The New England Patriots season, unfortunately, came to an end following a blowout loss to their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills. This season showed a lot of promise for a team that did not make the playoffs last year. Was the expectation of the season a Super Bowl? With a rookie quarterback? No, but they weren’t playing for moral victories either. They wanted to prove they can still be a good football team.
They definitely proved that, that being said, the Patriots season showed fans a lot to look forward to, but the end showed a lot of things that need improvement in order to win a Super Bowl.
I’ll get the fun stuff out of the way and visit some things Patriots fans should be looking forward to next season.
Leave the Backfield Alone!
Mac Jones
Mac Jones is the future of the New England Patriots. He showed a lot of promise this season, and the Patriots need to build their offense around him. Josh McDaniels needs to find the best playbook to work for Mac Jones. Quarterbacks are not easy to come by. I’m not saying he’s the best ever, but he looks like a legit NFL starter.
Mac Jones threw for 3800 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions in his rookie year. Completing 67% of his passing attempts. He looks like the best of the rookie quarterbacks from his class, leading the rookies in the majority of quarterback stats. He led the Patriots to the playoffs as a rookie, theres a lot to look forward to with Mac.
Running Backs
Damien Harris really stepped into the #1 running back spot following James Whites’ season ending injury. Harris ran for over 900 yards this season, scoring 15 touchdowns. The Patriots also drafted Rhamondre Stevenson with a 4th round draft pick and he made a name for himself his rookie year. Stevenson’s workload wasn’t great this season, but in the 12 games he played, he ran for 600 yards and 5 touchdowns.
The two of them really took the reigns in terms of the team’s run game. Both Brandon Bolden and James White are free agents this offseason. It really only makes sense to keep one of them, a veteran pass-catching back is valuable. Both players are older for their position, but as a third-string, they won’t have too big of a workload.
Kendrick Bourne and Jakobi Meyers
The two Patriots each went for 800+ receiving yards this past season. Myers, the undrafted Patriot made some strong improvements this season. He scored his first NFL touchdown and had career highs in receptions and yards this past season. Myers is continuing to get better as he will be entering his 4th NFL season.
Kendrick Bourne was one of Bill Belichicks free agent signings from his spending spree last offseason. Bourne produced career highs in receptions, yards, and tied his career high in touchdowns.
Bourne and Myers are extremely solid receivers, but in order for the Patriots to have an elite offense, they need a true #1 wide receiver. Someone who can be the go to receiver when Mac Jones needs a reliable target. We’ll get more into that later.
What Do the Patriots Need to Improve?
This is where we get a little critical of the Patriots. They have some real issues that need to be solved in order to get back to Super Bowl contention.
Big Money Tight Ends
Yes, Belichick just went and spent a boatload of money on Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith. Their production this year, did not live up to the hype of the contracts.
Josh McDaniels and the Patriots offense need to either find a way to incorporate BOTH Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, or trade one of them. In terms of their contracts, they underperformed. Hunter Henry scored 9 touchdowns this past season, pretty good. But he also had 5+ receptions in just 4 games this season. He became almost a strictly red zone target at times. He had 8 games with 2 or less receptions. He needs to be more consistent.
Jonnu Smith caught just one touchdown pass all year. He had just one game with 50+ receiving yards. His receiving stats are not good, but his blocking did make an impact. His athleticism makes him great in the open field, the talent is there. McDaniels and the offense tried some handoffs and screens with him. The Patriots just need to decide whether they want to make it work with two tight ends, or which one has to go.
Re-Sign JC Jackson
JC Jackson just had a pro bowl season, he has become an absolute lockdown corner in the NFL. He led the league in passes defended and was 2nd in the league in interceptions. The Patriots have a history of not paying their good defensive players (Chandler Jones, Stephon Gilmore are recent examples). It would be a huge step back for the secondary to lose both Gilmore and Jackson during the season/off-season.
An elite cornerback is such a luxury in this league, being able to match up 1 on 1 with the offenses best wide receiver makes the entire defense’s lives easier. Jackson needs to be re-signed he makes this defense so much better. And this defense is going to need a leader soon. Devin McCourty and Dont’a Hightower are the leaders right now, we’ll get more into them next.
Speed and Youth on the Defense
The blowout to the Bills showed a huge hole in the Patriot’s defense, and that is speed. They just looked slow, all over the field. You can definitely say it was an effort thing, but you can’t deny some of the age on the defense.
Dont’a Hightower could benefit from maybe transitioning to more of a pass rush/blitz linebacker because he struggles in pass coverage now. Since he opted out of the 2020 season, he has not looked the same. He is 31, a lot of linebackers don’t play for much longer than that. Hightower can no longer stay with tight ends or running backs in coverage, he is not fast enough anymore. I think he could potentially be able to transition to more of a pass rush specialist. Some sort of role where he can use his strength to his advantage.
Devin McCourty is 34 years old. He has been the vocal, off the field, and on the field leader of this defense for a while now. I do not think McCourty needs to hang it up, but similar to Hightower, these guys can’t do all the things they used to. Sometimes they may benefit from a lighter workload. Re-signing Adrian Phillips makes it easier for the Patriots to do so, also bringing JC Jackson back makes that secondary way stronger.
Pass Rush
The Patriots went and signed Matthew Judon in the offseason. He looked fantastic for the first 13 games. In his last 4 games. He had 12.5 sacks this year, which is still pretty good. The Pat’s second leader in sacks… Kyle Van Noy with 5. No one else had more than 3. Aside from Judon they got very little pass rush success.
Solutions
If the Patriots are able to create the cap space, Von Miller and Chandler Jones are free agents this offseason. One of those two lining up opposite of Matt Judon would be fantastic. That’s IF they can free up the cap space to maybe sign one of those.
More realistic options might be someone like Jadeveon Clowney. A guy who had 9 sacks last season, the former #1 overall pick would make a great #2 on the Patriots front line. He won’t be getting a huge contract but he is still a solid player.
They could also take their chance in the draft and maybe go get someone like Nakobe Dean or Nik Bonitto in this upcoming draft if they fall to 21 or 54. Both have great pass-rushing skills as well as being able to play multiple positions. Something Coach Belichick looks for in his players.
Go Get a #1 Receiver!
Mac Jones looked pretty good in his rookie year. I visited his top targets earlier so I won’t dig into that too much now. But the Patriots so often needed that number 1 receiver to step up, and couldn’t get it. They need to find Mac Jones a safety valve. A legit number 1 receiver or a big athletic receiver, someone who can draw attention defensively.
Potential Receivers
Starting with free agency, Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson, Juju Smith-Schuster, Mike Williams, Odell Beckham Jr., there are a lot of options if the Patriots go this route. Chris Godwin will be coming back from a torn ACL and his contract might not be as big now coming off the injury. Chris Godwin can be a legit number 1 wide receiver.
Mike Williams is another option I think really would help this offense. A big physical deep ball threat, Williams pairs well with Myers and Bourne. The two are more finesse, get open with speed and athleticism receivers. Giving the defense multiple styles to defend makes Mac Jones life easier.
Maybe a bit of a reach on this one, Calvin Ridley. Ridley played just a portion of the season due to personal reasons. If he is ready to play again, it most likely won’t be for the Falcons. The Patriots should be throwing N’keal Harry, their 2022 first-round pick, and their 5th round draft pick to the Flacons for Ridley. He should be the Patriot’s plan A in finding a wide receiver.
Going Forward
The future looks bright once again in New England. There is a good base set in place. It’s time for the team to make some moves and fill the holes necessary. The plan is to get back to the playoffs next year.
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