How confident are you on our own Roster? V2.0 - The Pre-Draft Era

[JayNM]

Hello there,

Back in February I posted this. I thought it could be fun to re-assess where we stand specially because

Thread 'How confident are you on our own Roster?'

Feb 8, 2025

Pretty straightforward question here, as we edge the offseason for real (is there a game this weekend? I dont know). This focus more inward than for the FA market/draft

How you would rate our roster, maybe divided by positions/groupings? Are you satisfied with any position group in particular (meaning, are they good to go for 2026 as they are?)

Could be fun meter to assess our team and talk a bit about players without much weight. I will post my breakdown in a future post too if anyone's interested

• JayNM
• Replies: 114
• Forum: PatsFans.com - Patriots Fan Forum

[SIZE=2]JayNM[/SIZE] Feb 12/2025​

Pretty straightforward question here, as we edge the offseason for real (is there a game this weekend? I dont know). This focus more inward than for the FA market/draft

How you would rate our roster, maybe divided by positions/groupings? Are you satisfied with any position group in particular (meaning, are they good to go for 2026 as they are?)

Could be fun meter to assess our team and talk a bit about players without much weight. I will post my breakdown in a future post too if anyone's interested

Report

Now not only do I owe you one to say my breakdown, but I don't think people are interested yet

But what has changed since then? Let's go to the facts:

Context

Based on NFL Salary Cap Space | Over The Cap, we have currently the Most cap space for 2025, however for 2026 we are already one of the team with least, tracking at 7th with $8,907,243

What does that mean?


Signings

Stefon Diggs WR - Diggs and the Patriots reached an agreement on a three-year, $69 million deal that includes $26 million guaranteed.​

Harold Landry III EDGE - Landry agreed to a three-year, $43.5 million deal with the Patriots that includes $26 million guaranteed.​

Robert Spillane LB- Spillane has agreed to a three-year, $37 million contract with the Patriots, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.​

Carlton Davis III CB - Davis has agreed to a three-year, $60 million contract. The deal contains $34.5 million fully guaranteed, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.​

Morgan Moses RT - The Patriots and Moses have agreed to a three-year, $24 million contract.​

Milton Williams DT - Williams agreed to a four-year, $104 million deal, sources told ESPN.​

Joshua Dobbs QB - Dobbs agreed to a two-year, $8 million deal, of which $3.8 million is guaranteed.​

Khyiris Tonga DT - Tonga agreed to a one-year, $2.7 million deal with the Patriots.​

Mack Hollins WR - Hollins agreed to a two-year deal worth $8.4 million.​

Austin Hooper TE - The Patriots reached a one-year deal with Hooper that is worth $5 million and can reach a maximum value of $7 million.​

Jaylinn Hawkins S - Hawkins is returning to the Patriots on a one-year deal worth up to $2.25 million.​

K'Lavon Chaisson DE - Chaisson agreed to a one-year deal worth up to $5 million with the Pats.​

Marcus Epps S - Epps agreed to a one-year deal worth up to $4.4 million.​

Wes Schweitzer OL -The Patriots and Schweitzer agreed to a one-year deal​

Garrett Bradbury C -Bradbury is joining the Patriots on a two-year deal.​

Jack Gibbens LB - ???​

Have we improved enough?

I think we certainly got better in a lot of place, and are building a solid foundation. There are problems with long term elite players, we only have 1 and maybe another (Gonzo, Maye, respectively).

Our Defense is starting to look really good. Lacks depth and I can't really expect much more resources to be spent there anymore. (Unlessss....naaaa). 2 pieces missing to become really good, to me at least

Anyway, thoughts?

 

[jmt57]

Agree; to me it's an unfinished work, still in progress.

Everyone is focused on the draft right now, and rightfully so.

I'm also interested in the second wave of free agent signings that occur every year, after the draft. Hopefully the Patriots can fill in some pieces and improve depth there, to compliment the draft picks.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I’m with JMT, they need to finish the offseason, but overall I’m confident they will be in the hunt for a Wild Card spot in December.

 

[farn]

I’m with JMT, they need to finish the offseason, but overall I’m confident they will be in the hunt for a Wild Card spot in December.

I'm not confident yet - but now with new additions (and more to come) - they have given themselves a shot to contend for play in mid January. There is no question they are better today than they were in December 2024.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

The silver lining this year is our schedule. We face the Panthers, Browns, Raiders, Giants, Saints, Titans and Jets x2 = 8 wins if we play to our potential. Also we should be competitive with the Falcons, Steelers, Bucs, and Phins x 2 = 5 possible wins. The only teams clearly better are the Ravens, Bengals, and Bills x 2. If we have a decent draft with a starting LT + a promising receiver, we should be good enough to be a wild card.

