IMO they overachieved last year. Most teams do when they improve by 10 wins overnight, and that's really hard to sustain. Yeah they're better than the team that got rolled by the Seahawks in February. But now they see better opponents in 2026, a grueling schedule with all those prime time games, AJB is not here yet so as of this moment it's a downgraded WR room, a full year's tape on last year's team, changes to the OL which needs to proven on the field before I call them upgrades. Can AVT stay healthy? I'd still call the LB position a major hole on the roster as of right now and it's all on tape how TE's chewed them up last season. We're still thin at a bunch of positions like S, DT and probably CB.
The arrow is pointing up but I need to see more before I call them true Super Bowl contenders.
Regardless of AJB, I'm not sure how you can say that the WR room is downgraded. Doubs for Diggs should be a wash. Kyle Williams and Kayshon Boutte should be improved with a year of the McDaniels offense under their belts. Hollins had his best year since he was with the Raiders and likely would have surpassed those totals had he not been injured.
I disagree with your assessments in regards to S, CB and DT as well.
S- Byard is an upgrade over Hawkins. They are returning Dell Pettus, who is under-rated by many on here. The question is the #4 Safety. They signed Mike Brown, who is primarily a STer, but has some defensive snaps ability as a SS. They have John Saunders who they liked enough to carry him on the Roster after claiming him off waivers and then got him onto the PS late in the season and whom they re-signed. They signed Peter Manuma after his mini-camp try-out. Manuma is clearly a project. Manuma has speed, decent quickness as shown by the 3-Cone and decent explosiveness. The "red flag" if you will, is the 4.69 Short Shuttle. But, that's why he was a UDFA Mini-Camp invitee and not a draft pick.
CB- They subtracted Alex Austin and added Vildor and Prunty. They're also getting Marcellus Dial back from injury. Yes, the #4, #5, #6 CB spots are wide open. They have 2 vets vying for the spots in Woods and Vildor. They have 3 rookies, two 2nd yr players and a 3r year player vying for them. That's very healthy competition for those 3 spots. If the Pats start the season with Woods and either Vildor/Prunty/Dial as the #4 & #5CB, then they're doing better than last year. as they would have upgraded over Austin.
DT - How is DT Thin? They're returning Barmore, Williams, Durden, Taylor, Gregory and Farmer from last year. Not to mention Pharms. Yes, Farmer is returning from injury, but Farmer played well last season prior to being injured. The only DT they lost has been Tonga. It's my belief that Vrabel wants to roll out a D-line similar to what the Vikings did when the Vikings had Pat and Kevin Williams as their starting DTs. Pat and Kevin took turns playing the "NT" position. despite neither of them being your typical NT since both were under 320 lbs. I'm not sure how returning 7 of the 8 guys who took snaps during the regular season is characterized as "being thin".
I agree with your assessment of LB and think that Guard could be upgraded with the likes of Bitonio or Glasgow.
I'm not anointing the next dynasty, but they are far better off than you'd have people believe As with any year, Injuries and how the team over-comes them will be what defines the team. Last year we saw a bunch of RBs go down (Jennings, Gibson, Reynolds, Prince, Larison, Corbin) as well as injuries to Wilson, Campbell, Tonga, and Milt Williams. We had Gonzalez start the year recovering from an injury as well.
