A tough one to tackle
Pats must fill void up front
Even when all seems lost with the Patriots, they find a way to get it done. Last season’s dominant, 13-3 Super Bowl LIII victory over the Rams proved as much in a season in which the Pats went 3-5 on the road in the regular season.
When Brady has been healthy, the Patriots have qualified for the playoffs 15
seasons in a row, discounting 2008 when the quarterback was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered in the first game.
Brady and coach Bill Belichick, who went 11-5 and outscored the opposition by an average of 25.3 points in the final three weeks of the 2008 regular season with Matt Cassel at quarterback, have won six Super Bowls and counting together.
Given all that, it becomes easy to shrug off that ESPN.com ranked the Patriots dead last on a list of the NFL’s most improved teams from last season.
It’s even reasonable to seek comfort by embracing “the Patriots always find a way” in dealing with the retirement of tight end-turned-beanpole Rob Gronkowski, even though replacement Ben Watson will sit out the first four games serving a suspension for taking testosterone to heal his body from a playing career he thought had ended.
Sony Michel’s knee remains a concern, but depth at running back received a boost when the Pats selected Alabama’s Damien Harris in the third round of the NFL draft.
Julian Edelman’s thumb injury? It won’t prevent him from staying in prime physical condition and doesn’t have anything to do with his superior knowledge of the offense and seamless chemistry with Brady. It comes at a position that didn’t need another question mark, but even so, it’s not enough to rock the confidence boat.
High turnover on the defensive coaching staff doesn’t rank as a major concern either because Belichick knows how to coach his coaches, so the loaded defense figures to improve as the season progresses.
A big loss at tight end, a shallow wide receiver group, an almost entirely new defensive coaching staff. That’s a lot of worries to shrug off, but these are the Patriots and they do always seem to find a way.
Even so, all those concerns combined don’t match the absence of the one 363-pounder no longer in the room.
Trent Brown amounted to the steal of the season for the Patriots, who acquired him from the 49ers by doing nothing more than moving down from the 95th pick of the 2018 draft to the 143rd. At such little cost, the Patriots found themselves a replacement for Nate Solder.
The perfect colliding of factors resulted in Brown having such a spectacular year he signed a four-year, $66 million free agent contract with the Raiders.
Brown’s year with the Patriots was a perfect fit for the team and player. The Patriots supplied Brown, who had spent most of his time on the right side, with the opportunity to show he could be a premier left tackle just in time to cash in on free agency. To do so, he would need to get himself into the best shape of his career and put great effort into absorbing Dante Scarnecchia’s instruction. Brown was terrific in the regular season, even better in the postseason.
The Patriots thought they had signed a potential replacement or at least depth provider in nine-year veteran Jared Veldheer. It took him one practice to realize his hip was ready for retirement.
At the moment, 2018 firstround draft pick Isaiah Wynn out of Georgia holds the top spot on the depth chart for the position responsible for protecting the 42-year-old quarterback’s blind side, which seems so risky given that Wynn missed all of last season with an Achilles injury. Too risky to believe the Patriots will stand pat at the position, especially with no proven players behind him.
It feels as if the Patriots aren’t done dealing, and the roster with which they open training camp tomorrow will be upgraded at left tackle by the time the season opens.
The possibility of the Patriots dealing a cornerback in exchange for a left tackle adds a little spice to training camp as the perennial contenders try to reach their fourth consecutive Super Bowl.