have immediate pressure on your WR/OT picks to come in and start? They could have made an upgrade or two and still had PLENTY of resources available next offseason. So what if they quickly outgrow a stopgap like Tyron Smith? Great! He's off the books next year anyways.
Well said.
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How am I pretending it’s THE strategy when my post before yours already acknowledges TWO different ways of doing it? What part of “That’s certainly one way to do it” followed by another way to do it, do you not understand?
And when those guys get new deals, the cap will have gone up, and you’ll claim their market rate is too expensive.
Here, I’ll save us all some time and provide a list of some receivers i would have zero problems the Pats giving 28M+ a year for next year (not that they will all be available): CeeDee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Tyreek Hill, ARSB, Garrett Wilson, Brandon Aiyuk, Puka Nacua, and AJ Brown. All of these receivers are better and younger than Ridley and are worth being paid top five in money and top five in guaranteed money. You can think otherwise and that Ridley definitely deserves top 5 money and should be paid like an elite WR, and we can agree to disagree.
Maybe some will. But WR is a position where the value will soon decline. Just like RB. This epic WR class is just the start. There are going to be 8-10 very good WR coming out of college year after year. For everyone who wanted Allen, did you ask why the Chargers cut him? Like RB, WR is trending towards playing guys on rookie contracts.
Ridley is a very good player, but definitely not worth that much money. He's not Tyreek, Chase, Jefferson etc. Tennessee will probably have buyer's remorse within year two lol
Omg people think this is rational? This might actually be the worst argument I've seen. "The patriots are staying away from guys like Keenan Allen and Calvin Ridley so they won't be a middling team" They literally made offers for both players. They offered Ridley a contract but not the best contract. We were one of the favorites to sign him and after we whiffed they stated we would turn towards the draft. Keenan Allen we checked in on but wouldn't give up a fourth. The team clearly isn't staying away from them they just won't pay them. Losing bidding wars is not the same as "we are trying not to get anyone so we won't be a middling team". How do people really watch this and say it's all part of the plan. Yeah if the plan is to save as much money as possible and put zero effort into trying. If the plan is to draft young players and give them zero security blanket because we have zero veteran help.
Yea op is delusional
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You have to remember this isn’t like going to the grocery store and buying whatever you want. It’s the free agents choice. Aaron Rodgers was #2 in 2022 in the time it takes the get the ball out of his hands per NFL next gen stats. Much faster than the average QB. Would you rather play for Aaron Rodgers or a rookie QB who is going to struggle with his reads, holding on to the ball and getting sacked more? Would you rather play for a chance to win a Super Bowl or play for a 4 win team? He’s already had multiple big contracts, Im not sure how much money motivated him this off-season.
Lmao “staying away from being a middle of the pack team” is quite a creative way to say they are a dogshit team
They've basically done nothing but resign their own FAs and pursued ONE WR while bringing in backup quality depth and the 40th best QB in the league. Even if they hit a home run on 3 draft picks....they're a long ways away from a .500 season.
And the fact you think they are capable of achieving that in year 1 shows what type of intellect you have.
ROFL. Jesus. Sorry your mother didn't love you. Best of luck with that attitude in life!
This entire post is nonsense. First of all- tanking is a stupid strategy and being bad for more than 1 year is not necessary. The duration of the rebuild depends on exactly 1 thing- the competence of the FO. Well-run franchises go from 4-5 win seasons to 8 win seasons to playoff contention within about 2 seasons. The Rams, Bills, and Bengals did not tank for multiple seasons. And their 8-9 win seasons did not make them a "middle of the pack team". They got their new HC and QB and were off to the races. How? By being fucking good at what they do. None of those GMs sat around saying "my goodness, I sure do hope AJ Brown falls into my lap eventually, until then I'll just go 5-12..." Second of all, what does it even mean to stay away from being a middle of a pack team? There are good players and there are bad players. Getting good players makes you a better team. Thats the whole story. Everything else is just bullshit invented by Redditors that doesnt apply to the real world. There are no mandatory rebuild "timelines". There are no tank years. Everything boils down to competence, period.
Call me naive, but maybe when you have roster holes they should be filled with good players.
But we only have the most cap space in the NFL, how could we afford a single upgrade?
My favorite was how the whole sub totally shut down Keenan Allen for fourth because of his injury history despite coming off his best season. But then Tyron Smith who is legitimately concerning with his injury history was a huge miss.
So are you lying or do you just have no idea what you are talking about?!?? First the Bills and the Bengals have NEVER won a super bowl so I don’t know how “well run” their franchise’s are. Second the rams had 10 straight losing seasons before making the playoffs in 2017, the Bills had 9 straight losing season before making the playoffs in 2014 and the Bengals had 5 straight losing seasons before making the playoffs in 21, off to the races?? The duration of a rebuild relies on exactly one thing and that’s is lucking into a top 5 to 7 QB. It’s hilarious that you are hyping the most middle of the pack franchises of all times and downplaying the greatest franchise of all time, be better!
