Better, younger, cheaper

SlowGettingUp · Mar 12, 2026

Guregian: For the most part, better, younger, cheaper. Except Byard and Dre'Mont Jones. And overall worse at edge. She gives it a B+ and believes we still get AJ Brown.

https://www.masslive.com/patriots/2026/03/10-thoughts-on-the-patriots-moves-in-free-agency-thus-far-karen-guregian.html

Joey007 · Mar 12, 2026

Idk if we’re truly worse at edge yet. Chaisson did a really nice job, but he was definitely replaceable.

Still rushers out there on the market like the guy from Atlanta, and the draft.

Le Numéro Douze · Mar 12, 2026

Joey007 said:
Idk if we’re truly worse at edge yet. Chaisson did a really nice job, but he was definitely replaceable.

Still rushers out there on the market like the guy from Atlanta, and the draft.

Yeah, very early to give a grade to anything.

RobertWeathers · Mar 12, 2026

o

Joey007 said:
Idk if we’re truly worse at edge yet. Chaisson did a really nice job, but he was definitely replaceable.

Still rushers out there on the market like the guy from Atlanta, and the draft.

It's March 12th. The "we are worse" statement at this juncture in the offseason drives me crazy.

Toofy · Mar 12, 2026

I think we showed up the depth well. The edge , Te and linebacker corps are still weak but we need to give it time .

Considering we had 11 rookies playing around 21 games last year that's huge considering that typical rookies are redshirted and play sparingly in second year. Whereas we got 11 starters with 21 games of experience on rookie contracts .

Now this year the rookies will be more for depth as opposed to starters. The only starter is possibly edge guyz.

So let's draft BPA and allow them time for development. Who knows by the time post season starts the depth of rookies starts to shine.

Now go get the RT ,DE1,TE1 ,LB1 and CB2 of the future through draft . A good high ceiling guard would also be nice.

Betterthanmost · Mar 12, 2026

Me realizing they were mutually exclusive. Better, younger and cheaper.

Thunderhead · Mar 12, 2026

Joey007 said:
Idk if we’re truly worse at edge yet. Chaisson did a really nice job, but he was definitely replaceable.

Still rushers out there on the market like the guy from Atlanta, and the draft.

Patriots might have the weakest group of DEs in the entire NFL currently.

Hugepatsfan · Mar 12, 2026

Joey007 said:
Idk if we’re truly worse at edge yet. Chaisson did a really nice job, but he was definitely replaceable.

Still rushers out there on the market like the guy from Atlanta, and the draft.

They ended this season with the same depth chart they currently have except Jennings (decent NFL player) was on it and now he isn't and they had Chaisson instead of Jones. I think it's pretty fair to say that the decent depth Jennings wasn't isn't eclipsed by any improvement going from Chaisson to Jones which would mean we're, at least marginally, worse at EDGE right now. "Right now" is kind of arbitrary because still more FA and draft to go, along with possible player improvement or decline that shows itself once we get into camp. But there's nothing to really do right now except measure progress as things stand.

Pat the Pats Fan · Mar 12, 2026

So far in the new season, we have run one play for a few yards. Let’s see what the rest of the series brings before we rate weaknesses and strengths.

Borg140 · Mar 12, 2026

RobertWeathers said:
o

It's March 12th. The "we are worse" statement at this juncture in the offseason drives me crazy.

The rush to judgment gets faster every year.

VrabelJr · Mar 12, 2026

Definitely feels like "better, younger. cheaper" might have been a pick two scenario.

I'm not worried about Chaisson because every DE benefits from our DTs. We addressed Safety and G before the draft so likely won't need to use high picks there. We have a lot of options.

Huckleberry1 · Mar 12, 2026

RobertWeathers said:
o

It's March 12th. The "we are worse" statement at this juncture in the offseason drives me crazy.

Take solace in the fact that the " woe is me " crowd" don't know what they are talking about.

Hugepatsfan · Mar 12, 2026

VrabelJr said:
Definitely feels like "better, younger. cheaper" might have been a pick two scenario.

I'm not worried about Chaisson because every DE benefits from our DTs. We addressed Safety and G before the draft so likely won't need to use high picks there. We have a lot of options.

