"Weaponize the offense"

[Thunderhead]

Or was this misspeak as well just like "burn some cash"?

 

[TheRainMaker]

Elliot will find some gems in the draft.

 

[Ian]

Or was this misspeak as well just like "burn some cash"?

Comes down to the fact both sides need to want to make a deal. Ridley was clearly never coming here, and the Patriots, who admitted as much last night that they were 'leery of being used' - got used - and Ridley took the money in Tennessee.

 

[archstanton543]

It's going to be a long long rebuild. And people just don't have the patience for it.

If this was Draft Day and they, say, picked all defensive players, I could see getting irritated. It's March 13th 2024. This rebuild is going to take a 2-3 years at least and that's if they knock every roster decision out of the park.

Relax. Take a couple of deep breaths and buckle in. It's going to be a long ride.

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

Yeah but did you see how much muscle Thornton put on, dude?

You put him next to Randy Moss , you can't tell them apart!

 

[Mack Herron]

Elliot will find some gems in the draft.

QB, WR1, LT…no draft produces these needs. We are treading water with a last place offense.

 

[Pape]

Or was this misspeak as well just like "burn some cash"?

The issue is simple - the two guys we should have made a hard run at got franchised...

I don't really care about the money aspect, but no sense is paying for steak when you're getting peanut butter at this point... Pittman signed a 3 yr deal & Higgins? be folly to chase that with the resulting dollars & loss of draft picks needed... Hes good, but not that good... As a friend said, he's a really good 2, but he's not a number 1...

I do care about the picks though... Don't have enough to deal them away

 

[Ivan]

It's going to be a long long rebuild. And people just don't have the patience for it.

If this was Draft Day and they, say, picked all defensive players, I could see getting irritated. It's March 13th 2024. This rebuild is going to take a 2-3 years at least and that's if they knock every roster decision out of the park.

Relax. Take a couple of deep breaths and buckle in. It's going to be a long ride.

My hope is this:

24’ Notable improvement in play, start playing the really good teams much tougher, win 7-8 games

25’ 10-7 11/6 Get into the playoffs, hopefully win a game

26’ Become an actual contender, win the division, be a team the others don’t want to face.

Can they accomplish those goals? Yes.

Will they accomplish those goals? We will see?

 

[Hugepatsfan]

It's going to be a long long rebuild. And people just don't have the patience for it.

If this was Draft Day and they, say, picked all defensive players, I could see getting irritated. It's March 13th 2024. This rebuild is going to take a 2-3 years at least and that's if they knock every roster decision out of the park.

Relax. Take a couple of deep breaths and buckle in. It's going to be a long ride.

Not even sure it's going to be a "long long" rebuild, but it was never going to be instant turnaround either. That was never realistic. We have absolutely nothing on offense. Think of what we started the offseason with...

QB - no starting caliber player
RB - Stevenson and no proven depth
WR - Pop Douglas looks like a good slot, Juju seems physically toast, Parker is a #3 at absolute best, Thornton is a bust
TE - no NFL roster worthy players under contract
OT - no starting caliber players under contract
Guard - Sow and Strange are young and potentially good, but both are "meh" right now
Center - Andrews still solid but declining and probably done soon

That's pretty much starting with nothing. NOTHING.

And then defensively, even though we managed to keep pretty much everyone, there's only one player that has ever made a pro bowl (Judon) and he's going to be 32 coming off of injury. No player on the entire unit has ever made an all pro team, not even 2nd team. And they're losing probably the greatest defensive strategist in the history of the game in BB, and even his biggest haters wouldn't deny calling him that.

There have been teams that go from worst to first before, but this team has no reason to believe they'll be one of them. The cupboard is about as empty as it can be.

 

[Ivan]

QB, WR1, LT…no draft produces these needs. We are treading water with a last place offense.

If they want to focus on QB and LT they can accomplish both by taking the QB at 3, and trading from 34 back up into the first round for Guyton or Mims, They can definitely add receiving talent on day 3, but not a #1.

