Project 2027

[Ring 6]

I think this is the Patriots plan.
Tank this year get the first overall pick. Trade the #1 for a slew of picks in 2025 and 2026

Tank next year and get the 2026 #1 overall. Trade that for a slew of 2026 and 2027 picks.

Win 5-6 games in 2026

Spend the minimum you possibly can get away with in free agents.
Kraft pockets over $100,000,000 in cap savings and sets up the next coach with a bunch of recent high draft picks and if he wins with them we can think about spending to the cap.

The next 3 years, we will be a clown show.

 

[Guts]

Last 3 years were a clown show too lol
Can't get any worse

 

[Sicilian]

You sound unhinged.

The thought of them sucking for the next three years is, unfortunately, a distinct possibility. Because the NFL is hard and there's no guarantee this new regime hits on anything they're trying to do, or that Drake Maye is even the answer at QB. Statistically speaking, it's worse than 50/50 that he is.

But thinking the team is intentionally going to suck so the 80+ year old owner can pocket some money is tinfoil hat level lunacy.

 

[jeremy2020]

They didn't draft Maye with a plan to suck for two years to draft his replacement. That's something the Jets GM, Will Sasso, would come up with..

 

[TheRainMaker]

What's interesting is that the Bill homers are now becoming the most critical and the majority of posters that were perceived as the most critical are loving everything the Pats are currently doing. This is some Twilight Zone ****.

While Bill clearly looked like he was on burnout and we needed a change, this was not the change I had in mind. I don't like the direction the franchise is heading at all. We were lucky to have the run we had and now it's time to come back down to Earth with the rest of the Franchises struggling to put wins together on a consistent basis.

Bob doesn't like looking bad and will throw Mayo under the bus by the end of year 2 if they get worse. I guarantee the media and fans will be asking whether firing Bill was a massive mistake if this happens.

 

[Ring 6]

Last 3 years were a clown show too lol
Can't get any worse

Can get a lot worse. Only one of those years was non-competitive and with a mediocre QB that one would have been too.

 

[Ring 6]

They didn't draft Maye with a plan to suck for two years to draft his replacement. That's something the Jets GM, Will Sasso, would come up with..

Well they drafted him and left 80% of their free agent money in krafts pocket, so if sucking isn’t the plan, what is?
After they suck this year, he won’t die d it next year anyway. And it seems like there is a plan to keep Maye on the bench.

 

[Ring 6]

What's interesting is that the Bill homers are now becoming the most critical and the majority of posters that were perceived as the most critical are loving everything the Pats are currently doing. This is some Twilight Zone ****.

While Bill clearly looked like he was on burnout and we needed a change, this was not the change I had in mind. I don't like the direction the franchise is heading at all. We were lucky to have the run we had and now it's time to come back down to Earth with the rest of the Franchises struggling to put wins together on a consistent basis.

Bob doesn't like looking bad and will throw Mayo under the bus by the end of year 2 if it continues. I guarantee you if things get worse, the media and fans will be asking whether firing Bill was a massive mistake.

Name 3 things that are better about the team today than last year without saying the draft picks who haven’t played yet will be great, because there is no way of knowing that.

I think Mayo is gone after year 2 but I hold out the possibility that he will get a 3rd year because we were tanking.

 

[Ring 6]

You sound unhinged.

The thought of them sucking for the next three years is, unfortunately, a distinct possibility. Because the NFL is hard and there's no guarantee this new regime hits on anything they're trying to do, or that Drake Maye is even the answer at QB. Statistically speaking, it's worse than 50/50 that he is.

But thinking the team is intentionally going to suck so the 80+ year old owner can pocket some money is tinfoil hat level lunacy.

Then explain why out of 55 million available to sit f in free agency (beyond getting a cheap journeyman 18-30 QB) he spent 12 and pocketed 43.

 

[Sicilian]

Then explain why out of 55 million available to sit f in free agency (beyond getting a cheap journeyman 18-30 QB) he spent 12 and pocketed 43.

Because they've tried to spend it and the big ticket free agents told them to pound sand. Bringing Ridley or Aiyuk would have taken a large chunk of that space, and they tried to do both (not simultaneously, but in succession). Spending money now for the sake of spending it doesn't really help. So (assuming there's not another trade under the radar in the works) they're banking on rolling the space a bit into next year, then making a push on free agents next year when (hopefully) Drake Maye has shown enough potential to get those players more interested.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying this is going to work. We've seen plenty of franchises screw the pooch with rebuilds, and that includes teams that try to just spend their way out of the basement. It's all going to depend on how much they hit on these draft picks in consecutive years, PLUS how they supplement through free agency and trades. Just don't frame it as some intentional plan to cheap out and suck so they can be good in 2027. That doesn't make any sense.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Name 3 things that are better about the team today than last year without saying the draft picks who haven’t played yet will be great, because there is no way of knowing that.

I think Mayo is gone after year 2 but I hold out the possibility that he will get a 3rd year because we were tanking.

