Where do we need to improve

n1997y · Feb 10, 2026

Hugepatsfan said:
They absolutely need better QB play than they got these playoffs. But I think a lot of people take the question here to mean where do we need to upgrade personnel. Suggesting we should replace Maye is like the boldest of the bold takes. He absolutely needs to work on things but QB position is one where we need improvement with the existing player, not a new player. That's different than some other spots where the guys we have just aren't good enough and should be replaced/upgraded.

I’m concerned that the playoffs exposed limitations in his game that the weak schedule masked or even made look good. I also think the problems he had in the playoffs may have gotten into his head and screwed up his confidence. That leaves me worried that he has problems all next season, especially now that the playoffs have given some examples of things that worked against him. Seattle took his running out of the mix pretty well, and if other teams can figure out how they did it and can do it with their own personnel Maye will find one of his strengths diminished. I doubt it can be totally neutralized but if it’s enough to affect his game adjusting to that is one more challenge he’ll be facing. So as far as I’m concerned how he bounces back next season from these playoffs troubles will tell us a lot about whether he really is the long term future, or if he’s just a flash in the pan. I think there’s a fair chance at the end of next season it’s still a question if he’s the long term future of the franchise.

n1997y · Feb 10, 2026

Thunderhead said:
100% agree. The OL, specifically Campbell, rendered the offense completely ineffective last night. Starts and ends there IMO.

Not just Campbell. The entire OL was tremendously outplayed. Early in the first half Seattle blitzed heavily, much more than their norm, and the Pats weren’t prepared for it. At least twice in Q1 I remember seeing I think it was Witherspoon come clean, untouched by Morgan Moses. The overall inability to handle the blitz is on Vrabes, Josh, and Doug Marrone more than it’s on the players, imo.

According to Grok the Seattle season average blitz rate was just over 20%, and in the first half Sunday it was 33%, then in the second half it was 8%. New England was outcoached regarding line play when Seattle was on defense, and it destroyed the Patriots offense.

n1997y · Feb 10, 2026

upstater1 said:
He had 3 rollouts last night and all 3 were busts.

Better faster defenses smothered Drake’s mobility.

n1997y · Feb 10, 2026

p8ryts said:
I don't disagree with you, but we aren't in a position to abandon him. His style is the mid to deep throw needing a half a second more time. I think he hit a wall mentally and physically entering the playoffs. He was hammered about protecting the ball. That seemed to become the priority with the coaches. Still, you have to accept Drake Maye and his style and the attendant warts.

I agree with what you said, but looking forward with the topic of this thread being improvement Drake needs to improve next season or the likelihood of abandoning him grows. If he doesn’t improve next year the team has to start questioning whether picking up his fifth year option is the right thing to do.

I think protecting the ball is always a priority with the coaches, and in the playoffs it becomes an obsession especially with a player that puts the ball in harm’s way. That, plus hitting the rookie wall, affected Drake a lot during the playoffs. Next season will show how, or whether, he can bounce back from it.

n1997y · Feb 10, 2026

Rob0729 said:
They can convert Owenu's base salary into a bonus and pick up like $15 million in cap space. About $17 million in cap space if they cut Diggs. $5 million if they cut Elliss. If they upgrade Henry, they can cut him and get $9.2 million in cap space. They can cut Bradbury and get $5.7 million in cap space. They could put dummy years on Milton Williams' contract and free up upwards to $20 million. The Pats have plenty of flexibility to create cap space if they choose to.

The Pats are a young team with a QB under a rookie contract. They have plenty of cap flexibility to be big spenders this offseason if they choose to.

You’ll have to replace all those cuts. The replacements will cost more than you save, and if they’re significant upgrades they’ll cost significantly more. Any of those moves has to be regarded like you described it with Henry, “if they upgrade” the cap savings from the cut helps pay for the upgrade. But making those cuts to increase the war chest just monetizes weakening the roster, and that’s not a path to improvement. Our goal should not be to be “big spenders”, it should be strategic, to be smart spenders.

n1997y · Feb 10, 2026

Hugepatsfan said:
People also talk about moving Campbell to LG but that requires finding a new LT which, while not impossible, seems unlikely. It's hard for me to believe he isn't the LT next year, though there will deservedly be a lot of eyes on if he can handle that long term.

Those talking about moving Campbell to LG next year should assume that his replacement at LT will be Vederian Lowe, and then decide whether that would make them reconsider moving Campbell.

Because if Campbell moves to LG it’s likely his replacement at LT will either be Lowe, or some unknown no better than Lowe (and possibly not as good).

n1997y · Feb 10, 2026

Rob0729 said:
Some of these positions are needed to be upgraded. But you replace someone with a $20 plus million cap hit in 2026 and you can replace him with someone with a cap hit half that which will allow you to sign multiple players per player cut.

I am not advocating to make the all the cuts that were suggested in the post you were responding to, but your logic is flawed.

Your logic may be flawed too, if you assume you can replace cut players for half the cost without considering whether the replacements are also downgrades. Especially when you’re trying to improve the team. I think it’s more likely that you cut a player who is on the roster and then discover that a like for like replacement costs more in today’s market.

