Patriots Top 3 Needs This Offseason
It’s been less than a week since the Bills decimated the Patriots on primetime television. They beat us senseless then dragged our corpse behind their wagon ala Brad Pitt to Eric Bana in Troy. But unlike Bana’s Hector, the Patriots are not dead. They’ll take their time to lick their wounds and regroup, but this team will be back. And with the offseason officially starting now, these are the top 3 needs for the Patriots before the 2022 campaign begins.
3. Defensive End
The Patriots currently have 4 defensive ends on their roster: Deatrich Wise, Ronnie Perkins, Henry Anderson and Chase Winovich. Wise just signed a 4 year deal before the 2021 season, so he’s not going anywhere. Ronnie Perkins missed his entire rookie year with an injury but he’s being touted as a valued part of this defense moving forward. Anderson hasn’t really produced and contract is up in 2023 so who knows his future. And Winovich was in the doghouse all year and will likely be dealt or cut this offseason. That leaves you with one proven commodity and one pseudo-rookie at the position. Not great.
Belichick has a relatively solid track record of finding DE’s whether it’s through the draft or from another team, so I’d look for him to find someone again this offseason. If he can get an impact guy to pair with Wise, Judon, Guy and Barmore at any given time, this defense will be better off for it.
2. Cornerback
With JC Jackson becoming a free agent this offseason, you’d think I’d put cornerback higher on the list. But it’s that very reason why I have it number 3. I think there is no chance in H-E-Double hockey sticks that Jackson isn’t back with the Pats one way or another. Whether it’s the franchise tag or the sides work out a long term deal, you have to think he’s got the flying Elvis on his helmet in 2022.
Assuming JC is back in the fold, that leaves you with Jalen Mills, Jonathan Jones, Joejuan Williams and Miles Bryant as your likely top 5 corners. I feel like people are forgetting just how good Jones is too, by the way. He’s not a Pro Bowler or anything, but he is a well above average slot corner and he was missed this season. The Pats should be trying to either draft a guy in what’s said to be a deep DB class, or try to trade for a proven commodity.
1. (Fast) Linebackers
This seems like the most obvious need moving forward for the Patriots. And I put the word fast in there for a reason. This Pats linebacking core looked slow this year. And while in past seasons it’s worked because the secondary hid that deficiency, that wasn’t the case this season and likely won’t be next year either. If you look across the league, linebackers who can tackle sideline to sideline are the new norm. Players like Devin White, Darius Leonard, Micah Parsons and more are ushering in the new era of backers who have the speed and athleticism to chase down the ball carrier and make the play. The Patriots do not have any linebacker who can do that. Sure, Cameron McGrone is said to have that ‘sideline to sideline’ speed, but he missed his rookie year so assuming he plays in 2022, he’s an unknown commodity.
The Pats have a solid linebacking group with Van Noy, Judon, Hightower (free agent), Uche, Bentley (free agent) and Jennings, but none of them have the speed needed to keep up with where the league is going. The two Bills loses proved that Belichick needs more speed on defense, and this is a great place to start.
Conclusion:
You’ll notice I didn’t put wide receiver on this list. And that’s for good reason. Offense should not be the priority heading into this offseason. When you combine the tight ends with the receivers, the Patriots have plenty of pass catchers to play with next season. I don’t subscribe to the “every offense needs a receiver the opposing defense has to gameplan against” argument. Especially when this team is most likely going to be a run first team just like they were in 2021. But offensive ‘worries’ aside, if Belichick can bolster these 3 spots on his defense, the Patriots will be in tremendous shape to make a deep playoff run next season.
(Featured Photo Credit www.boston.com)
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Mike Sullivan (@msully5433 on Twitter)