Numerous Personnel Mistakes since the off season

[skinnydog]

- Not signing or drafting a TE. Ben Watson made some plays but he's washed up. Lacosse is below average.

- Not signing Danny Amendola when he got cut from the Dolphins. He had more receiving yards this year with the Lions than he did in any season with the Pats, so clearly he still had a lot left in the tank. He's clutch, proven in our system, good chemistry with Brady, and doesn't cost a whole lot. Having Amendola wouldve helped lighten the load on Edelman who clearly took a beating this year and was playing hurt.

- Trading a 2nd rd pick for Mohamed Sanu. No matter how he would've acclimated to the playbook, a 2nd is way too high for Sanu. He had a decent game against the Ravens but other than that his highest receiving yards in a game was a dismal 35. His career high for yards in a season is 838 (low ceiling), and he's 30 years old. Pats got fleeced here and it smelled like desperation. The fact that we could've had Amendola for the entire season AND kept our 2nd rd pick makes this even worst.

- Not drafting another WR, picking DB JoeJuan Williams. We needed to double down at WR and the Pats skipped on some really good WR's that were on the board in order to pick Joejuan Williams who was burried on the depth chart for most of the year. AJ Brown (1000+ yards), Mecole Hardman (Pro Bowl returner, 6 TDs), DK Metcalf (900 yards, 7 TDs, 15.5 avg) were all still on the board.

- Going into the pre-season with just Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett (annual disappointment), Nkeal Harry, Demaryius Thomas (washed up), Josh Gordon (unreliable, annual suspension waiting to happen), Gunner Olszewski (UDFA), and Jakobi Meyers (UDFA) as our main receivers. What did the Pats expect to happen? Gordon was predictably suspended and didn't finish the season again. Thomas was traded for a bag of peanuts (essentially cut). Dorsett disappeared after week 1.


- The above point forced desperate moves such as AB signing which turned out to be nothing more than a distraction and waste of time. It also forced the desperate trade for Mohamed Sanu which was very un-Patriot-like.

- Not giving Damien Harris a shot. When it became clear that Sony Michel couldnt get anything going, it was time for a change. Instead the Pats stuck with Sony who was probably the worst starting RB in the entire league this year. His season long run was 26 yards. 26! He averaged 3.7 ypc and usually went down on first contact. The Pats spent a 3rd rd pick on Harris and he barely suited up this year.

I'd add Deebo Samuel to the list of WRs they passed on. Frankly, he looked to be the best fit for the Pats of any of them and he looks great for the 49ers.

 

[Patriot Missile]

As stated above, the number of game changing TE’s can be counted on 1 hand in this league. It may not even get fixed properly next season without ponying up cash for the often injured Hunter Henry or the inconsistent Oj Howard for from TB. Neither one can block worth a damn. Maybe they can be taught, I dont know. TE’s in the draft look weak this year, couple of pass catchers but nothing worth a 1st round pick unless of course one wins the underwear olympics which is bound to happen.

No idea if Andrews is even going to play this upcoming year. Liked how Karas played down the stretch for the most part. Hope they resign Thuney but could see them not doing it.

Harry was starting to come around, looking forward to him staying healthy and getting a full offseason workout in. Would like to take a crack at another wr in next years draft. It’s very deep up until the 5th round.

 

[Patriot Missile]

I'd add Deebo Samuel to the list of WRs they passed on. Frankly, he looked to be the best fit for the Pats of any of them and he looks great for the 49ers.

It was a perfect draft to double dip on. I’m going to suggest they hire Manxman from the draft forum to scout wr’s for them. He had AJ Brown as his first and Terry McClaurin as his 3rd round hopes. That would of been something.

 

[203Pat]

I agree with OP. This offseason was a disaster. The bungled attempts to bring in a TE replacement with jumping in late for Jared Cook, not drafting anyone, bringing in ASJ, then settling for 52 year old Ben Watson for 12 games with 2 other guys who have no business being a starting NFL tight end.

