We are now that team….already looking at next year, 4 games into the season. zero Attention given to the offense, where the help is really needed. I like the trade and was needed, but man, the offense straight sucks.
This mantra of ZERO ATTENTION has to really end.
We've expended a huge amount of resources on the OL, more than any other team. Look at the # of draft picks alone. 5 interior linemen in the last 2 years. The only FAs available at tackle signed for huge money, and their new teams are in for it since they are both so bad (Brown, McGlinchey). We've done as much as anyone can possibly do to shore up that OL. Not sure what else they could have done.
We don't even know how "bad" this line is. We have a QB that makes things worse for everyone. People are always excusing him and saying he's playing so bad because of the OL, but it very well may be that our QB is so bad, he makes everyone else look very bad. I firmly believe the latter is the case. No matter though it's clear we used 5 draft picks on linemen the last 2 years.
As for the offense, the story is the same as the OL at the WR spot. Yes, we are severely lacking there. In FA, the last few years we've seen hardly any top players come available. Some teams saddled themselves with big contracts ($18m a year) for less than mediocre players. A year ago the local media was whipping Belichick for going on a spending spree for receivers: Nelson Algholor, K Bourne, Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Devante Parker. And that has continued this year with Smith-Schuster and Gesicki. We've brought in 7 WRs, and one could argue they were the top WRs/TEs on the market. The other route is trades. People have mentioned AJ Brown and Tyreek Hill, while neglecting the fact that both received top dollar and both had expiring contracts which gave them the power to select which teams they wanted to play for.
The other route for adding WRs is the draft. Belichick deserves criticism for taking Tyquan over Pickens. But those bemoaning the lack of WRs because we took Cole Strange should probably look at the first 6 WRs selected in the Strange draft. All busts or bordering on busts, including Treylon Burks. Still others want to complain about the lack of interest in shoring up the offense in this past draft. But we picked CB Gonzalez and DE Keion White with the first two picks. Are we saying we should not have taken these 2 and instead taken a WR? Who?
Starting in the 4th round, the Patriots made 6 straight offense picks. 3 OL and 2 WRs. There's no way to know right now if the WR we could have taken at the end of the 3rd round will be better than the 2 we got in the 6th round: D Douglas and K Boutte. Until that determination is made, how can anyone say they didn't invest enough resources?
Let's fact it, it's tough to get a true #1 guy. We would have had one if they'd taken Pickens over Tyquan. That's understood and deserving of criticism. But it also has a context around it of the first 6 guys to go before Pickens accomplishing absolutely nothing.
We've been expending a lot of resources at WR and OL. We haven't showed zero interest as this board seems to think. I already made a case for the OL, but the WR spot simply highlights the difficulties of finding a top one (33% shot even in the premium rounds of the draft) while we also see teams placing a premium on the position, which makes it highly unlikely you'll find one in free agency.
Maybe we get lucky and sign Tee Higgins. If that happens, he'll be the rare case, because you can go back the last several year in free agency, and you'll see that teams aren't signing top WRs there anymore, unless you count Robert Woods of the Rams.
