The Offense Needs 3-4 Players; doable I think

[Steve102]

They need 3-4 players on the line alone. Then they need WRs, pass catching back, blocking TE and a smashmouth short yardage tank RB. They have a QB, pass catching TEs, 1 NFL level lineman, 1-2 RBs, a slot and a whole bunch of WR3 or 4.

No problem, that's any easy fix in one round of free agency. Thank God the defense is solid.

 

[Ring 6]

People underestimate the importance of the weakest link. You're as bad as whatever part of your team can be exploited. Look at when we caught the Bears playing two OTs worse than ours. It made the rest of both teams irrelevant. There's a reason the word "exploit" is used.

You don’t build from bad to 2007 Patriots or to dynasty level.
You built toward 2001 Patriots.

That team was great at no particular thing.
What made them a great team was they were just good enough in every area that:
They could exploit any weakness
They could outplay most average areas
They could hold their own against your strengths

This team isn’t a few stars from that level, they are a bunch of fundamentally sound, unselfish solid but unspectacular guys, including role players away.

Unfortunately last off season with many of those type of guys available in FA they made no attempt to acquire them.

 

[203Pat]

In reality, they need a lot to be a legitimate contender, but two starting-caliber linemen and a true number one outside guy at receiver are immediate needs. Money and draft capital won't be restrictions, but an ability to identify the right guys may be a hindrance.

 

[Wozzy]

The offense only needed 3-4 players this past offseason… what has changed?

 

[Ring 6]

They need 3-4 players on the line alone. Then they need WRs, pass catching back, blocking TE and a smashmouth short yardage tank RB. They have a QB, pass catching TEs, 1 NFL level lineman, 1-2 RBs, a slot and a whole bunch of WR3 or 4.

No problem, that's any easy fix in one round of free agency. Thank God the defense is solid.

Guys on offense who should not be here.

Lowe
Hasty
Osborne
Bell
Sow
T Robinson
Brown
Smith
Cotton
Jacobs


Guys who haven’t shown they belong
Polk
Baker
Wallace
L Robinson
Milton
Boutte

That’s 16 the 25 offensive players we have.

That leaves
Maye
Brissett*
Onwenu
Douglass
Bourne*
Stevenson
Gibson*
Henry
Hooper*

* backup


Those are the only 9 guys who would be playing at any level on any decent team.

12 of the 16 who don’t belong were acquired in this years “rebuild”

 

[lancerman]

They don’t need a few JAGs, they need some top end talent. It’s easy to say they need just 3-4 guys but every team in the league is looking for top tier players, and when they get them they don’t tend to let them go.

This is probably the best point in this thread. They need top end talent on just the offensive line. That's increasingly becoming a more and more difficult position group to get quality talent. Colleges are not grooming them for the NFL, you almost have to take a bluechip fail proof guy at the top of the draft to solve that or pay a fortune in free agency for an older vet to come to you. Waiting until round 2 and hoping you get lucky is not a viable strategy.

And the Pats need at least 3 starter quality lineman and then need depth on the line as well. That's a huge ask for any team to solve.

WR we could have solved if we had any competent drafting over the last 7 years. There were guys to be had. Also realize that Hunter Henry is the best pass catcher on the team and he is about to turn 30. So you will very soon need to find a viable tight end in addition to a premier WR. That is harder.

I also am not sold on Stevenson being the guy going foreward at RB. Gibson in my opinion routinely out plays him. He's as good as the line at best and not someone you can ground and pound with.

 

[203Pat]

Guys who haven’t shown they belong
Polk
Baker
Wallace
L Robinson
Milton
Boutte

Outside of Boutte these are all rookies. Hard for them to show much of anything after half a season.

 

[Ring 6]

Outside of Boutte these are all rookies. Hard for them to show much of anything after half a season.

Rookies show something all the time all across the league.
We are a 3-9 team with the 32nd ranked offense and a defense in the 30s of DVOA.

If there was ever a team where a rookie had a great opportunity because people in front of them stink, this is it.

Polk, Baker, Wallace, Robinson all have bad players playing in front of them and/or have stunk when they have been on the field.

 

[Steve102]

Guys on offense who should not be here.

Lowe
Hasty
Osborne
Bell
Sow
T Robinson
Brown
Smith
Cotton
Jacobs


Guys who haven’t shown they belong
Polk
Baker
Wallace
L Robinson
Milton
Boutte

That’s 16 the 25 offensive players we have.

