Tougher schedule too. AFC south and NFC west have very few pushovers, plus Bengals and Bears.
I don't know if they had worse that league average injury luck, but losing Gonzalez, Judon, Bourne, and Mar. Jones for much of the season wasn't ideal. And they went 4-13, but were only blown out in like 2 or 3 games (and 4-8 in one score games). (But the schedule being a lot harder and losing BB for the defensive side probably are bigger negative factors than any of these possible positive regressions to the mean or the possibility of getting anything close to competent QB play.
You always need good CBs in today's NFL. I think Jonathan Jones is still pretty good, and Gonzalez looks legit. Marcus is fine in the slot. I just don't think CB is as big a need as OL and WR are for this team right now.
With games against the Jags, Titans, Bears, and Rams looming in the coming weeks. Lots of important tankeriffic matchups.
Jonathan Jones is going to be a 32 year old UFA and Austin/Marco Wilson like hot garbage.
Well, you got me thinking about the secondary a little more and I watched the Jets game with your posts in mind. (That was not a night that anyone was getting covered in glory)
So one thing I would note here... it's very difficult to get two firsts in the same draft by trading down, teams just don't have them. It's almost always going to be a 2nd, if you get a 1st it's in a future year.
Right, what you're really looking for is like 4 for 8, 40, and a 2026 1st or 2nd rounder
No doubt
I think draft OTs go here, current roster OTs in the other.
My general feeling is that the secondary is solid enough now, and you have the key piece you'd be looking for in early rounds in Gonzalez. Maybe we're a bit spoiled by the Bellichick years and it will change, but generally we haven't had much trouble finding 2nd/3rd/4th corners in the later rounds and FA, and it is a position with some FA depth usually because only #1 CBs get locked up early. So to me, unless you are looking at top tier early 1st guys I'd rather wait or use FA. In terms of LB, I put that mostly because the position has been a bit devalued in the draft so in the 2nd/3rd you can often get potential blue-chippers, where at CB you're looking at the 2nd/3rd tier guys, potential bluechippers go top 15.
For a team bereft of talent, passing on a great non-OT prospect to take a decent LT prospect would be a bitter pill to swallow
Yeah
. Then again we need a starting guard too, I think? So much depends on Strange's health and if Sow and Robinson develop.
I thought he was a little softer than that, more "better at guard" than "not a tackle". I found his Cameron Williams take interesting. I'd heard some talk about team scouts who saw Jones as better than Campbell, had not heard the idea of Williams as not only a 1st, but ahead of Banks.Brugler confirming today on the Athletic pod what I also saw: the top guys like Campbell, Banks, and even Ersery are viewed as OGs by many teams and not OTs. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but there is a certain gravitas to when a guy like Brugler says it vs some rando dude on a message board. Sucks though
yeh definitely true.
I thought Slater was a tackle. I didn’t think Skoronski would be able to play tackle at a more than average at best level because he lacked height, wingspan, and length. Campbell has the height but the rumor is his length is close to 32” and you definitely see that on tape.
Yeah, I don't mean to say there aren't reasons, just I like it when people give them. As to Slater, I know you saw him as a tackle, but "maybe better" or even "some teams think he has to move inside" was part of his scouting report most places. Just looked him up on Zeirlein's to make sure I wasn't mis-remembering and it was under his weaknesses. I think there are always degrees to it.
That is fair. I think there is definitely wiggle room for a lot of guys and I know folks like SN advocate to try them at OT and if they fail there then try them elsewhere. That usually works for me but for some guys I like them so much more at one spot I would rather just put them there first. For example, I wouldn’t have bothered trying Cody Mauch at tackle. I would have put him at OG or OC right away.
This is a good point, and -- while again not knowing which thread this belongs in -- I'm interested how @SMU_Sox and others view these prospects vs. the likely LT free agents.
They had tons of cap room and high picks last year and, other than the obvious (Maye) did nothing to improve the roster.
In fairness, they went after some higher profile targets but they were never going to land any of them without an obscene overpay.
Right, I think things will (hopefully) be different going into 2025 than they were going into 2024. This was always going to be a rebuilding year, whereas in 2025 per OverTheCap the Pats are projected to have the most cap space in the League at ~$120M -- per this Reddit thread they've been as high as 4th and 6th in the league in cap spending in recent years (although generally they aren't the top spending franchise): https://www.reddit.com/r/Patriots/comments/1b0najn/oc_patriots_cash_spending_during_the_robert/
Why would that change moving forward? If you’re not willing to “obscenely overpay” you’re probably not going to land top of the market guys because those guys are almost never a bargain. It’s meaningless to “go after” guys if you’re not willing to seal the deal.
It changes when the Pats organization stops being a dumpster fire, which admittedly could be a while. Right now, everything rests on Maye. If he plays well, you have a path to viability. If he doesn’t, you’re in purgatory. There is a definite need for top talent, especially on offense, but overpaying older non-elite guys like Calvin Ridley is a bad idea. If Tee Higgins breaks free this year, make a real run at him.
Weirdly, Denver and NYG have taken themselves out of the discussion, and the Pats still have five other one-win competitors.
let say ne gets the 1st pick i wouild hate that i been rooting for mayo luckliy for u guys there are 5 players that couild go 1