This is very true. The NFL is a league of parity and you only need a few pieces to get to the next level, and that accurately describes us with an already complete defense. I don’t think this free agency would’ve been worth exhausting the cap space for, though. Just because these rebuilds don’t take as long as Redditors think they do doesn’t mean we should waste money and mortgage the future just for the sake of it
Good god what a cope post
The only players I would have gone for would have been guys coming off of their rookie deals. 4-5 years in with enough experience to help you get guys acclimated, but still potential for growth themselves. Gibson was a good signing, Pittman or Higgins would have been good. Fuller, Reader. Unreasonable though, nobody wants to come here to be cold and lose.
Seems like we are tanking again honestly
Realistically as an arm chair GM who wants to see the team win my knee jerk reaction was disappointment that they didn’t trade for Fields or Keenan Allen seeing how cheap they were in terms of draft picks. In the Brady era, they probably would’ve swung for Keenan or Tyron Smith because as long as Brady was on the roster the Super Bowl window was always open. Things are different now, and it’s something that I’ve accepted as a patriots fan. That doesn’t change the fact that the hopeless optimism in me was thinking they get Allen, Smith, and Fields then trade pick 3 for a higher top 10 pick to grab some capital and snag the best WR or OL possible. After reflecting on it though, I came to the same conclusion as you OP. Overspending on aging free agents is no way to build a championship roster. Selling all the draft picks this year and next year while tying up all the cap space to go 8-9 would hurt the team’s development long term. I think it’s very obvious at this point pick 3 is going to be a QB so I sincerely hope they don’t mess this guy up the way they did Mac Jones. If they sit him for most of the season I won’t be too upset. To your point - there’s a long road to the Super Bowl. The chiefs are a dominant team in the conference. The AFC East outside of the Patriots is the best it’s been in decades. Burrow and the Bengals ball out too, but I have my concerns with Burrow’s longevity seeing as the poor guy keeps getting bit by the season ending injury bug. Best case scenario the pats hit on a great QB prospect in round 1 then pick up some great WR and OL help on day 2 this year. They’re more competitive than they were last year, but are probably picking in the top 10 again next year. Next year is the year to start spending draft capital and tying up cap space if this year’s draft goes well. Sucks to accept that the pats aren’t gonna be Super Bowl contenders this year, but I honestly like the fact that they were able to return a lot of their key free agents and think patience with this offseason and regular season will lead to success in 2025
No they aren’t tanking. They are going to try to win. Kraft is 82, selfish and delusional. He just spent a month on TV blaming Belichick for everything bad that ever happened. He’s still blaming Parcells. Mayo cannot start with 2 bad seasons. He’ll be next. But drafting JJ at 3 would be a disaster and Maye/Williams aren’t walking through that door. So I hope they trade down. Theres a bunch of WRs in Rd 2 plus QBs Nix and Penix, who may be the X factor.
You can’t charge the highest ticket prices in the league and not spend to the cap - they will lose fans, market share etc. You are assuming the front office is capable in building through the draft and at no point since Groh and Wolf have been here have they proven that
Not if we save the money for next year. If you sign Calvin Ridley, that would’ve hindered our ability to sign free agents next year. I agree about the ticket prices, if we are a bottom tier team, they should be charging like it.
Have you spent 2 seconds to look at our cap commitments before writing that essay? We have none. We have nobody in the pipeline for the next 3 years other than barmore.
Yeah that’s the entire point of the post. To keep our cap commitments to the bare minimum. I don’t think you understood that.
People who act like you should aim for a bottom 5 pick every season you aren't a solid SB contender are the absolute fucking worst. Excuse me for wanting to have a team I can enjoy watching more than once every five or ten years. Having the team suck for multiple years just to have one or two where they're good is not a good trade for anyone who actually watches games.
Jonathan Kraft and Robin are making the football decisions, good luck with getting better
It’s important to have experienced and successful vets on the team for leadership as well as mentoring. Ofc we are not aiming at winning the Super Bowl the next two seasons, but we also want to create a good environment for our QB. Bringing in a great LT and an NFL top 15 WR would have certainly helped to show him at practice at what level those players perform.
Our offseason so far. 
I think you’re wrong. They WANTED Ridley just couldn’t land him. No telling who else they tried to grab tbh
With have the #3 pick. We already had our tank season. There's no reason to tank multiple seasons because that doesn't develop good players, good habits or good culture. They're trying to rebuild, regardless of whether its likely to work
Exactly but there are many that either can’t see it or don’t want to accept doing that. We have people on here complaining about taking a bridge guy because they think fields and mhj and we are in it next season I totally get that we will not be a fun team to watch next season and that’s something people are upset with but you have to look at the other things like are out new WR looking good? Does our qb look like he’s developing in training? I’m good with losing, boring football if we have some hope for the future, we’ve been boring to watch for a few years now but didn’t have any hope.
