The New England Patriots have a ton of work to do to get their franchise back on the right track. These nightmare scenarios coming true would be an insult to injury for this team. Prepare for the worst, and expect the best, right? Well, for the Patriots, the worst has come true in 2023 thus far.
The team is 2-5 and clearly not a good team in 2023. Their win last Week against the Buffalo Bills was nice, but I think that doesn't change things for this team. They are still three games out of the win column in the AFC East, so any hopes of winning the division are probably gone. The team also lacks a ton of explosiveness on offense and has a pretty iffy defense with both Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez out.
Now and in the future, the Patriots might have to ensure more pain. I guess going through some rough patches is something every team has to go through in order to enjoy success on the other side. Let's brew up three nightmare scenarios for the team that would seriously hurt now and in the long-run.
3 nightmare scenarios for the Patriots now and in the future
1. Patriots win too many games and can't get a top QB prospect in 2024
I understand that this situation can be tricky. On one hand, fans might want their team to win regardless of potential draft status. Getting a higher pick usually yields a better prospect, especially at the QB spot. The top two QB prospects in the 2024 class appear to be Caleb Williams and Drake Maye. Currently, the Patriots have the sixth overall pick in the coming draft, so they are currently out of range.
Well, if this team wins six-ish games, what good does that do for them? They'd be out of range for the top QBs in the draft and other top prospects like Marvin Harrison Jr and Olu Fashanu. The Pats truly need to rebuild their offense, and for the long-term, it's best for them to get one of those blue-chip offensive prospects.
Winning six games takes them out of that possibility.
2. Jets' QB Zach Wilson hits his stride and leads team to the playoffs
We know that the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills are likely going to win enough games to make the postseason. Both rosters are very talented and each has a very skilled QB, which is a requirement for success in today's NFL. I think a nightmare scenario would be the New York Jets falling into that category.
They are winning games in spite of Zach Wilson, their third-year QB who was taken in the same class as Mac Jones. Sure, they have Aaron Rodgers on the mend, but it would be truly awful to see Wilson hit his stride in 2023 and figure it out all of a sudden. If that's the case, the Jets likely keep Wilson as their starter and would probably store him away as QB2 if Aaron Rodgers were to come back in 2024.
But eventually, Wilson hitting his stride would likely keep him as the team's starter, and then all of a sudden, the Patriots would be the only team in the division with serious quarterback concerns going forward. In the immediate future, seeing Wilson hit his stride and lead the Jets to the playoffs would be terrible to witness.
The Patriots have owned the Jets in recent years and I'm sure they'd like to keep that up.
3. Patriots don't have a significant change at QB in the 2024 season
I think keeping Mac Jones as the starter in 2024 without at least a QB prospect behind him would be a mistake. Ideally, the team moves on from Mac Jones and either acquires a veteran QB like Kyler Murray or takes a top QB prospect and hands the keys over to him. Not having a notable change to the QB room in 2024 would put the Patriots even further back in the AFC East arms race.
Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen, and the Jets' talented defense are not going anywhere. Those teams seem here to stay. Each of the three rival teams in the AFC East have something notable going for them now and in the future. What do the New England Patriots have? Outside of a few young players, they don't have much, especially on offense.
With as much cap space as the Patriots have and the fact that they can trade some players at the deadline to acquire more draft picks, the team has a nice situation where they could chase a veteran QB in a trade or potentially take a high QB prospect in 2024. Something like that is necessary if the Pats want to get a genuine rebuild underway.