By: Kevin Borrelli
With the Patriots off-season well underway after an 8-9 season, there has already been self-reflection and future planning initiated at 1 Patriot Place. Each year Bill and his staff assess what went well in the previous year and what steps they need to make to improve for the next year. Not all of these steps always hit (i.e. Matty P and Joe Judge as the offensive brain trust) but Bill has a solid record overall in his planning.
As Bill rhetorically asked at the end of the 2021 season, and I’m paraphrasing, “Is this really what we are or was this the result of losing key contributors in a few areas? We’ll have to see.” Well after another season in the books, the Patriots have shown that that is what the team was and improvements need to be made. Here we’ll outline 5 steps that the Patriots should take to become an AFC contender yet again. Luckily with the B.O.B. and Adrian Klemm signing, those are 2 steps we do not have to write about and should instantly make them a better team.
1. Draft and Develop 1-2 Offensive Tackles.
I know this isn’t the sexiest thing to be talking about but it was clear to even an average spectator last year that the Patriots had an offensive tackle problem. The only starter that is under contract for next year is Trent Brown and even his spot isn’t a given.
The team should use their pick at 14 on one of the top tackles available (assuming 1 of the 3 is still there) and they should either sign or draft someone to develop to take Trent Brown’s spot once his contract is up with the team next year.
With the tackle position solidified it should instantly make this offensive line one of the best in the league with Andrews, Owenu and Strange holding down the interior. We’ve seen what a difference better protection does to help Mac out and this would be the top priority for next year.
2. Obtain a Number 1 WR
I’m always willing to admit when I’m wrong and this is one of those times. This year clearly showed what a number 1 WR can do for a team and showed where the league is going. It makes it a lot more difficult to produce without one now and no longer can a team get by with a lot of 2s, 3s and 4s. Now, this is a lot easier said than done as the WR market is pretty baren this year and the draft isn’t supposed to be as deep as usual.
The way they should most likely address this is the trade route because I for one do not trust them drafting a WR based off of their track record (although B.O.B has a pretty good record and was in the college game for a few years so maybe his intel may help).
The first name people throw out is DeAndre Hopkins. He’s a fine player but he’s on the wrong side of 30, commands a lot of money and isn’t fast to begin with before his legs start going. If you could get him for a 3 or 4 then fine but I want someone with better upside and playmaking potential. Jerry Jeudy is an interesting name and could be what the Patriots would need. The only issue with that is will Sean Payton be willing to give him up? Odds are though is the logical choice may not be so logical yet. No one predicted at this time last year the Tyreek Hill or Davante Adams or AJ Brown would be traded, so there likely is someone of that caliber lurking around and the Patriots need to sniff it out before someone else does.
3. Get Faster at Linebacker
For years the Patriots have gotten too slow at linebacker and have been burned by the mobile quarterbacks and fast teams because of this. Either draft or sign someone to fill this void and this could be an area where the team’s pocketbooks being full may help them acquire one in free agency.
4. Look for a Lock Down Cornerback
This one is simple. The Patriots defense has always looked its best when they’ve had a lockdown cornerback going back to Ty Law, Asante Samuel, Aqib Talib, Darrell Revis, and Stephon Gilmore. Having a true number one frees up the defense to do so much more and mix and match man-man coverage rather than having to play a lot of different zones.
We saw last year that while Jonathan Jones is a really good slot corner, he’s not a number one lockdown corner. I think that the Jones boys will be really good contributors on this D but more so as a 2 and a slot corner.
Again where they find this number one corner is still up in the air and I would not want them to bring in Jalen Ramsey unless they feel like they can turn him around (he had an off year last year, is aging and does anyone else remember Gilmore’s dig at him as a zone corner?) The draft is supposed to be deeper at this position this year so I’d either hedge my bets here.
5. Draft a Developmental TE
The only TE under contract after this year is Jonnu Smith and he even may be gone after this year if his play doesn’t dramatically improve. The team hasn’t done really anything from a developmental perspective here since Gronk and the killer so something needs to be done to buck that trend. Again this is another area where there is supposed to be a lot of depth in the draft and we’ve seen what this offense looks like with a dominating TE. Hell, even look at KC and Baltimore, neither of them have a #1 WR but they have a dominating TE and it makes their offense function really well.
There’s other improvements that many will say have to be done as well like develop a future FS, or get younger at Kicker and Punter, or get a FB. These are all valid plans to have as well. But with these top 5 plans listed the Patriots will go from a 10 to 11 win team maybe winning a wild card or divisional game all the way to a contender in the AFC.