 

[PWRxWLF]

LT and the WR room continue to be an issue. I’m not sold on Hollins or the health of Diggs yet. I dont see how he comes back at 80% or higher in a new offense that quickly. I’m willing to be patient with him but I just dont see huge returns in the short term. The defense is drastically improved and I’m feeling really good about that side of the ball. I think the fortunes of this offense will lie in the hands of a rookie or two lifting them up just that little bit. We’ll see.

 

[JayNM]

Agree; to me it's an unfinished work, still in progress.

Everyone is focused on the draft right now, and rightfully so.

I'm also interested in the second wave of free agent signings that occur every year, after the draft. Hopefully the Patriots can fill in some pieces and improve depth there, to compliment the draft picks.

Our entire draft outlook would look drastically different if we sign an LT, even if its mediocre/1yr rental. Only thing id do if I were the GM

I'm not confident yet - but now with new additions (and more to come) - they have given themselves a shot to contend for play in mid January. There is no question they are better today than they were in December 2024.

The silver lining this year is our schedule. We face the Panthers, Browns, Raiders, Giants, Saints, Titans and Jets x2 = 8 wins if we play to our potential. Also we should be competitive with the Falcons, Steelers, Bucs, and Phins x 2 = 5 possible wins. The only teams clearly better are the Ravens, Bengals, and Bills x 2. If we have a decent draft with a starting LT + a promising receiver, we should be good enough to be a wild card

As of now, i think 8 is our peak

With our best player being young and new in the system, not to mention the line questions, on both sides, makes this a team that can easily fluctuate

Not going to be this easy, unless Maye has a tremendous leap

LT and the WR room continue to be an issue. I’m not sold on Hollins or the health of Diggs yet. I dont see how he comes back at 80% or higher in a new offense that quickly. I’m willing to be patient with him but I just dont see huge returns in the short term. The defense is drastically improved and I’m feeling really good about that side of the ball. I think the fortunes of this offense will lie in the hands of a rookie or two lifting them up just that little bit. We’ll see.

Our offense is bad still.

Take out Moses, is on paper at the same level as last year, if not for Diggs.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Our entire draft outlook would look drastically different if we sign an LT, even if its mediocre/1yr rental. Only thing id do if I were the GM


As of now, i think 8 is our peak

With our best player being young and new in the system, not to mention the line questions, on both sides, makes this a team that can easily fluctuate

Not going to be this easy, unless Maye has a tremendous leap

Our offense is bad still.

Take out Moses, is on paper at the same level as last year, if not for Diggs.

The offense will be completely different this year: substantially better coaches and OL, Maye a sophomore, added Diggs & Hollins. Defense also much improved: better coaching, Barmore returns, addition of Williams & several LB's. Peppers back, Dugger healthy.

And much weaker schedule.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It’s obviously better than last year, but there are questions that need to be answered.

Is Milton Williams a playoff wonder? I fear he’s like the early 2010 Ravens players getting paid after their Super Bowl win in 2012. He was a rotational guy most of his career and the Eagles drafted two DT’s early to boot him out of the rotation.

Carlton Davis I’m not a fan of. He will see a lot of passes thrown his way.

Can Diggs recover from his ACL tear?

Does Moses have any gas left in the tank?

Will the blood clots affect Barmore going forward as he wasn’t able to do anything during for a long time. It will take time for him to get back into shape.

Still need a FS. Too much musical chairs last year.

Does Maye take a 2nd year leap. He has a lot to work on.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

I think we'll pick top 10 again next year, but that's not to say good progress hasn't been made but can't understate how truly awful this roster was going into FA and still is.

On defense...

We still have terrible coverage at S and LB which is going to allow teams to more easily scheme around our strength of coverage at outside CB.

Our edge rush is still going to be amongst the worst in the NFL with only Landry and Chaisson coming in to replace Wise. The interior rush should be much improved with Williams and Barmore probably contributing more, but it's still a terrible unit vs. the run.

Good progress was made but it's still choppy and incomplete. I think they added enough talent to be respectable, but not much more than that. Their designed to get quick pressure up the middle which will force quick throws, yet their coverage is built to defend WRs outside and down the field while being severely lacking in the middle of the field and underneath where most of those quick throws will go. It's a mismatched unit.

On offense...

The OL has improved in 3 spots, maybe 4 after the draft. But it's still one of the worst in the NFL and none of the improvements are actually great players. Strange coming back at LG, Bradbury at C are both JAG type starters. Moses is ok at RT but ancient and probably declining each year from here on ot.

