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Consider if the patriots had Diggs and the bills had Bryd. Yes, we would have had to extend or restructure Gilmore (perhaps with the idea of trading him in 2021).
Maybe Diggs preferred to play for Buffalo.
My point isn't that we would have been SB or even division favorites. It is that Belichick made conscious choices in the offseason, during camp, and before the trade deadline. Belichick chose not to use $20M of cap money to improve the 2020 team. Some would say more than $20M with a Gilmore extension, but $20M is good number to work with. The "norm" is to be competitive in the current year, and sign players with some probable dead money a couple of years later. Belichick made the choice. He didn't choose "no playoffs". He couldn't have known that Guy, Gilmore and Edelman would contribute relatively so little.
but, the BOTTOM LINE
is that belichick had cap money available to go out and get help at least one of the key positions that were bare: NT, LB, WR and TE. At very least he could have traded for this help before the deadline.
Maybe Diggs preferred to play for Buffalo.
My point isn't that we would have been SB or even division favorites. It is that Belichick made conscious choices in the offseason, during camp, and before the trade deadline. Belichick chose not to use $20M of cap money to improve the 2020 team. Some would say more than $20M with a Gilmore extension, but $20M is good number to work with. The "norm" is to be competitive in the current year, and sign players with some probable dead money a couple of years later. Belichick made the choice. He didn't choose "no playoffs". He couldn't have known that Guy, Gilmore and Edelman would contribute relatively so little.
but, the BOTTOM LINE
is that belichick had cap money available to go out and get help at least one of the key positions that were bare: NT, LB, WR and TE. At very least he could have traded for this help before the deadline.