Quick look as to what’s ahead for the New England Patriots

The New England Patriots have a lot of decisions to make about the future of some current players and coaches on the roster.

As the season came to an end for the New England Patriots on Saturday night in a Wild Card loss to the Tennessee Titans, it appears the Pats are “on to next season” now, as the mantra goes.

There’s going to be a lot of changes being made this offseason for the New England Patriots. More than a handful of players are set to become free agents, along with a few key coaches and organizational fixtures with expiring contracts as well.

To start, Josh McDaniels is going to once again get the opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL. There will be a number of teams looking for head coaches next season.

Already, the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Carolina Panthers have all expressed interest in the great offensive playcaller for the Patriots.

Regardless of what happened between him and the Indianapolis Colts a few years ago, there’s still a lot of great opportunities for McDaniels throughout the NFL. The only question is which job will he take?

It seems hard to believe that a lot of McDaniels’ upcoming decision won’t impact the future of Tom Brady and the decisions he has to make himself in the very near future.

For the first time in his 20-year career, Brady is going to become a free agent and will be available to negotiate with any team interested. Brady showed clear frustration with the team throughout the entire 2019 season, possibly forcing him to see if there are any better options available for him through free agency.

It’s still unclear on Brady’s intentions of returning to the Patriots next season, or if he would like to join another team, or even if he plans on retiring during the offseason. Brady did say during his postgame presser that he thinks it’s “highly unlikely” he isn’t playing next season.

But regardless of his decision, the New England Patriots need to prepare themselves for the replacement of Tom Brady and the future of the franchise.

Another key element to the dynasty of the New England Patriots all these years has been Nick Caserio. Caserio has worked his way up the corporate ladder from an on-field assistant coach to becoming the Director of Player Personnel. Together, Caserio and Bill Belichick have put together nine Super Bowl contending teams.

Regardless of all the success he’s had with the Patriots, Caserio has made it evident he wants to start a new chapter in his career. More than likely that’s with the Houston Texans, as the Patriots have previously filed tampering charges on the team for trying to make negotiations with Caserio prior to his contract ending with the Pats.

There’s some uncertainty as far as the offense is concerned in 2020, what with McDaniels possibly parting ways with the team – but also with Dante Scarnecchia, who is knocking on the door of his retirement (once again).

The offensive guru has been with the team since way before the Belichick era, dating back to the mid-80s even, and has “retired” on two different occasions.

Something else worth addressing is if Josh McDaniels is going to want to take any of the current staff with him to his new team or not.

The defensive coordinator position is also still an interesting topic. It’s unknown if the dual defense of Stephen Belichick and Jerod Mayo is going to work or not. The two young and inexperienced coaches had put together one of the best defenses in NFL history for the first half of the 2019 season, but it slowly fell apart each week as the later portion of the season progressed.

All in all, New England needs to be prepared for many new faces in the locker room next season. To be optimistic about the current state of the New England Patriots, let’s look at it like this: maybe the dynasty is coming to an end, but it could mean the start of the next dynasty to come.