Nope. WR X, FS, RT, QB of the future, third down RB, outside boundary CB, TE. This team lacks talent especially on the offensive side.
But LT isn’t so bad now with the Pittsburgh player the Pats picked up, Chuks Okorafor. He fell in bad graces of Tomlin by venting,
saying at one point that the team should take a knee on offense for the rest of the game against the Jaguars. This Tomlin overheard and went ballistic.
Last summer you were optimistic about the OL. I argued against you. I was pessimistic. We went back and forth. And this was before Belichick’s “oh ****” moment when he brought in Lowe and Wheatley when Anderson had disappeared with a near fatal health problem we must not discuss and, as expected, Antique Reiff had gone down with a season-ending injury.
But I now feel pretty good about LT with Chukie O starting, who is a natural LT unlike where Pittsburgh had put him.
This was a solid pickup. He can be backed up by one of the following : Sickly Cal Anderson, VLowe, or McDermott. Unlike the first two, McDermott is an honest to goodness functional swing tackle.
You want a competitive OL?
Draft that bulldozer from Oregon State. Move Onwenu back inside where he dominates.
They're going to get a QB of the future regardless, the big difference is they have a competent QB now... which is a big departure from what they've had since 2020. If BB signed Brissett last year, he'd probably still have a job.
Last summer I was optimistic about the offensive line if they stayed healthy. At no point last season did the Pat's have their starting five lineman on the field for an entire game, and they started the most different lineups of any team in the league. The line was an injury nightmare and after the abysmal start Trent Brown become a disgruntled toddler. No team has the depth to be good if they can't stay healthy, especially a team introducing three rookies on the line as backups.
RT they have Onwenu, they don't have a RT issue. I think they could try to slide Sow out to RT and move Onwenu back inside, but if that experiment fails, they could keep it the same as last year. By season's end Sow and Onwenu were dominating on the right side of the line.
Here's the depth chart with the trash crossed off, even if Strange starts the year on the IR, Mafi and Jake Andrews got crucial developmental snaps last year and should return stronger. Add a blue chip left tackle to this group and they're really good, assuming health and continued development by last year's rookies.
LT – Rookie, Calvin Anderson, Chukwuma Okorafor,
Vederian Lowe,
LG – Cole Strange, Antonio Mafi,
Nick Leverett,
C – David Andrews, Jake Andrews,
RG – Sidy Sow,
Michael Jordan
RT – Michael Onwenu, Conor McDermott, Tyrone Wheatley,
Andrew Stueber,
Chuka Okorafor wasn't good and didn't get replaced simply for venting... he wasn't good. Even if he is long and doesn't allow a lot of sacks, he doesn't move the needle at all as a run blocker, he's a poor athlete. They need a left tackle, whether they know it or not. Since you're pumping Okorafor up and dismissing Sow entirely, I have to question your evaluation process.
FS would be a nice addition in the draft, but they could get by right now by playing a CB back there, Shaun Wade or even an older guy like Jon Jones. They'll surely add some depth in the DB's in the draft, free agency or UDFA's... but it's not a debilitating position for them. They have almost the entirely same DB room from last year coming back and are getting Gonzalez and Marcus Jones back healthy presumably. There's no desperation to find a starter.
Third down RB? They just signed one of the best third down RB's in the NFL in Antonio Gibson... did you miss that?
At TE they have Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper, that's two solid proven vets. They can draft a guy and let him sit and watch behind those guys.
So again, after QB and LT... that leaves them with six draft picks, league leading cap space to add UDFA's and value vets still sitting out there on the market. They can fill in the depth at WR, FS, TE and even afford to add a "best player available" player if they want.
LT would make them competitive immediately assuming health. They could become a power run team, run an efficient mistake free offense with Brissett and play tough defense and win a lot of games until the rookie QB was ready. They probably won't light up the scoreboard, but they could hold their own and not turn it over.
They have some important needs, but not a lot of needs. Fix the offense, everything else is pretty good.
