The last two offseasons have seen the Patriots push hard to bring in a top offensive weapon to New England, but it’s clear that they’ve had a tough time convincing their better halves to make the move.
The Athletic’s Dan Pompei put out a good piece on Monday on Chris Godwin, which included an interesting look at Godwin’s free-agency journey earlier this offseason.
When Godwin tested the market earlier this offseason, he reportedly had four teams that were interested, with both the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers apparently at the front of the pack to try and lure him out of Tampa Bay.
The Buccaneers came forward with an offer that, according to Pompei – who talked to Godwin’s agent, Tory Dandy – averaged $22 million per year. It was reportedly for 3-years, $66 million. The Patriots then put up an offer that apparently averaged $30 million per season, including more guaranteed money.
However, despite that larger contract, the veteran wideout reportedly had a talk with his wife, Mariah, and they decided that remaining in Tampa Bay was their preference.
As a result, for the second time in as many offseasons, New England came out on the wrong end of the negotiations when it came to landing a star wideout on offense.
We saw the same the same thing last offseason with Jaguars free agent Calvin Ridley. The Patriots made a significant run at him last March, but Ridley’s other half reportedly had a preference to remain in the south.
New England tried to convince him to head north, putting up a massive offer that ended up as leverage in driving Ridley’s price up.
But in the end, her opinion played a key role in seeing him land in Tennessee. That took one of the few big free agent names available off the table, which saw the Patriots head into last season with a group of wideouts that unfortunately weren’t explosive enough.
The result was an offense that finished at the bottom of the league in scoring, with a -128 2024 NFL Point Differential. They scored a total of 289 points, up from the 236 they scored in 2023. Drake Maye was arguably responsible for a lot of that 54 point increase, with the rookie coming up with a fair amount of big plays compared to what we’ve seen here in recent seasons.
The fact that he managed to make the plays he did is impressive, especially given what little he had to work with, along with what was definitely a porous offensive line in 2024.
Meanwhile, Ridley ended up with a productive season in his first year in Tennessee. He led all Titans receivers last season with 64 catches for 1,017 yards and four touchdowns.
After coming up short for Godwin, the Patriots eventually set their sights on Stefon Diggs, who they managed to get a deal done with. He has a little more baggage and is coming off a knee injury.
Unfortunately, it’s definitely been a rocky start to his tenure here. He’s already had a tough moment following the video that leaked with Diggs holding a questionable substance over Memorial Day Weekend, which definitely put him in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
There were rumors that the club might even possibly part ways with him, but it feels like whatever discussion Diggs had with head coach Mike Vrabel put those to bed. At least for now.
But when it comes to Godwin, seeing a similar scenario play out this offseason was certainly disappointing. Still, the best way to make a more convincing case for future free agents – and their other halves – is to become a contender, which is something the Patriots are likely hoping to see play out here in 2025.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
You can’t say the NE area is faulty with Godwin. He obviously wanted to stay in Tampa. Ridley wanted to be down south as well. Metcalf had a bad perception of NE and wouldn’t consider NE. . Bottom line is it takes a lot for deals to happen. 2 sides have to be right. The players prioritize differing things and it’s there choice when there’s multi suitors. That’s how if goes.