Patriots: Latest JJ Watt update suggests there’s no chance he lands in New England

The Patriots probably won’t be JJ Watt’s landing spot.

The New England Patriots were reportedly cheaper than usual on the free agent market last offseason because they wanted to be perfectly positioned to take advantage of the league’s pandemic-induced salary cap situation.

Though you could certainly question the morality behind that decision, it did end up working out, and there’s something to be said for that.

After all, the Patriots are currently projected to have the third-most cap space ($68.78 million) in the league this offseason.

That should be more than enough for New England to make a handful of marquee additions, but it goes without saying that — and fans have been echoing this sentiment– they should avoid making huge splashes just to win a potential bidding war for a certain player.

Assuming the Patriots are punctilious with how they allocate their money (when aren’t they?), it all but takes them out of the running to sign newly-minted free agent JJ Watt, who has reportedly received an offer from one team that would pay him north of $15 million per year.

The latest on JJ Watt’s free agent market suggests the Patriots should cut their losses and pursue alternative options.

This will be a tough pill to swallow for the Foxborough faithful, but the fact of the matter is that that teams who are one or two big moves on defense away from becoming a legitimate championship contender are the ones best positioned to sign Watt this offseason,

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year only left Houston because he wants to win a ring before his career is over and they clearly couldn’t offer him that after the previous front office regime depleted them of elite talent and draft capital over the last couple of seasons.

Seeing as though the Patriots have a myriad of roster holes to address this offseason, how could they ever rationalize giving Watt, who will turn 32 next month, over $15 million annually when they don’t even have their quarterback situation sorted out? They couldn’t, and he would laugh them off the phone if they tried convincing him to take a discount.

Assuming getting back into the playoffs is the top priority for the Pats next season, chances are they probably want to make as many roster renovations as humanly possible in the coming months.

As much as we’d love Watt on the Patriots, signing him at this reported price would severely limit their spending power, and nobody wants that.

While the front office undoubtedly needs to push the envelope in terms of upgrading the defensive end position after they found it almost impossible to pressure opposing quarterbacks in 2020, they would be smart to pursue alternative options.

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