Of all the bad draft picks Belichick has made over the years, it boggles my mind how he doesn’t get more heat for these two. Two THIRD round draft picks used on a couple of guys that combined for all of five receptions. Total. Between the two of them. That is a stunningly bad evaluation of talent or allocation of assets, whichever criticism you prefer.
That’s before you even get to the assets the Patriots sent out the door to trade UP to get these two players. The Patriots swapped third round and fifth round picks with the Raiders and sent a fourth rounder to Vegas to trade up to select Asiasi. They then traded two fourth round picks and a six round pick, to the JETS no less, in order to trade up to No. 101 to select Keene.
I mean if you’re a glass half full guy, which I admittedly am not, you can give Belichick credit for trying to aggressively address an area of need. After finishing the 2019 season ranked last in the NFL in TE receptions he immediately went out and targeted two tight ends early in the draft. BUT for whatever reason neither guy cut it in New England and the Pats basically flushed six draft picks for five catches. Insanity.
The reason these gigantic swing and misses should have Belichick taking more heat is because they lead to compounded issues. Clearly he saw these guys weren’t going to cut it pretty early on because less than a year later he opened up Robert Kraft’s checkbook and signed tight ends Jonnu Smith to a $50 million deal and Hunter Henry to a $37.5 million deal. You can argue all you want about the reality of cap space, but when you dump five draft picks on two players that provide zero value and then have to go replace them with $90 million in free agent signings it puts your roster management behind the 8-ball. The simple reality is it’s nearly impossible to build a consistent winner in the NFL if you are missing on your top draft picks like this.
Update: Tom Brady has officially announced he is retiring from football.
Tom Brady is officially probably retiring from the NFL after 22 seasons, seven Super Bowl titles, three MVPs, and five Super Bowl MVPs. He is without a shred of doubt the greatest quarterback in NFL history, likely the greatest player in league history, and arguably the greatest athlete in American sports history. As we process the end of an era, only the most somber of songs will suffice. Hit it, acoustic Josie.
That is if you believe the likes of Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington, two of the most tied-in guys in all of sports media. What started as rumors of Brady making a decision on his future sooner than later quickly turned into the breaking news alarm being sounded on Saturday afternoon. It was clearly not something ESPN was prepared for at that exact moment because they had wall to wall college basketball games airing and the regional sports networks like NESN and NBC Sports Boston are usually just airing infomercials when there’s not a game on. So kudos to the radio guys for doing the news justice all day while the snow piled up. But then there were conflicting reports that started coming in quoting sources like Brady’s agent Don Yee and even his own father saying he had not made a decision yet on his future. Mike Silver even reported that Tom Brady actually called Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht to tell him he had not made a decision yet. Welp, ESPN, the NFL Network, all of the internet, even TB12’s own Twitter account tweeted out notes of congratulations on a great career. Sports Center seemed to have taken Schefty at his reporting because they ran non-stop coverage and heart wrenching Tom Brady retirement packages. As they should because whether it was Giselle, Alex Guerrero or someone else that leaked the decision; I would bet my car that Brady is retiring. He’s just pissed he got scooped before he could announce it himself in his own way. (i.e. the mysteriously yet to be aired final episode of his ESPN+ show)
With all that being said, I am going to move forward with this blog assuming Brady is in fact retiring. I really hope this isn’t a Brett Favre situation and he hems and haws. Make a decision and stick with it. I personally don’t think he should walk away because he clearly is still one of the best QBs in the league, but hey if he is calling it a career I get it. He’s won seven Super Bowls, he has every significant NFL record for a QB, he’s got multiple budding businesses to tend to now, and most importantly he has his health. If this it for Tom Brady, what an incredible career it has been. Equally as impressive is the fact that he will be retiring at the height of his powers as he finishes his final season as a legit MVP candidate
So he calls it a career, rather than wait to get hurt or face an inevitable possible decline in skills, even as Brady once famously said “I’ll retire when I suck.” Suck, Tom Brady does not. There aren’t many guys that are able to walk away at the top of their game though. The only recent comp I can think of is David Ortiz, who retired after a 2016 All-Star season in which he hit .315 with 38 home runs and 127 RBIs. Absolutely mind boggling. As badly as Tom Brady wants to play until he’s in his fifties, there is something to be said about walking away before the wheels come off. Nobody wants to remember their idols stumbling around the field, clearly diminished and just chasing former greatness.
