By David D’Alessandro II
Let’s begin with the many, many changes that have occurred this offseason. Most notably, beloved quarterback Tom Brady is leaving after 20 seasons, and although he wrote a nice twitter post, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s moving to Tampa Bay. With weapons such as Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, the most productive wide receiver duo in the NFL last year, and the recent retiree, Rob Gronkowski, the Buccaneers have favorable odds for stealing the NFC South Crown from the Saints. The Pats will also have some big holes to fill on the defense, losing two key defensive players, Kyle Van Noy to the Dolphins and Jamie Collins to the Lions, both of whom were defensive leaders and performers.
The draft gives us an idea of the direction in which the Patriots are heading. First, they made the bold decision to not draft a quarterback, showing they will most likely start Jarrett Stidman, a fourth round pick out of Auburn who is in his second year. In the draft, the Patriots passed up drafting Jalen Hurts, who went to three College Football Playoffs and won a National Championship. They also chose not to draft Jake Fromm, who led Georgia to a 36-7 record and a National Championship appearance. Fromm, a pocket passer with good numbers, would fit well under Belichick’s system composed mostly of short passes. However, free agents are still an option for the Patriots, as notables including Cam Newton and Jameis Winston are available. Winston put up big numbers last year with the Bucs, and although he threw too many interceptions, under a disciplined coach such as Belichick, he could thrive. Newton on the other hand is a former league MVP and has played behind a struggling offensive line. He could thrive behind the Patriots veteran group. However, Stidman’s advantage comes from his role as backup last year. Injuries last season caused Brady to miss several practices. Therefore, Stidman had reps with the starters and understands the system well, which Belichick will value. The most likely scenario for the Patriots will be a training camp battle between Stidman and veteran Bryan Hoyer.
However, the Patriots did use the draft to stock up on defensive players using their first pick to draft Kyle Dugger, a safety and punt returner from Division II school Lenoir Rhyne, who last year despite only playing 7 games due to Injury was awarded the Cliff Harris Award, the most prestigious award given to a Division II defensive player, and played well in last year’s Senior Bowl. Despite such an award, the Patriots traded out of the first round which made everyone think they had a plan in store. Nevertheless, I don’t think that it was worth giving up a first round pick for a division 2 player who missed 6 games due to injury. Not only did he not compete against teams as skilled as those in Power 5 Conferences but he is also injury prone. Their next two picks were outside linebackers Josh Uche out of Michigan and Anfernee Jennings from Alabama. Uche finished with 7.5 sacks last year, 10th in the Big 10 however he had only 1 tackle against Michigan and 2 against Penn State last year. Jennings finished last year with 8 sacks and 1 interception and had 8 tackles and 2 sacks last year versus SEC rival LSU.
The final question lies in next year’s offensive line. The Patriots have decided to place their franchise tag on guard Joe Thuney, who appears to have agreed to a long term deal. They also picked up 3 new offensive linemen in the latter rounds of the draft. Additionally, James Develin announced his retirement, and although he was hurt for much of last year, which was a large factor in the struggling run game, the Pats generally are one of the few teams to utilize a fullback, and that strategy is now in jeopardy.
In my opinion, however, the worst offseason decision has been the new uniforms. The jerseys look almost identical to last year’s, except now they include hideous red stripes over the shoulders. The red jerseys have also not yet been worked into the mix.
