PFF says Pats should blow it up and tank in 2021

[AlexB]

Didnt the Pats blow it up and tank last season?

Pats had something like the 6th oldest roster in the league last year, including a bunch of older veterans who aren't a part of the future.

 

[Ring 6]

Why are you quoting me? I'm just commenting on Rattler. I agree with you. It's a stupid idea.

Referring to you bringing up the maturity issue.

 

[203Pat]

I wouldn't "blow it up" but I wouldn't be far off. If Hightower wanted to come back I would take him and tell the rest of the opt outs thanks for your service. You don't save much by cutting Devin McCourty so I would keep him around. Re-sign Guy, Andrews, and Byrd if he will come back cheap. The rest of them let them walk. That gives you a few leaders on each side of the ball to hold the locker room together. Trade Gilmore for hopefully a second but likely a third. I would draft a front seven defensive playmaker in the first round and a receiver or TE in the second. Mid rounds I would take a couple of Olinemen, LB's and a defensive back at some point.

I would love for us to find a QB of the future this offseason but it doesn't really make sense. We would be mortgaging the future to bring in a stop gap if we traded for any of the veteran QB's available (outside of Watson). By the time the roster around the veteran we gave up picks for is any good it will be time to pay him again or he will be getting up there in age and we will be looking for a young guy anyways. In the draft unless someone falls to around 10 I can't see us getting anyone who will start for the next year or so anyways so I say build up the roster and draft a QB next year because in all likelihood we would be picking in the top 10 in my scenario.

 

[BobDigital]

that's stupid........what was the last team that succeeded after tanking?

The idea of a 1 year tank solving all your problems is wrong. All it does is put you in a position to pick a QB. You still need to hit on your other draft picks besides your top one. However, to say tanking isn't how you can maximize your chances of getting that all important QB is also just as wrong.

 

[GaryfromTO]

I kind of thought they already did that last year.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Ashley

With patsfans in turmoil and needing to heal, you should be the ultimate arbitrator of disputes until Ian pays Andy Johnson what is agent is demanding and he returns to the team

and also, we ain't tanking. That's so February 2001.

I think we can all agree Ash is the GOAT of online moderators, everywhere on Earth in all of history.

OK, yeah, I like her.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Let's be clear: the article is not about tanking. Tanking isn’t the same thing as rebuilding.

No one is saying the Patriots should try to throw games or get a bad record for a high draft pick; they’re saying they should focus on obtaining more picks, getting rid of high priced veterans, etc. Hold on to your younger, promising players for the future.

Frankly I'm shocked that so few people are on board with this idea. The Patriots roster is incredibly poorly stocked right now. They aren't going anywhere; there isn't a great nucleus of young talent to build around. If you think there is, you need to compare their best young players to other teams, and particularly other non-playoff teams. All teams have some good players from drafts, but the Patriots don't have some outstanding group of blue chippers that are a QB and a few free agents away from taking them to the next level.

If you're thinking that guys like Devin McCourty or Stephon Gilmore aren't going to be a part of the future then trade them for the best offer. Don't hold out for a first round pick; just take the best offer. Because there's very little value to holding onto him for one more year with a team that may be bound for 6-10 but is definitely not bound for 12-4.

If you're going free agency, focus on guys that are just ending their rookie deals and turning 26, not guys that are turning 29.

It takes a really high level of delusion to believe the team if a free agency frenzy away from being right back in the thick of things. That will just lead to another big setback, just like other teams that try it. Use the money get 3-4 year deals on the 26 year olds and go after the ones with the lower floor and higher ceiling. No need to go looking for your 32-year old tight end who will get you 600 yards next year.

I didn't get any tanking vibes from the piece either.

This team needs a home run in FA & the draft, the next two years imo. I'm talking back in the SB hunt. We need work. Keep the OL in tact as much as we can (Thuney?) for the next QB. Everything else needs tinkering or big changes.

 

[Thelonious]

If you're looking to tank, Cam is your man. The more passes he throws, the higher your draft pick. We'll have to stop his stumbling forward into the endzone. That's not something you want to see in tank mode.

Yeah, that's it. Really work that Newton/Michel connection and just watch the pics mount.

It'll be at least four seasons before this mess is competitive in the post season, if then.