Speaking of David Ortiz, the fact that he gets elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame the same week that Tom Brady announces his retirement has me feeling straight up geriatric. My childhood idols now have their numbers retired, streets named after them, HOF inductions, and before long will have statues in their honor. We have truly lived through the greatest era in Boston sports history and to quote Henry Hill “and now it’s all over.”
Didn’t matter. It didn’t mean anything. When I was down, I’d go out and win some more. We won everything. We beat other teams, we battled the league, we even came back from 28-3. Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking. And now it’s all over.
Sure Mac Jones looked pretty good, he helped bring the Patriots back to the playoffs as a rookie, and is technically a Pro Bowl level QB now as an alternate replacement. But it’ll never be the same, and I can already feel my future children rolling their eyes as I tell yet another story championing Tom Brady’s greatness.
In his final season, Tom Brady led the NFL in Passing Touchdowns, Yards, Completions, and Pass Attempts, all at the age of 44 and the oldest player in the league. That is otherworldly in a career of god level accomplishments. I’m not sure if this StatMuse graphic is completely up to date, but it paints the picture of just how utterly dominant Brady has been in his 40s compared to every other QB in league history. Sure he has way more games played, but that’s not a knock, in fact that’s a testament to his…pliability (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).
If this is in fact it, I have to give Brady props for not doing the whole gross Mariano Rivera Retirement Tour. Rivera was the greatest closer in baseball history and was a joy/terror to watch for all those years. But announcing you’re going to retire after one more season just opens the gates for distractions and gifts and media fawning every single week and it sounds exhausting if not outright off putting. Assuming the retirement takes, like a successful transplant operation, he will retire after his age-44 season, which is actually one season shy of the 45-years-old end date he had not so subtly hinted at for years. I’ve personally always thought the “45-years-old” timeline was thrown out there by Brady to throw us off the scent so he could play into his 40’s and then retire at some point before the media started asking him every single offseason about his plans. However, as he continued to play I was less sure of that because let’s face it, if he remained healthy Tom Brady could have played until he was registering for his AARP membership. I can even picture the Instagram promo video for TB12 introducing its most famous Medicare client.
Now in the interest of continuing to process my Tom Brady Leaving the Patriots grief, I’m only briefly going to go back to the Bargaining stage here for a second. Simply put, only playing two seasons in Tampa Bay makes his late career departure hurt a little bit less. A lot of Patriots fans will never forgive Brady for leaving, but I think the majority of fans recognized Brady was essentially forced out of town by Belichick and/or after 20 years it may have just been time to move on. So with that being said, I know a lot of Pats fans were rooting for Brady to play well and even win another ring down in Florida if not to stick it to Belichick, at least to incentivize the Patriots to get their shit together, and fast.
However, if Brady had continued to win in Tampa Bay for several years, it suddenly becomes a very real possibility that the lines of allegiance start to blur. Just think about it, do you look back at Peyton Manning as a Colt or a Bronco? It’s not as clear cut as you might think because although Manning had the bulk of his record breaking HOF career in Indy, he had an ugly breakup with the team that drafted him, then went on to set single season TD records in Denver, continued to have legendary battles against Tom Brady and the Pats, went to two Super Bowls, and won another ring with the Broncos. I think that was starting to become an unspoken fear of Patriots fans who don’t even want to entertain the discussion of who claims Tom Brady as their own.
Getting back on track with my stages of processing the post-Brady grief, I think the Week 4 game this season in Foxborough provided a lot of closure for fans who felt blindsided by his departure nearly two years prior. Not to mention an all-time promo from the Sunday Night Football team.
