3 huge mistakes the New England Patriots made with their 53-man roster

2. The Patriots have two rookies at punter and kicker

This does kind of worry me. Games in the NFL often come down to competent special teams, and while the Patriots' special teams unit was not great in 2022, getting rid of both the punter and kicker does not seem to be the best of ideas. I think getting rid of Nick Folk was a puzzling awful decision.

Folk had 32/37 field goals in 2022. He made 92.3% of his kicks in 2021 and 92.9% of his kicks in 2020. During his four-year stint in New England, Folk made a whopping 89.3% of his kicks. With kicking across the NFL having suffered for years, I find it odd that the Patriots got rid of one of the best kickers in the NFL over the last few years.

Relying on a rookie kicker, especially when games come down to a field goal is a very puzzling decision.

3. The Patriots' 2022 draft class

The 2022 NFL Draft class by the New England Patriot seems like a massive bust, maybe outside of a player or two. Here is the list, in order, if the draftees from 2022:

Cole Strange, Tyquan Thornton, Marcus Jones, Jack Jones, Pierre Strong, Bailey Zappe, Kevin harris, Sam Roberts, Chasen Hines, Andrew Stueber. There really isn't much to talk positively about here. Cole Strange is fine, but outside of that, Tyquan Thornton is going to begin the season on IR, and Jack Jones still has that off-field issue to deal with.

Bailey Zappe doesn't appear to be in the team's plans much longer, and their two late-round OL draft picks did not make the roster. Overall, the 2022 draft class doesn't appear to be much of anything for the New England Patriots.