I don't know if you had left yet, but I had stated in the off-season that Bill got a raw deal by Bob. As much as Bill wasn't doing well post Brady and approached the 2022 off-season extremely poorly, he didn't deserve getting fired for the last 20+ years. What posters don't remember was that Bob supported Bill's hiring of Bill O'Brien publically when I was the only poster that said it was a terrible hire. Point is, I had also said Bob can't complain as this was what he wanted. Bob also wanted more collaboration in the War Room. He got it. Things went south, so Bob had to throw Bill under the bus to take the heat off him. The Dynasty on Apple TV+ was a disgrace.

The Mayo hire was terrible and he is Jim Tomsula 2.0. He had in his contract he was the successor and things conveniently got leaked during the 2023 season. In terms of the way Wolf or whoever approached FA was amateur hour and I'm sure Bill is laughing at it. They spent a lot of money just to get back to baseline. This is what bad franchises do.

 

[Ring 6]

Because they've tried to spend it and the big ticket free agents told them to pound sand. Bringing Ridley or Aiyuk would have taken a large chunk of that space, and they tried to do both (not simultaneously, but in succession). Spending money now for the sake of spending it doesn't really help. So (assuming there's not another trade under the radar in the works) they're banking on rolling the space a bit into next year, then making a push on free agents next year when (hopefully) Drake Maye has shown enough potential to get those players more interested.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying this is going to work. We've seen plenty of franchises screw the pooch with rebuilds, and that includes teams that try to just spend their way out of the basement. It's all going to depend on how much they hit on these draft picks in consecutive years, PLUS how they supplement through free agency and trades. Just don't frame it as some intentional plan to cheap out and suck so they can be good in 2027. That doesn't make any sense.

No Ridley’s first year cap hit is 10 million. They held back 43,000,000

They have very likely the worst roster in football and did almost nothing to improve it. They didn’t add a single player at or above league average at his position to a 4 win team.

If they didn’t spend it this year, why would they spend it next year?

They can’t successfully rebuild if they don’t try. 43,000,000 would have given them better starters at 6-8 positions. They chose not to get better.
Kraft has always been cheap but belichick at least got him to spend to the cap even if he was handcuffed by low cash spending. Now we aren’t even pretending to use all of the cap.

I completely believe Kraft decided to give Mayo a shot, but not at the risk of his money. I’d he turns it around on the cheap, then maybe he will spend but not until then.

I just can’t possibly understand how a fan of a 4 win team with 55 million to spend to upgrade it is making excuses for spending 12 of the 55 on misfits and slugs and doing nothing to improve the team.

 

[XLIX]

Project 2027. Primary Target: Arch Manning.

 

[Real fan 02]

I think this is the Patriots plan.
Tank this year get the first overall pick. Trade the #1 for a slew of picks in 2025 and 2026

Tank next year and get the 2026 #1 overall. Trade that for a slew of 2026 and 2027 picks.

Win 5-6 games in 2026

Spend the minimum you possibly can get away with in free agents.
Kraft pockets over $100,000,000 in cap savings and sets up the next coach with a bunch of recent high draft picks and if he wins with them we can think about spending to the cap.

The next 3 years, we will be a clown show.

So worse than the last 3 years?

 

[Ring 6]

I don't know if you had left yet, but I had stated in the off-season that Bill got a raw deal by Bob. As much as Bill wasn't doing well post Brady and approached the 2022 off-season extremely poorly, he didn't deserve getting fired for the last 20+ years. What posters don't remember was that Bob supported Bill's hiring of Bill O'Brien publically when I was the only poster that said it was a terrible hire. Point is, I had also said Bob can't complain as this was what he wanted. Bob also wanted more collaboration in the War Room. He got it. Things went south, so Bob had to throw Bill under the bus to take the heat off him. The Dynasty on Apple TV+ was a disgrace.

The Mayo hire was terrible and he is Jim Tomsula 2.0. He had in his contract he was the successor and things conveniently got leaked during the 2023 season. In terms of the way Wolf or whoever approached FA was amateur hour and I'm sure Bill is laughing at it. They spent a lot of money just to get back to baseline. This is what bad franchises do.

Many believe Kraft hired BOB.

Belichick wasn’t going to be here forever. Under the right circumstances he may have chosen retirement. But kraft was on a mission to prove to the world that Kraft deserved credit for the dynasty and should be thanked for putting up with BB.
But I’m fine with BB gone it was happening within a few years either way.

But everything they’ve done has been dreadful. We hired the most inexperienced HC maybe in the history of the league. We promoted the 4th or maybe 5th in line defense decision maker to DC. We hired never was OC who got fired from a team who wouldn’t even let him call plays and still didn’t want him around.
We had quite possibly the worst free agency return in resources ever.

Now we want to sit the future QB rather than get him experience when we aren’t even hopeful of winning. We played him 6 snaps in the first preseason game.
I don’t see a single position in the field that is clearly and soundly better than last year. The only argument is qb and the guy we got isn’t a starting caliber qb.