Then there was a draft class that aside from Winovich and a punter contributed next to nothing. Harry missed half the year then was inconsistent in the limited snaps he was given at a position we desperately needed production. A corner that no one really thought we needed that was a healthy scratch most of the year, a RB who really couldn't have done much worse than Sony did early on, was a healthy scratch basically all year. Then some offensive linemen we desperately needed at points who were too hurt to play.

 

[Vindicate]

Weird year in that injuries were relatively light overall but severely impacted 3 very important positions in WR, OL and FB. Add in the AB and Gordon drama and the entire year was an unsuccessful exercise in trying to get into some sort of rhythm.

Secondary was exceptional and relatively healthy so someone like Williams cannot make it onto the field. Assume he'll play more next year as they move on from some of older players. No one knows what Harris can bring but it feels likely he'll be the Burkhead replacement next year. I liked what I saw from Michel the last 3 or 4 games so RB should be solid. Winovich showed promise and will take some of Van Noy/Collins snaps if either leave. Hopefully one of the injured rookie OL can step in and potentially replace Thuney if he leaves.

Not sure how we can say injuries were light. They were terrible this season. FB gets injured. Drafted FB gets injured. QB gets one of the worst play-through-it injuries a QB can get. Edleman is a walking corpse. Cannon was a walking corpse for a decent chunk of season. Wynn was injured for a long time. Harry was injured, and that was prolly the worst time for him to get an injury. Drafted O-line depth gets injured, leading to Newhouse. Sanu got injured immediately coming here. Groin injuries popped up in the secondary that were immediately taken advantage of late season. Chung was playing hampered all year. Andrews got blood clots. Karras ended up a scratch for a few games. Gostkowski was out for the season. We go through 2 kickers to Folk. He gets injured.

Injuries and lack of offensive talent literally define this season. Without those injuries you could argue that the offense would have had a few more ticks on the production meter. Andrews and Devlin alone could have helped a good deal.

 

[old 55]

- Not signing or drafting a TE. Ben Watson made some plays but he's washed up. Lacosse is below average.

- Not signing Danny Amendola when he got cut from the Dolphins. He had more receiving yards this year with the Lions than he did in any season with the Pats, so clearly he still had a lot left in the tank. He's clutch, proven in our system, good chemistry with Brady, and doesn't cost a whole lot. Having Amendola wouldve helped lighten the load on Edelman who clearly took a beating this year and was playing hurt.

- Trading a 2nd rd pick for Mohamed Sanu. No matter how he would've acclimated to the playbook, a 2nd is way too high for Sanu. He had a decent game against the Ravens but other than that his highest receiving yards in a game was a dismal 35. His career high for yards in a season is 838 (low ceiling), and he's 30 years old. Pats got fleeced here and it smelled like desperation. The fact that we could've had Amendola for the entire season AND kept our 2nd rd pick makes this even worst.

- Not drafting another WR, picking DB JoeJuan Williams. We needed to double down at WR and the Pats skipped on some really good WR's that were on the board in order to pick Joejuan Williams who was burried on the depth chart for most of the year. AJ Brown (1000+ yards), Mecole Hardman (Pro Bowl returner, 6 TDs), DK Metcalf (900 yards, 7 TDs, 15.5 avg) were all still on the board.

- Going into the pre-season with just Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett (annual disappointment), Nkeal Harry, Demaryius Thomas (washed up), Josh Gordon (unreliable, annual suspension waiting to happen), Gunner Olszewski (UDFA), and Jakobi Meyers (UDFA) as our main receivers. What did the Pats expect to happen? Gordon was predictably suspended and didn't finish the season again. Thomas was traded for a bag of peanuts (essentially cut). Dorsett disappeared after week 1.


- The above point forced desperate moves such as AB signing which turned out to be nothing more than a distraction and waste of time. It also forced the desperate trade for Mohamed Sanu which was very un-Patriot-like.

- Not giving Damien Harris a shot. When it became clear that Sony Michel couldnt get anything going, it was time for a change. Instead the Pats stuck with Sony who was probably the worst starting RB in the entire league this year. His season long run was 26 yards. 26! He averaged 3.7 ypc and usually went down on first contact. The Pats spent a 3rd rd pick on Harris and he barely suited up this year.