That leaves
Maye
Brissett*
Onwenu
Douglass
Bourne*
Stevenson
Gibson*
Henry
Hooper*

* backup


Those are the only 9 guys who would be playing at any level on any decent team.

12 of the 16 who don’t belong were acquired in this years “rebuild”

Agree with your assessment, not in love with Brissett or Bourne, I think Gibson and Hooper are fine in their roles.

 

[Ring 6]

Agree with your assessment, not in love with Brissett or Bourne, I think Gibson and Hooper are fine in their roles.

Backup qb is backup qb, they all kinda suck
Bourne is a guy you play when you don’t have anyone good.
Gibson and Hooper are meh, they don’t add much, but arent liabilities and are just backups

 

[Real fan 02]

In reality, they need a lot to be a legitimate contender, but two starting-caliber linemen and a true number one outside guy at receiver are immediate needs. Money and draft capital won't be restrictions, but an ability to identify the right guys may be a hindrance.

I've personally said the same thing myself. We need at least a total of 8-9 impact players on offense defense.

 

[Boston Boxer]

1) Top WR and perhaps another
2) Top LT and another OL or 2


Not a huge ask

Would like a WR in both FA and draft. Would like a T in FA and at LT in the draft. We also need a LB and RB in the draft.

 

[hornetfb85]

Need 3+ lineman to fix this. Hopefully Wallace at RT, Onwenu at RG and Andrews at C can be part of the solution

 

[Ian]

1) Top WR and perhaps another
2) Top LT and another OL or 2


Not a huge ask

I would agree with this. LT has to be a priority, and they need a starter. Lowe can be a back-up and could play if someone was out a week or two. Season-ending would be brutal, but it's obviously impossible to have that kind of quality depth (2 high-end LTs on the same roster).

Wallace is the X-factor at RT. His injury was tough but he's potentially their option on that side. I don't recall him being terrible on the RT, but he definitely struggled on the left. Although, I've said it before, I think they hoped he could be developed as a left tackle. I don't think the plan was for him to be the starter that early in the season. The Okorafor thing blew everything up and really created a lot of the problems. He wasn't their long-term answer by any means, but I'm sure the hope was that they could get through this season and address it next offseason.

A top WR I do believe would change things. They need a guy who draws attention, especially on the boundary, which creates opportunities for these other guys. They don't have anyone right now who demands additional attention from a safety, and I feel like that's part of the reason there are so many plays where guys aren't open. They don't have a one and/or a high two, just a group of 2s (barely), 3s, and 4s.

Those two things alone would increase the scoring. I do feel the roster is adequate on defense, albeit another CB and interior lineman would be nice. When I say "adequate" I mean for this season, and I do believe the real-time ability to assess the opposing offense and adjust by the current coaching staff is an issue.

That's an area where I'm not sure if Covington has the ability for the job. He's clearly a good position coach and a smart defensive mind, but seeing it in real-time rather than in a closed-setting on film are two different things. Mayo doesn't appear to either, and I think he needs to surround himself with someone who is better at that. Because that would absolutely be an issue in a big game, and Sunday's game against Miami was a giant red flag when it came to that. At least in my opinion.

Granted, it would be nice to see some additional depth all around, but I agree with @mgteich - that would be the minimum I'd want to see.

 

[AQPE]

I would agree with this. LT has to be a priority, and they need a starter. Lowe can be a back-up and could play if someone was out a week or two. Season-ending would be brutal, but it's obviously impossible to have that kind of quality depth (2 high-end LTs on the same roster).

Wallace is the X-factor at RT. His injury was tough but he's potentially their option on that side. I don't recall him being terrible on the RT, but he definitely struggled on the left. Although, I've said it before, I think they hoped he could be developed as a left tackle. I don't think the plan was for him to be the starter that early in the season. The Okorafor thing blew everything up and really created a lot of the problems. He wasn't their long-term answer by any means, but I'm sure the hope was that they could get through this season and address it next offseason.

A top WR I do believe would change things. They need a guy who draws attention, especially on the boundary, which creates opportunities for these other guys. They don't have anyone right now who demands additional attention from a safety, and I feel like that's part of the reason there are so many plays where guys aren't open. They don't have a one and/or a high two, just a group of 2s (barely), 3s, and 4s.

Those two things alone would increase the scoring. I do feel the roster is adequate on defense, albeit another CB and interior lineman would be nice. When I say "adequate" I mean for this season, and I do believe the real-time ability to assess the opposing offense and adjust by the current coaching staff is an issue.

