A New England Patriots fan succinctly summarized the Mac Jones conundrum with a post on X:
I’m just gonna say it, may as well ride out the year with Mac at QB1. It’s wild, but he simultaneously gives NE the best chance to win AND lose it seems. So both the tank and win crowd would be equally pleased.
There are rumors out there that Jones has lost the support of the team. A lot of fans want Jones benched in favor of just about anybody, myself included. I just want the Patriots to win again. And hopefully it’s not just one of the remaining eight games.
But for the fans who want the highest pick possible, they want the Patriots to lose out.
And like Daniel said, the QB that has the best chance to accomplish either objective, is Mac Jones.
So maybe Patriot Nation is stuck with Jones. But there is hope.
It's not too early to think about the New England Patriots' future with the present being so disappointing.
As bad as he was last season with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge running the offense, Jones was dramatically better in the second half of the 2022 season. Jones threw four scores and seven picks through the first six games and compiled a quarterback rating of 76. From week 10 on Jones had 10 TDs to 4 Ints with a 90.2 rating.
Maybe over the bye week, Jones regains confidence in the offensive line and stops throwing fadeaway passes. Stepping into his throws would fix so many of Jones’ biggest errors.
But that may not change a thing once the season ends and the front office evaluates the team. They may look at Jones’ body of work and determine his inconsistency isn’t worth investing a fifth year and search for his replacement.
Who that player is, is yet to be determined. But at this point, it’s hard not to assume a new face of the franchise will be found in the draft.
1. Quarterback
When the team has consistency problems at the most important position, then it has to be the biggest need. Yeah, it sucks for the New England Patriots to be in the market for a new franchise QB less than four years after selecting Mac Jones, but it would be a bigger mistake not to replace Jones.
Some believe the best route to a new franchise face is to tank. I couldn’t disagree more. There are countless examples of quarterbacks selected in the first round that turned out to be busts.
Finding the next franchise field general comes down to picking the right QB, not picking a QB first. So if the Patriots miss out on one of the top two prospects at the position, I can see head coach Bill Belichick trading down and selecting another position before using additional picks to select a passer.
Of the top projected prospects, North Carolina’s Drake Maye is the most appealing. He’s a big, strong-armed passer with the athleticism to use his legs when necessary. Caleb Williams is the most talented with Patrick Mahomes-like ability, but also raises Johnny Manziel concerns.
While not usually projected as first rounders, Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix could have their names called on day one because QBs are always over-drafted. It’s a decision between a classic pocket passer (Penix Jr.) or a spread offense operator with mobility (Nix). If the Patriots trade down a few spots, they could come away with one of these players.
But to not take a QB in the first round would be borderline malpractice. New England can’t turn the franchise around without a franchise QB. That should be their first priority. The next one should be to protect him.
2. Offensive tackle
So, Patriots, how are all those guards working out?
Over the past two drafts, New England selected guards Cole Strange (2022) in the first round, Sidy Sow and Atonio Mafi (2023) in the fourth and fifth rounds. And one tackle, Andrew Steuber (2022), in the seventh round.
Of all the baffling decisions the Patriots front office has made of late, declining to select a long-term blindside protector stands out as one of the worst. Even if the Patriots select an athletic passer, he can’t succeed if the pocket is constantly crumbling.
This season New England learned the hard way you can’t put a band aid at tackle and everything will be fine. Riley Reiff and Calvin Anderson didn’t last. The Sow experiment on the edge was short lived. Connor McDermott is decent in relief, but he’s not cornerstone caliber.
It took a while, but the coaching staff finally settled on Trent Brown and Michael Onwenu as the bookends for the season, health permitting. The problem is both are free agents at the end of the year.
The Patriots haven’t spent their money to retain one of their high priced free agents recently. So there’s legitimate concern that New England will let Onwenu walk. Maybe the Patriots keep Brown, but reports of his tardiness and inability to stay on the field makes re-signing Brown a bit risky.