Speaking of closure, goddamnit am I glad I dragged my lazy ass off the couch in Boston and drove the five hours down to the Meadowlands just to see Tom Brady play in person (and witness him rip out the heart of the Jets) one last time. We even joked in the pre-game tailgate that we’d probably be back in the same parking lot four years from now seeing Tom light up another generation of Jets players, but in the back of our minds we knew this could be it. And it was.
We’ll continue to work through this news and process Tom Brady’s retirement when he finally makes it official. Or if he pulls a Wolf of Wall Street and declares he’s not leaving, we’ll cover that too. If this is it though, I can promise you one thing: Five years from now I will without a doubt be in Canton, OH to witness Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame induction speech. And I’m not a meterologist, but I already know it will be incredibly dusty that day.
Recap: CMC getting hurt helped no one, but we wish him a speedy recovery. Mooney had an interesting stat line, recording 4 catches for 20 yards and TD… ugh!
First Sunday Pick: Austin Ekeler O54.5 rushing yards at KC (-115)+104 with 20% DK profit boost
Fact #1: The Chiefs have allowed the fourth-most rushing yards to RBs through the first two weeks (260).
Fact #2: Ekeler has posted rushing totals of 57 and 54 yards, respectively this season.
Fact #3: Ekeler ran for over 90 yards in their first meeting last season.
Second Sunday Pick: Derrick Henry O102.5 rushing yards vs IND (-115)+104 with 20% DK profit boost
Fact #1: Henry’s last 3 rushing totals vs Indy: 149, 103 and 178.
Fact #2: Less you forge he ran for 182 on Seattle last week.
Third Sunday Pick: Davante Adams O86.5 receiving yards at SF (-115)
Fact #1: Adams went for 10-173-1 on this San Fran team last season.
Fact #2: Adams is also fresh off an 8-121-0 game on Monday vs Detroit.
I’m also going to sprinkle Adams anytime TD at -110 because he’s without one this season and that’s uncharacteristic as he hasn’t gone three straight games without a TD since November 2019.
Fifth and Sixth Sunday Pick: Matthew Stafford O26.5 completions vs Bucs (-120) +100 with 20% DK profit boost and Robert Woods O5.5 catches (-115)
Fact #1: These two teams clashed last season with Goff at the helm for the Rams and he went 39/51, 376 yds, 3 TD, 2 INT, so using the transitive property, Stafford should be able to do that or better since he’s an upgrade from Goff.
Fact #2: Darrell Henderson is out with a rib injury today and no team has successful rushing outings vs the Bucs anyway, so McVay will be calling passing plays early and often. Last season they attempted just 20 rushes.
I was texting with a few buddies during the Patriots game and despite the backbreaking Damien Harris fumble and absolutely brutal way to lose a game, the most common exchange was “Cam Newton is never completing that pass.” And that’s not meant to dump on Cam Newton, who was by all reports a great teammate and team ambassador despite his middling performance on the field. But man what a difference it makes having a young, competent, and promising QB like Mac Jones on the field operating the offense like a vet.
Mac Jones wasn’t lighting it up and throwing for 400+ yards like Dak Prescott or throwing 5 touchdowns like Jameis Winston, but man he looked good. He looked smooth, he was never rattled (aside from that near fumble/lateral play) and he generally moved the offense down the field with precision. His passes were accurate and he frequently put the ball in places where only his receiver could get it.
These are the types of plays that get you really excited about Mac Jones. Has the protection set perfectly against this slot blitz (OL slide right + White picking up blitzer), looks off safety to his right with eyes/pump fake, darts it to Agholor to split two-high. #Patriotspic.twitter.com/gbOltXL1tr
So while it was a heartbreaking way to lose and one that could seriously come back to bite the Patriots in the ass with it being a divisional game, I still came away from this feeling pretty good about where the Patriots are headed for the first time in a long time. Although I imagine Bill Belichick will be taking more of a Winston Wolf approach when it comes to doling out compliments in team meetings this week…
But if you’re a Patriots fan you have to be encouraged by what you saw on Sunday. For the first time in 2 years the Patriots were able to run an NFL offense. Granted, their $80 million tight ends weren’t exactly balling out, but the Pats are already nearly halfway to their total receptions by tight ends all of last season (18 catches) after ONE game (8 catches) this season. Mac did not play favorites, moved the ball around and hit 8 different receivers to keep the chains moving. The Pats definitely eased Mac Jones into the game with plenty of runs in the first half, but by the 4th quarter he looked completely comfortable and best of all he was MONEY against pressure.