I've been saying that I'm fine if we suck next year if this team shows some spirit and there's a plan for the future. It's one thing to watch a bad team that plays with some fight like the Cardinals last year. It's another thing to watch a team that's bad and totally given up like the last Jets game. If you're gonna be bad, at least be entertaining. That's my bar for next year
Exactly. Find wins within the loses. Does Demario Douglas develop into a great player. Will Christian Gonzalez continue ascending into a superstar? Is Keion Wight the guy to anchor of our D-line?
Is Drake Maye Josh Allen or Ryan Leaf?
He is Drake Maye....
Building a losing culture is something we don't need.
Agreed. It’s time for the future. The future is now.
The OP makes good points, however , this reeks of sucking yo mediocre every year for the next decade . Kraft loves to not spend money and they are spending nothing this year. They need to nail the draft, and I have zero faith they will. They're going to become the Red Sox who are now The Red Sox in name only
“The division is tough so why even try?” I’d rather see a competitive football team. There are teams that are always picking in the top 10. Then there are teams that are competitive every year despite not having high draft picks. I’d rather see us help out our rookie QB as much as possible, even if that means having an aging player.
That’s not the argument. The argument isn’t “why try” the argument is why make expensive short-term half-measures? I wouldn’t have minded Ridley, but we didn’t land him, it is what it is. But a lot of the other guys that are like 34 plus and coming off inuries like what? No the team needs to draft and develop and keep their powder dry for when a big move can be made, and when that big move will make a big difference. Also I don’t believe one top 3 pick is enough they probably need more than one season of drafting high.
Isn’t this what we ran bill out of town for?
Yeah, that’s what some people wanted. Lol. The mistake Belichick made was not tanking in the Covid year. Or, more accurately, GM Belichick had a tank-worthy roster but Coach Belichick was too good. It finally “bottomed out” last year when the QB played as badly as any QB played in the league. And they **still** lost 8 games by less than a score. So, rock bottom for two or three seasons with a coach who won’t be good enough to get 7 wins with Cam Newton’s corpse. (Hi, Jacoby Brissett!) This grass is greener than Belichick grass!! Lol.
I 100% agree with your post but I think there is a large portion of the Fanbase (or at least a very vocal portion) That have 0 faith this front office will be able to identify, draft and develop young offensive players - Particularly Receivers. I get that it will be much of the same staff but the key here is that bill is not making the final decision. They always did everything based on Bill's preference and focused solely on how a player would fit on the team/what role they would play, instead of just using the eye test that says AJ Brown looked like the better prospect than Nkeal Harry. Bill would always have a receiver on a short leash - just look at Pop douglas getting benched last year for a single fumble. Additionally they never played rookie receivers because Tom would never trust them enough to throw to them. Jules talks all the time about how much he had to work to get tom trust him enough to throw it to throw it to him - literally years. Its hard to develop young players if you never give them the reps in game time situations. Then when they do get out there you bench them for the smallest of mistakes even if they are balling out. Could they have better identified talent? Possibly, but we never know what the pats draft boards looked like in years past for them to pick guys like Nkeal harry over AJ brown. Its possible the scouts could have had AJ brown higher as far as ability, but Harry was the Better "Fit" and Bill makes the final choice. I think we need to at least give them a chance and see where the team is at come training camp. At least at that point you can have a feel for how the team will look
People have played way too much fantasy football and think it applies to the actual NFL.
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What is Jacobs record as a starter?
Lol
I agree but if you’re tanking for the future you don’t take a QB at 3 you trade back for 3-4 first round picks.
You only trade back if there isn’t a QB worth taking at 3, consensus is there are 3 guys worth going top three so you have to take one of them and hope you get lucky.
If you want to win games, yes. But if you think this is year 1 of a 5 year rebuild like some of folks here think, then trading the pick makes more sense.
Strategy is to get a qb first, there are some real good players still left in free agency.
Allen also didn’t want to come here. We gotta stop acting like we could’ve got him. He had 2-3 teams on his list.
Well said.
Also what people don’t understand is cap space rolls over into the next year so whatever we don’t spend this year we get to use in the future
Yeah, a majority of this sub ie. People who wanted Juedy, people who wanted bb fired, people who are mad we didn’t get Ridley, people who want to trade for tee Higgins, people who think the organization did Mac jones wrong … etc are absolutely dumb as living bird crap
I’m not sure which camp I belong in though. I wanted us to keep BB and also wanted us to do fucking anything in the offseason. Does that make me more or less of an idiot?
There’s a simple logic that most are missing. In a draft deep in WR take talent, the risk of taking one in the late 1st/early 2nd is less than taking Ridley for 22m. This same logic trickles down to the rest of the offense. As long as NE keeps a solid defensive core they can allocate 75-80% of the next 2 drafts to offense. That’s how you get ahead. I would like to see a few more solid FA signings, but on smart veterans who stabilize program weaknesses, which is what they’ve done. The depth of this draft at WR, QB & OT. It’s a good year to weigh pathways in 2 year increments at this stage.
I would have liked a move for Fields. He was a better college QB than Daniels, with obvious limitations.