If New England loses both to free agency, the Patriots must draft one early, no excuse. Ideally he would be a first or second round selection to anchor one end. Selecting a pair of tackles would be recommended as well.
3. Pass rusher
Since the Patriots lost Matt Judon for the season, they’ve had just eight sacks in six games. Twice New England had zero sacks (Las Vegas, Indianapolis). Too often passers either have all day in the pocket or can escape and extend plays.
Another way to put it: Matt Judon still leads the team in sacks, and he hasn’t played since week four.
The pass rushers on the roster have been disappointing. Deatrich Wise Jr. has just two sacks. Rookie Keion White flashes on run defense but is yet to bag a QB. Josh Uche has really underperformed after an 11.5-sack 2022. With his lack of production, the Patriots should had traded Uche, who will be a free agent at the end of the season.
The hope is White will be improved with a year under his belt. But the 31-year-old Judon will be a year older next year and a free agent in 2025. The Patriots need a dominant pass rusher to groom behind Judon and eventually replace him.
The conundrum for New England is pass rushers go very quickly. If they draft by need, all the top pass rushers will be gone. The Patriots further limit their options by focusing on pass rushers that can play the run and pass.
Drafting Uche in 2020 was a departure from the Patriots’ standard. Uche was a pure speed, bend the corner pass rusher with almost zero contribution as a run defender. If New England waits, they might have to settle for a one dimensional pass rusher or a less talented all-around edge defender.
4. Tight end
If it wasn’t for Pharaoh Brown, the Patriots’ situation at TE would be dire. Hunter Henry, Mike Gesicki and Brown are all free agents after the year. All three could draw interests on the open market. But Brown, a blocking tight end, probably can be re-signed to a team-friendly contract. Henry and Gesicki could be gone.
Brown has shown he can do more than just block. But even with Matt Sokol on the practice squad, the Patriots will need a receiving threat to add to the offense.
The way New England has approached the position recently seemed like they wanted to build a two TE offense. In 2020 they selected Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene in the third round. Asiasi would had been traditional while Keene could line up anywhere and be a catch-and-run threat.
When that didn’t come to fruition, the Patriots spent big money on free agents Jonnu Smith and Henry. But Smith’s tenure with New England was disappointing. Based on Smith’s production with the Atlanta Falcons, the failure falls on the Patriots for not getting the best out of Smith while he was in Foxborough.
2020 was the last time the Patriots drafted the position. That drought needs to end.
Taking Brock Bowers would be tempting, and very much a Belichick thing to do (two TEs selected in the first round), patience should be exercised as other needs are addressed before adding an over the middle target.
New England would have their pick of the remaining prospects if they nab one in the second round. And there should still be some good prospects available in the middle rounds.
5. Wide receiver
The positional complaint for many Patriots fans is New England doesn’t have a number one receiver. They look around the league, see most of the other teams with an outside big play threat and want the Patriots to have one too.
Fans forget that in the Patriots offense, the go-to receiver is the slot receiver. By this metric, New England’s number one receiver is Demario “Pop” Douglas.
The biggest problem for the Patriots’ woes isn’t talent. It’s misappropriation of personnel. It took until the Dolphins games to treat Douglas as the first option. Despite the lack of production from DeVante Parker and JuJu Smit-Schuster, Kayshon Boutte remained in the dog house until injuries at the position gave the coaches no choice.
And Tyquan Thornton was benched for poorly running an out route when he should be running slants, digs and deep patterns.
The receiver position could be more productive, but the coaching remains stuck in their old ways. Could the position use more talent? Absolutely. But having a stud receiver doesn’t guarantee a fix. The problem is much bigger than who’s running the routes.
That being said, If the Patriots do select a receiver, there doesn’t have to be urgency. There are great talents available on day three almost every year. It’s drafting the right player that’s the problem for the Patriots. They’ve missed on so many great receivers from the first round through day three while selecting busts instead.
But past failures shouldn’t deter the Patriots from selecting a wide out. Heck, draft two. The more swings they take at the position, the better chance one of them turns out to be a productive weapon.