Mac Jones was 14-of-18 for 124 yards against the blitz (sacked once) and 7-of-10 for 71 yards and a TD against pressure. #Patriots
We don’t want to crown the kid as the savior after one game because there will be struggles as there are with any rookie, but the fact that the Patriots threw the ball 40 times Sunday just a few months removed from Mac’s last game at Alabama shows you just confident they are in the kid.
And while I think I speak for us all when I say we were a little concerned with his swag level after that awkward walk on draft night:
But in his first career start what song does he come out to? Mike Jones! (Who?) Not exactly Tom Brady and Hova, but going with a Houston rapper who was popping when Mac Jones was all of 7 years old is grade A, top level SWAG.
So while it’s unfortunate to be 0-1 and not take advantage of the Bills and Jets losing, after watching the way Mac Jones played in his first career game it’s hard not to have a feeling that eluded Patriots fans all of last year: hope.
ESPN – The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to sign Tebow, 33, to a one-year contract later this week or next week to play tight end, a position he never played in high school, college or his previous three-year NFL career, a source confirmed to ESPN. A deal has not been agreed upon at this time. Once he signs, he will be reunited with Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, who coached Tebow at Florida and won a pair of national championships with the Gators.
Tim Tebow is approaching Cosmo Kramer levels of winning at life with this latest endeavor. Tebow has lived a life of unimaginable success in all facets of life, the ultimate jack of all trades master of none.
He was a five star QB recruit coming out of high school, won two national championships and a Heisman trophy at Florida, was a 1st round draft pick in the NFL, won a playoff game, moved on to broadcasting where he became a consistent face on ESPN covering college football, then tried his hand at professional baseball and made it to Triple-A, then married a legitimate Miss Universe, and now he will join the Jaguars 5+ years after the last time he strapped on a helmet, oh and he’ll be doing it as a tight end.
Truly a fantasy camp of a life.
Despite all that I love Tim Tebow, but I can understand anyone who might gag at the Captain America resume and truly absurd life this guy has lived. With that being said Tebow switching to tight end is something he should have done nearly a decade ago when the Patriots cut him after the pre-season in 2013. I admire a guy sticking to his guns and saying fuck that I’m a quarterback, but at some point we all have to realize our strengths and acknowledge our weaknesses and play the hand we’re dealt. Tebow looks to be in pretty good shape, but pretty good shape is not exactly NFL tight end shape and he’ll be 34 before the season starts, which is ancient in the NFL. So we might see some flashes but ultimately wonder bitterly what could have been if Tebow had been less stubborn back in the day. Maybe he could have been a reliable weapon for Tom Brady and the Patriots behind Gronk in two tight end sets. Who knows?
Either way it’s a smart move by the Jaguars though because they aren’t signing Tebow to be a backup tight end (they have 5 TE’s on the roster already), no they’re signing him to be a player-coach and to help install Urban Meyer’s team culture for his former University of Florida coach. Meyer is taking a huge gamble (mitigated mightily by having a once in a generation QB prospect in Trevor Lawrence) by jumping from the comfy confines of his college football success to the NFL. Just ask Nick Saban, arguably the greatest college coach of all time, how the NFL worked out for him. So Meyer is looking around for any advantage he can find and familiarity is one of the biggest advantages there is. If his former protege in Tebow can act as another coach on the field and help get other players to buy into Meyer’s system, then it’s absolutely worth the roster spot.
Plus as a guy who has dealt with an absolutely absurd level of attention and scrutiny in his career (hell, people went to Double-A baseball games just to watch him strike out), Tebow can help take some of the spotlight off of and help mentor Trevor Lawrence. Not to mention Tebow is originally from Jacksonville where he is a living legend so with that and Meyer in charge, it’s the perfect situation for him. If Tebow is effective in his role it would not surprise me at all to see him transition into a full-time coaching role as early as next season since this is only a one year deal.
