Devin McCourty sends a strong message to Patriots fans

As the Patriots go through one of the worst seasons in over twenty years, fans are starting to express their frustrations while also questioning what the team needs to do to finally become a competitive team.

A large part of the fanbase is not old enough to remember the days before Tom Brady, which has led to many of them hoping for things like a complete teardown of the organization from top to bottom or even hoping for the Patriots to continue to add more losses on the year to move up the draft order in the first round.

Given the outlook for the final seven games, looking ahead to the draft is the only silver lining most can grab ahold of. But others are concerned about what is happening right now, as Patriots legend Devin McCourty shared on Football Night in America on Sunday.

The retired safety spoke about his recent interactions with New England fans and how often he is asked what they should do or how they should feel. He responded bluntly but fairly, reminding them to be thankful for all the team accomplished during the dynasty years.

"I was just in the New England area this past week. Everybody keeps asking me, ‘What should we do?’ What do you mean, what should you do? You should look at the stadium and see the six banners. Be happy. Be happy about that, but it’s going to be a long season. Not much is going to change."

Besides reminiscing and expressing gratitude for being a fan of a team that accomplished more in twenty years than most teams will in a lifetime, McCourty's stance about how this year will be a "long season" is certainly accurate.

It's already felt that way, and we are just now entering Week 11.

Much of that is because of the absolute failures of the offense, which looked promising coming into the year. The 2022 season was one to remember for all the wrong reasons, and after all the offseason moves that were made this year, optimism was high for what the Patriots could accomplish.

That's not at all what has happened, and instead, we continue to debate what the future holds for Bill Belichick and Mac Jones while simultaneously messing around with mock drafts six months ahead of time.

Although some may feel it's too early to be looking that far ahead, it's one aspect that Patriots fans can look forward to no matter how this season ends. On top of likely having a top-5 overall draft pick, they'll also have around $100 million (give or take) to spend in free agency. This could be the year fans have been looking forward to regarding putting together an excellent roster.

And that shows you how far the Patriots have fallen. Historically, we're looking ahead to the next game or the postseason because it was evident they were on their way there. Now we're looking ahead to the offseason, dreaming about free agents and rookie prospects to sign and wondering what will happen with the coaching staff.

Hopefully, good things are not far away because of all the changes that can happen in the offseason.

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