The 2024 NFL season may not be over just yet, with the divisional round playoffs concluding on Sunday, but the Patriots year has been essentially unfortunately over since October, well before their final game. Another disappointing season had fans and reporters looking ahead to the 2025 offseason, mainly at the draft, but especially what the future might look like with Drake Maye under center.
The rookie quarterback provided a silver lining to an otherwise unexpectedly poor season and brought excitement back to New England that had been lacking since Tom Brady left nearly five years ago.
To continue his progression in the league, going about the upcoming offseason the right way has been a topic of conversation for many weeks, and taking off since Jerod Mayo was dismissed and Mike Vrabel was hired.
Watching fellow rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels lead the Commanders deep into the playoffs has become even more important. Washington took down the No. 1 seeded Lions on Saturday to advance to the NFC Championship.
The Washington Commanders are a good vision of what the Patriots' future can look like with Drake Maye
The former LSU star went into a much better situation than Maye did coming into Foxboro, with an experienced head coach (even if he was in his first season with the team) and an offense with trusted weapons to make his transition into the NFL a lot easier.
It quickly made Patriots fans see just how good the Patriots can have it as soon as next season, hoping they can model what the Commanders have done over the past year to allow Maye to have the same success in 2025.
Now that they got their coach and QB… patriots are capable of a commanders like turnaround in 2025
— FitzyGFY 🍺 (brew checkmark) (@FitzyGFY) January 13, 2025
Fortunately, the Patriots have the cap space to spend and the draft positioning to make a solid run at putting together a team that could make the playoffs next season. That might be a stretch considering how far they've fallen down the totem pole, but the AFC wasn't exactly stellar in 2024, especially the AFC East.
That creates a potentially big opportunity for New England next year, as long as they can pull off an impressive offseason and bring in the talent needed on both sides of the ball, especially on offense.
They have some good pieces in place, with Maye under center, Rhamondre Stevenson in the backfield, Hunter Henry as the leading tight end, and DeMario Douglas being a sneaky good receiver. Adding the needed help on the offensive line and a true WR1 is exactly what they need to be competitive almost immediately.
Hopefully, Vrabel will lead the charge and get the job done so they can be the Commanders of the 2025 season.