Throughout the most successful years of the Patriots dynasty, NFL analysts were quick to scrutinize the team in any way they could, regardless of how much they were winning and dominating the rest of the league. So it's not exactly unexpected to see that after a 14-3 season that ended with an appearance in the Super Bowl, there are a lot of doubts about what they can do this fall.
We've already seen that their 2026 schedule is expected to be among the most difficult in the NFL, and as a result, the Patriots are predicted not only to fail to win double-digit games or win the division, but also to miss the playoffs.
They're already being dismissed and overlooked, despite having an impressive quarterback under center and acquiring A.J. Brown in a trade earlier this month, on top of all the other improvements they have made across the roster, including signing guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, receiver Romeo Doubs, and linebacker Dre'Mont Jones.
That's apparently not enough in the eyes of some, like CBS Sports' Jordan Dajani, who labels New England as having one of the worst offseasons in the entire league. The problem is that he doesn't say much about their top free-agent additions or their draft class, and instead focuses heavily on a controversy that dominated headlines over the last few months.
It doesn't seem to add up to having a top-5 bad offseason, but according to Dajani, it does.
NFL analyst might have the worst Patriots take of the 2026 offseason
We'd be lying if we didn't mention the elephant in the room of this offseason, since it did include the Patriots' head coach and one of the top NFL insiders having an alleged affair.
It was a disastrous start to the team's offseason, following an unexpectedly successful 2025 season that led them to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, and it would be fair to say it was handled poorly by the franchise from top to bottom.
Of course, anything that takes the focus away from football is never good, and that's exactly what Vrabel's actions did to the team over the past few months. But that doesn't take away from the efforts made to improve the roster, nor does it equate to one of the worst offseasons in the league.
Dajani believes it does, though, using Vrabel's scandal as the main reason for a poor few months, which, according to him, will set the Patriots up for an even tougher 2026 season.
"To make matters worse, the Patriots are the prime regression candidate in 2026. After going 14-3 last season with help from the easiest schedule since the turn of the millennium, the Patriots have the sixth-toughest schedule in 2026, including the toughest Weeks 1-4 strength of schedule by any team in 40 years.
They open with a Super Bowl rematch against the Seahawks, then face the Pittsburgh Steelers, travel to the Jacksonville Jaguars and visit the Buffalo Bills. All four teams made the playoffs last year."
He further suggests the worst-case scenario that the Patriots could have a rough start to the season, which could somehow "breathe even more life into the controversy" that fans want to go away, as they inevitably wait for more to come out about their head coach and Dianna Russini.
But how exactly does that mean the franchise had a bad offseason? Isn't this supposed to be based on what the team did or didn't do?
From what we've seen, the additions they've made to the roster and the coaching staff were solid choices and should improve their weakest areas. Their schedule is projected to be much tougher, yes, but they look equipped to handle it in a way fans are happy about, for the most part.
That makes Patriots' rivals not happy, and it might be fair to conclude that even they think this is a wild take.
A continuation of the Vrabel-Russini scandal would certainly be terrible, especially if it leads to anything major, but that doesn't take away from what they can get done on the field, which is what a football team is supposed to do.
So it's a little difficult to understand Dajani's logic here, but maybe it's just more motivation for the Patriots to prove everyone wrong, which seems to have become second nature, going all the way back to when Tom Brady was demolishing his opponents for over 20 years.
That appears to be something that will stick around now that they're a relevant team again, and Dajani's take further proves that.
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