I am not glorifying spending years in the basement. I am willing to sacrifice the first year of a rebuild (which the Pats are in) to make the team better long term.
There were very few players available in free agency that were in position of needs that would build this team for the future. All the best players available were on defense. And they tried and failed to make a splash with Ridley and Aiyuk.
Again, when you draft a QB with the third pick and he has to sit his rookie year or a large portion of it, you are tanking the season whether you make a splash in free agency or not. I am sure if there were receivers or o-linemen who were impact players available who were young enough to build around, they would have at least kicked the tires on them. There aren’t.