I agree about Harris and Sony, but I question why we passed on viable TE talent to draft a RB that never played. Also, Sony made a big run last night but ran out of bounds to avoid a hit. If he had put his head down, he could have easily picked up another 5 yards.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

I agree about Harris and Sony, but I question why we passed on viable TE talent to draft a RB that never played. Also, Sony made a big run last night but ran out of bounds to avoid a hit. If he had put his head down, he could have easily picked up another 5 yards.

Part of the reason I'm not a big Sony fan

 

[Boomer B]

I think Harry will be a stud next year. Him getting injured probably didn't help matters but when the team called on him he pretty much answered.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Then some offensive linemen we desperately needed at points who were too hurt to play.

I agree there were mistakes made but how t f would you have predicted injury or fixed the offensive line?

The LT who had no injury history throughout high school and college? Did they not predict properly that David Andrews would have a life threatening condition? A possible career ender? Maybe his absence effected Mason’s play? Maybe they should have wasted valuable cap space and had a back up center with equal skills of Andrews ready to step in? Develin going down? This was just a case of a f’d up injury riddled year when it came to the oline and it effected the offense in all phases. The outcome sucks but combined with the wr problems and the retirement of Gronkoski, not surprising.

 

[skinnydog]

As stated above, the number of game changing TE’s can be counted on 1 hand in this league. It may not even get fixed properly next season without ponying up cash for the often injured Hunter Henry or the inconsistent Oj Howard for from TB. Neither one can block worth a damn. Maybe they can be taught, I dont know. TE’s in the draft look weak this year, couple of pass catchers but nothing worth a 1st round pick unless of course one wins the underwear olympics which is bound to happen.

No idea if Andrews is even going to play this upcoming year. Liked how Karas played down the stretch for the most part. Hope they resign Thuney but could see them not doing it.

Harry was starting to come around, looking forward to him staying healthy and getting a full offseason workout in. Would like to take a crack at another wr in next years draft. It’s very deep up until the 5th round.

True about game changing tight ends, but the Pats just needed a decent one. signing Cook and drafting Irv Smith would have at least made the position respectable. That was very doable.

 

[shmessy]

Everyone is looking only at the players.

They lost 4 longtime, key assistant coaches in Daley, O'Shea, Flores and Shuplinski (who is rumored to be the next Miami OC).

They were replaced by 2 former players who were in their first year as coaches on any pro level, Belichick's son and Brett Bielema, who has experience, but was in his first year with the Pats.

I keep coming back to this, very unglamorous, point when reviewing how very "un-Patriot-like" their situational football was this year.

.

 

[aluminum seats]

Plenty of personnel issues to pick through, but one that’s been repeated a few times that I take issue with is the drafting of Williams, Harris, and Froholdt, because they didn’t play this year.

The Pats have done this many times before (eg, with running backs, the analogy to Harris would be White), and it works out pretty well. It’s sort of the reverse of letting guys go a year too early as opposed to a year too late, they oftentimes draft a guy a year early. The redshirting has been very effective in having a steady pipeline of players who are ready to contribute. Doesn’t excuse other mistakes, but I think that approach is sound.

 

[Give Kraft A Hand]

Not his fault they didn't go to him. Also wasn't his fault the refs didn't count his TD against KC. I mean Harry honestly did his job and his performance while playing was probably #40 on a list of 50 things that killed this team.

 

[203Pat]

I agree there were mistakes made but how t f would you have predicted injury or fixed the offensive line?

The LT who had no injury history throughout high school and college? Did they not predict properly that David Andrews would have a life threatening condition? A possible career ender? Maybe his absence effected Mason’s play? Maybe they should have wasted valuable cap space and had a back up center with equal skills of Andrews ready to step in? Develin going down? This was just a case of a f’d up injury riddled year when it came to the oline and it effected the offense in all phases. The outcome sucks but combined with the wr problems and the retirement of Gronkoski, not surprising.