That's an area where I'm not sure if Covington has the ability for the job. He's clearly a good position coach and a smart defensive mind, but seeing it in real-time rather than in a closed-setting on film are two different things. Mayo doesn't appear to either, and I think he needs to surround himself with someone who is better at that. Because that would absolutely be an issue in a big game, and Sunday's game against Miami was a giant red flag when it came to that. At least in my opinion.

Granted, it would be nice to see some additional depth all around, but I agree with @mgteich - that would be the minimum I'd want to see.

I would add here that in addition to the Okorafor disaster, they had the Anderson debacle. If both of those guys were at least competent NFL starters, as I imagine they thought they would be (based on their previous performance in Pittsburgh and Denver), things would be considerably better. Okorafor couldn't handle being beaten out by Lowe and checked out, he was a head case in Pittsburgh when the same thing happened. Anderson was simply not as good as the others who beat him out, I think his decent play in Denver was a mirage, the rest of his career in the NFL is JAG level.

There are two red flags here in respect to the current OL situation that has nothing to do with what players they bring in and which therefore I find more troubling than the "lack of talent" issue. (1) Does the player personnel organization know how to correctly evaluate and grade OL? (2) Does the OL coach and his assistants have the ability to develop young guys? I think the answer to both questions is that neither the player personnel organization nor OL coaching team has shown we can have confidence in them. They've gotten nothing from anyone they brought in this year unless you are delighted with Brown at C, and the only guy I think who has progressed this year is Lowe, everyone else is either off the team (Mafi, Chuks, Anderson, Wheatley, McDermott, Leverett, now Jordan), injured (J. Andrews, Wallace), or has sucked this year (Sow, Robinson). That's a garbage record especially considering the draft and free agent capital expended.

 

[Kdo5]

1) Top WR and perhaps another
2) Top LT and another OL or 2


Not a huge ask

The offense is an easier fix than the defense at this stage. Granted LT is not an easy find but with a very high draft pick that is as good a chance as any to finally fill that hole.

 

[203Pat]

Rookies show something all the time all across the league.
We are a 3-9 team with the 32nd ranked offense and a defense in the 30s of DVOA.

If there was ever a team where a rookie had a great opportunity because people in front of them stink, this is it.

Polk, Baker, Wallace, Robinson all have bad players playing in front of them and/or have stunk when they have been on the field.

Not going to lie, it is pretty hard to argue against you on this. I don't want to write them off completely, but they are certainly not headed in the right direction.

 

[TheRainMaker]

The offense needs an entire OL to be replaced. As I mentioned last offseason, Owenu should've been allowed to walk. Even elite players on bad O-lines do their job and don't look like ****.

Need at least 2 WR's.

We're at 7 so far at the bare minimum.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Outside of Boutte these are all rookies. Hard for them to show much of anything after half a season.

Not going to lie, it is pretty hard to argue against you on this. I don't want to write them off completely, but they are certainly not headed in the right direction.

We've been in a completely different era of football for quite some time now, but people still think it's 1990's. Gone are the days where rookies had to sit behind veterans and learn. The player turnover is so high now due to both a lack of talent and/or players wearing down quickly, so getting on the field isn't the issue. In fact, if you can't get on the field by year 2, you most likely never will. And if you can't show anything on a roster that's arguably the worst in the league, you probably never will.

 

[patsfaninpa]

1) Top WR and perhaps another
2) Top LT and another OL or 2


Not a huge ask

That would make our offense respectable. Higgins and Ronnie Stanley. We have 130m in cap space. Spend it RKK! Maybe, a safety like Holland from Miami.


To become a good offense we need more as others mentioned. WR2 and RT. And, a developmental center. Andrews was sorely missed. Owenu is good at RG. We have 3 candidates to play LG; Strange, Sow and Robinson. Better man wins.

I don’t see a great defender in this draft like Micah Parsons. The T’s aren’t top 5 worthy. I’d be ok with Tet McMillan and moving up into 1st for a RT. We have an extra 3 for a guy like Simmons or Ersery. Kid at WVU is pretty good too. Wyatt Milium. Two tackles and two wr’s really transforms our offense.

I know we need help on D too. This is a rebuild not a reload. That’s for next off season. Losses of Bentley, Barmore and Peppers really hurt this D. Along with losing Belichick. Bill not Steven.