First of all, caring about what ANYONE is predicting or ranking in MAY, June, July, or August in just ludicrous. About this time in 2001 Pro Football Weekly (at the time a very influential media source) wrote that the Pats were LEAST likely to go to a superbowl over the next FIVE years. As we all know they WON 3 in that period. Tell me the mediots who had the Bengals going to the superbowl and if not for Aaron Donald would have won it. Why anyone cares about what a person says, positive OR negative, at this time boggles my mind.
As for the JC Jackson dialog, I say so what, Jackson is gone. I thought he was a good starting CB for the Pats. True there will be no "Jackson Island" but he was paid a fair contract IIMHO) by the Rams at around 16MM/yr, His #1 quality (also IMHO) was his availability. The guy RARELY missed a game. He has a elite nose for the ball obviously, and was very good against the run and the stats say he was very good against the pass. I would have loved to keep him, but the market was in the 16-18 range for him and that was too much for the Pats to absorb. Think about it. If they had kept him at that price there would be 2 or 3 potential starters who would not be on the team. RIght off the top of my head there would be no Parker, no McCourty, and/or Trent Brown. Yea they COULD have signed him by moving all they money into the future, but then you wouldn't have the Pats possibly being close to $100mm in cap space, while at that time LA i will have JC at a $$18mm cap hit for 4 years after next year. Great signing for LA for next year pairing him with
I bet the Pats wanted to keep him, but the timing was wrong. His FA year came a year too soon for the Pats to afford him. But the fact is that he DIDN'T suck, but he wasn't perfect either. I believe he was a top 10 CB last season, and $16-18mm/yr is what top 10 CB's get in 2021 and that was a market that the Pats couldn't compete at. it was what it was great signing for the Rams for next year pairing him with Ramsey with only an $8mm cap hit. You can keep pushing the cap forward, but it eventually comes to roost at a time where player costs are soaring.
The thing is that all star teams are often top heavy can't absorb injuries. We saw that up close and personal during the Pete Carrol years when injuries sabotaged the Pats when the players who came in weren't any good. It is always great to have a lot top 10 players on your team, but superbowl teams with a great middle class of players are the ones who can absorb the war of attrition that is the NFL season.