One of them we drafted knowing he likely wouldn't play this year. As for Wynn I don't know what that has to do with my post. We drafted him in 2018 while I am talking about the 2019 draft.

 

[203Pat]

I agree about Harris and Sony, but I question why we passed on viable TE talent to draft a RB that never played. Also, Sony made a big run last night but ran out of bounds to avoid a hit. If he had put his head down, he could have easily picked up another 5 yards.

I yelled at the TV twice last night. This isn't week 2 where he needs to make sure he preserves himself to make it though the year. This is the postseason. Lower your pads and gain an extra yard or two. If you're going to be a plodder then at least fight for the extra yard.

 

[Bill Lee]

- Trading a 2nd rd pick for Mohamed Sanu. No matter how he would've acclimated to the playbook, a 2nd is way too high for Sanu. He had a decent game against the Ravens but other than that his highest receiving yards in a game was a dismal 35. His career high for yards in a season is 838 (low ceiling), and he's 30 years old. Pats got fleeced here and it smelled like desperation. The fact that we could've had Amendola for the entire season AND kept our 2nd rd pick makes this even worst.

Yes, it was desperation. The Pats needed WR help, and everyone in the league knew it, especially the Pats themselves. As I wrote in the other thread, think of it as the football equivalent of beer goggles. It's the end of a long night, only one girl is left, you don't want to go home alone. The problem comes the next morning when you wake up and see who you brought home with you. In this case Sanu clearly was worse than advertised. It was said that he had no speed but if nothing else at least he has good hands and could win contested catches, but he never showed any evidence of such. It seemed he was just not prepared for how quickly Brady got the ball to him, even after weeks of practice. IMO I think the Pats should cut their losses on him, despite the salary cap hit. They need to find someone better than him. Unfortunately the Pats tend to hang on to mediocre WRs longer than they should.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Lowballing Humphries, Beasley, Jared Cook, etc. Leaving the cupboard bare at WR, and wasting TWO roster spots at the position with Meyers and Gunner. Not addressing the TE position. Not drafting Chung’s replacement, which cost us on at least two game changing plays. Straying from screens to White. There are lots more.

Unfortunately, this year’s team wasn’t very good despite a very misleading 12-4 record. They lost to 4/5 of the AFC playoff teams. They also lost to Miami at home in a must-win setting.

Here we go ...the Pat's didn't lowball Humphries. Humphries already committed to Vrabel and the Titans

 

[The Brandon Five]

Not sure the timeline in the OP is correct. Trading Thomas happened after they signed AB. And that was why they did it. Obviously wouldn't have done that if they knew AB was going to post pictures of an accuser's kids.

Gronkowski waiting as long as he did to announce his retirement certainly didn't help. All the good TEs were taken by then. They must not have liked any of the TEs in the draft, I guess.

They had a contingency plan at FB in Johnson. He got hurt as well. Can't have unlimited depth at every position.

 

[50-yard-line]

They drafted Frojholt and Cajuste (however you spell them). They addressed the OL dept but those two guys got hurt.

And two guys retired.

 

[ivanvamp]

Lowballing Humphries, Beasley, Jared Cook, etc. Leaving the cupboard bare at WR, and wasting TWO roster spots at the position with Meyers and Gunner. Not addressing the TE position. Not drafting Chung’s replacement, which cost us on at least two game changing plays. Straying from screens to White. There are lots more.

Unfortunately, this year’s team wasn’t very good despite a very misleading 12-4 record. They lost to 4/5 of the AFC playoff teams. They also lost to Miami at home in a must-win setting.

Was last year's team very good? They got their asses kicked by four non-playoff teams (Jacksonville, Detroit, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh) and also lost the crazy game to Miami. And they allowed 100 more points in 2018 than they did in 2019, while only scoring 16 more points in 2018 than 2019.

What happened was that they just got rolling in the playoffs. They got the #2 seed and a bye despite a *worse* record in 2018 than 2019. If the Pats had that this year, we'd all be gearing up for a home playoff game this coming weekend.