Why The New England Patriots Are Easily Biggest Losers Of NFL Offseason

The NFL offseason isn’t officially over, but it’s hard to see any reason why the New England Patriots aren’t the biggest losers of the offseason.

A team that appeared to be back on the rise following a surprise postseason appearance in Mac Jones’ rookie season is on a steep decline — and we haven’t even reached April yet.

While free agency isn’t officially over and there are a few notable free agents still available on the market, it’s hard to envision the Patriots salvaging this offseason.

Looking around the AFC, the Patriots’ main competition have already made strides towards improving their rosters. Within their division alone, the Buffalo Bills signed former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller. Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins signed the top left tackle on the market in Terron Armstead and acquired one of the top deep threats in the game in Tyreek Hill.

We can go on and on about the massive influx of talent across the AFC. Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos, Khalil Mack and former Patriots stud corner J.C. Jackson to the Los Angeles Chargers, Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders, Deshaun Watson to the Cleveland Browns and Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts.

Meanwhile, here we have the Patriots, with their biggest move being the re-signing of Trent Brown and the surprise signing of Malcolm Butler after a five-year hiatus from New England.

So to recap, the Patriots’ biggest move was re-signing Brown — after losing starting offensive linemen Shaq Mason and Ted Karras — and their biggest addition was brining back a cornerback who missed the entire 2021 season to replace the seventh-highest rated cornerback in the league in 2021 in Jackson, according to Pro Football Focus.

The Patriots’ biggest priority entering the offseason was adding a true No. 1 receiver to help out Jones. While Jones clearly had a successful rookie campaign, he started to stagnate down the stretch due to the predictability of New England’s routes. The Patriots had to abide by a predictable formula in part due to the lack of talent at the receiver position.

We’re now towards the end of March and the Patriots struck out on their main target at receiver. Allen Robinson decided to take his talents to the Los Angeles Rams and Juju Smith-Schuster’s signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. The free agent pool of receivers are now thin with an injured Odell Beckham Jr, aging Julio Jones and Jarvis Landry considered the top options available.

While it remains to be seen how the Patriots tackle the remainder of free agency and the NFL draft, it’s safe to assume New England won’t draft a stud at receiver. Bill Belichick’s well-known propensity to draft busts at the receiver position was proven once again by his gaffe of selecting N’Keal Harry in the first round in 2019.

It’s also safe to assume that neither of the available receivers on the free agent market will give the Patriots a game-breaker at the position.

One can point towards the Patriots’ lack of available cap space entering the offseason — it was less than $10 million — as a reason for their lack of activity in free agency. But it’s simply not a good excuse.

A number of teams — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers being one of them — entered the offseason with even less cap space available or were able to restructure contracts in an effort to remain active in re-signing key players and signing available talent in the free agency market.

The Patriots have lost their best players — allowing Mason, Karras, Jackson and Kyle Van Noy to depart — while failing to replace any of them in free agency. Most importantly, the Patriots are still lacking a true No. 1 receiver, as it looks like they’ll lean on former undrafted free agent Jakobi Meyers to fill that role once again.

As solid as Meyers is, there’s a reason it took three seasons for him to catch his first touchdown pass — because he’s better suited as a slot wideout.

Other AFC teams have leaped over the Patriots as New England hasn’t just remained stagnant, they’ve managed to regress in the matter of weeks.

Considering the Patriots are expecting to “contend” again in 2022, there’s no question they’re the biggest losers of the offseason.