 

[archstanton543]

Not even sure it's going to be a "long long" rebuild, but it was never going to be instant turnaround either. That was never realistic. We have absolutely nothing on offense. Think of what we started the offseason with...

QB - no starting caliber player
RB - Stevenson and no proven depth
WR - Pop Douglas looks like a good slot, Juju seems physically toast, Parker is a #3 at absolute best, Thornton is a bust
TE - no NFL roster worthy players under contract
OT - no starting caliber players under contract
Guard - Sow and Strange are young and potentially good, but both are "meh" right now
Center - Andrews still solid but declining and probably done soon

That's pretty much starting with nothing. NOTHING.

And then defensively, even though we managed to keep pretty much everyone, there's only one player that has ever made a pro bowl (Judon) and he's going to be 32 coming off of injury. No player on the entire unit has ever made an all pro team, not even 2nd team. And they're losing probably the greatest defensive strategist in the history of the game in BB, and even his biggest haters wouldn't deny calling him that.

There have been teams that go from worst to first before, but this team has no reason to believe they'll be one of them. The cupboard is about as empty as it can be.

That sounds "long long" to me but YMMV.

You almost have to think of the Pats as an expansion team without any of the expansion team benefits. The Dynasty days are long gone and it's going to be a while for the team to climb that mountain again.

 

[Nunchucks]

They should focus on qb and lt in this draft. Wr will have to wait till next year.

Otherwise trade back, get Joe alt and then make decisions based on talent for wr and qb with the next 2 picks.

 

[varjao]

Giving Ridley that contract is not the way to go.

 

[Mack Herron]

If they want to focus on QB and LT they can accomplish both by taking the QB at 3, and trading from 34 back up into the first round for Guyton or Mims, They can definitely add receiving talent on day 3, but not a #1.

2/3 would be a huge win, but still last place in’24. By the time they build an offense what will be left of the defense? Love to have a team in the QB rookie contract but will be a challenge.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

If they want to focus on QB and LT they can accomplish both by taking the QB at 3, and trading from 34 back up into the first round for Guyton or Mims, They can definitely add receiving talent on day 3, but not a #1.

Sign a bridge LT, take a QB at 3, WR at 34 and 68 and draft a LT in the 1st round in 25

 

[Boomer B]

Unfortunately FA didn’t have a lot of great WR talent. Ridley is good but not great. After him slim pickings.

We need minimum 1 but preferably 2 WRs in the draft. Lucky for us it’s a good draft for WRs. I just hope Wolfe emphasizes speed/separation over contested catch ability/size.

 

[zimmy]

Wolf wanted to weaponise the offense. When he said that he didn't mean in year three. He meant, or at least he should have known it would be interpreted as, this off season. That we'd make some aggressive moves to finally get some weapons after years of substandard performances. It hasn't happened...yet. I'm sceptical it can be done in the draft alone, and the free agent market is pretty bare.

The draft's top 3 receivers are all going top 10. The next 3 or so in the remainder of the first round. It's going to be tough to get our next QB, one of the draft's best receivers, and still find a decent OT.

 

[Zuma]

You snooze you lose. I hate over paying but top players aren’t coming here for several reasons. It’s possible we will have to overpay to get WR’s to come to the team without a starting level QB.

I hope WE draft more then one WR in the 1st 4 rounds.

 

[Real fan 02]

Comes down to the fact both sides need to want to make a deal. Ridley was clearly never coming here, and the Patriots, who admitted as much last night that they were 'leery of being used' - got used - and Ridley took the money in Tennessee.

Make offers to brown and Williams at WR, that would really help this offense. Currently Thornton, Douglas KB, juju, reagor, boutee* are the WR Corp. The only way I see us getting a tier 1 guy is by trade at this point. However brown and Williams would be nice players to have right now.

 

[maust]

Or was this misspeak as well just like "burn some cash"?

I can see you're out there on the ledge. Please just think about this for a moment...
close the window before you jump.
Thanks