The quote was always taken out of context. He was speaking in generalities about how every team always wants to get younger, cheaper and better while players fight to hold onto their jobs. That's just the business of the NFL.

People here took the soundbite and ran with it like it's realistic to get all 3 with each move. That's sillyness. You're competing with the other 31 teams for the same players. Everyone else goes for the awesome, young, cheap ones too.

Joey007 · Mar 12, 2026

RobertWeathers said:
o

It's March 12th. The "we are worse" statement at this juncture in the offseason drives me crazy.

We’re off to a good start, as far as I’m concerned.

Little surprised we let everyone walk. But we largely replaced the guys walking accordingly so far. Chaisson would be the only one if you want to say we need to bring in another speed rusher.

SlowGettingUp · Mar 12, 2026

We have significant upgrades at safety (but older and more expensive), guard (also older and more expensive) and FB. At WR we got younger and cheaper but maybe not better. At edge we lost two starters and got one older, more expensive player. We lost Tonga and replaced (presumably) by our younger, cheaper depth player. At blocking TE we got a younger, cheaper upgrade.

At this point our run game has gotten a significant upgrade. They have very athletic players on the left side and center, nicely suited for zone runs in conjunction with our new FB and blocking TE. Still have a right side suited for power runs.

Hugepatsfan · Mar 12, 2026

SlowGettingUp said:
We have significant upgrades at safety (but older and more expensive), guard (also older and more expensive) and FB. At WR we got younger and cheaper but maybe not better. At edge we lost two starters and got one older, more expensive player. We lost Tonga and replaced (presumably) by our younger, cheaper depth player. At blocking TE we got a younger, cheaper upgrade.

At this point our run game has gotten a significant upgrade. They have very athletic players on the left side and center, nicely suited for zone runs in conjunction with our new FB and blocking TE. Still have a right side suited for power runs.

I get that we are older and more expensive at LG because AVT is older and more expensive than Wilson, but Wilson is the center right now so Bradbury is really the guy AVT is replacing on the team/starting lineup. So I would say we got younger on the OL too and group the LG/C position together rather than isolating it to LG only.

Joey007 · Mar 12, 2026

SlowGettingUp said:
We have significant upgrades at safety (but older and more expensive), guard (also older and more expensive) and FB. At WR we got younger and cheaper but maybe not better. At edge we lost two starters and got one older, more expensive player. We lost Tonga and replaced (presumably) by our younger, cheaper depth player. At blocking TE we got a younger, cheaper upgrade.

At this point our run game has gotten a significant upgrade. They have very athletic players on the left side and center, nicely suited for zone runs in conjunction with our new FB and blocking TE. Still have a right side suited for power runs.

I think it’s a little misleading to call guard “older.”

AVT is obviously older than Jared Wilson. Sure. But Wilson is now starting at center. I’d say we’re overall younger on the line flipping out Bradbury with AVT.

Joey007 · Mar 12, 2026

Hugepatsfan said:
I get that we are older and more expensive at LG because AVT is older and more expensive than Wilson, but Wilson is the center right now so Bradbury is really the guy AVT is replacing on the team/starting lineup. So I would say we got younger on the OL too and group the LG/C position together rather than isolating it to LG only.

Well damn, took the words out of my mouth lol

Joey007 · Mar 12, 2026

SlowGettingUp said:
We have significant upgrades at safety (but older and more expensive), guard (also older and more expensive) and FB. At WR we got younger and cheaper but maybe not better. At edge we lost two starters and got one older, more expensive player. We lost Tonga and replaced (presumably) by our younger, cheaper depth player. At blocking TE we got a younger, cheaper upgrade.

At this point our run game has gotten a significant upgrade. They have very athletic players on the left side and center, nicely suited for zone runs in conjunction with our new FB and blocking TE. Still have a right side suited for power runs.

Regarding safety getting older: if we draft a potential successor to Byard, I’d say it’s still getting younger big picture compared to resigning a Hawkins long term that will be 29 at the start of the year.

mike_usagisan · Mar 12, 2026

Joey007 said:
Little surprised we let everyone walk.

Yeah, that is weird, especially after everyone talked up the team culture so much. I'm glad Marcus got his deal, but that's not much to say that the way the Pats do business has changed.

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