After two straight decades of dominance, the New England Patriots roster needs a complete re-tooling. Now locked into a losing record for the first time since 2000, Bill Belichick will have his hands full trying to bring this team back to the playoffs. While it would be impossible to fill every need in one offseason, the Patriots can return to the playoffs if Belichick and company aggressively attack the most glaring needs on the roster.
Ranking New England Patriots Roster Needs
Quarterback
If you’re looking solely at existing roster talent, quarterback is not the weakest link on the New England Patriots. Cam Newton is not a franchise quarterback, but he’s had stretches of solid play this year and could be a serviceable starter in the right situation. However, the importance of the position makes quarterback New England’s most pressing roster need this offseason.
Finding a franchise quarterback is never easy, especially when you don’t have a top draft pick. Based on the available free agents, New England’s best move is probably rolling with Newton for a second consecutive season. Jarrett Stidham’s inability to crack the starting lineup says all you need to know about his future with this team, and Newton is probably a better option than someone like Jimmy Garoppolo. Unless New England swings a trade for Matthew Stafford or Matt Ryan, the best course of action is probably to bring back Newton as a bridge quarterback and invest in someone like Zach Wilson or Kyle Trask.
Tight End
It’s hard to think of a worse collection of talent in the entire NFL than New England’s tight ends. As a whole, the trio of Ryan Izzo, Devin Asiasi, and Dalton Keene haven’t done a thing to help the team in any meaningful way. While Asiasi has his moments as a run blocker, all three have yet to make an impact in the passing game, while Izzo and Keene are active liabilities in the run game.
In fairness to Asiasi and Keene, tight end is a difficult position to learn as a rookie, especially in this shortened offseason. It’s too early to say either player won’t succeed in the NFL, but the Patriots shouldn’t bank on it. Entering the offseason with a surplus in cap space, Bill Belichick could easily go after a proven commodity like Hunter Henry to step in as the top tight end. However, if Belichick wants to go back to the draft, Florida’s Kyle Pitts is easily the best option. If New England doesn’t address the quarterback position with their first pick, then they’ll probably target Pitts.
Wide Receiver
Jakobi Meyers is good, and N’Keal Harry has shown signs of life over the past few weeks. However, even with all that said, this is a bad collection of wide receivers. Julian Edelman is probably gone, which means a thin wide receiver room just got a lot thinner.
Allen Robinson and Chris Godwin are fun pipe dreams, but it’s hard to imagine either player hitting the open market. Based on players likely to reach free agency, New England should go after Carolina Panthers wide receiver Curtis Samuel. Samuel is a fantastic receiver that is finally putting up numbers with a halfway-decent quarterback. The former second-round pick can get open at all levels of the field, possesses great burst and open-field speed, and has the versatility to line up all over the formation, including at running back.
Additionally, New England could also go after someone like Corey Davis. After an underwhelming start to his career, the former first-round pick put it all together and had a fantastic season. Bill Belichick loves former first-round picks, and Davis has had multiple solid outings against New England in the past.
Thanks to the depth of talent at the position, the Patriots should be able to wait until Day 2 to address wide receiver. While this probably means passing on someone like Ja’Marr Chase, New England should still be able to find good receiver talent in the later rounds.
Linebacker
Even if Dont’a Hightower comes back in 2021, the New England Patriots need to get younger at the linebacker position. Right now, New England lacks a linebacker capable of adequately dropping back into coverage and matching up with tight ends. Ja’Whaun Bentley and Terez Hall both pack a punch, but these one-dimensional run-stuffers just aren’t valuable in today’s NFL. Josh Uche and Chase Winovich are both talented young players, but both profile more as pass-rushers than coverage specialists.
Safety
Kyle Dugger looks like an absolute steal in the second round, but the Patriots still need to do something about their other safety spot. Devin McCourty is not getting any younger, and the options behind him leave a lot to be desired. While Patrick Chung should be back next year, he’s also on the wrong side of 30 and not a long-term building block.
Unlike wide receiver and tight end, the Patriots probably won’t need to sink too much money into fixing this part of their team. Considering the strength at cornerback, New England can live with having a league-average safety opposite Dugger.
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