But as a guy who purchased a Tim Tebow No. 5 Patriots t-shirt at the Allston Star Market in 2013, I’m just excited to see my guy back in the league.
It was training camp and fairly deep into it if I remember correctly; at least halfway through. The roster was starting to shake out, or at least shake out as much as a roster in which decisions seem to be made more from Coach Belichick’s conversations with Leonidas’ Ephors than actual empirical football evaluation, could. It was the 3rd training camp for wide receiver and punt returner Julian Edelman. He was, I’ll mention just this once, a college quarterback who converted to receiver to try and make it in the pros and had stuck around the Patriots for a third consecutive camp despite some underwhelming performances, particularly in the return game where he had a chance to be a legit value add. We liked the guy I remember. He was a good story and he was spunky and he reminded us just enough of stalwart, star slot receiver Wes Welker to have some hope. I guess he and Welker were similar enough, being undersized, lightly regarded coming out of college guys who made their living with scrappiness rather than pure athletic talent.
If you listened to local media though this was the end of the line for Edelman. There was just no sense keeping both him and Welker and he wasn’t good enough in the return game, yet to keep around. Nope, this was it, we had other guys, time to cut bait. Even some national folks said the same thing. The feel-good story stopped there.
Then, I remember, came another angle that emerged. Recalling this now it sounds insane given how secretive Coach Belichick is however I remember it as clear as day. It was some sort of Pats preseason TV show. An inside look. He was in some sort of office; maybe his own, maybe a training camp temporary setup. And he was with one of the Pats’ backup quarterbacks. They were drawing up and breaking down offensive plays and sets. And they were pretty much set on them. This was the going to be part of the plans going into the season you could just tell. And Edelman was heavily involved. He was far from cut at least. The local guys had it wrong. The national guys were wrong. Julian Edelman was going to get at least a third chance.
It’s now 9 years later now and after a 12-year career Julian Edelman has decided to hang them up. After a litany of injuries, three Super Bowls, one of which he was named the MVP of, and enough clutch moments to become one of the bigger legends in Boston sports history, he has decided, as he said himself, that the wheels have finally come off.
There is an old and quite emotive line I’ve read that goes something like, “One day you and your friend went inside after playing together all day and no on knew it was the last time.” Even writing that just now hit me a little bit. And it is kind of like that with Edelman. We knew it was getting towards the end. Supposedly he played in six games in last years absolute mess of a season and that just sounds high. We knew as of last week he couldn’t “play a full season” this year, which isn’t really something said about a player in the NFL’s availability. Either he’s hurt or not; or he’s available or not. That’s it. So the ambiguity gave way to the ominous writing on the wall. Which was the question of: Is this it? And it was. It happened strangely as we know. He was actually cut, with the “failed physical” designation, a few hours before his official announcement. But I guess when players are cut with this designation they are entitled to some sort of disability compensation from the CBA. So, knowing he couldn’t play anymore, the Pats did Edelman a solid.
As I mentioned, he had too many clutch moments to count. The most memorable for me is him snagging that ball out of the air, him already basically on the ground, the ball not inches from being incomplete itself. It didn’t seem possible. Not until the third or fourth replay. He also retires with a perfect QB record, being 3/3 with 3 TDs and 100-some odd yards. He locked down Anquan Boldin in the slot once when the Pats were devoid of corners, something akin to what one of his spiritual predecessors, Troy Brown, had to do for the team back in the day.
Most of all, something I’ve waited to touch on, was his passion. His desire. His drive. I wouldn’t say Edelman played with a chip on his shoulder as much as he played with a fire in his belly. Who doesn’t remember him berating his teammates for celebrating too early? Who doesn’t him remember screaming “YOU’RE TOO FUCKING OLD” in Tom Brady’s face during the AFC Title game a couple of years ago, probably channeling the feeling of being written off as used goods to fuel his own performance that night. He is one of the most entertaining “Mic’d Up” features, giggling like a madman and proclaiming he “LOVES CONTACT!” after taking big hits. Massive hits, from multiple linebackers at once. He was a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart, as Vincent Vega would have described.