The WR group is still probably worst in the NFL or close to it when you account for Diggs likely being a reduced version of himsel.

The big variable here is Maye. Let's establish 2 things:

1) He was extremely encouraging last year and showed signs of being a real franchise QB
2) He was not a good player last year

Those aren't mutually exclusive. Judging a rookie QB for his long term potential is different than grading him in the here and now. He wasn't a good QB last year as far as actually winning games, which is totally fair and normal for a rookie. If he makes the leap from good QB on a projection basis to good QB in the here and now, our ceiling is higher. But a lot of the "sophomore slump" QBs have is really based on switching this grading scale vs. them actually being worse.




If everything breaks right for them in close games and Maye really improves, they COULD get better, but my expectations are that we still suck next year. But good progress is still being made, we were just starting from a terrible position.

 

[hornetfb85]

I think we are going to see a team that proves worthy of being in the football field. Which is a major step up from last year. Should see solid improvement across the board. Still expecting to be picking in the top 10-15 next year. Which is ok.

 

[signbabybrady]

 

[JayNM]

The offense will be completely different this year: substantially better coaches and OL, Maye a sophomore, added Diggs & Hollins. Defense also much improved: better coaching, Barmore returns, addition of Williams & several LB's. Peppers back, Dugger healthy.

And much weaker schedule.

Not sold on that yet

 

[JayNM]

I think we'll pick top 10 again next year, but that's not to say good progress hasn't been made but can't understate how truly awful this roster was going into FA and still is.

On defense...

We still have terrible coverage at S and LB which is going to allow teams to more easily scheme around our strength of coverage at outside CB.

Our edge rush is still going to be amongst the worst in the NFL with only Landry and Chaisson coming in to replace Wise. The interior rush should be much improved with Williams and Barmore probably contributing more, but it's still a terrible unit vs. the run.

Good progress was made but it's still choppy and incomplete. I think they added enough talent to be respectable, but not much more than that. Their designed to get quick pressure up the middle which will force quick throws, yet their coverage is built to defend WRs outside and down the field while being severely lacking in the middle of the field and underneath where most of those quick throws will go. It's a mismatched unit.

On offense...

The OL has improved in 3 spots, maybe 4 after the draft. But it's still one of the worst in the NFL and none of the improvements are actually great players. Strange coming back at LG, Bradbury at C are both JAG type starters. Moses is ok at RT but ancient and probably declining each year from here on ot.

The WR group is still probably worst in the NFL or close to it when you account for Diggs likely being a reduced version of himsel.

The big variable here is Maye. Let's establish 2 things:

1) He was extremely encouraging last year and showed signs of being a real franchise QB
2) He was not a good player last year

Those aren't mutually exclusive. Judging a rookie QB for his long term potential is different than grading him in the here and now. He wasn't a good QB last year as far as actually winning games, which is totally fair and normal for a rookie. If he makes the leap from good QB on a projection basis to good QB in the here and now, our ceiling is higher. But a lot of the "sophomore slump" QBs have is really based on switching this grading scale vs. them actually being worse.




If everything breaks right for them in close games and Maye really improves, they COULD get better, but my expectations are that we still suck next year. But good progress is still being made, we were just starting from a terrible position.

Great post,

I'll add just a slot CB to that list, but my feeling is the same as yours. We lack the capacity to defend the middle of the field, although we are looking into getting better athletes is the team

Also i would love a very good FS, there's bound to be one to found later in the draft, right?

 

[TheRainMaker]

I think we'll pick top 10 again next year, but that's not to say good progress hasn't been made but can't understate how truly awful this roster was going into FA and still is.

If they are picking within the top 10 next year, then that is an indictment on Maye. He's got a better HC, OC, better roster and an easier schedule. Panic button would be hit.

The big variable here is Maye. Let's establish 2 things:

1) He was extremely encouraging last year and showed signs of being a real franchise QB
2) He was not a good player last year

Those aren't mutually exclusive. Judging a rookie QB for his long term potential is different than grading him in the here and now. He wasn't a good QB last year as far as actually winning games, which is totally fair and normal for a rookie. If he makes the leap from good QB on a projection basis to good QB in the here and now, our ceiling is higher. But a lot of the "sophomore slump" QBs have is really based on switching this grading scale vs. them actually being worse.

That sounds like an oxymoron. I get your explanation below, but he has a lot to work on. Too many games he faded off after making a throw or two and/or run. He got blown out by a really bad Jacksonville team, lost to a team in Tennessee who is picking ahead in the draft and was losing to the Jets before Brissett bailed him out. That's really concerning. If Maye were on another team in the division, we'd be talking **** about him.