Real fan 02 · Feb 10, 2026

scott99 said:
Both lack explosiveness, we need guys who scare defenses. Neither do. If Diggs is a big cap hit, cut him. All the key guys did nothing in the playoffs. Need to get younger and more explosive at TE & WR. These guys are easy to shut down. One of the few weaknesses the Seattle defense has is vs TEs, and the current talent wasn’t able to exploit that.

Diggs is under contract for next 2 seasons.. I don't think he's going anywhere especially him being a leader and what he means to the team. Your right we need explosiveness.. he Henderson and Williams have that.. they were rookie but made huge impacts during the season. They will build off this season. We averaged 28 PPG this top 5 in offense. The OL was the prime reason we couldn't get established on offense it wasn't so much the skill players.. Diggs was a 1,000 yard wr at his age coming of a major injury absolutely impressive.

We need to address depth at edge, OL and WR as well as TE in the offseason.

Real fan 02 · Feb 10, 2026

Vindicate said:
Diggs is in an era where doubling him really ends his game. He would EAT as a 2nd, though.

Absolutely correct... I expect us to ADD at WR this offseason.

Huckleberry1 · Feb 10, 2026

Ross12 said:
I think people are overreacting here... I specifically said "I really, REALLY don't think he would do it". But I do think if someone was offering 3 first round picks and more for Maye, and he really liked some other QB he already has or could easily acquire, he would at least think about it.

Disagree completely. There s no amount of picks or trade deal where Maye would be made available.

JayNM · Feb 10, 2026

n1997y said:
I pretty much agree with all you said here. Landry is my big question mark, will he recover when he has time to heal, or is he just cooked?

Safety, Hawkins made some plays but he’s not elite. So maybe look for a FA upgrade and draft another good prospect to develop. We hit a home run drafting Woodson, maybe lightning strikes twice. Our scouting this last drafted seems to have been very well dialed in, so hopefully that bodes well for our next draft.

I think we should always be looking to improve at every position all the time, but I don’t see LB as a big problem. I’d view CB depth and LB upgrades as about the same level of need.

We might also have some players in the development pipeline. I’m wondering about how much Leonard Taylor might be able to step up, for one.

Im not optimistic for Landry. Even looking back at his explosive sacks, i dont think it was him overpowering the opponent, but my memory could be failing

If Crosby is indeed forcing his way out of Oak, we should give him serious consideration, not sure i love giving out a 1st, but he is 28 yo, so at least 3 years of a prime athleticism for an proven elite player. And we are drafting at 31st so you know, the worse position possible, given the 32nd means we won the SB

Hendrickson is also stil good and a bit cheaper, but i think the market is going to overprice him

Stu Pidassle · Feb 10, 2026

n1997y said:
I’m concerned that the playoffs exposed limitations in his game that the weak schedule masked or even made look good. I also think the problems he had in the playoffs may have gotten into his head and screwed up his confidence. That leaves me worried that he has problems all next season, especially now that the playoffs have given some examples of things that worked against him. Seattle took his running out of the mix pretty well, and if other teams can figure out how they did it and can do it with their own personnel Maye will find one of his strengths diminished. I doubt it can be totally neutralized but if it’s enough to affect his game adjusting to that is one more challenge he’ll be facing. So as far as I’m concerned how he bounces back next season from these playoffs troubles will tell us a lot about whether he really is the long term future, or if he’s just a flash in the pan. I think there’s a fair chance at the end of next season it’s still a question if he’s the long term future of the franchise.

The rule that the QB always gets too much credit for wins and too much blame for losses applies to Sunday's game. Any time a team can pressure the QB while rushing 4 the defense has more people in coverage than the offense has going out to catch a pass. This gets even worse the more resources the offense spends trying to stop the rush. Maye was put in an impossible position that he did not handle well. We've seen an experienced Brady struggle under similar circumstances, so the bad play is more about learning to deal with those situations as opposed to a fundamental flaw in his game.

Real fan 02 · Feb 10, 2026

n1997y said:
Better faster defenses smothered Drake’s mobility.

Reason why I can't give up on the offense is because we were a top 5 unit all season and Drake was a huge Reason why we were... when the playoffs started teams played copy cat and followed the same formula the chargers used to slow us down..

Look on the other side of the ball.. we stifled Seattle's offense and erased JSN.. forced seattle to punt all game essentially. The OL just couldn't hold up to run anything on offense was the story..

Rob0729 · Feb 10, 2026

n1997y said:
You’ll have to replace all those cuts. The replacements will cost more than you save, and if they’re significant upgrades they’ll cost significantly more. Any of those moves has to be regarded like you described it with Henry, “if they upgrade” the cap savings from the cut helps pay for the upgrade. But making those cuts to increase the war chest just monetizes weakening the roster, and that’s not a path to improvement. Our goal should not be to be “big spenders”, it should be strategic, to be smart spenders.

In 2026, the replacements will cost less. Contracts are back loaded. The cap is growing at 20+% a year. What a player costs in subsequent years is relative.