 

[cupofjoe1962]

Belichick should have retired before our 0-16 2020 season & then he could have returned to draft Trevor Lawrence.

Instead we are in 8-8 QB purgatory.

 

[sb1]

If the Pats blow it up - by definition the coaches will need to go too and yes that would include Belichick.

I don’t think that’s necessary.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

After all these years of watching two men show an incredible amount of determination and grit to win, tanking seems so different to me. It just feels like something that would take some time to support.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Bill is not going to tank or rebuild with the future in mind, Bill is close to 70, he wants to win now and with potentially 60-70 mill in cap space and a relatively early round pick, our team should be much improved next year.

We need Cat like quickness on both sides of the ball.

 

[Joker]

and a big cat like Ernie Ladd too!!!

 

[ashley]

We need Cat like quickness on both sides of the ball.

Yes we do Sammy lol

 

[captain stone]

Best-case, worst-case scenarios for all 32 NFL teams | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS​

Best-case: New England liquidates its assets and commences a rebuild

Worst-case: They sign a mid- or low-tier free agent quarterback to be their Week 1 starter and get stuck in quarterback purgatory

Regression hit the New England Patriots hard in 2020. They went from having Tom Brady to Cam Newton and subsequently fielded their least-efficient passing offense of the PFF era by a considerable margin. Then a coverage unit that was considered the best in the league in 2019 saw the steepest drop among all 32 teams in EPA per pass play allowed in 2020. They have no quarterback, a clear bottom-five receiving unit and two aging defensive backs on expiring contracts in 2022 that still have trade value (Stephon Gilmore and Devin McCourty). They aren’t going to be a contender in 2021, especially with a mid- to low-tier free agent passer like Andy Dalton or Mitchell Trubisky as their quarterback.

It’s not going to happen, but Bill Bellichick should strongly consider liquidating their assets and focusing on a rebuild this offseason. Next year would be a throwaway year, but they’d become an immediate favorite to land next year’s top quarterback, Spencer Rattler. And considering what we saw from him in Year 1 at Oklahoma — the fourth-best PFF grade in the country at 92.5 — he has the potential to be an elite level prospect like Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

I kind of thought they already did that last year.

That's indeed what they should've done last year.

 

[captain stone]

and a big cat like Ernie Ladd too!!!

Never saw him play ball, but I did see him wrestle at the Garden a couple times during the mid-70s...Forget if any of those were title matches vs Sammartino or Billy Graham, though I definitely remember him kicking Dominic DeNucci's ass once...

 

[skinnydog]

Let me get this straight. After scraping and clawing to keep the team together under the cap and being forced to overcome weaknesses that you couldn’t afford to plug, you have one mediocre season and now will have 60-90 million to acquire those players that have been out of reach because if you decimate your team so you can have the worst team in the league you can fix everything by getting the 19 year old who “in his first season in college he was the 4th best PFF grade” and could end up as good as 2 guys who have had very mediocre nfl careers to date.
What’s next, declare all players trans and go dominate the lingerie football league?

Generally agree, but which moves did the Pats make to scratch and claw their way under the cap? Who did they cut to save cap space?

 

[Ring 6]

Generally agree, but which moves did the Pats make to scratch and claw their way under the cap? Who did they cut to save cap space?

Vannoy, Collins, Karras, Harmon, Shelton, Roberts, Brady.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

I kind of thought they already did that last year.

They did

They're too busy crying about Brady to notice.

 

[skinnydog]

Vannoy, Collins, Karras, Harmon, Shelton, Roberts, Brady.

I sort of get it, but weren't they free agents they decided not to resign, not players they had to cut? They could have resigned anyone of those players with a modest 2020 cap hit. Even Van Noy and Collins seem like the usual Patriots decision to le players move on once they become free agents. The Pats have been doing that forever. The Pats had at least 25 million in cap space going into 2020. They just decided to give it all to McCourty and Thuney. And they could have extended Brady and the 13 million cap hit would have been over 2 years instead of all in 2020.

I guess, I see going all in differently than you and it means signing all your stars while knowing you will pay the price 2-3 years from now by being over the cap by a decent amount and having to unload salary, not being under the cap and letting free agents move on. Tampa Bay currently is about 25 million under the cap with plans to sign most of their free agents and those free agents will be a lot more pricey that the list of Pats free agents above. If they do so or even come close to it, that will be going all in.