So it’s JE11, out. It’s Foxboro Forever. It’s no more worshipping at Our Lady Of The Immaculate Hand Towel. But good Lord, it was a hell of a run. It was the most unexpected of runs.
I can’t believe it’s already/only been a year since Tom Brady officially announced he was leaving the Patriots after 20 seasons. Less than a week later Boston Mayor Marty Walsh officially shut down the entire city and so began the worst year of all of our lives. Coincidence? I think not. Since then so much has happened including the absolutely apocalyptic global pandemic, every professional sports league pausing and resuming games, we had perhaps the most virulent Presidential election of our lifetime, rioters stormed the Capitol, Zoom became more common than brushing your teeth, everybody is going on their 2nd straight birthday in quarantine, oh and Tom Brady won yet another Super Bowl except this time for a different team. That all happened in just the last 365 days.
I actually just finished the excellent Patriots book by Jeff Benedict, The Dynasty, and while it definitely does have a friendly slant towards the Kraft family, it still may just be the most complete historical retelling of the entire Tom Brady/Bill Belichick/Robert Kraft era in New England. Benedict’s book does a superb job navigating through all of the drama, hearsay, history, the highs and the lows of the past 20 years and it really is nothing short of amazing the levels of success this franchise reached.
“The New England Patriots of the Tom Brady era are in the pantheon of greatest sports dynasties. No team in the twenty-first century formed a deeper emotional connection with its fans–or aroused more passionate disdain from opposing fans–than the Patriots under Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady. Together they created a golden era of football that started in the year of the 9/11 terror attacks and continued for two decades. If the Patriots’ dynasty had behaved like its football predecessors in Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, the run in Foxborough would have ended much sooner, perhaps as early as 2010 or 2011. But Kraft’s biggest achievement as an owner was keeping Belichick and Brady together for so long. They needed each other to reach heights that had previously seemed unimaginable.”
I can’t believe the day has finally come. Tom Brady is leaving the New England Patriots. Despite days, months, and even years of preparing for this it still doesn’t feel real. I feel like Cameron in Ferris Bueller’s day off right now: catatonic.
We all knew this day was coming, but it still sucks to see the end of an era. I don’t fault Brady, especially if he did get a massive payday somewhere else and the Pats offered him peanuts. Can’t blame the guy for wanting to make market value after taking discounts his entire career. Especially if the Patriots and Belichick wanted him to sing for his supper just to lowball him again.
Then? Then Brady immediately proved Belichick and any remaining doubters wrong as he won his 7th Super Bowl only this time with an entirely new team. It only made it crystal clear that if the Patriots had put a better supporting cast around Brady that he could still be an elite, championship winning quarterback. So yes, I still have a lot of hard feelings about how it all ended, but everything ultimately runs its course and that’s what inevitably happened here. If you are one of the few fans out there who blames Brady for leaving then I highly recommend you read The Dynasty because that guy gave everything he had, which led to a legitimately heartbreaking final meeting with Robert Kraft.
Tom Brady may be living it up down in Tampa Bay, but now and forever, that’s my quarterback.
The longer the Patriots were on the market for a quarterback, for a second straight year, and as they continued to dawdle, the more this move felt like a possibility. Not exactly a home run move by Bill Belichick. More of an opposite-field single with no runners on base and two outs in the 8th, down by three.
First, let’s consider the upsides. This move comes on March 12. Last year, the Patriots didn’t sign Cam Newton until July 8. In addition to already having one season with the Patriots under his belt, this gives Newton four more months to prepare for the 2021 season than he had to prepare for the 2020 season. Additionally, with COVID-19 hopefully on its way out, maybe a more regular offseason will benefit Newton and his teammates as they prepare for the 2021 campaign. (Let’s also not forget that Newton had COVID himself during the season. Fewer in-seasons disruptions and health scares will help, too.) And among his teammates this season will be all eight of the Patriots who opted out last season. That should be a big boost for the team on both sides of the ball.