And I never said that the Pats should spend just to spend. Of course they should spend smartly. Last year, they were big spenders while doing it strategically and hitting on almost every free agent they signed.

The Pats are in the second year of their rebuild with a QB on a rookie contract. This is the time when the Pats can be aggressive in their spending. Once Maye is making $50 million plus a season, they have to find players more on a budget. It doesn't mean they should just throw money around at every free agent, but it is the time to sign some younger free agents and remove some of the players who are on the backside of their career like Henry.

Henry is going to be 32 next season. There are a lot of young TE free agents with more upside than Henry available. I am just using Kyle Pitts as an example and not advocating for him, but guy like him has more upside than Henry and is only 25 years old. When his contract starts to have big cap hits, the cap will be 30-40% higher than it is now and his cap number will be reasonable. And he can be a productive player for the Pats for 5-6 years. Henry could hit the age wall as soon as next season.

Rob0729 · Feb 10, 2026

n1997y said:
Your logic may be flawed too, if you assume you can replace cut players for half the cost without considering whether the replacements are also downgrades. Especially when you’re trying to improve the team. I think it’s more likely that you cut a player who is on the roster and then discover that a like for like replacement costs more in today’s market.

No, my logic isn't flawed. You can upgrade a player with a high cap hit in 2026 with a much better player and have their cap hit smaller. That is how the cap works. If they cut Henry and signed Kyle Pitts with a top of the market deal, his 2026 cap hit will likely be lower than Henry's cap hit now. In 2026, Henry has the 9th highest cap hit for all TEs in the NFL.

Again, you gotta be strategic with your spending, but the Pats are currently in a position to make the big swings because they have a QB under a rookie contract. They can cut higher priced older players and replace them with upgrades at high salaries. They won't be able to do it in a few years when Maye gets his new deal.

BTTA · Feb 10, 2026

I'd suggest that the better question is "how many positions can we upgrade to excellent?" This team is built on a remarkable degree of mediocrity (average) playing together really well. Take two areas on both sides of the ball and upgrade them to "really good" or better, and suddenly the team rises to another level.

That can come from current players improving, or new players. Current players most likely to improve are the QB, the rookie RB and WR, the three rookie OL, the two S. To me, that points to a focus on going after new players at LB and Edge.

lancerman · Feb 10, 2026

n1997y said:
Those talking about moving Campbell to LG next year should assume that his replacement at LT will be Vederian Lowe, and then decide whether that would make them reconsider moving Campbell.

Because if Campbell moves to LG it’s likely his replacement at LT will either be Lowe, or some unknown no better than Lowe (and possibly not as good).

This. We've been searching for a LT forever and honestly just more lineman in general. We either let Campbell develop and see or we go back to stopgaps who really aren't even an improvement.

NFL Mystique · Feb 10, 2026

n1997y said:
I agree with what you said, but looking forward with the topic of this thread being improvement Drake needs to improve next season or the likelihood of abandoning him grows. If he doesn’t improve next year the team has to start questioning whether picking up his fifth year option is the right thing to do.

I think protecting the ball is always a priority with the coaches, and in the playoffs it becomes an obsession especially with a player that puts the ball in harm’s way. That, plus hitting the rookie wall, affected Drake a lot during the playoffs. Next season will show how, or whether, he can bounce back from it.

I want to clarify that I do not believe they should trade him this offseason for picks. There should be no QB competition either. He should start all 17 games next year and get the opportunity to prove he has improved upon certain weaknesses (turnovers, quicker release, pocket presence, taking check downs). The schedule is hell but to be an elite QB in this league you need to be able to beat great teams consistently. So the schedule will be a blessing for him and the Patriots organization (evaluation).

I agree with everything you said in the bolded black. It might not be popular, but it's probably reality. And I hate to say that because I never ever thought there would be any doubt about him getting a mega extension after the 2026 season.

Let's see!!!

Love The Drake · Feb 10, 2026

lancerman said:
This. We've been searching for a LT forever and honestly just more lineman in general. We either let Campbell develop and see or we go back to stopgaps who really aren't even an improvement.

Campbell needs a ton of coaching and I’m guessing counseling. Maybe needs to recover from that injury. The fact Lowe played great while Campbell was out and we wouldn’t give him a snap since Campbell is back is so anti Belichick.

Love The Drake · Feb 10, 2026

NFL Mystique said:
I want to clarify that I do not believe they should trade him this offseason for picks. There should be no QB competition either. He should start all 17 games next year and get the opportunity to prove he has improved upon certain weaknesses (turnovers, quicker release, pocket presence, taking check downs). The schedule is hell but to be an elite QB in this league you need to be able to beat great teams consistently. So the schedule will be a blessing for him and the Patriots organization (evaluation).

I agree with everything you said in the bolded black. It might not be popular, but it's probably reality. And I hate to say that because I never ever thought there would be any doubt about him getting a mega extension after the 2026 season.

Let's see!!!

You guys are high, he played hurt with a terrible offensive like with an awful game plan by Josh. Fix the O line, get better WRs and have a better game plan he will be fine.

He’s still the MVP in my book. Imagine Stafford with Mayes line.

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