Those types of players (Gilmore, Judon) rarely hit free agency and the Pats don’t have any of those caliber guys internally on the horizon to re-sign other than maybe Barmore if he keeps improving.Judon was a great signing, so was Gilmore. I'm not saying you should never throw a bag at FAs. I am saying that Ridley, Jonah Williams, and Tyron Smith aren't those level of players. Spending for the sake of spending is dumb.
At some point they’re going to have to spend big money on “good not great” guys or they’re never actually going to improve the roster
Spending for the sake of spending is dumb, I think everyone agrees on that. Being afraid to overspend on guys to improve your roster at key positions is also dumb. Sitting on huge amounts of cap space while you let a franchise QB get pummeled because you don’t want to over extend on a LT, or consistently running out a bottom 5 WR group because you’re hoarding cash until you can get a “Judon/Gilmore” type deal at WR isn’t an effective way to build a roster.
What happens if they can’t draft a good WR or LT over the next 2 years? Just keep filling those spots with dumpster dive guys who are good “value” but not actually quality players and hope eventually one day they hit on someone in the draft?