NFL
By: Steve Atkinson
The AFC Conference is loaded. Last year during free agency Bill Belichick spent a ton at the start of free agency. A year later he’s done nothing while the other teams in the conference are loading up on talent. The Patriots who finished the season 10-8 are a worst team at this moment than they were in January when their season ended in the AFC Wild-Card game. They don’t have a cornerback, number one wide receiver, a secondary, or an offensive line. Maybe the only few things they’ve done so far that are good is bringing back offensive tackle Trent Brown, and James White.
Since the Patriots don’t have an offensive coordinator at this present moment in time, they brought back Brian Hoyer to be a player/coach to second year quarterback Mac Jones. They brought back Devin McCourty to be a player/coach for the secondary, and Matthew Slater to be a player/coach on Special Teams. The Patriots had Malcolm Butler and Leonard Fournette in for workouts on Monday, but Fournette went back to Tampa with Brady and who knows about Butler yet. The Bills have gotten ten times better singing Von Miller and O.J. Howard last week. Not to mention the AFC West is stacked with talent.
The Patriots Quiet Offseason Should Concern Patriot Fans
The Patriots have lost Ted Karras, and Shaq Mason so far and have yet to replace them. We’ll see what happens during the draft but it’s becoming clear they need to hit big during this draft. With the majority of the coaching staff friends of Belichick between Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, Director of Player Personnel Matt Groh how collaborative will it actually be? Will Belichick listen to what his staff has to say, or will he overrule them and do things his way? So far, I think Belichick likes his staff the way it is because he knows they will listen to him and if he hired someone that doesn’t know him as well, they may try to change things he wouldn’t want.
If you look around the conference the AFC is stacked with talent especially at quarterback. The Denver Broncos adding Russell Wilson just passed the Patriots in the AFC. I put the Chiefs, Chargers, Broncos, Colts, Bills, Titans, and Browns all ahead of the Patriots at this moment. All of those teams that passed the Patriots have upgraded this offseason so far while the Patriots brought back veteran players to be coordinators because they don’t have any.
Patriots Don’t Have Brady Anymore To Cover Up Holes Around The Team
I know it may be harsh but it’s true. The Patriots can’t do what they’ve done in the past anymore because they don’t have Tom Brady who made up for the holes around the team. The Patriots have holes and Mac Jones isn’t ready yet to cover those holes. I think they need to really have a great draft and hit on their picks. Draft a wide receiver that was teammates with Mac Jones, draft a cornerback, and get younger on defense. Get younger on the offensive line etc. The Patriots are worse right now than half the teams in the AFC. Even Josh McDaniel’s who is now coach of the Las Vegas Raiders has a better roster than the Patriots do right now. But he also has to keep up with that stacked division they are in.
Patriots fans really shouldn’t be happy where this team is at right now. I’m not sure a major move is coming for them. I think they are trying to be cheap and get the best deal then have a great draft. If that’s the case fine but again they need to hit during the draft or Belichick could be on the hot seat.
