New England Patriots ranked 2nd in ESPN future power rankings
By Nick Ziegler
ESPN recently released their future power rankings for the next three seasons. Where did the New England Patriots land?
For nearly the last two decades the New England Patriots have been one of the top franchises in the NFL. With Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robert Kraft, the playoffs have become the norm in New England.
With all three together, the Patriots have reached eight Super Bowls and have won five of them. The sustained success of New England is very rare in professional sports, and not too many franchises have been able to accomplish what the Patriots have.
With Brady now over 40-years-old, it has left many wondering how much longer he has left in the tank. Brady has talked about playing until he is 45-years-old, and after winning the MVP last season, it certainly looks like he will be able to.
Recently, ESPN released their future power rankings for the next three seasons. Somewhat surprisingly, the Patriots came in ranked 2nd.
ESPN ranking the Patriots second means that they believe that Brady will be playing for at least the next three seasons. After the trading of Jimmy Garoppolo last season, the Patriots don’t have an heir for Brady anymore. However, they have stockpiled picks for the 2019 NFL Draft, which is when they will likely make their move for a successor for Brady.
Since the future power rankings is just for three years, there is certainly a chance that both Brady and Belichick will be in New England for that span. However, if one of both of them left New England, it would be a big blow for the franchise and they would be in uncharted waters.
With the Patriots coming in second, it wasn’t too surprising to see Philadelphia Eagles as the team that came in first. After coming off a Super Bowl win without Carson Wentz, the future is clearly very bright in Philadelphia. Despite missing the Super Bowl, Wentz is one of the best young quarterbacks in the league, and will likely be an elite quarterback for the next decade.
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Seeing New England ranked second in the future power rankings is a bit surprising, but they can certainly live up to that hype. As long as Brady is under center and Belichick is on the sidelines, New England will be a force to be reckoned with.