New England Patriots
2022 record: 8-9
Notable additions: WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, TE Mike Gesicki, RB James Robinson, OT Calvin Anderson, OT Riley Reiff, LB Chris Board. Re-signed: CB Jonathan Jones, S Jabrill Peppers, OT Conor McDermott, OL James Ferentz, LB Raekwan McMillan, LB Mack Wilson, LS Joe Cardona.
Notable losses: S Devin McCourty (retired), WR Jakobi Meyers, P Jake Bailey, QB Brian Hoyer, DB Jalen Mills.
Best move: Along with bringing OC Bill O’Brien aboard, dumping Jonnu Smith and his bloated contract and replacing him with Mike Gesicki earns high marks.
Head scratcher: Making little effort to re-sign Meyers, who went for reasonable money (3 years, $33 million) to Las Vegas.
Outlook: Along with bringing most of the band back in terms of in-house free agents, the Patriots did make a few moves to try and bolster the offense, most notably with the additions of Smith-Schuster and Gesicki.
With a hugely competitive division, though, it still might not be enough.
To keep pace with the rest, they needed to land some game-changing, defense-altering players. They needed to add some players who put some fear into opposing defense.
Smith-Schuster and Gesicki are good players, and should provide some spark, particularly in the red zone where the team struggled mightily last season.
But neither one is going to cause any defensive coordinator to lose sleep before playing the Patriots.
“You look at the talent, I just don’t see great, great talent,” NBC analyst Rodney Harrison told the Herald earlier in the week. “I see solid football players, but
I don’t see an AFC championship roster. I don’t see that level of talent.”
Swapping out Smith-Schuster for Meyers doesn’t do the trick. Neither does having Gesicki over Smith, and James Robinson instead of Damien Harris. While several of these players are upgrades for sure, none of the additions can be classified as top-end talent.
That said, much of the Patriots’ success or failure is going to come down to O’Brien fixing the offense and working his magic with Mac Jones. Will Jones get back to being that promising quarterback now having a legitimate coach and an enhanced arsenal? If he doesn’t improve, if he continues to play like he did last season, the Patriots will really have a problem.
“They still have a big question mark with Mac coming into Year 3,” Harrison said. “We saw his frustration last year with Matt Patricia and the offense, so what will Bill O’Brien do to get him back, and get him back to being a confident young man who’s not always out there complaining? That’s one of the biggest things.”
The Pats did add serviceable depth to the offensive line, but still need another top gun at tackle.
All in all, not a bad haul thus far. They’ve done pretty well to get the offense over the hump. But is it enough to improve their standing with everyone else going on around them? Unless there’s more to come, probably not.