BB has stated many times that the football is a young man’s game. As such, every team constantly needs young, developing players throughout their system. When you look at a team that is struggling badly like the Patriots, it is really obvious why this team lacks depth, talent, and performance.
Quite simply, the Patriots aren’t immune from a general rule that effects every team in the league. If you have 3-4 poor drafts in a row, the unit is going to have some major issues. You can patch holes through free agency, make a splash signing, and keep most of your core in tact, but without new blood, any unit is going to be one-dimensional and lacking scheme flexibility. While it’s not like every successful defense is under 25, most of them have a variety of players who, while developing, add athleticism and can often at least specialize in a role.
The Patriots have whiffed badly in recent drafts. The scary part is the 2017 team is relatively healthy, and their lack of depth could be a much bigger problem. Here are the draft results from the last four years (I’m omitting late round picks that didn’t pan out and focusing on higher percentage picks.)
2014- Dominique Easley (1)
2014 - Malcolm Butler (UDFA)
2015 - Malcolm Brown (1)
2015 - Geneo Grisson (3)
2015 - Trey Flowers (4)
2016 - ROBBED PICK
2016 - Cyrus Jones (2)
2016 - Vincent Valentine (3)
2016 - Elandon Roberts (6)
2017 - Derek Rivers (3)
2017 - Deatrich Wise (4)
This is an absolutely stunning lack of production. From 2010-13, over four drafts, the Patriots landed Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Chandler Jones, Duron Harmon, Logan Ryan and Nate Ebner (who is now all-pro on special teams.)
How many of these picks from 2014-17 are actually starters? Butler (being phased put), Brown (shaky), Flowers, Roberts (shaky), and Wise (seems to be moving into a lot snaps.). The first defensive players selected in each draft were Easley (almost zero production), Brown (not a bust but also not a blue chip player), Jones (almost zero production, unless you count negative plays), and Rivers (zero production due to injuries.)
Although the focus is on the poor play of the secondary (and rightfully so), I think this defense has much deeper problems. It is completely lacking depth and role players due to so many picks that ended up worst case scenario. Meanwhile, the “dynasty” players that are being asked to hold it together, may in fact be regressing as they age. McCourty is 30. Chung is 30. Hightower is great, but it’s fair to say he may slowly regress each year due to his physical issues. Butler is 27, which for a CB is a lot older than 25. Branch is 32. It’s not that these guys suddenly suck (although it’s not that they entirely don’t), but they are essentially holding the defense together, lacking help from younger players, while they are all slowly regressing from their peak performances. Gilmore made some inexcusable mistakes, but his presence isn’t the big problem here, it’s that he happened to join the team (with big expectations) just as defense was running out of fuel. Probably fair to say the entire secondary is being asked to do way, way more than these teams of the last few years.