Honestly I can’t imagine any way of doing this worse. Other than screwing up the draft picks too and so far that not looking unlikely.
It’s bad, really, really bad.

 

[Real fan 02]

Many believe Kraft hired BOB.

Belichick wasn’t going to be here forever. Under the right circumstances he may have chosen retirement. But kraft was on a mission to prove to the world that Kraft deserved credit for the dynasty and should be thanked for putting up with BB.
But I’m fine with BB gone it was happening within a few years either way.

But everything they’ve done has been dreadful. We hired the most inexperienced HC maybe in the history of the league. We promoted the 4th or maybe 5th in line defense decision maker to DC. We hired never was OC who got fired from a team who wouldn’t even let him call plays and still didn’t want him around.
We had quite possibly the worst free agency return in resources ever.

Now we want to sit the future QB rather than get him experience when we aren’t even hopeful of winning. We played him 6 snaps in the first preseason game.
I don’t see a single position in the field that is clearly and soundly better than last year. The only argument is qb and the guy we got isn’t a starting caliber qb.

Honestly I can’t imagine any way of doing this worse. Other than screwing up the draft picks too and so far that not looking unlikely.
It’s bad, really, really bad.

You make valid points. And I agree. But I'll give reason for optimism. On the QB.. Brissett is just a bridge veteran that's all. He's a better option than what we had last season. Defense needs no mention they are studs and ready to win. No matter if Kraft wants to admit it. We are rebuilding.. this is year 1 of the mayo/wolf era.

Let's all just sit back and see how the season plays out. I wanted Drake to play.. seemingly with the porous O line that won't happen.

 

[Ring 6]

You make valid points. And I agree. But I'll give reason for optimism. On the QB.. Brissett is just a bridge veteran that's all. He's a better option than what we had last season. Defense needs no mention they are studs and ready to win. No matter if Kraft wants to admit it. We are rebuilding.. this is year 1 of the mayo/wolf era.

Let's all just sit back and see how the season plays out. I wanted Drake to play.. seemingly with the porous O line that won't happen.

The defense loos like it will take a big step back to me. We’ve added no one. Literally not a single guy who will contribute in a big way.
We will probably lose Judon, we’ve already lost Barmore and we no longer have the greatest defensive mind of a generation game planning and moving role players around to make a good defense.

Brissett or Zappe isn’t really any different to me except we spend 8 mill of cap money which is more than the year 1 hit in most top money FAs.

Unless we hit on the 1 in whatever odds that the 3rd qb in the draft is great, there really isn’t anything that gives me hope.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

What's interesting is that the Bill homers are now becoming the most critical and the majority of posters that were perceived as the most critical are loving everything the Pats are currently doing. This is some Twilight Zone ****.

While Bill clearly looked like he was on burnout and we needed a change, this was not the change I had in mind. I don't like the direction the franchise is heading at all. We were lucky to have the run we had and now it's time to come back down to Earth with the rest of the Franchises struggling to put wins together on a consistent basis.

Bob doesn't like looking bad and will throw Mayo under the bus by the end of year 2 if they get worse. I guarantee the media and fans will be asking whether firing Bill was a massive mistake if this happens.

You are 100% correct about being back with the rest of the NFL teams where any success is a struggle. Best case, the team is multiple years away from being a serious playoff contender. The Kraft's wanted to take back their team an now they have it. For the first time in their ownership, the buck stops at the Kraft's. For this to work, they need to lead through the rebuild and not make decisions based on media pressure. No doubt BB had to go, now the Kraft's and Mayo need to do their jobs. Otherwise we are Jets north.

 

[Real fan 02]

The defense loos like it will take a big step back to me. We’ve added no one. Literally not a single guy who will contribute in a big way.
We will probably lose Judon, we’ve already lost Barmore and we no longer have the greatest defensive mind of a generation game planning and moving role players around to make a good defense.

Brissett or Zappe isn’t really any different to me except we spend 8 mill of cap money which is more than the year 1 hit in most top money FAs.

Unless we hit on the 1 in whatever odds that the 3rd qb in the draft is great, there really isn’t anything that gives me hope.

I don't think they will. Loosing Barmore sucks of course.. but I think the media has everyone on edge that the sky is falling.. I actually went up to Gillette last week for camp and saw my self.. they do more drills than anything with hardly any rushers on the QB. I'm of the mind of slowing it down.. let's see how the season goes. I think the defense is still top 10 at least without Barmore.

 

[Ring 6]

I don't think they will. Loosing Barmore sucks of course.. but I think the media has everyone on edge that the sky is falling.. I actually went up to Gillette last week for camp and saw my self.. they do more drills than anything with hardly any rushers on the QB. I'm of the mind of slowing it down.. let's see how the season goes. I think the defense is still top 10 at least without Barmore.

I don’t read , watch or listen to the media.

If belichick were still here, I’d agree with you, but he gone and with him went to brains that made this defense work. We have role players that were schemed to make plays and be hidden from their weaknesses. That’s gone.
I will bet you were are bottom 1/4 (25th-32nd) in either yards allowed, points allowed and maybe both.