What does the ideal offseason look like for New England?

Patriots Mailbag: What does the ideal offseason look like for New England? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The lowly New England Patriots are set to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in primetime on Thursday night. With the Pats taking a 2-10 record into the Week 14 matchup, many fans will be rooting for a loss that would improve their odds of attaining a top-three pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

We had plenty of draft, free agency, and general offseason talk in the mailbag this week. Let’s jump into your questions…

Should the 2020 Draft serve as a good template for the Patriots in 2023? Half the teams in the top 6 took QBs and half did not. CIN, MIA, LAC all probably feel pretty good about the position. DC, NYG, and Detroit are still looking for long term answers.

— Neil Williams (@neilawilliams41) December 6, 2023

Those teams all have to be pretty, pretty, pretty pleased with their quarterback picks at this point, Neil. At the same time, you get why the others chose to go in another direction.

Remember, the Commanders and Giants had taken quarterbacks in the first round one year prior. The Lions still had a high-level quarterback in Matthew Stafford (Pro Football Focus’ ninth-best passing grade in 2019). But they all would handle the first round differently with the benefit of hindsight.

It’s a fascinating class that simultaneously illustrates the value a good quarterback selection provides an organization… as well as the pitfalls of missing and committing to the wrong guy at that position.

Moral of the story, in my opinion, as far as the Patriots are concerned? Good idea to take a quarterback if you think he’s worthy of the selection. Even if the situation around the quarterback is horrible.

Think about it. The Bengals and Dolphins were about as bad as the league had to offer in 2019. Brian Flores got the Dolphins to win a few games late that season — including beating the Patriots in the regular-season finale — but they were essentially an offensive…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/patriots-mailbag-does-ideal-offseason-023512545.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2023-12-07 02:35:12

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