New England Patriots Have Second Best Future In NFL
By Cyrus Geller
Yesterday ESPN came out with a piece ranking the futures of each NFL team…
The actual piece requires an ‘insider’ subscription, and since I don’t want to give a corrupt company like ESPN my money, I had to go to other sources to find out where the Patriots were ranked.
"ESPN called upon experts Field Yates, Louis Riddick, and Mike Sando to evaluate the near future of NFL teams based on their roster, coaching, quarterback, draft, and front office. The trio rated franchises on a scale of 0-100.The New England Patriots finished 2nd in the rankings with an average score of 88.3, just a hair behind the Seattle Seahawks at 88.5. No other franchise scored over 85.0.“When his coaching career is over, Bill Belichick may well have established himself as the best ever to do it in the NFL,” former scout Field Yates said. “He’s a brilliant strategist, a great hands-on teacher and a master of in-game adjustments. Now 64 years old, he’s among the oldest NFL coaches, but there’s no sign of Belichick slowing down anytime soon. His passion is unquestioned.”"
This is actually a very interesting question, and without any in-depth research, I think placing New England at number two is a decent ranking. Obviously they have a lot of key contract decisions to make coming up, but they are loaded with young talent that should make them relevant for years to come.
Jamie Collins, Dont’a Hightower and Malcolm Butler are the three main young fellas that could be the cornerstones on this defense in the future, but all three of them are set to be free agents after this season. It will be interesting to see how Bill Belichick and company go about trying to re-sign them.
In addition to all the young talent they have, and the best coaching staff in the league, the Pats also have Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Devin McCourty locked up for the foreseeable future.
Brady and Gronk are easily the two most important players not only on the team, but arguably in the entire league. And D-Mac is the driving force behind this secondary. In my opinion he is the best cover safety the NFL has to offer.