Now the downsides. Newton is a former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL MVP, but that feels like ages ago. Here’s how he closed out his 2020 campaign:
Cam Newton averaged 126 passing yards per game in his last 6 starts
Also, what types of weapons will Newton have to work with? Even before Julian Edelman went down last year the Patriots cupboard seemed bare and the offense felt slow. Edelman’s status for 2021 is up in the air at this point but even if he came back Week 1 healthy as horse, how much can you expect out of a 35-year-old wide receiver who isn’t Jerry Rice?
With that in mind, my ambivalence about today’s move is less about Newton and more about Bill. It seems like Belichick is afflicted by the same condition that afflicts Danny Ainge, which causes him the strong desire to only make trades when he can bury his trading partner. That would explain why he won’t play ball for Jimmy Garoppolo. I’m not advocating for a Matthew Stafford-like deal, but at some point you have to spend money to make money. How many times has Belichick traded down or out of the first round (or had other high-round picks seized by the league office)? Why not package some of the picks you were just gonna use on a guard from Navy or a lacrosse player from Penn and get the guy you really want?
The Patriots have a lot of blank spaces to fill in and questions to answer as they build their roster for the 2021 season. While this move fills in a blank space, it doesn’t answer many questions. In fact, it accentuates the other questions that were already there. What is the plan (or is there a plan) at running back, tight end, and wide receiver? I’ll be rooting for Newton, but unless the Patriots surround him with a better supporting cast, 2021 could be a rerun of 2020.
How is one of the most successful franchises in NFL history that has a gigantic, gaping hole at the quarterback position not even mentioned as a possible landing spot for an elite QB that is suddenly and unexpectedly on the trade block? Whether it was Deshaun Watson, Matthew Stafford, Carson Wentz, and now Russell Wilson the Patriots don’t seem to be in on any of them. Regardless of what you think of each and everyone of those guys, all of them have played at an MVP level yet the Pats have no interest. I know in New England we have somehow fetishized “value” and take pride in our team not overpaying for anything. Well, sometimes you need to overpay a little bit or you get stuck driving a ’95 Civic with cigarette holes in the armrests because you don’t wanna pay for a premium for a gently used 2018 SUV with leather seats.
This team has a lot of holes so understandably Bill Belichick isn’t doing cartwheels when thinking about having to trade 2-4 first rounders for a quarterback. Yes, Russell Wilson will turn 33 next season so thats a consideration as well. But the larger point to be made is there have been some solid to excellent QBs on the market this offseason and there hasn’t been a single peep about the Pats. Are they really that against overpaying to solidify the most important position in sports? Well…probably yes, considering they let Tom Brady walk out the door rather than give the man an extension and some roster input. And Tom Brady these other guys are not.
But maybe it’s something worse…has the allure of the Patriots gone out the door with TB12?
It was widely reported that Stafford specifically said he would not play in New England and we all called him a puss for it. But Adam Schefter also reported that “the Cowboys, Saints, Raiders, and Bears are the only teams Wilson would consider.” So if the Pats don’t want to dump a handful of first rounders into one position I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand. However, if it’s more of players simply not wanting to come here then that’s a much larger issue.
Above all else, I just would like to see some semblance of a plan from Belichick. Whether that’s going out and bringing back the prodigal son in Jimmy G, trading up in the draft to get a guy like Trey Lance, or bringing on a bridge QB like Marcus Mariota and then drafting another QB late. Something tangible to build towards. But bringing back Cam Newton on a veteran minimum contract after he threw 8 touchdowns last year is not a plan. That’s just allowing your environment to dictate your actions. It’s time to make a move.
Tom Brady getting day drunk on the river, tossing the Lombardi Trophy from boat to boat is giving me all sorts of FOMO while I sit at my desk with a space heater freezing my ass off wishing the Patriots could find players like that. Either way, the must have t-shirt of 2021 has arrived. Buy Now!
The 300s 