New England Patriots: How nostalgia is hurting a fading dynasty
Reliance on fading talent
This is the huge one. It is almost incomprehensible the lack of effort Bill Belichick and rest of the New England Patriots organization has made in establishing a crop of young future talent on this football team.
Just look at the Quarterback position. Tom Brady is 41 years old and yet, he has no heir to his throne. Of course, he is still playing at a high level, but who knows how long he has left. If I were putting money on it, I wouldn’t see him playing past next season. The last two QBs they wanted to take over for Tom were, of course, Jacoby Brissett and Jimmy Garappolo and both were shipped off.
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Being that Tom is still around, it would be extremely beneficial to have him mentor a young Quarterback. Tom isn’t the only one who is getting older.
Looking at the back end of the defense, both Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung are on the wrong side of 30 and it definitely shows at points. Of course, Duron Harmon is younger and a solid rotational player, but he has struggled mightily and would be a liability as a starter.
Opposite of Trey Flowers and Stephon Gillmore, the New England Patriots lack rising talent on the defensive side of the football. The play is sufficient, but the other linebacking spots, as well as the edge rush positions, really lack above average talent. The “bend don’t break” mentality always seems to work in the end, but they could always actually have consistency and just be a good defense.
The issue is clear: Tom Brady won’t save the subpar roster around him for much longer. In 2011 so to say, the Patriots had an incredible roster mainly centered around TB12. The main difference? He was not carrying a ton of subpar talent. This team would be nothing without Tom.
At least then if they had a lesser QB like Tony Romo, you could at least see them being in a similar spot because of the full roster. Now if they even had a Quarterback of around Kirk Cousins level, the Patriots probably wouldn’t even be leading the AFC East.
The organization is holding on to the narrative that Tom can do it all himself, and that once he leaves the train won’t stop moving.
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Outside of Sony Michel, the organization has done nothing to put adequate pieces together in order to have a lasting team after the Brady era. For some reason everyone is stuck in 2004 and thinks they dynasty will never end. The organization needs to wake up, and make moves for the future in order to put the franchise in the best possible position it can be come 3-5 years down the line.